From day 1, I intended to build @shoutoutso_ in public, and part of it is to be transparent with numbers, talk openly about our highs and lows, and share lessons as we grow!

I have been doing individual posts on numbers every week so wanted to one big thread with all updates 👇🏽

You can't pull the market towards your solution.

Markets move towards desired solutions naturally.

(Like folks lining up for ice cream on a hot summer's day).

Our ability to influence the market is much lower than you think.

It's better to build your product to conform to the direction the market is moving.

Before folks start mentioning Steve Jobs and the iPhone ("Steve built a product we didn't even know we needed!")

Nope.

Steve recognized the market's existing momentum and saw an opportunity.

"Everyone has a cell phone." (momentum)
"But nobody likes it." (opportunity)

Markets move towards solutions on their own; founders can't pull markets over to their solution.

If you're struggling to gain traction, you likely have a problem in your:

- market
- product
- channels

(or all three)

I'm doing an AMA on @IndieHackers.

Drop some questions in there! Happy to answer anything, esp around building side projects with a full-time job :)

https://t.co/da4Ael9TnE

My high level plans for Starter Story.

On almost quitting

cc: @daviswbaer

@daviswbaer How I find so many businesses to interview

@daviswbaer On balancing different projects

Let's talk about defining a price for one-time payment products.

When I saw that @gumroad supported Pay What You Want, I had no doubt that this would be the pricing strategy for CSS Scan.

I'd always recommend PWYW with a minimum price instead of a fixed pricing. Why? [...]

It turns out that some people just value your product more than others!

👉 With PWYW you're not only receiving the value that you expected but also donations for a good work.

Plus, with a minimum price, you'll at least earn the same amount you were supposed to if it was fixed.

💡 You only need 1 person paying more to already make it worth.

It's not easy, though. CSS Scan started at $1.99. It was selling like water, so I raised the price to $2.99, and after that, $3.99 - in about 3 days.

❗️ What I didn't expect was that 30% of people were paying more!

I realized that the price could still be higher by looking at the average of the sales prices. E.g., when it was $3.99, the average price of it was actually at $4.69!

I left it at $3.99 for 3 months. Based on the $4.69 average, 1 week ago I decided to raise it again to $4.99.

🧐 Now let's look at the data!

📈 Previous conversion rate: 6,5%
📉 Current conversion rate: 5,7%

It received 1403 views this month. Doing math:
(1403*6,5%)*3,99 = $363
(1403*5,7%)*4,99 = $399

🤔 So there's actually a growth in revenue
⬆️ $363 to $399
🎉 +$36 or +10% per month

1/ Come for the Content, Stay for the Community. A thread.

How to create a successful SaaS from scratch.

Steal the process I've used to build 5 $10k+ MRR SaaS's.

🧵 THREAD 🧵

#1 Find a problem

Problems are everywhere.

Everyone has one:

>> Agency Owners
>> Coaches
>> Freelancers

All you have to do is Investigate, ask Qs and deep dive into a niche.

Then find a painful problem that people wouldn't mind paying money to get rid of.

#2 Find an existing solution

This one is the easiest part of the process.

Here's what to do instead:

Go to Google and search for "[Problem] + software".

Compare the available solutions.

Pick the best one.

#3 Reverse engineer how it works

Break down the solution in it's core components.

Most SaaS are structured this way:

>> Database
>> Back-end
>> API
>> Front-end

This is easier if you already know programming.

But if you don't, you can pay someone to break it down for you.

#4 Make it better

Think of ways to make it better.

See what the current solution is lacking and fix it:

>> Is it too slow? Make it faster
>> Is it too ambiguous? Make it simpler
>> Does it lack features? Add them

The thing is to add VALUE to your solution.