by phoenix24 on 4/19/19, 6:27 PM with 358 comments
Do you know any one man SaaS app that are profitable?
I'm asking this because I'm considering starting a SaaS app as a side project, and I'm looking for some inspiration.
Thanks!
Note: this is was previously on HN here[1], but it's been few years, and I'm sure a lot of one person startups are thriving than before.
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11924009
by lynnetye on 4/19/19, 8:42 PM
I would never have started Key Values w/o Indie Hackers, so I highly recommend you spend some time there. It's a bottomless treasure chest of inspiration.
by coderholic on 4/19/19, 10:33 PM
We started with a simple IP geolocation API, which now handles over 20 billion API requests per month. We've added new data to that service, such as IP type classification (hosting, isp, or business, and soon education too), IP to company, and carrier detection. And we've also launched some other products, like hosted domain API (all domains hosted on an IP, sometimes called reverse IP), IP ranges belonging to an organization, and an ASN API. We've got a lot in the pipeline too, including some domain related offerings (see https://host.io for an early preview).
So it's definitely possible :) What sort of SaaS product are you thinking of launching? Would be happy to chat! Shoot me an email at ben@ipinfo.io
by aacook on 4/20/19, 1:10 AM
I'm working on NanaGram (https://nanagram.co) solo and bootstrapped. Although I'm not making a full-time income yet, it's generating a profit. It's mostly automated.
NanaGram is the 3rd greatest generator of happiness and fulfillment in my life (after my wife and my dog). I get a constant stream of good vibes from customers, most recently voicemails from grandmothers! (https://nanagram.co/blog/feedback-by-vm)
Good luck :)
by bentossell on 4/19/19, 9:19 PM
Wtf am I talking about?! I’m basically showing people the power of not needing to code to build something. I built an Airbnb “clone” by linking webflo, Airtable and zapier. Basically trying to show people they can build their first version without the classic “needing a technical cofounder” or “learning to code”. Tools out there right now are insane and can help you get to a place you couldn’t previously.
Okay Lynne is a recent friend and been huge in helping me the last couple weeks.
I did the normal shit of b2c (and still do) but the power of b2b is huge. I flipped my strategy and went from ~10k one month to now 30k (yes got 3.5k more since my initial comment).
by jwr on 4/20/19, 4:26 AM
* Do not expect any kind of explosive growth, especially in B2B. Expect linear growth. Search for "slow SaaS ramp of death" for a pretty good description of what to expect.
* Marketing is a huge problem. If you look around, you will see lots of marketers talking about marketing. In. Short. Sentences. With. Deep. Meaning. But then you'll notice that they mostly talk about marketing marketing apps for marketers. Unless you are building apps that help marketers market, much of this advice will be useless. And the short sentences are annoying.
* Paid ads are a waste of money, though I heard that with 4-5 digit budgets you can make them work. I never could.
* It is extremely difficult to get a working SaaS business at price points below $20/month. If you look around, businesses with these price points are VC-sponsored and are burning through investor money. I would not start a sustainable SaaS with price points below $40/month.
* When thinking about pricing, remember about support. There is no such thing as "no support", every product needs it, and it costs time and money.
* It's hard. Everything is hard. And there is always too much to do.
* Anxiety eats at you. No matter how good you are at keeping it at bay (I was pretty good), it will eventually catch up with you. I still don't have a good solution to that.
* If you pick a good niche, you can live in a world with nice and smart customers. It's a good world!
* When planning, be careful to set goals based on realistic financial assumptions. If this is to be your full-time job, it needs to support your business (including all hardware and office costs), you (your salary, insurance, retirement savings) and your family. People tend to vastly underestimate how much revenue is needed, especially if their past experience is mostly living with parents or surviving on ramen as a college student.
* I would not trade this for a "normal" job, ever :-)
by cperciva on 4/19/19, 10:22 PM
Mind you, it isn't a side project -- this has been my full time job for a dozen years. Starting a successful SaaS company as a side project is much harder.
by deforciant on 4/19/19, 10:55 PM
Still doing full-time consulting but hopefully in the next year or two I will transition full-time to it (if it's ever needed). I do plan to hire someone for marketing or sales, maybe on contracting terms and not full-time.
by mrskitch on 4/20/19, 12:25 AM
I run a one-person (me!), bootstrapped business called browserless (https://browserless.io). I started it after trying to wrangle headless Chrome for a wishlist app, and desperately needing something like it. Obviously it wasn't around, so I pivoted and built it from the ground up.
I'd be super happy to answer questions. You can also email me at joel at browserless dot io. Anything and everything is game!
