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51 Comments

I made $3,000 in 16 attempts to launch my SaaS

It's been almost 3 months since I launched my first profitable SaaS MentionTools.com. Initially, the main type of monetization was monthly and annual subscriptions. But finding clients for them turned out to be harder than I thought. Therefore, I decided to add lifetime deals and talk about it in special groups on Facebook.

I think the result is far from the best when compared with others who managed to earn tens of thousands in a short time on lifetime deals. But for me, this is already an achievement and I am happy about it.

All my earnings so far are only lifetime deals. No one has yet bought a subscription.

This is a little disappointing, but I continue to develop the product and try different free ways to promote.

I build my product publicly, if you want to know more details follow me https://twitter.com/AlexBelogubov

posted to Icon for group Building in Public
Building in Public
on March 28, 2023
  1. 2

    The initial progress is positive, but to ensure long-term profitability, there is a need to persistently refine and expand the product. 🤙🏽

  2. 2

    This was unexpected. I seriously thought about adding a life time deal to my service. But first you need to do the launch :)

    Good luck, I'm happy for your success!

  3. 2

    Congratulations It's impressive that you were able to achieve profitability in just 16 attempts. Your persistence and willingness to keep trying until you found the right formula is a valuable lesson for all indie hackers. Keep up the good work and continue iterating and improving your product to ensure sustained success.

  4. 1

    Thanks for sharing! Congratulations!!

  5. 1

    Thanks for sharing your journey with us.

    Having a community around you or your product has become essential, and that's what I'm currently working on.

    You are doing the same by building in public and I'm pretty sure that you are one night away from becoming an overnight success

  6. 1

    Thanx for sharing this! It helps the young indie hackers to know that building a saas or any bussiness just takes some time and lot of persistency. It's easy to dream of getting huge MRRs by seeing the current trends but at the last if u're persistant then you do get there slowly but surely.

    Hoping to achieve the same with my indie products as well.🙏

  7. 1

    Congratulations on your successful SaaS launch! Making $3,000 in just 16 attempts is no small feat and demonstrates your persistence and dedication to your project. It's essential to celebrate even the smallest victories, and this achievement is definitely worth celebrating.

    Launching a SaaS can be a challenging and risky venture, but your success shows that with the right mindset, hard work, and strategic planning, it is possible to achieve your goals. Your experience can be an inspiration to others who may be thinking about starting their own SaaS.

    As you continue to grow your SaaS, remember to stay focused on your customers and their needs, and be willing to adapt and pivot as necessary. With the right attitude and approach, the sky's the limit for your SaaS. Best of luck in your future endeavors!

  8. 1

    Have you tried putting your product on appsumo?

    1. 1

      No, they charge too much. Also, I talked to them and they said that my prices are too high for lifetime deals and offered to reduce them by almost 10 times!

      1. 1

        Still it is much better if you are starting out. Give them limited features if you want, you can get good amount of initial customers from there.

        They are charging more, bcz they are giving you their customers. If any NEW customer purchases on appsumo, then you get almost full amount.

  9. 1

    Congratulations on the revenue, I feel you should just have lifetime plans with various pricing based on limits.

    For example number of posts mentioned, if exceeds X, you will just ask them to upgrade to know about those. Also be sure to listen to their feedbacks and see what value metiontools is providing to them.

    1. 1

      Thanks! I have 3 different plans for lifetime deals with different limits on the number of keywords and projects that can be tracked.

      1. 1

        Awesome, that will be a good strategy IMO

    2. 1

      This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

  10. 1

    Congratulations on launching your first profitable SaaS, It's great to hear that you have found a way to monetize your product through lifetime deals. It's important to remember that every business is different, and what works for one may not work for another.
    Overall, keep focusing on developing your product and trying new ways to promote it. Celebrate your achievements and keep pushing forward. Good luck!

    1. 0

      This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

  11. 1

    Congratulations! Subscriptions can be a hard sell and I think you made a very nice pivot. Good for you!

  12. 1

    Did you launch 16 different saas or you launched mention tools 16 different times?

      1. 1

        Mind blowing and inspiring. Hope I'll reach that revenue milestone soon with my AI chatbot app for iOS(https://apple.co/40oSG45) 🤞

  13. 1

    That’s a huge progress! You’d learn how to monetize, and you’ll find a way to subscribe users eventually, keep going!

  14. 1

    Congratulations! You have achieved more than most of us and should be proud, not disappointed! You have just taken the first step of many more to come.

