Should I open source my SaaS app?

#1

Post by HackerNewAddict » Wed, May 15, 2019, 4:34 PM UTC

Hi guys, I implemented a SaaS application which can send and receive appointment reminders or take confirmation from dental clinic's patients. But it can be used for any other automated communication purposes too since a user can write rules for automated communication from the website's dashboard. Currently it is only available for OpenDental database. There are two parts of the application; 1- AppointmentHelper Synchronizer a windows service runs on the server where OpenDental's MySQL database is installed and pulls the unsynced/updated appointments/patients etc. and uploads on the web server using the below api. 2- AppointmentHelper Api an aspnet core web api.

Technology stack: ASP.NET Core (2.2), Windows Service (Topshelf), Twilio, mailgun, wkhtmltopdf (for pdf reports) and SqLite.

Background: It was developed for my friend's relative (dentist), but when it was complete and ready to launch for some reason my friend's relationship with his relative turned sour costing me my first client. After that I didn't try any other marketing even I canceled my Azure VM subscription and stooped the website.

Now the complete solution is on GitHub in a private repo and I'm thinking to make it open source. But before I do that I'd like to know what you guys recommend. Would there be any market for it? Or do I have a chance if I do some marketing?

Thank you so much!

Re: Should I open source my SaaS app?

#2

Post by nuare046 » Thu, May 16, 2019, 2:15 AM UTC

Hi there, firstly may I know what kind of goals or purposes that you try to achieve after it becomes open source? Besides, I am currently developing an asset management system where it will have a feature that able to send reminders/reports to the assigned technician when some of the assets are broken. Perhaps, your solution would be the way to achieve that. Thanks

Re: Should I open source my SaaS app?

#3

Post by HackerNewAddict » Thu, May 16, 2019, 5:45 PM UTC

nuare046 wrote: post #2

Hi there, firstly may I know what kind of goals or purposes that you try to achieve after it becomes open source? Besides, I am currently developing an asset management system where it will have a feature that able to send reminders/reports to the assigned technician when some of the assets are broken. Perhaps, your solution would be the way to achieve that. Thanks

Absolutely. So someone else can use it and benefit from it.

Since I'm not doing any marketing and honestly don't even know how to do any kind of marketing. I'm a full time developer working for another company.

If you would like to use it you can have it free (MIT). Just send me your github username and I'll add you.

Re: Should I open source my SaaS app?

#4

Post by nuare046 » Fri, May 17, 2019, 1:28 PM UTC

HackerNewAddict wrote: post #3

nuare046 wrote: post #2

Hi there, firstly may I know what kind of goals or purposes that you try to achieve after it becomes open source? Besides, I am currently developing an asset management system where it will have a feature that able to send reminders/reports to the assigned technician when some of the assets are broken. Perhaps, your solution would be the way to achieve that. Thanks

Absolutely. So someone else can use it and benefit from it. Since I'm not doing any marketing and honestly don't even know how to do any kind of marketing. I'm a full time developer working for another company. If you would like to use it you can have it free (MIT). Just send me your github username and I'll add you.

nuar046, Thanks!