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I wrote a SaaS product because the internet made me believe it'd make me rich

blog.stetsonblake.com

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Re: I wrote a SaaS product because the internet made me believe it'd make me rich

#41

Post by cheez »

dvt wrote: post #39

This is a pretty good atticle, and the product is actually quite solid (maybe a tad overpriced), but this right here is a rookie mistake: > In January, 2019 I launched to HackerNews and some subreddits ... Really? That's a "launch" these days? At least scrounge up a few hundred bucks and throw up some Facebook ads. Reddit and Hacker News have some of the most cynical and thrifty readers out there. Networking and gett…

The best indie launch I've seen was the initial launch of Balsamiq.

It was played off as "meh" by Peldi but it was masterful. I had launched a product 2 years before and until then, I couldn't understand what I did wrong.

I obsessed over what he did. Every single thing. Trying to find where he got "lucky". There was no luck.

Re: I wrote a SaaS product because the internet made me believe it'd make me rich

#43

Post by rodolphoarruda »

stets wrote: post #32
rodolphoarruda wrote: post #19

I was following this same path until yesterday, when I gave up. I have the mock-ups and all the notes with me, but I won't go ahead because I know it would be too much of an effort. Web dev has become rocket science for those who started in this business in the late 90's, at least IMHO.

Get after it! It's not too late and you don't need the latest *js to make something valuable. The effort can be worth it!

Vue.js was part of the architecture -- no kidding! But hey, thanks for the encouragement.

Re: I wrote a SaaS product because the internet made me believe it'd make me rich

#44

Post by sethammons »

rodolphoarruda wrote: post #19

I was following this same path until yesterday, when I gave up. I have the mock-ups and all the notes with me, but I won't go ahead because I know it would be too much of an effort. Web dev has become rocket science for those who started in this business in the late 90's, at least IMHO.

to echo sibling comments: build your thing with 90's era frontend tech. A fancy UI is unlikely to be your differentiating feature. As long as it does its job, you can fix it later if it becomes successful -- hire a js expert at that point and re-do the frontend.

Re: I wrote a SaaS product because the internet made me believe it'd make me rich

#45

Post by MathCodeLove »

dvt wrote: post #39

This is a pretty good atticle, and the product is actually quite solid (maybe a tad overpriced), but this right here is a rookie mistake: > In January, 2019 I launched to HackerNews and some subreddits ... Really? That's a "launch" these days? At least scrounge up a few hundred bucks and throw up some Facebook ads. Reddit and Hacker News have some of the most cynical and thrifty readers out there. Networking and gett…

Are facebook ads really viable forna SaaS product? How should a lone founder organize a better launch than the OP?

Re: I wrote a SaaS product because the internet made me believe it'd make me rich

#47

Post by dvt »

cheez wrote: post #41
dvt wrote: post #39

This is a pretty good atticle, and the product is actually quite solid (maybe a tad overpriced), but this right here is a rookie mistake: > In January, 2019 I launched to HackerNews and some subreddits ... Really? That's a "launch" these days? At least scrounge up a few hundred bucks and throw up some Facebook ads. Reddit and Hacker News have some of the most cynical and thrifty readers out there. Networking and gett…

The best indie launch I've seen was the initial launch of Balsamiq. It was played off as "meh" by Peldi but it was masterful. I had launched a product 2 years before and until then, I couldn't understand what I did wrong. I obsessed over what he did. Every single thing. Trying to find where he got "lucky". There was no luck.

Can I get some insight into this? What did Balsamiq do? I'm not familiar.

Re: I wrote a SaaS product because the internet made me believe it'd make me rich

#48

Post by stets »

sokoloff wrote: post #46

I enjoyed the article. I'll point out that you've got links to about 12 different external tools, but 0 links to the SaaS product you're talking about...

Thanks! Yeah, I messed up. I wrote this in about an hour and posted it a few places not expecting the traffic I got!

Re: I wrote a SaaS product because the internet made me believe it'd make me rich

#49

Post by dvt »

MathCodeLove wrote: post #45
dvt wrote: post #39

This is a pretty good atticle, and the product is actually quite solid (maybe a tad overpriced), but this right here is a rookie mistake: > In January, 2019 I launched to HackerNews and some subreddits ... Really? That's a "launch" these days? At least scrounge up a few hundred bucks and throw up some Facebook ads. Reddit and Hacker News have some of the most cynical and thrifty readers out there. Networking and gett…

Are facebook ads really viable forna SaaS product? How should a lone founder organize a better launch than the OP?

I've only had one successful "ramp-up" to launch with a project that eventually didn't go anywhere[1], but here's what I did. For context, this was in the eSports/gaming space. I had an Excel sheet with ~500 game journalists and I emailed every. Single. One of them. With a semi-personalized email. I ended up being interviewed by Vice, Polygon, PCGamer, RedBull, and about a dozen others. I started also emailing podcasters and Twitch personalities and went on a few of these shows as well. I also was invited and attented an eSports Summit in London where I spoke on a panel (I had to spring for my flights and hotel). I networked like crazy there as well. Again, the project didn't quite go anywhere, but I was getting nibbles from a few investors.

In any case, that's the closest I've gotten and I've learned to appreciate the hustle. It was also, for me, much more difficult than the actual coding/building. Although it was neat gaining a bit of "clout," it was repetitive, monotone, and extremely draining.

[1] www.gameref.io

Re: I wrote a SaaS product because the internet made me believe it'd make me rich

#50

Post by stets »

dvt wrote: post #39

This is a pretty good atticle, and the product is actually quite solid (maybe a tad overpriced), but this right here is a rookie mistake: > In January, 2019 I launched to HackerNews and some subreddits ... Really? That's a "launch" these days? At least scrounge up a few hundred bucks and throw up some Facebook ads. Reddit and Hacker News have some of the most cynical and thrifty readers out there. Networking and gett…

Yeah, you're probably not wrong. TBH, I used to not be a fan of FB ads because I thought paid ads were evil or something. I still haven't really used them but I've got some other projects I'm about to use them for.
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