    1. 1

      Thank you! I hope it only gets better :)

    2. 0

      This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

  15. 1

    I think we've already met on Reddit, and I shared my point that people have multiple free options why they buy your service until you go the extra mile.

    Keep sharing your updates, and I wish you the best of luck in achieving your future goals.

  16. 1

    Awesome progress! Don't worry boost your marketing and those numbers should go up. If you need help checkout https://growthdojo.substack.com/

  17. 1

    This is great, congrats !

    Just saw your tweet about the fact that you got featured on hacker news first page, can you share some tips about how you did that?

    1. 1

      This is my first time, although I have tried before. I think the title got people hooked, I don't see any other reason. You just need to try different options and something might work.

  18. 1

    Congrats on your first profitable SaaS! 🎉 Adding lifetime deals is a smart pivot, and every achievement counts! 💪

    In terms of generating subscription sales, consider offering free trials to showcase your product's value to potential clients. Additionally, explore collaborations with influencers who could lend credibility and reach! Keep up the innovative spirit! 🚀

    1. 1

      Thank you! I have a free trial period that allows you to try all the features

  19. 1

    I love that you also toyed with the idea of lifetime pricing. I'm investigating that now. Good job reaching front page of HackerNews btw!

    I think it's important to change your pricing parameters dependent on the value that you are offering to customers. I think lifetime pricing and generating deals that way is also great because it shows you're providing SOME value!

    1. 1

      Thank you! I also think that people do not just buy lifetime deals and they can also buy subscriptions, you just need to find the right audience

  20. 1

    Congratulations on launching your SaaS! It's great to hear that you were able to achieve success after several attempts.

    Launching a SaaS can be a challenging process, and it's not uncommon for entrepreneurs to face multiple setbacks before achieving success. It's important to stay persistent and focused on your goals, and to learn from your failures along the way.

    Now that your SaaS is up and running, it's important to continue to refine and improve your product or service based on customer feedback and market trends. Keep an eye on your key performance indicators (KPIs) and be willing to pivot or make changes to your strategy as needed to stay competitive https://dreamyworldinfo.com/.

    Remember to celebrate your successes along the way, and to take time to reflect on what you've learned and how you've grown as an entrepreneur. Best of luck with your SaaS!

  21. 1

    Great product! Have you tried to make some action and not offer just dashboard?

  22. 1

    Congratulations on your successful launch! It's great to hear that you were able to generate $3,000 in revenue with your SaaS product.

    Launching a new business can be challenging, so it's impressive that you were able to achieve this level of success in just 16 attempts. I'd love to hear more about the process you went through to achieve this result and any tips or lessons you learned along the way that might be helpful to others.

    In the meantime, keep up the great work, and I wish you continued success in your entrepreneurial journey!

    1. 1

      Thanks! You can find out more about what I went through on my Twitter https://twitter.com/AlexBelogubov

  23. 1

    Congrats! I had lifetime deals on webtoapp.design for quite a while (priced at roughly 2 years of subscription payments) because I got frustrated by people churning quickly.

    About a year later I got frustrated by very fluctuating revenues, so I gave subscriptions another shot. That was the best possible decision, since it allowed the business to "take off" (make enough for me to barely live off of it after a while). I think the main thing is that it allows people to try out the service with little risk (especially since I also offer a 60 day refund guarantee).

    But I guess it can vary a lot business by business :)

    1. 1

      Thank you! I'm going to remove lifetime deals soon and focus on subscriptions only :)

  24. 1

    I like the simplicity of the interface compared to very complex brand monitoring platforms, and the illimited number of mentions.

    Since you mention having trouble finding clients, I'm curious: how do you market the product to prospects? I imagine you are targeting SMEs; do they already use similar software, or are they just not interested about the concept?

    A problem I encountered in the past with a product of mine is that companies do not like the idea of using a small SaaS by a tiny company. Is that where you see resistance?

    1. 1

      I have not yet written directly to potential clients, only if they write to me, then I try to understand what they need and if they lack functions, then I try to make them as quickly as possible.

      I am also afraid that large companies may not like a small SaaS, but still I will try to offer them. I'm thinking of starting to connect with potential clients on LinkedIn.

  25. 1

    Hi, MentionTools looks great. Are you doing web scraping to track mentions on different websites?

    1. 1

      Thanks! I use official APIs where possible (Reddit, Twitter) for other scraping

      1. 1

        In case you run into the issue of being blocked when web scraping, let me know. We have a special discount at Scraping Fish for fellow indie hackers.
        Good luck and all the best with MentionTools 🚀

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