Having built Proxies API and made it to 100 paid users for the first time in my startup life, I tried to compile a list of tips for other developers like me who might be thinking of starting something on their own.<p>Developers are a different beast, and the advice here may not apply to anyone who is not a developer and is a normal human being.<p>Pick an idea you have used. When you start a startup one of the persistent problems you face is that you don't relate to the problem. If you are not a parent, its almost impossible to relate to any conversations that parents have about their troubles. You just don’t. This lack of empathy in a startup setting adds up to a huge disadvantage and will never allow you to be fully confident in what you are doing.
2. Pick an idea you have already paid for: If you have ever paid for a service, think very carefully about that. Can you code it yourself if you give yourself a few months? It is because developers don’t pay for shit. If an app forced you to do that, then there must a real need for that app.<p>3. Don’t pick something that needs a pretty UI: My product Proxies API is an API. I can get away with almost no UI. It is such a relief that I don’t have to work with a designer. I find that I am 4 to 5 times faster when I don’t have to deal with UI stuff.<p>4. Don’t pick anything that you need in-person sales for. Marketing is a developer’s friend. I realized this only later in my life. In-person sales are very weird for the developer personality. My advice. Don't do it. Learn how to market instead.<p>5. Pick something that is a self-serve model: People signup for a trial and decide to pay or not pay based on their trial experience. This is a beast that you can conquer. You don’t want to be going around talking to actual humans. It is not for us.<p>6. Try writing: If you can code and write, you will win the world. The whole success of Proxies API is based on constant improvements to code and a little bit of consistent writing over time.<p>7. Keep it real: Be clear on your motivations. I know that developers are not motivated by the prospect of making millions. But they are excited by the promise of financial freedom. So I was clear on my motivations when starting Proxies API — I didn’t want it to make me millions. I wanted it to give me financial freedom by earning what I earned in my day job. I didn’t need a penny more. By being clear about it, you are not living someone else’s life but your own, and it will give you the necessary fuel to keep going.<p>Have fun.<p>The author is the founder of Proxies API the rotating proxies service.<p>This article originally appeared here: https://www.proxiesapi.com/blog/Tips-For-Developers-Who-Want-To-Build-A-SAAS-Startup.php
This Proxies API service seems to be using AI-generated "This Person Does Not Exist"[1] style profile pictures for its positive customer reviews near the bottom of the page:<p><a href="https://www.proxiesapi.com/assets/img/steve.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://www.proxiesapi.com/assets/img/steve.jpg</a><p><a href="https://www.proxiesapi.com/assets/img/customer1.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://www.proxiesapi.com/assets/img/customer1.jpg</a><p><a href="https://www.proxiesapi.com/assets/img/customer3.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://www.proxiesapi.com/assets/img/customer3.jpg</a><p><a href="https://www.proxiesapi.com/assets/img/customer4.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://www.proxiesapi.com/assets/img/customer4.jpg</a><p>Makes me question if the customer reviews or even the customers themselves are real.<p>[1] <a href="https://this-person-does-not-exist.com/" rel="nofollow">https://this-person-does-not-exist.com/</a>
I dunno. I call bullshit on almost all of these tips. Not all developers are awkward, socially-inept, and incapable of designing their way out of a paper bag. I find that to be a really tired stereotype these days.<p>I’d say: if you want to be successful, push yourself. All of these things are skills that can be learned.
Not sure why this is not being flagged. It seems like spam and the footer "The author is the founder of ... the rotating proxies service. This article originally appeared here..." just feels like someone copy-pasted their marketing blog post to HN.
I would like to hear more about how you approach the issue of taxes.<p>The way I understand Stripe Tax is that it will give you a huge list of sales like:<p><pre><code> $210 paid from a company in the USA
$123 paid from an individual in France
$300 paid from a company in Japan
...
</code></pre>
And then you are supposed to do the right thing with that list.<p>Is that true?<p>Do you pass that giant list to your tax accountant and they fill all the correct paperwork?<p>What if some of those sales mean you have to pay taxes directly to the country in which the buyer is? You deal with that countries government directly then?
