After working in RevOps and sales for VC-backed startups for a few years, I'm considering creating a SaaS business that helps solve problems for a particular niche industry that interests me.<p>What are some resources that are useful to look at while I consider embarking on this journey?<p>My experience in RevOps & sales the last few years has been that so many influencers are trying to pitch you their guides and resources for a fee. It's made me suspicious of pretty much anyone selling their insights and made it hard to determine which are of actual value.
Not exactly a resource but more of an advice - learn software development. Unless you are familiar to some extent, you will always be dependent on a competent software engineer, and that will make it much harder to build a lifestyle business.<p>Second advice, use Ruby on Rails or Django as a web framework and don't follow after the complexities of JS and other newcomers. Phoenix (Elixir) is awesome but that will require much more efforts and expertise compared to the established and time-tested Rails and Django.<p>Good luck!<p>p.s. I'm writing this as a person managing a lifestyle business (LibHunt & SaaSHub).<p>p.p.s. I'd also recommend getting into the IndieHackers community for inspiration and shared experience.
I've been running a bootstrapped, lifestyle software business since 2005. I've linked to some articles you might find relevant here (for free!):
<a href="https://successfulsoftware.net/starting-a-microisv/" rel="nofollow">https://successfulsoftware.net/starting-a-microisv/</a>
Lifestyle businesses are underrated in my opinion. They are also more achievable than a multi-million exit, especially if a lifestyle business is the planned goal. A lifestyle business does have particular challenges however. Specifically, moving it from a stage two to stage three business as described in Scale by Finkel and Hoffman:<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Scale-Seven-Proven-Principles-Business/dp/1591847249?nodl=1&dplnkId=9bbe0786-cef0-41f0-af4b-371b6699d4a7" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Scale-Seven-Proven-Principles-Busines...</a><p>A stage 1 business depends on the founder doing the work; a stage two business depends on specific people doing the work; a stage three business has enough systems and checks in place that people are interchangeable.<p>With a stage two business, a critical person leaving can threaten the entire business. This is a particular issue in the software field where people tend to job hop. Creating a stable lifestyle company that is more than a three or four person shop, thus requires a large and sustained effort to document all critical processes. Don’t underestimate this challenge.
In case you don't already know, the indiehacker community is now quite mature with a few folks sharing their stories and lessons up to a few $M of ARR.<p>Microconf is also very high quality with great talks out there, a podcast and a slack community. Focused on SAAS software. Rob Walling, the founder, wrote a book recently. Not my area, but I heard good things about it.<p>I also like the Tropical MBA podcast. They get stories from entrepreneurs outside the shiny bubble (agency owners, Amazon FBA, SEO software, affiliates, etc)<p>Books that might interest you : Company of one by Paul Jarvis ; Profit First by Mike Michalowicz ;<p>Other good resources for entrepreneurs:
- Seth Godin & Robert Cialdini for marketing
- The Mom Test (how to talk to your users)
- Made to Stick (how to craft stories and narratives)
- $100M offers & $100M leads by Hormozi (currently reading them, it's mainly common concepts put in a simple and actionable way)
This is one of the best resources I know for how to come up with good business ideas (which is probably one of the hardest parts if you've never done it before): <a href="https://www.indiehackers.com/post/how-to-brainstorm-great-business-ideas-ab51c3d51c" rel="nofollow">https://www.indiehackers.com/post/how-to-brainstorm-great-bu...</a>
I keep a regular blog of what I learn as I build my lifestyle business, if you're interested: <a href="https://maxrozen.com/articles?q=diaries" rel="nofollow">https://maxrozen.com/articles?q=diaries</a>
There is a book called The $100 Dollar Startup. I’ve heard good things about it from some folks but I wanted to inquire on HN if it fits the bill. Its targeted at this exact scenario OP is premised with
a few years ago, there was this forum for bootstrapped founders running small-ish, profitable, and mature internet businesses -- a spiritual successor to the Joel on Software's forum.<p>it's been offline for a while, but the read-only archive is still accessible: <a href="https://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/" rel="nofollow">https://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/</a>
Dane Maxwell has done this himself multiple times, and he's trained others to do it, too: <a href="https://startfromzero.com/" rel="nofollow">https://startfromzero.com/</a><p>His method is based on focusing on the end-user and understanding them more than they understand themselves.<p>Your suspicion is a natural objection, and Dane can teach you how to overcome such objections.<p>Of course, Dane practices everything he preaches. If his marketing still leaves you suspicious, then maybe his method is not for you.
I've gone back to this comment so many times, it's not a clearcut guide as what to do but it has some valuable points in.<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1447467">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1447467</a>
For ideas on what kind of saas to create and a community of builders.<p><a href="https://microsaashq.com/index.html" rel="nofollow">https://microsaashq.com/index.html</a>
While lifestyle businesses are the first step in their process to free your own time to swing for something bigger, check out the Microconf channel on YouTube.<p>Covers all the angles including for non technical founders.
> It's made me suspicious of pretty much anyone selling their insights and made it hard to determine which are of actual value.<p>My experience from going down this road with trading financial markets, where there’s as much snake oil as anywhere, is: Try them.<p>At least, to the degree you can afford, i.e. don’t spend your last $5k on some course that you’re counting on to save the day (it won’t).<p>Basically none of them will be the silver bullet they claim to be. But you will learn. Even if it’s only learning how the grift works. That’s eye opening, and helps you to see who is offering real value and who is selling cognitive bias.<p>Take the view that from any resource, you’re only looking to get a nugget or two. Eventually you’ll piece things together. Everything is basically just “the basics”, but understanding the basics in a logical sense is different than knowing how to operate those basics well.
What’s “lifestyle” in this context?<p>I can think of a couple of meanings, but the first thing I’d recommend is a lawyer to figure out your language, privacy policy, exposure if using certain terms.<p>For example results, quality, etc would need legal documents to basically say ‘results may vary’ based on jurisdiction.