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Developing a SaaS product isn’t for everybody but if you are a developer and want to expand your breadth it’s a wonderful and rewarding challenge. Nothing is e

Developing a SaaS product isn’t for everybody but if you are a developer and want to expand your breadth it’s a wonderful and rewarding challenge. Nothing is easy but there has never been more resources, support and tooling for indie SaaS makers. If you want to get started the indiehackers community is fantastic and my inbox is always open for answers/encouragement Shane at Cronitor.io

woutr_be 7y ago
The hardest part about building a SaaS product for me isn't the technical challenges (although there are some too), it's mostly anxiety. The thing that scares me the most is launching and receiving negative feedback, the thought alone is enough for me to stop working on it.
- AdrianEGraphene 7y ago
  Find someone who's already building a useful SaaS product that they're willing to take the responsibility for, and help them build it. If it fails, at least that person takes the brunt of the negative feedback?
  - woutr_be 7y ago
    I would honestly much rather overcome my fears. Being a solo founder and running a company is one of my goals.
- encoderer 7y ago
  If you are sensitive to negative feedback it’s likely you are also sensitive to positive feedback, and it comes in roughly equal amounts. I have an email file of positive feedback received over the years. When I read stuff like “Thanks for such an excellent product. I really like it in our stack.” It lifts my spirits again and again. It’s actually a chore to get a meaningful critique from a customer they just don’t care enough and will just cancel.
- glangdale 7y ago
  Don't internalize the feedback. There will always be haters and bashers (we had people trolling the newspaper article comment section when we got bought by Intel). The point is that if you provide a valuable service to someone you'll get meaningful feedback from them (maybe not all good!) and you can learn from that. Don't pay attention to people who are just recreationally crapping on you and you'll be fine. If you try to launch something, and it doesn't go well for anyone - well, you learned something. I do a martial art (Brazilian Juijitsu) where one of the cliches is "you win or you learn". It may be a cliche, but it applies to a lot of things. But to extend the metaphor, you have to get on the mat.
  - charliepark 7y ago
    "You win or you learn" is such a good framework — especially if you take time to process after each game / release / quarter / whatever. I heard an Ultimate coach say that once, and it totally changed my perspective on what we were doing out there.
- mddanishyusuf 7y ago
  I will suggest you to focus on positive feedback and sale your product to them in starting. Don't worry about negative feedback. You can improve negative feedback to improve your product. yes, I know not easy to build SAAS
- sondr3 7y ago
  Negative feedback does not mean your product is bad, just look at the Show HN post for Dropbox (and discussions about this post): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863. I especially love that the top post is someone saying that this is trivial to make on your own, something I hear far too often.
- bsaul 7y ago
  Negative feedback is better than no feedback. at least you know the person was sufficiently attracted to your product and idea and try it. It’s an opportunity to improve, and it’s also an encouragement. I’ve had people giving me bad feedback and then a few years later come back and finally use it. At this point i knew my product had improved. Also, you’d be surprised how most people sound harsh but actually don’t really mean to. They’ll most likely completely change their tone after you’ve contacted them and tell them you’d like their opinion on future improvements. Also, if by any chance those people finaly use your product, you have a high chance that they become strong proponents and advertisers for your product.
  - davnicwil 7y ago
    Right! Don't worry about negative feedback, because the much more likely scenario is no feedback as nobody cares. Getting anyone to care enough to give you any feedback at all is a sign you are onto something.
- ericd 7y ago
  If that's most of what's holding you back, you should try to power through that anxiety, I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised. Most people who bother to write in are very kind, and if you're this anxious about negative feedback, I'm guessing you're not the type to try the obnoxious stuff that pisses people off enough to write in with negative feedback. Making it very easy to cancel will help too.
- jwr 7y ago
  Negative feedback doesn't matter unless it's from customers (or potential customers). People tend to worry too much about negative feedback from non-customers. A good example of non-customers eager to provide negative feedback is right here: HN :-) I've been running a SaaS for a couple of years now and learned to take all feedback from customers very, very seriously, but also largely ignore feedback from non-customers. As an example, most people who whine about your B2B SaaS being "too expensive", are non-customers. I did some experiments with discounts, these people inevitably leave anyway. Most real customers will give you feedback that is constructive, which immediately makes it positive. E.g. rather than whine or complain they will point out a missing feature or show how the software fails. So, while anxiety is very real (solo founder anxiety is a major issue), it should not come from negative feedback.
- charliepark 7y ago
  I hear you. There's a good chance that, if you're like me, your anxiety about putting it out there leads you to tell yourself that if you just do this one other feature that it'll be ready. So you wait, and you do it. But it isn't quiiiite there yet. So you repeat that cycle. After a while, you've built up your expectations — both of how good it'd have to be to receive attention, and of what kind of attention you'd need to receive to justify the investment of time — that it's almost an impossible bar to meet. So … you don't ship. I'd encourage you to ship things earlier in the process. As Matt Mullenweg said, "if you’re not embarrassed when you ship your first version you waited too long." (https://ma.tt/2010/11/one-point-oh/ https://ma.tt/2010/11/one-point-oh/) I'd also be more than happy to give you friendly-but-honest feedback, if it'll help. Email in profile.
TurkishPoptart 7y ago
Nice! Any suggestions on people/groups to follow on indiehackers? Have you been to any of their meetups?
- mddanishyusuf 7y ago
  I'm active in some indie makers community and I share about my work there. So, I also learn from there experience. Makerlog, Makers Kitchen, Indiehackers, ProductHunt, etc.

woutr_be 7y ago

The hardest part about building a SaaS product for me isn't the technical challenges (although there are some too), it's mostly anxiety. The thing that scares me the most is launching and receiving negative feedback, the thought alone is enough for me to stop working on it.

