Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 119 posts

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#51

Post by dx-800 »

Coincidentally it's been almost exactly 7 years since I started my solo SaaS business, which is now how I make my living.

My product started off 25 years ago as a simple intranet web app I wrote in Classic ASP running on a PC in the office of my father's mobile home dealership. I had taken a break from corporate software development to run the dealership for him. I did that for seven years, then got back into software, first working for Symantec for two years (Ugh), and then as a freelancer/contractor.

Then in 2019 I noticed that the handful of small software businesses that used to service the mobile home dealership industry had all gone under. So I revisited my old dealership program and revamped/rewrote it to turn it into a SaaS product. My first two customers were in the summer of 2019, and it's grown steadily since then to about 80 dealerships using it in 13 states.

In my case, I knew a lot about the industry (mobile home retail) I was creating a product for, and was also lucky in that there were not (at the time) any competitors. (Unfortunately, since then there are at least three companies competing with me in the space.)

Creating a real, money-making business like this as solo developer is not easy. The programming is the fun part for me, but, as much as I don't like to admit it, that's the less important part in many ways. Selling is the hard part. And providing good support is crucial. I actually like doing support, but I suspect that a lot of developers would hate it.

The whole thing has been kind of a slow grind in many ways, but there's something very satisfying about making real money (and adding real values to customers) from something you created yourself from scratch.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#52

Post by scoofy »

I've been working on golfcourse.wiki on and off for like five years. It's a good website, it has users (probably, you never can tell these days), monetization is going to be much more difficult than I originally imagined. I run the thing on a shoe string (about $60/month), and it shows, plenty of 502 Errors when the App Engine server has to restart. It's hard to be cheap, have tons of data loading, and also be polished.

Still... Build something! Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. I'm just trying to leave the world better than I found it.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#54

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

fnoef wrote: post #36
rozumem wrote: post #26

I fell into the same trap of "build, and they will come" multiple times. Reading The Mom Test changed my perspective on things. I cannot recommend that book enough. Good luck. It's possible. I started my SaaS 8 yrs ago and it more than pays for my lifestyle.

I read the book. It’s more entertainment than useful. I just don’t know how to find the people who have problems. I don’t have specific domain knowledge nor I built a following / circle of people to whom I can sell

> I just don’t know how to find the people who have problems

They are all over the internet. Including in this thread, if you read carefully. e.g., OP is clearly stating a problem.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#55

Post by maxaw »

shivaniShimpi_ wrote: post #49
fnoef wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just don’t understand how does it work. Like where do you find such people? How do you make them beg you? Isn’t building in a saturated market kind of proves that there is demand?

the begging thing is a bit of a myth imo. what it actually looks like is you describe the problem out loud to someone and they go , god yes that's exactly it - before you've even mentioned a solution. that reaction is the signal. you're not manufacturing demand you're just finding where it already exists. the hardest part is you need to talk to a lot of people before you find that reaction, that was the biggest pitfa…

Begging is hyperbole, its as you describe. Just looking for the strong reaction

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#56

Post by maxaw »

fnoef wrote: post #37
maxaw wrote: post #34

It is “simple” Find out what people want Make it Sell it to them Unfortunately, engineer brain loves to skip step 1 Ive recently become friends with a younger person who makes a lot of money off vibe coded mini saas. He is fanatical about step 1. If he can’t find n people begging him to make it he will go validate the next idea. He’s ruthless with this aspect and will drop an idea instantly if people dont care. It re…

I just don’t understand how does it work. Like where do you find such people? How do you make them beg you? Isn’t building in a saturated market kind of proves that there is demand?

If you cant find the people, may not be the right market for you :) ideally you are exposed to target market directly, and daily. Or you team up with a cofounder who is. Re: building in saturated market - “prove” is a strong word. It’s another signal. And you can judge for yourself how strong :) i dont think anything can replace direct customer feedback

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#57

Post by openclawclub »

dx-800 wrote: post #51

Coincidentally it's been almost exactly 7 years since I started my solo SaaS business, which is now how I make my living. My product started off 25 years ago as a simple intranet web app I wrote in Classic ASP running on a PC in the office of my father's mobile home dealership. I had taken a break from corporate software development to run the dealership for him. I did that for seven years, then got back into softwar…

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#58

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

dx-800 wrote: post #51

Coincidentally it's been almost exactly 7 years since I started my solo SaaS business, which is now how I make my living. My product started off 25 years ago as a simple intranet web app I wrote in Classic ASP running on a PC in the office of my father's mobile home dealership. I had taken a break from corporate software development to run the dealership for him. I did that for seven years, then got back into softwar…

Don’t dismiss the fact that you didn’t start trying to find a problem to start a business without knowing the vertical. You knew the industry not just from talking to customers - you were the first best customer of your own product. You had an “unfair advantage”.

I just can’t fathom how anyone thinks about starting a software business especially these days without first thinking about what their unfair advantage is when writing software is so easy with AI.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#59

Post by blemis »

Engineering is not running a business. Different skill set.. you can learn it, but a side business skill needs marketing, operations, etc.. even a small one. You could make the best mousetrap in the world, but if no one knows about it, it goes no where. I ran into this many times.. great idea, could solve a lot of problems, but could never figure out how to market it.
Post reply on HN