Welcome to the community! Our goal is to provide a space where members can come together to discuss and collaborate on all aspects of running a successful SaaS business. This includes, but is not limited to: - Conducting market research and validating product ideas - Defining the scope and objectives of your product - Developing an MVP and iterating to achieve product/market fit - Hiring and managing freelancers - Scaling your business - AI and Machine Learning in SaaS, and more. To kick things off, I'd love for you to introduce yourself to the community. Tell us about yourself - your name, where you're from, and why you're interested in being a part of this community. Share any relevant experiences or questions you have, and we'll do our best to provide helpful responses. Please note, we do have some guidelines for this community, which can be found in the pinned post or in the community's rules. We kindly ask that you take a moment to read them before posting. We're looking forward to getting to know you and having you as a valuable member of our community. Let's work together to make this a positive and informative space for everyone.

We have 61 people now in this group, and it's made up of founders, entrepreneurs, coaches, developers, and all kinds of people with valuable experience. Quality is always better than quantity, and it's clear to me that we have quality - while quantity will also come with time. And that's where the real value of this group is - it's the people in it. I don't think you joined to just read my posts - I think you came because you have questions that are unique to you, and are looking to have a real conversation about it. For this group to really thrive, it needs to have interactions between its members, and that is what this call is meant to inspire. This Thursday will be our first call, and I chose 1PM EST as the time - but this may be adjusted based on what works for the most people. There's no such thing as a perfect time to start, so let's just get started.

I come from a background in Engineering - 3 years of Engineering Design and Technology, and 4 years of Mechanical Systems Engineering. I worked for Tesla at Gigafactory 1 (Reno, Nevada) during the launch of the Model 3 on the Manufacturing Engineering team. I've been involved with many engineering projects over the years, ranging from programming, mechanical design, prototyping, and more. A few years ago, I decided I wanted to build SaaS. With my experience in prototyping, I knew to start small and focused - so I started out by developing a micro-SaaS application for Amazon Sellers. People loved it - and because of my technical experience, I did a lot of things right. But the problem was, I'm not an Amazon Agency, Consultant, or Coach. So I couldn't really grow the software or the services on the business side. So I took on an Amazon Agency as a client, and I built the software for them. They handle the marketing and audience building side of things, while I handle the technical side. It was a perfect match. We launched the product to their market on time, and on budget. We presented it to their existing audience, started gathering feedback, and built a community where they could not only evolve the SaaS towards product/market fit, but sell their existing services too. That's when I had my first realization; that founders, consultants, coaches, and experts are in an amazing position to offer a SaaS product to their market - but they often lack the technical experience to pull it off. Which leads to the ugly side of this story. This Amazon Agency had projects with another developer that had been going on for years, without a single launch. Missed deadlines, buggy code, sub-par quality, unvalidated demand - you name it. These are smart people. They had been successful in other types of business - but SaaS is a different beast. The developer they hired gave them no guidance, and just built whatever they wanted (badly). Because the truth is that development is only 10% of the challenge - and the business is the other 90%.

Imagine this: You're on a long, monotonous drive to work. The road is stretching out before you, seemingly endless. You're not quite awake yet, and you're not quite hungry, but you know you will be. You need something, but what? You pull into a McDonald's and order a milkshake. It's not breakfast food, but that's not why you're buying it. You're not hiring it to be a meal; you're hiring it to be a companion. It's there to make your drive less boring, to keep your hands busy and your mind awake It's there to slowly melt away, giving you something to focus on other than the humdrum of the road. And it's there to keep your stomach from growling before lunchtime. This is the 'Jobs to be Done' theory. It's not about what a product is; it's about what a product does. And more importantly, it's about what a product means to you. So, the next time you find yourself buying something, ask yourself: What job am I hiring this product to do? You might be surprised by the answer. And if you're a business, ask yourself: Do I truly understand what job my product is being hired to do? The answer might just revolutionize your approach. Remember, we don't just buy products. We hire them to fulfill a need, to complete a task, to make our lives a little bit easier, a little bit better. And that, is a milkshake moment.

