Since the start of the summer I have been building a SaaS for companies doing inspections and maintenance on separators, a certain kind of device for cleaning water used in gas stations, restaurants, garages etc.
I have been dreaming of living on my own product since I started as a developer 10 years ago and tried a lot of different ideas out but it just wasn't happening.
When I found out that my girlfriend was pregnant with twins in spring 2022 there was this now or never moment. I thought there would never again be enough time available in my life to do something like that.
I decided to quit my job to put a gun against my head. Then I contacted hundreds of people on LinkedIn and other places asking them if they had an idea on a product to build. One guy responded telling me about how far behind in digitalization his industry is and that we could potentially do something here.
I went with it and have been building it since.
As the product starts to mature we have showed it to potential customers and the response has been amazing. We have been promised around $8000 / month from 8-9 companies as soon as we finish a couple of more features and we estimate that there are at least 100 potential customers in our country.
This autumn has been so intense since I'm doing this while doing 40h/week consultation do get money plus having 2 newborn kids at home. I feel very lucky though that I finally got an opportunity to go all in on my own product.
One thing I have learned:
There are so many software developers with both the skills and drive to create a business, but what is super hard is to just come up with an idea. The key is to connect with people outside of our community. The whole world is waiting to be digitalized and our skills are in short supply. The further away from the normal dev community you go, the less crowded will it be and the easier for you to find an opportunity to add value.
Very nice. Having walked down this path: get the signature under the contract or an advance before you build "one more feature".
In my experience "one more feature" is usually a very polite way to say "no", and it can be a sign that you haven't identified the proper solution to their "hair-on-fire" problem yet.
(I've built the exact features prospects requested, and after showing the built feature I usually got another excuse, i.e. "I would also need feature y first", or "not right now", "no budget ATM",... )
If you nail the hair-on-fire problem people should be considering how to finance it or start asking "by when can we use it".
Having been a developer first, I also hugely underestimated the importance of a proper ICP, value proposition etc. Your messaging might be a big part of the reason that people are saying no or yes on the spot.
"We have been promised around $8000 / month from 8-9 companies as soon as we finish a couple of more features and we estimate that there are at least 100 potential customers in our country."
This assumptions have been the death sentence of startups since the dawn of time.
Don't get your hopes up just with that alone. Don't count on them to buy.
Just wanted to reiterate the importance of the parent message.
I have been dreaming of living on my own product since I started as a developer 10 years ago and tried a lot of different ideas out but it just wasn't happening. When I found out that my girlfriend was pregnant with twins in spring 2022 there was this now or never moment. I thought there would never again be enough time available in my life to do something like that. I decided to quit my job to put a gun against my head. Then I contacted hundreds of people on LinkedIn and other places asking them if they had an idea on a product to build. One guy responded telling me about how far behind in digitalization his industry is and that we could potentially do something here. I went with it and have been building it since.
As the product starts to mature we have showed it to potential customers and the response has been amazing. We have been promised around $8000 / month from 8-9 companies as soon as we finish a couple of more features and we estimate that there are at least 100 potential customers in our country.
This autumn has been so intense since I'm doing this while doing 40h/week consultation do get money plus having 2 newborn kids at home. I feel very lucky though that I finally got an opportunity to go all in on my own product.
One thing I have learned: There are so many software developers with both the skills and drive to create a business, but what is super hard is to just come up with an idea. The key is to connect with people outside of our community. The whole world is waiting to be digitalized and our skills are in short supply. The further away from the normal dev community you go, the less crowded will it be and the easier for you to find an opportunity to add value.