AdrianEGraphene 7y ago
Find someone who's already building a useful SaaS product that they're willing to take the responsibility for, and help them build it. If it fails, at least that person takes the brunt of the negative feedback?
- woutr_be 7y ago
  I would honestly much rather overcome my fears. Being a solo founder and running a company is one of my goals.
encoderer 7y ago
If you are sensitive to negative feedback it’s likely you are also sensitive to positive feedback, and it comes in roughly equal amounts. I have an email file of positive feedback received over the years. When I read stuff like “Thanks for such an excellent product. I really like it in our stack.” It lifts my spirits again and again. It’s actually a chore to get a meaningful critique from a customer they just don’t care enough and will just cancel.
glangdale 7y ago
Don't internalize the feedback. There will always be haters and bashers (we had people trolling the newspaper article comment section when we got bought by Intel). The point is that if you provide a valuable service to someone you'll get meaningful feedback from them (maybe not all good!) and you can learn from that. Don't pay attention to people who are just recreationally crapping on you and you'll be fine. If you try to launch something, and it doesn't go well for anyone - well, you learned something. I do a martial art (Brazilian Juijitsu) where one of the cliches is "you win or you learn". It may be a cliche, but it applies to a lot of things. But to extend the metaphor, you have to get on the mat.
- charliepark 7y ago
  "You win or you learn" is such a good framework — especially if you take time to process after each game / release / quarter / whatever. I heard an Ultimate coach say that once, and it totally changed my perspective on what we were doing out there.
mddanishyusuf 7y ago
I will suggest you to focus on positive feedback and sale your product to them in starting. Don't worry about negative feedback. You can improve negative feedback to improve your product. yes, I know not easy to build SAAS
sondr3 7y ago
Negative feedback does not mean your product is bad, just look at the Show HN post for Dropbox (and discussions about this post): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863. I especially love that the top post is someone saying that this is trivial to make on your own, something I hear far too often.
bsaul 7y ago
Negative feedback is better than no feedback. at least you know the person was sufficiently attracted to your product and idea and try it. It’s an opportunity to improve, and it’s also an encouragement. I’ve had people giving me bad feedback and then a few years later come back and finally use it. At this point i knew my product had improved. Also, you’d be surprised how most people sound harsh but actually don’t really mean to. They’ll most likely completely change their tone after you’ve contacted them and tell them you’d like their opinion on future improvements. Also, if by any chance those people finaly use your product, you have a high chance that they become strong proponents and advertisers for your product.
- davnicwil 7y ago
  Right! Don't worry about negative feedback, because the much more likely scenario is no feedback as nobody cares. Getting anyone to care enough to give you any feedback at all is a sign you are onto something.
ericd 7y ago
If that's most of what's holding you back, you should try to power through that anxiety, I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised. Most people who bother to write in are very kind, and if you're this anxious about negative feedback, I'm guessing you're not the type to try the obnoxious stuff that pisses people off enough to write in with negative feedback. Making it very easy to cancel will help too.
jwr 7y ago
Negative feedback doesn't matter unless it's from customers (or potential customers). People tend to worry too much about negative feedback from non-customers. A good example of non-customers eager to provide negative feedback is right here: HN :-) I've been running a SaaS for a couple of years now and learned to take all feedback from customers very, very seriously, but also largely ignore feedback from non-customers. As an example, most people who whine about your B2B SaaS being "too expensive", are non-customers. I did some experiments with discounts, these people inevitably leave anyway. Most real customers will give you feedback that is constructive, which immediately makes it positive. E.g. rather than whine or complain they will point out a missing feature or show how the software fails. So, while anxiety is very real (solo founder anxiety is a major issue), it should not come from negative feedback.
charliepark 7y ago
I hear you. There's a good chance that, if you're like me, your anxiety about putting it out there leads you to tell yourself that if you just do this one other feature that it'll be ready. So you wait, and you do it. But it isn't quiiiite there yet. So you repeat that cycle. After a while, you've built up your expectations — both of how good it'd have to be to receive attention, and of what kind of attention you'd need to receive to justify the investment of time — that it's almost an impossible bar to meet. So … you don't ship. I'd encourage you to ship things earlier in the process. As Matt Mullenweg said, "if you’re not embarrassed when you ship your first version you waited too long." (https://ma.tt/2010/11/one-point-oh/ https://ma.tt/2010/11/one-point-oh/) I'd also be more than happy to give you friendly-but-honest feedback, if it'll help. Email in profile.

TurkishPoptart 7y ago

Nice! Any suggestions on people/groups to follow on indiehackers? Have you been to any of their meetups?

mddanishyusuf 7y ago
I'm active in some indie makers community and I share about my work there. So, I also learn from there experience. Makerlog, Makers Kitchen, Indiehackers, ProductHunt, etc.