Why I didn't quit and why you shouldn't quit too

This is a direct response to Jose's post. https://www.indiehackers.com/post/why-i-quit-and-why-you-should-quit-too-feaf8a8c0d

Jose if you are reading this, I want you to know I'm writing this with respect. However, I did want to take this opportunity to share my opposite experience.

Starting a business is hard!

Starting any business and finding a few customers is incredibly challenging. Doing this online and with a SaaS is even harder. Never before has it been this easy to start a business. Just 30 years ago starting a business meant having a physical location, and some sort of physical product or a service. Starting any business back then was expensive, and scaling was even more expensive. Today it's possible to start a business with a laptop, and you can reach a global audience just by posting online. Unfortunately, this means everyone is doing it. So it can seem impossible to stand out.

I started my SaaS in 2012. (Midwest Streams, now MemoryShare). It took us almost two years to reach $2,000 MRR. During this time I had a job, and worked my tail off on nights and weekends. It was a challenging period of my life. I then quit my job, and was able to get us up to $5kMRR and we got stuck there. We were stuck at $5kMRR for over 6 years. Did I want to quit? Yes, many times. But I compare it to wanting to quit a diet. Of course you want to quit on a diet when you're eating a salad, and your friend is devouring a giant cheeseburger at lunch. However, many days later you will have completely forgotten about that lunch and you'll be enjoying your new physique.

I do want to be transparent here I occasionally did quit on my SaaS. During the painful plateau I built up a small consulting career, and started a few other businesses(2 of them are still around today). At the start of 2020 we were still stuck in our revenue plateau that started in 2015. The pandemic hit and this was an immediate game-changer for Midwest Streams. For about 2 weeks having a webcasting company in 2020 felt like having a lottery ticket. But this was extremely short lived, and only provided us a small MRR boost. As soon as we settled into the new normal, people started using Facebook, YouTube, and Facetime to stream their funerals. Why pay for something when you can get it on Facebook for free? This is why we've been spending the last 6 months focusing hard on why we are a company, and what can we bring to the table that Facebook can't. This new mindset, and hustle culture is what changed everything. We started actively pursuing sales, and are redesigning the product from the ground up. We niched down and wake up every day asking ourselves how can we bring more value to the funeral industry. We are now a "real company" with employees and benefits. I am so happy I never gave up in the early days. This is one of the funnest things I've done with my professional life.

Know yourself and your goals, but also know your market

One of the most common mistakes I see with Indie Hackers is the tendency to pursuit VC ideas, with a bootstrapped approach. The chances of this working are slim. Jose wanted to start a Micro-SaaS that did 20k a month and competed with ConvertKit. This will never work. ConvertKit is spending 6 figures every month on development marketing and SaaS. A 20k month SaaS will never be able to compete with them in the long haul. You simply won't have the budget to keep up. If you want to compete with ConvertKit you only have 3 options.

1. Raise Venture Capital
2. Work harder than you ever have in your entire life for 3 years straight(and still will most likely need to raise capital)
3. Niche down, and don't compete with ConvertKit. Find a market you can provide email services to that has special needs ConvertKit can't deliver on.

If your goal is to make 10k MRR, make sure you pursuit a business that is sustainable in that revenue range. It's a lot easier to do this with higher priced SaaS. I'd stay far away from any SaaS that is less than $50 a month.

Beware of the Green Grass

Us Indie Hackers are prone to Shiny Object Syndrome. I can attest to this because I'm the worst one here. In the past 5 years, I've bounced from consulting gig to consulting gig and tried to start 5 different companies. Each time I start something new, the first week is always an incredible feeling. This is dangerous! It causes us to bounce from object to object while never gaining traction. I have no doubt in my mind I'd be better off today if I'd only focused on my SaaS from day 1.

Overall I think Jose and I agree

Not everyone has to be a SaaS owner. Freelancing, Consulting, and Writing are valid career paths. Jose also urges you to start a small project. I love his line about how hard it is and how many people will tell you "Nice! I will take a look later". He's spot on! No matter how big you get, the majority of people you speak to will say the same thing. I agree with his thinking of starting small 2 week projects, and it fits really well into the "Stair Step Approach". But please don't stop pursuing the project after 2 weeks.

So why am I writing this?

I'm not writing this to criticize Jose at all, I'm happy for him and believe shutting down his SaaS may have been for the best. I'm writing this for any Indie Hacker that may have saw his post and is ready to give up. In SaaS there is a concept called the "Slow Ramp of Death". There is only three ways around it: Luck, Capital, or walking up it one day a a time. If you hop off of the slow ramp of death now, you will just have to start on stair one with your new project.

-It's totally okay(and normal) if your project takes 1-2 years to find product market fit.
-Ask yourself what your market is, and why they're willing to spend money on their product.
-Realize if you give up, you'll most likely have the same problems you are having now with your new idea.
-Figure out how you can charge more.
-Boil down your idea, and find a laser specific audience.
-Stop marketing, and start selling!

Good luck and please don't give up!