EDIT: Forgot to post how it's doing, which you can see on IH here: https://indiehackers.com/product/browserless
by ezekg on 4/19/19, 9:43 PM
by charliepark on 4/20/19, 12:35 AM
I built it up as my full-time gig and ran it initially for about six years. At that point: A) I had hired someone part-time to do customer support; B) the feature set was stable enough that it didn't need constant attention; C) I was missing working with people. So I moved out to SF and started working with a startup as an engineer. Enjoyed that for two years, then moved on to another startup where I was for three years (first as an engineer, then had a chance to move into management [which I also enjoyed, but where I missed making things]).
This past October I left that startup to go back to working on my own thing. Revenue coming in to the app dropped significantly while I was doing other things, but since coming back to it I've rebuilt it (well … 90% of it) and am soon going to be shifting focus to improving business operations (in addition to building out some new features). My hope is that within a year or so it'll be back up to its earlier customer levels, but I haven't spent a lot of time forecasting that, and growth could be slow. It'll be a while before it'll support us living in SF, but that's somewhere on the horizon.
What worked for me might not work for you (it was a long time ago!), but in case it's helpful, I built a very basic MVP (literally a spreadsheet) to scratch my own itch and then shared it, for free, online. (At the time I wasn't thinking of it as a business, just as a way to help people.) It got a good amount of traction. I was able to build on the attention the free version got (and the feedback people shared) and to develop a web-based, subscription-based version that required less work and gave more value to customers than the free version.
I haven't ever taken funding, and am so, so glad I haven't.
by anthony_franco on 4/19/19, 6:46 PM
by marinosbern on 4/20/19, 2:13 AM
Cheers to all the amazing engineers here who run ethical, douche-free, sustainable businesses
[1] https://parachute.live/app (app), https://parachute.live/platform (B2B)
by albydarned on 4/19/19, 9:14 PM
We provide business texting services to businesses of all sizes. Some of our customers include a city, vet clinic, glass shop, screen printing firm, boutique retailers, and on and on. Really any business can benefit from adding texting to their communications.
My advice: Pick something that will keep you interested and motivated to come back to when life gets busy.
by mark-ruwt on 4/19/19, 8:49 PM
I'm happy with where I'm at, but there's a lot I would've done differently. Holler if you'd like to chat about it at all: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markphillip/
by azhawkes on 4/20/19, 2:34 AM
I really enjoy the freedom and variety that comes with running a SaaS, and while the grass is always greener on the other side, I think I'm pretty much ruined for a regular job at this point. So beware!
One piece of unsolicited advice: if I were to start all over again as a solo bootstrapper, I would probably do something less technical. As others here have pointed out, there is a LOT more to running a SaaS than just building software, and it's often hard to find the time or brain space to give all the facets of your business the attention they deserve.
by reubenswartz on 4/20/19, 1:17 PM
If I could be so bold as to pass along advice, I would say:
- keep the app itself as simple as possible. “This is so simple, even Steve Jobs would say it’s too simple” simple. This makes creating, testing, describing, and supporting the app as easy as possible. And if people can use it and provide meaningful feedback on what else they need, you can always decide to add it later.
- don’t try to reinvent the wheel on marketing. See what has worked for similar products (indie hackers is awesome).
- make sure you talk to prospects, customers, friends, and family. Don’t just sit there writing code. Having lifestyle flexibility as a solo founder is awesome, but it’s important to make time to be social. As much as I don’t miss commutes, office politics, etc, we are social creatures, even us introverts, and if you’re just coding or emailing or whatever and not actually talking to people, it’s going to be hard.
- try to pick a market where you enjoy talking to your customers. I really like this part of my job. I know some other people who for whatever reason tend to have unpleasant interactions with their customers and it's not nearly as fun.
So I’m told. :)
by idlewords on 4/19/19, 9:18 PM
by davej on 4/19/19, 9:00 PM
by srecio on 4/19/19, 9:09 PM
You can try sending me something at https://pipefile.com/steve
by joshtronic on 4/20/19, 1:19 AM
The project was originally started in 2013 as an open source side project, while I running a network of niche social networks full-time (also quite profitable for a while), after serving as CTO of a daily deal company, that stemmed from my need for reliable holiday information without the overhead of actually maintaining said data on a regular basis.
A shift to a premium model was made in 2016 and the first month into being a premium service, it was profitable (sans my time ;) and has grown to ~$1500 MRR.
Ironically I started the project as a way to NOT have to maintain said data and now part of my day to day involves maintaining data accuracy... and sales outreach... and DevOps to improve... my own development efforts... and... and...
