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My frugal indie dev startup stack (2022)

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Re: My frugal indie dev startup stack (2022)

#191

Post by callalex »

gochi wrote: post #181
anonzzzies wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it bending backwards though? The problem is that saas solutions scale in cost as well, so when you grow you pay more. For a small startup, there is always a cut off where the price of the saas service(s) explode well over the utility but you are hooked and you can afford it now. But should you? Personally I enjoy profits and more profits are better. I cannot accept using tools that I don’t really need, but, at suc…

That doesn't apply when the cost is static (adhering to the above advice of dumping 1P).

I don’t understand what you mean by static in this context. 1Password costs more when you have more employees.

Re: My frugal indie dev startup stack (2022)

#192

Post by quickthrower2 »

commonlisp94 wrote: post #103
quickthrower2 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Battle of the SaaSes! The challenge: Can you build a profitable SaaS without giving money to other SaaSes!

People used to make websites by uploading some php or perl scripts to a shared server (or just buying a domain and pointing it at their home ip). In that context, I can't imagine someone writing an article like this.

The "shared server" concept is funny because as much as it seems old fashioned, it embodies the spirit of all the modern things:

* Serverless - in that you don't need to do server admin

* Online IDE - CPanel lets you make changes online to your code

* Continuous Integration - When you save the file online it is in immediate production

* Branching - you can copy a folder from one subdomain folder to another - this effectively gives you a poor man's git and environments in one swoop!

It is like a REPL of web dev. Nothing can come close to it, because once you made your changes they are live, there is no infuriatingly slow publishing step.

Re: My frugal indie dev startup stack (2022)

#193

Post by blacksmith_tb »

wink wrote: post #107
TheCapeGreek wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Use one of the OSS password managers to save on 1P. If you have a cloud sync service you already use, KeePassXC + cloud sync will solve having the passwords available everywhere you are. You can even use Syncthing for free (though I'd at least donate once off) since you can use it peer-to-peer between your devices. SEO really needs disruption here on price. Ubersuggest seems decent. On Intercom: OP can proba…

Not a 1Password fan, but if your business hinges on 3$/month you probably shouldn't do business.

Looks to me like the 1P biz rate is $7.99 per chair per month, so once you hire employee number 100, you're spending $9600/yr. That shouldn't put you out of business, but still could be spent elsewhere?

Re: My frugal indie dev startup stack (2022)

#194

Post by pembrook »

anonzzzies wrote: post #174
pembrook wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does nobody here see the irony in bending over backwards to avoid spending money on software products when the entire purpose of your business is to sell a software product? I could see if we were talking about a side project with no commercial intent. But this post is about an indie Saas founder...if a few hundred dollars a month is a barrier to success, then that's a pretty good sign your indie startup isn't starti…

Is it bending backwards though? The problem is that saas solutions scale in cost as well, so when you grow you pay more. For a small startup, there is always a cut off where the price of the saas service(s) explode well over the utility but you are hooked and you can afford it now. But should you? Personally I enjoy profits and more profits are better. I cannot accept using tools that I don’t really need, but, at suc…

I don’t doubt it’s possible, but I would love an example of a Saas product that successfully scales pricing from $10/m to $23,000/m on customer segments that aren’t enterprise-scale and has the kind of lock-in you describe.

I ask because I would like to quit my job and build a competitor ASAP.

Also, the problem isn’t the potential cost down the road. If you’re scaling on any Saas product to the $23k/m tier, then congrats, you’ve made it!

The problem is, there’s a 90%+ chance all your cost optimizing upfront was a giant waste of time, because a vast majority of startups don’t work out. And the ones that do often pivot.

Re: My frugal indie dev startup stack (2022)

#195

Post by callalex »

Propelloni wrote: post #138
dangus wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As long as you're willing to roll your own infrastructure Uh huh. This is why DevOps/SRE roles pay more than development roles. “Step 2: draw the rest of the owl”

They do? That's interesting news!

It pays more because the on-call/pager requirements can be absolutely soul-crushing.

Re: My frugal indie dev startup stack (2022)

#196

Post by pembrook »

callalex wrote: post #191
gochi wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't apply when the cost is static (adhering to the above advice of dumping 1P).

I don’t understand what you mean by static in this context. 1Password costs more when you have more employees.

If you have employees, you’re paying hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for them. Paying an extra $10/m to save 2 hours of their time is still a profitable trade.

Re: My frugal indie dev startup stack (2022)

#197

Post by suralind »

andrewfromx wrote: post #52

I love this list. One thing I'll add is I like to avoid using S3 or google's cloud storage AT ALL until I have > 30 GB. i.e. with google free tier of their compute engine you get a 30GB hard drive, 1GB ram, and two AMD EPYC 7B12 2250 MHz processors. So I make a fake bucket system using those free 30GB: https://github.com/andrewarrow/feedback/tree/main/filestorag... All the code I write is in bucket form, ready to fli…

Have you ever considered Cloudflare R2? It's so much cheaper (no networking).

Re: My frugal indie dev startup stack (2022)

#198

Post by devoutsalsa »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #79
devoutsalsa wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP & IANAL… by having the LLC in Delaware, it’s probably nominally easier to convert to a Delaware C corp at the desired time. Or maybe OP lives in Delaware.

As you said it’s not that much harder to convert. For startups it feels like it’s just “the thing you do” when in reality it ends up doubling your paperwork at the end of the year come tax time and siphoning off critical money if you’re bootstrapping. Sure if you have VC pockets go ahead and do it but for everyone else in bootstrap land just make your LLC in your home state if you live in the US. You’ll save yourself…

When I formed my first company, I tried to min/max my costs and tax savings. In the end I accomplished neither buy forming a California LLC with C-corp taxation. I did a very good job of not correctly reading a DIY book how to set up your own business. When my accountant saw it, he said “Wow, I’ve never seen one of these before. You picked the absolute worst possible choice. I’m going to show this to my friends!”

Re: My frugal indie dev startup stack (2022)

#199

Post by andrewfromx »

suralind wrote: post #197
andrewfromx wrote: post #52

I love this list. One thing I'll add is I like to avoid using S3 or google's cloud storage AT ALL until I have > 30 GB. i.e. with google free tier of their compute engine you get a 30GB hard drive, 1GB ram, and two AMD EPYC 7B12 2250 MHz processors. So I make a fake bucket system using those free 30GB: https://github.com/andrewarrow/feedback/tree/main/filestorag... All the code I write is in bucket form, ready to fli…

Have you ever considered Cloudflare R2? It's so much cheaper (no networking).

cheaper than zero???
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