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Bingo Card Creator will probably come in at about $30k profit for the year, which is a disappointment, but not enough of one to justify working on it. (Sales a

by patio11 13y ago

Bingo Card Creator will probably come in at about $30k profit for the year, which is a disappointment, but not enough of one to justify working on it. (Sales are down due to Google sending less organic and AdWords traffic, though costs are down impressively too, due to less AdWords.) I don't talk numbers about Appointment Reminder, but suffice it to say that it's both modestly successful and on the Long Slow SaaS Ramp of Death. I get about $1.5k in monthly royalties from book sales and in residual sales of the course on Lifecycle emails that I did last year. Hoping to launch another project like that in the near future and plow some of the profits back into AR - people are expensive.

bch 13y ago
Your candor in matters of business is _incredibly_ refreshing. Thank you.
jasonkester 13y ago
" Long Slow SaaS Ramp of Death" I've always liked that term (which I presume you used ironically). It's the most pessimistic way one could possibly describe the state of "If I don't ever touch anything from here on out, I'm still pretty much set for life." I assume it was a Venture Capitalist who coined it, since VCs don't like profitable companies that get slightly more profitable month after month. People, however, pretty much universally would think that was a rather nice predicament to be in. Congrats on the Ramping!
- patio11 13y ago
  The first time I heard it was Gail Goodman's eponymous talk at BoS 2012. It refers to the unlikelihood that you'll have a hockey stick revenue curve. Most SaaS businesses add recurring revenue fairly slowly and steadily, over time, and take a long while until they get to the "totally milk it!" part of the model.
  - jasonkester 13y ago
    Indeed, but to a one man shop, being stuck in the flat part of the curve at, say, $2k/month in profit and growing by $100/month/month is a completely different thing to a 10 man shop at the same place. One venture is about to fold. The other can safely quit its day job and start entrepreneuring full time without having to worry about starving in the immediate future.

by patio11 13y ago

bch 13y ago

Your candor in matters of business is _incredibly_ refreshing. Thank you.

jasonkester 13y ago

" Long Slow SaaS Ramp of Death" I've always liked that term (which I presume you used ironically). It's the most pessimistic way one could possibly describe the state of "If I don't ever touch anything from here on out, I'm still pretty much set for life." I assume it was a Venture Capitalist who coined it, since VCs don't like profitable companies that get slightly more profitable month after month. People, however, pretty much universally would think that was a rather nice predicament to be in. Congrats on the Ramping!

patio11 13y ago
The first time I heard it was Gail Goodman's eponymous talk at BoS 2012. It refers to the unlikelihood that you'll have a hockey stick revenue curve. Most SaaS businesses add recurring revenue fairly slowly and steadily, over time, and take a long while until they get to the "totally milk it!" part of the model.
- jasonkester 13y ago
  Indeed, but to a one man shop, being stuck in the flat part of the curve at, say, $2k/month in profit and growing by $100/month/month is a completely different thing to a 10 man shop at the same place. One venture is about to fold. The other can safely quit its day job and start entrepreneuring full time without having to worry about starving in the immediate future.