Recently received my YC rejection email for the upcoming batch (actually interviewed with another project with a partner a while back), but still hustlin'. Flying solo is great, but definitely can't get caught up in the echo chamber. Would highly recommend building a peer group of founders / other hackers & hustlers to meet / chat with regularly.
by lprubin on 4/20/19, 4:59 AM
by simon_weber on 4/19/19, 8:43 PM
Since there are questions about company formation in the comments, here's my notes on US taxes/legal from when I got started: https://www.simonmweber.com/2016/07/11/launching-a-chrome-ex...
by davidbanham on 4/19/19, 8:36 PM
I split my time about 50/50 between the the SaaS side of my business and consulting. The consulting revenue stream is much larger than the SaaS one but it's growing.
And
by nate on 4/19/19, 10:33 PM
by monokai_nl on 4/20/19, 9:15 AM
I'm also running https://monokai.pro — a professional color scheme for coders.
I've done both on the side of co-running a design agency. Last year I've spent quite some time on the logo design tool. It helps that I enjoy programming, learning and making stuff, but something's always got to give. I've sacrificed a lot of weekends, but luckily the foundation is there now.
Both projects are profitable and have quite different mechanics. I've done almost no marketing for the color scheme, whereas the logo machine needs a lot of marketing.
by anthonylee on 4/19/19, 10:21 PM
by Axsuul on 4/19/19, 9:02 PM
by thakobyan on 4/19/19, 10:57 PM
by colinbartlett on 4/19/19, 9:11 PM
Though I very recently took on a partner to try and grow it because I believe it can be more than just “profitable” but perhaps actually a sole income source one day. It’s great to have a “one person” company but I feel it’s even better to have a partner to help inspire and motivate you, especially when it’s a side project and not a full time job.
by jborak on 4/21/19, 8:06 PM
With it you can create a secure public endpoints (HTTP/TCP) from any network. The client can host static sites, reverse-proxy to other hosts, terminate TLS. It manages Lets-Encrypt for you. The higher-end tiers provides access logs, metrics, firewall rules, and service-health checks.
With a public endpoint you can pretty much do anything. I initially built it to reduce my hosting costs to something minuscule (which it did). I found alternatives as I developed it, but I was so interested in the problem I continued and created some features that aren't available in others. I still have more ideas in the pipeline.
I've been putting together video tutorials to showcase what you can do with it and how to use it. I'm focusing on people that self-host since most developers/hackers understand the concept. A lot of my registrations and customers have discovered Packetriot through my YouTube channel.
by tom-jh on 4/19/19, 10:02 PM
Today 3+ years later it's a three person team. Maybe in another year I can have reasonable work life balance again. Maybe.
by _august on 4/19/19, 6:49 PM
by endriju on 4/20/19, 7:32 AM
The Saas i'm running is Gridoc (https://gridoc.com) - it pays for the car and a few bills. I'm pretty sure it could be doing better but it has been on auto-pilot for a couple years now (started a family).
by discobean on 4/20/19, 12:53 PM
I bootstrapped it myself, but there are now others that help remotely (consultants, contractors) on some features, fixes testing and marketing.
by sergiomattei on 4/19/19, 8:12 PM
by Schweigi on 4/19/19, 10:33 PM
The first with is on auto pilot and does $800MRR. My second is called TeamCal (https://www.teamcalapp.com) and I’m actively working on it. Usually 2-3 hours/week. Its doing $1700MRR and growing.
TeamCal provides a scheduling view for Google Calendar and is used by cleaning/call center/staffing companies.
If your interested about some of the work involved, I documented part of the journey on Indie Hackers: https://www.indiehackers.com/product/teamcal
by krm01 on 4/19/19, 11:14 PM
by nghiatran_feels on 4/20/19, 3:06 AM
He's ambitious to be a better alternative version of Charles Proxy. The best of Proxyman is that it's native app, lightweight and super easy to use for iOS dev newbie
by enoj on 4/20/19, 8:57 PM
Have about 100 paying customers.