ChatGPT Plugins are set to 10X the capabilities of ChatGPT. Here are the top 10 plugins that are particularly beneficial for business and professional use: 1. Code Interpreter This plugin empowers ChatGPT to generate Python code and manage files. Essentially, ChatGPT recognizes when a task requires code execution. The Code Interpreter enables it to create and execute that code, which is a significant advancement! Use cases include Excel spreadsheet analysis, image manipulation, and much more! 2. Zapier Zapier provides connectivity to over 6,000 popular applications. Now, ChatGPT also has access to these applications. Simply input a command in natural language, and the combined power of ChatGPT and Zapier will direct it to the appropriate application. The integration of Zapier AI significantly enhances the ChatGPT ecosystem, opening up numerous possibilities. 3. Prompt Perfect This innovative plugin enhances and optimizes your prompt without any extra effort on your part. For instance, you could input a simple command like "Summarize the industry structure of the nutrition industry. Use Prompt Perfect.". Prompt Perfect will then refine and expand your prompt to ensure optimal output. 4. AskYourPDF / ChatWithPDF These tools, which also function as standalone applications, can now be utilized within ChatGPT. By pasting a link to an online PDF, you can interact with the document, requesting key points, summaries, and more. 5. Noteable Noteable is a tool that enables you to create data visualization and analysis notebooks directly within ChatGPT. By pasting a data link and providing some context about your analysis objectives, Noteable will prepare a comprehensive analysis for you! 6. Public / FiscalNote While numerous news sources are developing plugins, we find Public and FiscalNote to be the most reliable for delivering high-quality, current news via a consistently functional plugin. 7. Show Me This is a diagramming plugin.

If you had a pill that cured cancer, would your website copy matter? Probably not. Your website could say 'DON'T BUY FROM ME', and it would still be the number one website in the world. Because your offer is what matters. Of course, none of us have a product that good - so we can't be that bold. Because people decide in two seconds whether they are staying, or leaving. Like a deer in the forest, they've come for a sip of water at your pond. If even a stick cracks, they will get spooked, and run away. With testing, you can objectively find the right words that don't scare the deer. Here's an example of a structure for testing paid ads: Email Opt-In -> VSL Page -> Calendar Page What you care about, is the percentage of people you get through each stage. So if the % between Email Opt-in -> VSL Page is too low, you need to work on the Email Opt-in Page. Is your ad too different from your Email Opt-in page? You got them to visit, but now they left. What is scaring them away? You need to form a hypothesis, make a change, and test it. If the % between VSL Page -> Calendar Page is too low, then what's wrong with your VSL? Something on this page needs to change. People made it this far, but you are losing them for a reason. After that, if a high % is making it to your Calendar Page, but not enough are booking...you need to look at that page for the problem. Are your survey questions scaring people away? Is asking for a phone number too much? Through this, you will find the right words - from beginning to end.

Hi everyone - just sharing the success story of my AI test site I referenced in my introduction post. This is from the tool's FB group post - Hope this helps someone if they are wondering whether or not you can rank a site with AI! If you combine it with proper SEO, the sky's the limit!

Hi all, I'm an SEO Strategist facing Google on a daily basis for my clients and happy to be here! I recently wanted to see how Google would treat AI content, setup a test site, utilized a custom coded AI software and grew a test site to 500+ traffic in a little over 30 days. Happy to share that case study if people are interested but otherwise happy to collaborate here on SAAS, a topic near and dear to my heart as the founder of Conversion Blitz :)

