Show HN: Side project passed $2.5k/mo revenue after 2 years (Phoenix and Vue)

Several years ago, I had a client whose salespeople were using Excel to generate sales proposals. This was inefficient and the resulting documents looked awful, so I developed a new process for them using a no-code platform. It featured a web form that was tied to a workflow engine, and a fancy PDF got emailed to the customer to sign.

When the client loved the solution, I knew I was on to something. However, the no-code platform wasn't very customizable, so I decided to rebuild the process as a SaaS product. The client's CTO wanted in and we became cofounders.

Today, we passed the $2,500/mo. threshold, and couldn't be more excited! (https://pricetable.io)

Things started slow. I wasn't a software developer by trade, so I was constantly "drinking from the fire hose." Also, my cofounder and I had disagreements regarding features, UX, sales strategy... you name it. We never fought, but initially there was a sense of disconnect.

Then one day, everything clicked. His company started to pilot our product, and after a few months became our first customer. Receiving feedback from real users was a breath of fresh air. It was also really eye-opening to see which assumptions we had made were slam dunks and which were hilariously wrong!

Things might have been easier had I picked a more mainstream stack like Rails/Django, but once I got up to speed with Elixir and Vue, development became a Zen-like experience. Both communities are very welcoming and immensely helpful. HN has also been an extraordinary source of inspiration; reading success stories always makes me launch my code editor! Similarly, hearing from companies that didn't make it helps us keep our expectations realistic.

Now we shift focus to finding new clients. We have a very solid success story and metrics to back it up. However, both my partner and I still have day jobs we need the income from, and the product requires a fairly high-touch sales approach. Any advice would be appreciated. :)

May I ask how did you get the consulting gig in the first place?

Hey! So the consulting gig is my day job. I’ve been working with no-code platforms for more than a decade, and this client was for one of the projects assigned to me. I’m grateful because consulting is a really good way to look for new ideas in the marketplace since you’re always interfacing with customers and talking about their issues, sometimes in great detail. PriceTable was born out of one such project.

Thank you for the advice. I will check those out!

For me, the challenge isn't really lack of knowledge of B2B sales (I do a fair bit of it in my day job) but rather lack of time. Prospecting and qualifying leads tends to be very time-consuming, and neither of us can dedicate ourselves to it since we both have day jobs. But I think you're right that our focus should be to expand our client base a bit more before looking to raise money.