I've built a SaaS app (rosterbird) that has grown organically to $1600/MRR without any marketing from my side. This was over a period of over 3(!) years and has been a sideproject all that time.
This obviously exhibits (very early) signs of a Product Market Fit and the gut feel is telling me to focus on the business which seems to have found a footing on its own. But, the few times I’ve tried to focus on it in the past, I’ve been turned off by my own inability to understand the product exactly and the target audience I should focus on, and learn what exactly the next step I should take with it.
So, everytime I’d think of and plan multiple possible things (marketing, sales, pivoting, positioning, etc) and ultimately end up in a deadlock and will abandon the pursuit altogether. During one such abandonment I started building a new SaaS product (keenly.so).
I built a small MVP of keenly and showed it to people who I thought would benefit from this and the feedback was very positive with some willing to pay for it after it's released.
Now, I'm confused as to which one I should proceed with.
On one hand, I have a product which is growing but it's in a niche market and I fear I don't quite understand how exactly I should take the next step or who/how to even market it. On the other hand, the new product is in an established (a bit crowded) market but something I understand well. And also, I believe I have a reliable marketing plan for it as well (ofcourse, no guarantee it'll work, but there's a plan atleast).
I've went full-time on this, so it is imperative for me to choose a right path and proceed, therefore here I am.
Once again, any help or guidance highly appreciated! I'm happy to answer any questions that would help.
Thanks in advance!
It's pretty awesome that you've got something making $1600/mo without any proper marketing. It seems insane to me to abandon that effort for something else. Not to mention, if your next project takes off, you'll probably find yourself in the same situation again.
I would double down on this one. You'll likely have a lot of learning to do, but it's gonna be a good education and possibly very profitable.
But then, only when I received good feedback I thought to proceed with it.
I won't deny, the new thing is definitely appealing because it's new. But you make a good point about finding myself in the same place again.
I've had some good options presented here and I'm leaning towards focusing on rosterbird and try to get a growth engine going and then, maybe, once it's sustainable, I can try new things if I still wanted to.
The smart money though is on the thing that's working. Take the time to understand why it's working, and how it might grow future wise, and user wise. This is not fun like programming but makes the things you build more successful.
At the same time put some limited hours into keenly. It makes a good distraction, and we all like a change from time to time.
Always remember that building things successfully takes multiple skills. You've got the programming down, but learning the rest can be just as satisfying.
And don't be scared to ask for help. There are lots of successful people around you who can help if you just bother to ask.
Focus on the product that’s making money with minimal effort. You will learn a lot in the process (it may make sense to bring in some contractors to help you along in certain areas). Maybe you find you really don’t want to take that any further, at least you’ll have a much stronger understanding of the product, market, etc which will help you sell it off for a higher price and fund focus on the next thing.
No other words are necessary.
Depends why you are doing this. If it is for the money stick to the first project that is making money. It has a much higher chance of succeeding.
The advantage of affiliate marketing is a 3rd party takes the financial risk that it doesn't increase sales. The downside is you don't own your acquisition funnel. If both parties are aligned, it can work out.
It doesn't matter how great either idea is if you can't get people to look at it. Focus there.
If you would be interested you can email me on my mail in bio and we can discuss.
Also, the whole selling process was a huge turnoff for me as the offers were at most 3x arr and lots of tirekickers when I posted on acquire.
Sounds like you should focus on growing rosterbird's MRR to a sustainable income for you, and then you can decide whether you want to keep working on it or attempt something new like keenly.so