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How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS

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Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS

#71

Post by jasonwen »

_kxbd wrote: post #22

> "You don’t have to care about competitors. It’s a waste of time. Because you know where to go. You can ignore even if they stole features your product has. Because you are the person who most understands your product, how it works and why it works." I enjoyed this article, but this bit I'm not entirely convinced by. The saying does go that competition leads to innovation. Instagram Stories were a great business mov…

The stories features was also stolen based on data that regular competitors would not have. Facebook used Onavo VPN data from users to see how features affect usage of Snapchat. They can also see which apps are very viral or sticky, which is why they bought Whatsapp for $19B.

Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS

#72

Post by olliej »

dquigley wrote: post #19
olliej wrote: post #7

I dislike the “costs me $5 a month”. Seriously, part of the cost of running a service is your own income - don’t discount the value of your own labour

I understand the confusion, because I had to read the title twice to understand what was meant by the $5/month as well. It isn't necessarily wrong, just potentially confusing if you read it the wrong way.

Yeah I totally read it wrong :)

Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS

#73

Post by danmaz74 »

noname120 wrote: post #67

This story strikes me as (at least partly) survivorship bias. It's great that they were able to acquire 600 paid customers without advertizing their product on blogs, and ignoring their competitors. I don't have hard numbers to back me up, but I doubt that this is a successful strategy in general. This story is a data point that proves that it's possible , not that this gives you a better (or even good) chance at suc…

It all depends on what you definition of success is. If your definition is creating a high-growth technically innovative business (what many would say a tech startup is), then this for sure isn't a good way to achieve success. If your definition is creating on the side a sustainable business based on tech (which other people would also define as "startup"), then this advice is generally very good.

Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS

#74

Post by allenleee »

_kxbd wrote: post #22

> "You don’t have to care about competitors. It’s a waste of time. Because you know where to go. You can ignore even if they stole features your product has. Because you are the person who most understands your product, how it works and why it works." I enjoyed this article, but this bit I'm not entirely convinced by. The saying does go that competition leads to innovation. Instagram Stories were a great business mov…

I think the key is to "avoid competition", not "ignore competition".

Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS

#75

Post by grey-area »

_kxbd wrote: post #22

> "You don’t have to care about competitors. It’s a waste of time. Because you know where to go. You can ignore even if they stole features your product has. Because you are the person who most understands your product, how it works and why it works." I enjoyed this article, but this bit I'm not entirely convinced by. The saying does go that competition leads to innovation. Instagram Stories were a great business mov…

The point is people spend huge amounts of time and energy trying to second guess their competitors and copy them when they should be listening to customers.

Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS

#76

Post by fabricexpert »

jasonwen wrote: post #71
_kxbd wrote: post #22

> "You don’t have to care about competitors. It’s a waste of time. Because you know where to go. You can ignore even if they stole features your product has. Because you are the person who most understands your product, how it works and why it works." I enjoyed this article, but this bit I'm not entirely convinced by. The saying does go that competition leads to innovation. Instagram Stories were a great business mov…

The stories features was also stolen based on data that regular competitors would not have. Facebook used Onavo VPN data from users to see how features affect usage of Snapchat. They can also see which apps are very viral or sticky, which is why they bought Whatsapp for $19B.

Is that true? Or just conjecture?

Surely the users of onavo would be self selecting into low economic groups, not indicative of the full population?

Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS

#77

Post by danmaz74 »

Meta comment: I miss the time when there were many more stories like this one on HN.

I'm sure that one reason why there aren't as many now is that lots of low hanging fruits for niche tech/online/mobile businesses have already been picked, as many people write from time to time, but I also think another reason is that the stories of hypergrowth and unicorns have raised expectations and standards too much. Incredibly high salaries for engineers in SV helped there too (what? 30k? that's nothing...).

But let's not forget that trying to win the big lottery is going to make most people miserable. Creating a sustainable online business - something like what 37signals promotes, or even just a lifestyle one - can be a perfectly legitimate goal, something we should celebrate more IMHO. And the world is still full of niches which can greatly benefit from the thoughtful application of technology and sustain that kind of businesses.

EDIT: clarified language

Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS

#78

Post by ttty »

albertgoeswoof wrote: post #61
keithnz wrote: post #41

I think I'm too cynical to do these kinds of side businesses... I look at this and am confused why anyone is paying for it. I often find it hard to step away from what I would do compared to what others will do.

Well what’s the alternative to taking good notes for a developer? Markdown on git? You still have to pay for github if you want it to be private and you have the hassle of setting it up. $5/month is irrelevant if you use it a couple of times a day

Bitbucket for free?

Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS

#79

Post by tonyedgecombe »

enraged_camel wrote: post #40

Roadmaps are really important to me. When I'm evaluating a new service, I first look for a published roadmap. Specifically: * When the next version will be released (specific date, not just bullshit stuff like "Q1 2019") * What new features it will have If I can't find anything like this, I'm less likely to sign up.

I never post roadmaps, even with the best intentions they are a fiction. You end up railroading yourself into features that don't look so good on closer examination. It also creates tons of opportunity for conflict with your customers and a miserable experience for yourself.

Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS

#80

Post by ganeshkumar_sr »

>You don’t have to care about competitors. It’s a waste of time. Because you know where to go.

I agree with this statement,because as a small developer if you compare you and your product with big companies you will get lost in a short span of time."Good customer support will differentiate you from the big players" is one more great point in your article.

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