Running Costs of a SaaS app • Hacker News Board

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#51

Post by moeamaya » Mon, Feb 20, 2017, 8:00 PM UTC

destroytoday wrote: post #2

:waves: Hi, I'm the founder of Cushion. I'd be happy to answer any questions about our running costs or transparency. (Thanks for posting, @Sujan!)

Hey Jonnie! I'm super curious about the move away from Siteleaf (esp since you're so close to the Oak guys), and how you+marketing team ended up on Craft?

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#52

Post by m3kw9 » Mon, Feb 20, 2017, 8:12 PM UTC

What do you guys actually do?

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#53

Post by destroytoday » Mon, Feb 20, 2017, 8:14 PM UTC

moeamaya wrote: post #51

destroytoday wrote: post #2

:waves: Hi, I'm the founder of Cushion. I'd be happy to answer any questions about our running costs or transparency. (Thanks for posting, @Sujan!)

Hey Jonnie! I'm super curious about the move away from Siteleaf (esp since you're so close to the Oak guys), and how you+marketing team ended up on Craft?

Hi! Great question. I love static websites, but we hit a point where we were updating the site constantly and needed dynamic content, like the running costs (which pulls its data from a google spreadsheet). There are certainly ways to do this with a static site, but with the size of the site and frequency that we update it, I really wanted to be able to hit save and it was live, rather than wait for everything to compile and publish. I still use Siteleaf for all of my other websites, but cushionapp.com is a different beast.

Also, lol at "marketing team". I am marketing team. :)

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#54

Post by destroytoday » Mon, Feb 20, 2017, 8:17 PM UTC

m3kw9 wrote: post #52

What do you guys actually do?

Cushion is a tool for freelancers to manage their schedule, forecast their income, and track invoices. Time tracking is also dropping soon.

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#55

Post by destroytoday » Mon, Feb 20, 2017, 8:18 PM UTC

maxmcd wrote: post #50

destroytoday wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks nice, but I'd never not pay for a service because you're paying somehow, or the service won't be around for long.

Well, they have a paid tier. I feel like there's room for a little optimism when superusers are funding the existence of free plans.

Oh, okay—I browsed the website and couldn't find anything about a paid tier. nod

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#56

Post by uladzislau » Mon, Feb 20, 2017, 8:37 PM UTC

Definitely not lean. From the first look - too many tools and expenses for unknown no name startup. I'm wondering how much of these can be painlessly cut off?

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#57

Post by destroytoday » Mon, Feb 20, 2017, 8:40 PM UTC

uladzislau wrote: post #56

Definitely not lean. From the first look - too many tools and expenses for unknown no name startup. I'm wondering how much of these can be painlessly cut off?

The name is Cushion.

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#58

Post by sly010 » Mon, Feb 20, 2017, 8:53 PM UTC

This info is actually very useful for me as it confirms my (rational) fear of accumulating expenses. It's way too easy to just spend $10-$50 here and there and before you know it you are spending $1000 a month, while the core service is still running on a single triad of web-server/worker-server/database-server combo with no redundancy.

On the other hand it probably contains everything I could think of and it's still only ~$1000 a month, which is not a lot if you work as freelancer and run your SaaS on the side.

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#59

Post by destroytoday » Mon, Feb 20, 2017, 8:59 PM UTC

sly010 wrote: post #58

This info is actually very useful for me as it confirms my (rational) fear of accumulating expenses. It's way too easy to just spend $10-$50 here and there and before you know it you are spending $1000 a month, while the core service is still running on a single triad of web-server/worker-server/database-server combo with no redundancy. On the other hand it probably contains everything I could think of and it's still…

Spot on. It's also tougher with individual users where $10-$15/mo is the norm. B2B services have it good.

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#60

Post by moeamaya » Mon, Feb 20, 2017, 9:05 PM UTC

destroytoday wrote: post #53

moeamaya wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey Jonnie! I'm super curious about the move away from Siteleaf (esp since you're so close to the Oak guys), and how you+marketing team ended up on Craft?

Hi! Great question. I love static websites, but we hit a point where we were updating the site constantly and needed dynamic content, like the running costs (which pulls its data from a google spreadsheet). There are certainly ways to do this with a static site, but with the size of the site and frequency that we update it, I really wanted to be able to hit save and it was live, rather than wait for everything to com…

Ah okay that makes a ton of sense with how dynamic the site now is. Looking back now, would you have still gone with a static site generator or started with something dynamic (question we're pondering now with monograph.io which is middleman)?

Also on the marketing team, I got head-faked by the growth freelancer, and assumed you went with a dynamic CMS to get more help. But man impressed with how much you still do!