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I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

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Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#91

Post by authorfly »

gizmo wrote: post #33

Not all B2C is the same. If you make a product for professionals you won't get random chargebacks, incoherent emails, or general rudeness. One great way to filter for professionalism is by simply charging more. Another strategy is making it harder to purchase the product. For example by disabling the checkout process until people have completed the tutorial, or only allowing purchases after the free trial has expired…

It's better but this is not uniformly true. For one, people use random sites to test cards to see if they can get away with using stolen CC details at every stripe-integrated company I've seen, target audience irrelevant.

The proportion of negative/wild interactions with support and chargebacks is always going to be in an uphill battle with positive correspondance unless you are selling multi-seat deals with support as part of it. I speak a little out of my area of expertise here but from my friends experience, the downside to professional services is that a small proportion of people, or people on bad days, see it as a service, not a SaaS, and will willingly throw threats, insults, etc at you. A small error on your service can stop their whole business which is different for B2C - it's the difference between fear and frustration.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#93

Post by gnutrino »

The amount of fraud and scammers out there is insane. I worked on a platform that only had a few hundred in revenue a month (just starting out). We did many smaller transactions, and getting hit with disputes was a killer. If someone did 15 transactions, they could get hit with 15 chargebacks up to 3 months later. So for every transaction, even if it only generated $3 in revenue, the chargeback could be potentially $15. (And you lose the revenue!). So for one customer who only spent $45, you could lose $270.

Even when we knew the person was legit, and just wanted a refund, they would do disputes. We only won a handful of disputes. The bank / credit card company will almost always side with their customer, even when provided receipts / terms of service / conversations with the customer where they admit the product met their needs.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#94

Post by datavirtue »

_se wrote: post #10
sklarsa wrote: post #5

I love the ending of this story, which isn't obvious from just looking at the title. The author identified key pain points around customer support, automated them, and went back to enjoying life. This is the kind of thing that gets me excited about the possibilities of technology and AI as a force multiplier, especially when working on side projects, "lifestyle" businesses, or even startups as a single founder.

No one wants to talk to an AI for customer support.

Much better than an unengaged, unempowered exploited human.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#95

Post by jermaustin1 »

2cynykyl wrote: post #49
jermaustin1 wrote: post #8

Side projects have always been the most exciting banes of my existence. I LOVE the initial rush of building and launching something. Even maintaining it is SUPER exciting for the first few months. The first customers are a rush of endorphins. Then the shine wears off. Life can't be kept on pause. Your partner wants a date night, but you have a backlog to work though. You got a frantic email from a customer that they…

I recently read an HN post where a LOT of people reported having the same rather specific dream that I have had many times (about being enrolled in a class they forgot about only to remember on the day of the final exam). It literally rocked my world to see evidence of how similar all of our 'wetware' is. And now I'm reading you describing a scenario I have experienced so many times, right down to 4pm breakfast and d…

I have done this loop dozens of times, sometimes for pleasure projects that are released for free, sometimes for projects that make $100/week. It's hard to maintain motivation when you are working for less nothing.

I've actually stopped launching software now. I devote my passion projects to things where the customer is a one-time interaction. No support, no emails, no late nights working out why there is a 500 that only happens on this ONE user at 1:16AM.

Now, I make rolling trays, refinish antique furniture, and garden. In the new year, I will be converting half of my workshop into a CBD/hemp farm to grow my own hemp to make my CBD tinctures and oils (currently I buy CBD flower from Oregon).

Software has stopped being my only source of joy and income. After 2 decades of programming almost every single day, my brain is tired, and I don't even know what it was all for.

My garden provides nectar for bees, vitamins and minerals, for myself and my family, sunshine for my body. My woodworking provides that sense of pride that I had with software without all the bugs (well sometimes there are grubs in the wood). My CBD is "medicine", and it helps my dad with his phantom limb pain, me with my Hashimoto's flareups, and other's with their anxiety and stress.

My software made people money...

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#96

Post by shash7 »

thehappyfellow wrote: post #61
shash7 wrote: post #37

Can relate, I've been in a similar boat running a small B2B Saas over the last 2 years. It does get easier over time. I've learnt a few tricks for managing early stage pain points. - You need to develop a polite but curt tone of voice for customer support. - Once your core product is built, its worthwhile spending some time automating the heck out of everything. This will save a TON of time in the near future. - Inve…

Do you have an example of “polite but curt” tone? I’m struggling to see what you mean.

Both xyproto and Gustomaximus have solid examples.

Here's more:

- Be direct, Hi, the xyz feature is available on the PRO plan. You can upgrade to the PRO plan at app.saas.com/billing

- Be brutal, Hi xyz, your card couldn't be charged for your Saas subscription, and hence your subscription has been deactivated. To reactivate, enter your card details app app.saas.com/billing

- Be honest, Hello xyz, thanks for the feature request. We'll put it in our wish list but can't guarantee it will make the cut.

- Be generous, Hey xyz, thanks for pointing that out. We have identified that as a bug and have pushed a fix for it. In the meanwhile, I've extended your trial by 7 days, on the house.

Couple of other tips:

- Dumb down your reply as much as possible. If you can't, throw your reply through chatgpt and make it dumb down.

- Unless a support issue is very basic, reply after a few minutes if you're near your computer. Usually users figure out things on their own if given some time.

- But don't allow issues to go stale. To really wow customer service, reply as humanely quick as possible, especially for existing customers.

- Make your support timelines clear somewhere in your product, eg: Our support will respond within max 48 hours, but most responses take 2-3 hours.

- Make your terms and privacy policy pages clear. People do read this. getharvest.com is a gold standard in this area.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#97

Post by razakel »

crazygringo wrote: post #54
_se wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one wants to talk to an AI for customer support.

Actually, I do. There's no wait in line. There's no waiting 2 min for each response in chat, or waiting 5 min on hold while the rep figures out what to do. And I've, shockingly, gotten issues resolved faster and better. Using one semi-popular consumer app -- once it pointed me to docs on their site that Google wasn't finding because I didn't know what keywords to use. And twice it escalated me to send a message to th…

I've recently encountered one that just sends you in a loop, and there is literally no way to actually speak to a real person. Unless you want to give them more money; they're very responsive in that case.

This is a billion-dollar company you have definitely heard of.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#98

Post by joshuaturner »

Before Reddit changed API access I built an iOS app called Pager (https://pager.app) that allowed users to set up alerts for content posted on Reddit. It had a lot of success but the issues you highlighted here kept me from monitizing the project.

Users became so demanding and I felt like if I began to take money from them it would only get worse. Looking back on it I'm not sure it was the best choice, but at least at the time the application being free felt like an important defense against users that you really could never satisfy.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#99

Post by jinushaun »

minkles wrote: post #3

Similar experience. I built a very small online helpdesk platform in the early 00s. This was to support my own business mostly. I had several paying customers after 6 months. They were HELL, particularly when it came to paying the bill. I sold the whole business for pocket money after a year to a small tech company who rewrote it into a fairly well known commercial product. I couldn't be bothered. I have ZERO regrets…

I’ve done enough freelancing and side jobs to know that I didn’t enjoy and—most importantly—didn’t care enough to get better at the customer service aspect of it.
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