If you're posting an article, you should post the link instead of the full text, FYI. If you want to do a Tell HN that works too, but then there would be no need to include the link at the bottom.
Congratulations on getting your first 100 paying users. Most startups never make a single dollar.<p>How long did it take you to hit that number? Many of us devs want to do SAAS but don't understand what's a reasonable amount of time to expect until we can get "ramen profitable".
Nice work! Judging be your price that is at lease $2300/m which is impressive. It is also a great idea and good site. I like your guidelines alot. Definitely I tried cold calling once and it was a horrid experience. Mostly because any who wanted to talk wanted freebies only. :-(. Sales is it's own profession, it is hard to do as a hobby, and especially if not that way inclined.<p>I suggest adding your site link to your HN bio, as it might be of interest to some HN people.
> Don’t pick something that needs a pretty UI<p>For frontend engineers, should the advice be the opposite: "Pick something that needs good UI/UX"?
I think the author is making some huge generalisations here.<p>"Don’t pick something that needs a pretty UI": What if I'm really skilled in UI dev and have a good visual eye? Or a friend happy to do some free mockups?<p>"In-person sales are very weird for the developer personality": there is no one developer personality, I wouldn't rule this out at all.<p>"You don’t want to be going around talking to actual humans.": this is almost never going to work for a startup. Actually talking to people (users, clients, integration partners) is probably the most important thing you can do as a founder.
Very solid. I've experienced all of these as well.<p>> 1.. you don't relate to the problem<p>Yeah, it's like being blind. "Why do people buy that thing?" is a question I barely get answer confidently<p>> 2.. because developers don’t pay for shit<p>It's getting worse. These folks always demand open source alternatives, self-host. Sometimes, the moral of story is "I want your free labor no matter how your family is doing"<p>> 3.. Don’t pick something that needs a pretty UI:<p>Super related here. When I realized my product value is literally UX/UI, it's like the end of the word because there's no many HCI solutions at all. It's always hard to use for any target, techie, non-techie, it's hard still.<p>> 4.. Learn how to market instead.<p>Developers try to do marketing is like trying to do self-surgery, ones just <i>can't</i><p>> 5.. You don’t want to be going around talking to actual humans<p>I ended up shitting on a customer because he thought he knew problems (my app trying to solve) more than I do, but I'm confident he didn't know shit.<p>> 6.. Try writing<p>Yeah, this is part of content marketing. It kinda sucks to me though, lots of content marking is just for sake of marketing, doesn't bring much knowledge.<p>> 7.. Keep it real.<p>The most real sad thing is going back to working for corp.
I would also add that you shouldn't worry too much about whether or not people want what you're building. Just solve problems.<p>Also, be prepared to fail a lot before you succeed...your first solution might not go anywhere...your tenth one might not either...but your eleventh product...who knows?
>Try writing: If you can code and write, you will win the world. The whole success of Proxies API is based on constant improvements to code and a little bit of consistent writing over time.<p>Not sure what you're referring to by "writing" here. Blogging? Writing marketing copy?
I find it interesting that you have a completely different URL/Brand for a same/similar product with different positioning. <a href="https://teracrawler.io/" rel="nofollow">https://teracrawler.io/</a><p>How has that experiment been working out?
Working on a SaaS startup my self, realized marketing is very important, i recommend you read the book “the mom test” it will give you tools to speak with users and get to product market fit
This is awesome! Instead of pitching your ideas to VC-s who will then demand unrealistic growth, developers are building their own small internet startups.<p>Yes, in most cases, they're not making millions, but who needs millions anyway? If you can buy food, pay rent, and support your family with a product that you made with your own hands, wouldn't that be nice?<p>This is what my site <a href="https://microfounder.com" rel="nofollow">https://microfounder.com</a> is exactly about:
"It's possible for a solo developer to build a profitable microstartup to pay the bills and live life on their own terms."
as a dev and made few software/services as product, but don't know how to market them with good results.<p>How do you market your software-product? with small budget..?