It's been a long old slog to get here (8 months in fact). Here's rough timeline of what the last 8 months have looked like:

Month 1 - validation:

My tool called Basefront - basefront.app is within the Airtable space (it's a tool to create directories, galleries and job boards with airtable data that you can integrate on any site) and I had already built up an audience in this space. In order to get validation before I actually went ahead and built the thing I set myself a goal of getting 10 presales at heavily discounted rate. I managed to get 12 presales before the initial MVP went live and this for me was enough validation to build.

At this point total revenue was around $450.

Months 2-5 - build:

Surprise, surprise, this actually took alot longer than the 1 month I initially planned, more like 3 months. There was just no way round it. Working with the airtable API and creating the customization features I had planned meant this was a hefty build and thats with stripping things back like user groups, paywalls etc etc. I built the tool in bubble using nocode but essentially I use it to then create the code my users then add to their stack. I used Claude (anthropic) alot for the code part of things - massive help.

Month 6 - 'We're live in beta'

My first email went out to my existing list and this was an exciting and nerve wracking time. My list wasn't massive so my plan was to essentially use this phase as beta testing. The tool has a free plan and I made it clear we were in beta. I also asked everyone who used the tool if they would be happy to provide feedback for 3 months of full access PRO plan. I managed to get some great feedback, but honestly it's painful, of 160 or so people on my list, about 30 tried it and 5 came back with helpful feedback and by the end of this month I also managed to get another 4 paid users signed up (who interestingly preferred to pay than to offer feedback in return for PRO access). Revenue at this point was close to $600.

Month 7 - 'fix as much stuff as possible'

There's always going to be things that slip through the net and bugs that popup. I knew if I could just get the product to a 'useable' and 'enjoyable' state that my users wouldn't mind about a few small bugs and fixes (especially as I made it clear I was in beta). I Built a simple logging process to track common user activity (creating, editing deleting etc) and this gave me valuable insight into any issues that were arising. I should have probably added something like hotjar for even better insight (this is on my list still).

[It's worth noting that as soon my product was in beta I also did marketing every week day for at least 1 hr]

So by this point I had done nearly 8 weeks of marketing and the compounding effects started to take place, I was getting on average 2 free users sign up a day (around 60 per month).

I got another 5 pro users sign up this month a few on annual so my total revenue at this point was around $780.

Month 8 - 'refine and add a few new essential features'

I added crisp chat and an easy way for current logged in users to get in contact. This was so important and it was great to feel more connected to my users I started receiving more helpful comments and questions which meant I could start to better prioritize what to work on. Also just by letting my users know I was there I started to build up better relationships with a few people who have now ended up going pro this month.

My total revenue this month so far is just over $230 meaning I crossed the 1k mark. It feels great to have got here, but this has been no easy challenge at all.

For anyone who's thinking about doing the saas thing and thinks they can start earning real bucks in a month or so... I would say this is most likely not going to be the case!

But... I knew this would most likely be the case. I had built and successfully exited a few products before and now I'm playing the long game. My goal is that within 12 months from now I can stop freelancing and even If I only grow by 4 paid users a month I should nearly, just about be earning enough to pay the bills!!