Yeah everybody hates popups. But I saw a potential for a product and wanted to try doing the SaaS thing after a decade selling software and doing consultancy. It has been a lot of fun, it is thrilling and scary to have my JS loaded on some high traffic sites.
by jivings on 4/19/19, 9:14 PM
by clementmas on 4/20/19, 5:27 AM
by mfrye0 on 4/19/19, 9:31 PM
I don't recommend anyone follow this path now having been through it myself. Being a solo founder is absolutely brutal.
by stevekemp on 4/20/19, 4:46 AM
by kcdev on 4/20/19, 3:08 AM
by vital101 on 4/19/19, 8:35 PM
by docsapp_io on 4/20/19, 5:42 AM
I have been working on DocsApp for 3 years and only now start profitable. The hardest problem I faced was marketing and sales. Development is only 30% of the work.
by jbenders on 4/19/19, 11:04 PM
by pawurb on 4/19/19, 8:42 PM
by algodaily on 4/20/19, 12:49 AM
And we're just getting started! Still very much a side project too.
by ryanckulp on 4/26/19, 2:34 PM
i acquired it from a florist about 1.5 years ago and have been going deep on the industry ever since.
my challenge is (obviously) not having domain expertise, but i compensate by listening to customers, getting feedback from the former owner (now a lifetime user), and doing what i do: hack.
by fullstackjob on 4/20/19, 3:53 AM
by mdbm on 4/26/19, 2:09 PM
by mickel on 4/21/19, 9:08 PM
by marketgod on 4/19/19, 11:11 PM
by fiatjaf on 4/20/19, 12:36 PM
I recommend first trying out plugins and extensions for established products instead of trying to launch the new Facebook.
Stuff like https://www.ragic.com/, for example, are niches no one seem to be exploring.
by owenwil on 4/19/19, 9:25 PM
I’ll admit it’s a struggle to properly grow at this point, but I’m trying to figure it out... but it’s been a fun ride so far. Now I’m moving to build the tools I already made for myself that make it easy to build paid content + communities without the developer skills I had to learn to get here... hopefully going into beta soon.
by StephenCanis on 4/20/19, 3:09 AM
by rorygibson on 4/29/19, 8:56 AM
It lets you put a payment button on any website and pop up a cart; single products, donations, deposits, subscription / recurring payments.
Customers are using it to power charity donations, self published book sales, physical product sales & shipping, membership fees for clubs and so on.
You can integrate it to Mailchimp and use it to put together a paid subscription email newsletter... or use it to make your own Patreon at much much lower cost to you.
It uses Stripe as the gateway in the back end. (To use Stripe Checkout you still need a back end to handle token exchange. Trolley handles that for you.)
by throwaway13000 on 4/19/19, 9:11 PM
by markhalonen on 4/22/19, 8:33 PM
by beesmum on 4/19/19, 9:26 PM
by seektable on 4/21/19, 1:02 PM
Depending on your SaaS app niche and your marketing capabilities it might take some time to get stable and good-enough cash flow.
by jordiee on 4/20/19, 2:34 AM
by osrec on 4/19/19, 9:42 PM
by throw03172019 on 4/19/19, 7:47 PM
by sauravt on 4/20/19, 10:08 AM
by foxhop on 4/19/19, 10:58 PM
by alaserm on 4/20/19, 12:30 PM
by wayoverthecloud on 4/20/19, 1:49 PM
by lazyjones on 4/20/19, 8:48 AM
by kevinslin on 4/23/19, 3:02 AM
by logronoide on 4/20/19, 12:04 PM
by js2 on 4/20/19, 3:01 AM
by nocubicles on 4/21/19, 7:20 PM
by AlchemistCamp on 4/20/19, 4:03 AM
by sjs382 on 4/20/19, 12:44 AM
by wiidude32 on 4/20/19, 5:39 AM
by cx42net on 4/30/19, 12:47 PM
by leozeba on 4/19/19, 8:41 PM
by voipspear on 4/19/19, 10:28 PM
VoIP Spear is a service for people who use VoIP. It monitors your Internet connection and alerts when you have a call quality issue.
by iabdulin on 4/30/19, 9:33 PM
by BrandonM on 4/20/19, 12:53 AM
by perakojotgenije on 4/20/19, 2:13 PM
by lukaszkups on 4/22/19, 5:30 AM
by ca98am79 on 4/21/19, 7:15 PM
by pk4636 on 4/21/19, 5:11 AM
by user7878 on 4/20/19, 9:53 AM
P.S. Ideas are not mine I'm just doing development and can't disclose more details here.
by gortok on 4/19/19, 8:22 PM
by provlem on 4/20/19, 2:55 PM
by pk4636 on 4/21/19, 5:11 AM
by umen on 4/21/19, 8:33 PM
by osakasaul on 4/22/19, 12:40 PM
by osakasaul on 4/22/19, 12:39 PM
by ratling on 4/19/19, 11:52 PM
This whole ycombinator post is stupid as hell.
by tyingq on 4/19/19, 10:54 PM