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Making your first dollar from a SaaS project

indiehackers.com

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Re: Making your first dollar from a SaaS project

#61

Post by roel_v »

crispinb wrote: post #45
dangero wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I usually just do believable screenshots and a call to action like, "Request a trial" or "Buy now" it depends on what it's for. I never take any money I just log the actions people took on the site. If it's a buy button, then you can just say, "Thanks for your interest. We are launching soon."

If I clicked on that button and received that response, everything I could find connected with you and your domain would go on my blacklists. Misleading people is a poor way to build trust.

Really? You maintain a 'blacklist' somewhere on Dropbox or so, and every time you make a purchase you look through who is somehow connected to it, and cross check your 'blacklist'? I think it's much more likely you're showing some internet outrage here, but when you actually run into it, you won't even remember a week later.

Re: Making your first dollar from a SaaS project

#62

Post by justonepost »

dangero wrote: post #2

I've crashed and burned on SaaS enough that I'm very into the landing page approach -- don't build the product, but convince people you have so that they can click the "buy now" button. That way you feel more confident that the market exists while you're actually building it. After all the projects I've failed at, nothing is harder for me to do than spend 200+ hours on something without having a clue whether it will…

Tragedy of the commons. This stops working as everyone creates these vaporware pages.

Re: Making your first dollar from a SaaS project

#63

Post by arethuza »

Pavelcz wrote: post #59
Untit1ed wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm building something to do exactly this at https://nichetester.com - I should note that I used the method described in the OP to validate it and it worked really well :).

I absolutely love that the website that promises to build a testing decoy is a testing decoy. Perfect. (img idontknowwhatiexpected.gif)

Well, it worked - I just signed up!

Re: Making your first dollar from a SaaS project

#64

Post by donkeyd »

I feel like not adding affiliate links is a missed opportunity. The guides section would be the perfect place to recommend a paper cutter, envelopes and paper and link to Amazon. The income probably won't be very big, but people who print their own place cards will probably need that stuff anyway, so it might add some revenue.

It might have been a conscious not to do it though, which is of course fine. But if it wasn't, I'd look into it.

Re: Making your first dollar from a SaaS project

#67

Post by nickjj »

dangero wrote: post #2

I've crashed and burned on SaaS enough that I'm very into the landing page approach -- don't build the product, but convince people you have so that they can click the "buy now" button. That way you feel more confident that the market exists while you're actually building it. After all the projects I've failed at, nothing is harder for me to do than spend 200+ hours on something without having a clue whether it will…

That's essentially what Kickstarter is. You get backed before you build your product, and you don't even need to convince people it exists because they expect your product not to be finished.

I think it's an excellent model as long as you live up to your promise and deliver above and beyond expectations.

It's how I started my software developer course selling business and validated the idea (spending hundreds of hours making a course is no different than a SAAS MVP).

I wrote all about this process recently in an Indie Hackers interview: https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses/nick-janetakis.

Re: Making your first dollar from a SaaS project

#68

Post by laydn »

dangero wrote: post #2

I've crashed and burned on SaaS enough that I'm very into the landing page approach -- don't build the product, but convince people you have so that they can click the "buy now" button. That way you feel more confident that the market exists while you're actually building it. After all the projects I've failed at, nothing is harder for me to do than spend 200+ hours on something without having a clue whether it will…

I don't mean to sound harsh, but, just 200+ hours? That's a little more than a month of work. I wouldn't even begin to expect any meaningful returns with just one month of full-time work.

Re: Making your first dollar from a SaaS project

#69

Post by adventured »

lefstathiou wrote: post #27
blizkreeg wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On vitamins vs painkillers: conversely, do you think if you are able to build a vitamin product that does make your worklife better/easier, wouldn't it be a harder barrier to entry for newcomers? i.e., greater entrenchment? I'm currently doing customer development on such a product. I've burned my fingers previously building nice-to-have products and don't intend to repeat my mistake. With this one, I'm validating th…

First let's level set: the benefit of taking vitamins is that if you take them regularly, at some point in the future you will be better off than you are now (in other words there is no immediate perceived benefit - it requires an investment). Alternatively, a painkiller has immediate physiological benefits. Assessing a service as a painkiller vs a vitamin is not totally black and white - generally I would say a serv…

> Note that I recognize that by this definition Facebook is a vitamin.

Facebook started its life as an immediate painkiller. They solved several problems for the most hyper-active of social groups: college students. The facebook-equivalent products at colleges at the time were either non-existent at most schools or atrocious. Then to amplify the Facebook benefit, the connectivity between the primitive school products was basically non-existent (that is, to the extent they existed, there tended to be no wider connection school to school). Circa ~2004-2007, Once students acquired the benefits of having Facebook as a social booster, leaving it would have left them worse off.

Re: Making your first dollar from a SaaS project

#70

Post by ivanhoe »

logicuce wrote: post #54
crispinb wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I clicked on that button and received that response, everything I could find connected with you and your domain would go on my blacklists. Misleading people is a poor way to build trust.

Exactly. Don't think of people landing on the site as an infinite stream of people. There are influencers who land first and you don't want to be in their bad books.

Not necessarily, you can buy adds and get random visitors for testing purposes that way. Also you can write a better explanation, so that people don't feel tricked.
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