Embarking on My First Successful SaaS Side Project Journey
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Chapter 1: Reflections on Past Side Projects
Throughout the last 15 years, I've engaged in various side projects, but most of them fell short, lacking even a single user, whether paid or free. Though a few did technically launch, they often succumbed to my distractions or burnout just as they were on the brink of success.
Some of these initiatives included:
- Layout Paradise (a MySpace theme platform)
- Custom WordPress themes
- Affiliate marketing niche websites
- Facebook applications (like a Christmas card builder)
- Mobile games (notably Flashy Fall)
- Fantasy Football Stats Tracker
- Crypto Price Tracker
- Grocery Price Tracker
So, what were the pitfalls?
- I lost interest when results weren't immediate.
- I faced burnout from excessive hours on top of my full-time job.
- I neglected marketing efforts.
- I encountered obstacles and failed to recover.
Section 1.1: Achieving Success with Visitor Bench
In 2018, I successfully launched my first side project, which I now proudly consider a success—not in terms of attracting thousands of users or selling it for a fortune, but rather as a functioning product that has been utilized by a customer over an extended timeframe.
The project, known as Visitor Bench, is a visitor sign-in application primarily designed for iPad usage. For nearly four years, this project has been in production, and several key factors contributed to its success.
Subsection 1.1.1: Understanding Customer Needs
My initial and only customer has been my brother’s gym, which has utilized the product without significant issues. The concept for Visitor Bench emerged from a conversation with my brother, where I discovered that his gym was manually signing in prospective members on paper, later entering the data into their computer system.
We determined that implementing a digital method for registering potential members would streamline the process, eliminating the need for manual data entry and linking their information to the main customer relationship management system.
Having previously experienced an iPad sign-in system in various offices and my children’s preschool, I had a clear vision of how the application should function and its ease of use. Armed with this experience and a solid understanding of the gym’s needs, I began developing a solution.
Subsection 1.1.2: Developing a Functional MVP
I identified essential features needed to deliver value to my first customer:
- A customizable visitor sign-in form
- An administrative area for security setup, account management, and form design
- An exportable visitor list
- A heatmap displaying visitor locations on a Google map (a fun yet crucial addition)
For those curious about the tech stack behind Visitor Bench:
- Hosting and deployment: Heroku
- Database: Postgres
- Email functionality: Sendgrid
- Frontend framework and state management: React/Redux
- Bundling: Webpack
- Styling: Sass
Section 1.2: Establishing a Legitimate Business
I established a website for my SaaS product, registered an official business name, and created a business bank account to facilitate user payments. I also utilized a legal service to ensure my terms and privacy policy were compliant and set up a simple contact form on the website for potential and existing users needing support.
Chapter 2: Overcoming Challenges and Future Plans
An honest evaluation reveals that I was apprehensive about failing or not acquiring customers, leading me to avoid marketing efforts that would expose the product to a broader audience. Additionally, I hesitated to implement a payment system for handling subscriptions, which, although I could have managed manually, felt like an obstacle at the time.
I wasted considerable time and momentum extending functionality for a potential customer who ultimately never signed on. Instead, I should have focused on refining the core product, enhancing its usability, and implementing an automated payment system. Instead, I spent time restructuring the database to accommodate multiple business locations and sales personnel, which was an engaging challenge but not a wise business decision without securing paying users.
As a full-time developer and tech lead, my life became increasingly busy, diverting my focus from this side project to other commitments. The global pandemic presented an opportunity to pivot Visitor Bench into a service for various businesses, especially since many were still manually signing in visitors. However, I never pursued this direction, and the project has remained with a single user throughout.
Lessons Learned and Looking Ahead
Building Visitor Bench has offered invaluable insights, both technically and from a business standpoint. While the project has operated smoothly for nearly four years, certain technical compromises were made in the interest of expediency.
Shortly, my only user of Visitor Bench will transition to a new system provided by their CRM that better suits their evolving needs. I do not plan to actively seek new users, and it’s time to close the chapter on the notion that customers will magically appear simply by having a product.
Even without active users, I intend to keep the Visitor Bench site operational for now, as I plan to write a series of articles detailing my journey in launching a side project from the perspective of a technical lead developer. I aim to enhance my skills by refactoring the project from its current legacy code to a modern codebase that adheres to best practices in software development.
I hope to share the lessons I’ve learned, both from my mistakes and the successful aspects of my journey. If you're interested in following my side project refactoring journey, please subscribe to my updates.
I’d love to hear your side project experiences or how you navigated obstacles, so feel free to share in the comments if you’ve faced similar challenges.
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