Gary Halbert, a renowned copywriter, once shared vital insights that could save your direct-marketing efforts from financial ruin. From time to time, Gary taught classes on copywriting and selling by mail. One question he often posed to his students was: "If we both owned hamburger stands and competed to sell the most hamburgers, what advantages would you want on your side?" The answers range from superior ingredients to the best location or lowest prices. But when Gary's students finished listing their desired advantages, he told them he only needed one advantage to outsell them all: "A Starving Crowd!" Gary urged us to consider this: in direct marketing, your most profitable habit is constantly seeking out groups of people (markets) hungry for a specific product or service. How do we gauge this hunger? Gary explained that for direct marketers, mailing lists make it easy. Suppose we're new to direct marketing and want to sell a book titled "How to Invest Money in the Stock Market" via direct mail. Who should receive our promotion? Gary explored several possibilities: 1. Mailing to names and addresses from a telephone book - A terrible idea with too much waste circulation. 2. Mailing to people in high-income areas only - Better, but still insufficiently targeted. 3. Mailing to professionals with above-average incomes - A fair option, but we can do better. 4. Mailing to wealthy mail-order buyers - Now we're onto something. 5. Mailing to wealthy mail-order buyers of similar investment products - Bingo! We're getting warmer. 6. Mailing to wealthy, repeat mail-order buyers of similar investment products - These people are ideal prospects. 7. Mailing to wealthy, repeat mail-order buyers of similar investment products who've paid top dollar - We're very close to the best possible audience. 8. Mailing to wealthy, repeat mail-order buyers of similar investment products who've paid top dollar and made recent purchases - Almost perfect. 9. Mailing to the previous group, but only those whose list broker reports high responsiveness to similar offers - This is the best list to rent. 10. Your own satisfied customer list - The ultimate audience for your promotion.

In this video, Rob Walling explains his "stair step method" to SaaS entrepreneurship. The method involves taking three steps to reach $1 million or more in annual recurring revenue: building a simple product, rinsing and repeating, and then going full force into a full-blown SaaS app. - Step One: Building a simple product. This could be a single feature of a larger product or an add-on for an existing ecosystem, such as a WordPress plugin, Shopify add-on, or Heroku add-on. The idea is to start generating revenue and learn the ropes without having to build a full-blown SaaS app, which can be complicated and time-consuming. Building an add-on to an existing ecosystem simplifies a lot of the process and allows for a steady flow of visitors and customers. - Step Two: Rinsing and repeating. This involves doubling down on the model that worked in step one and repeating it until you own your time. You're using skills you have already developed, getting good at this essentially free or low-cost traffic channel, and learning the ropes of how to support software and interact with customers. This step provides income diversification and helps increase revenue and confidence. - Step Three: Going full force into a full-blown SaaS app. This is the holy grail for bootstrappers, but it is popular and competitive. Rob suggests taking the stair step method because it allows for predictability and repeatability, and it takes longer to reach goals. By climbing the stairs and gaining experience, skills, and confidence, you're more likely to succeed than jumping straight into a full-blown SaaS app. The biggest advantage of the stair step method is predictability and repeatability, which allows for a lot of confidence that you're going to make it to your end goal. The biggest disadvantage is that it can take longer to get where you want to go, and you might face platform risk and a natural plateau in step one businesses. There are so many ways to approach SaaS entrepreneurship - and this is just one of them. The whole video is worth a watch, and Rob Walling has a lot of great tips in his channel for aspiring SaaS founders.

Recurring revenue is the dream for any business, but it's hard to achieve when selling courses. That was one of the main ideas behind WeTube - sell a mastermind with recurring fees, instead of a one-time charge. But, not everyone has a model or offer that fits a high-ticket mastermind. Even selling a low-ticket mastermind is hard; you really have to provide value to earn subscriptions. But with SaaS and community, you create a more compelling offer: - A Simple Micro-SaaS Product - Your Coaching/Course/Mastermind - A Private Community for Members It makes sense to people that they pay monthly for SaaS. This naturally opens the door for bundling your entire offer to create recurring revenue. Creating a scalable, steady income stream that goes beyond one-time sales. As your SaaS product gets better, so will your community, and the flywheel will keep spinning. For example - there are a lot of digital marketers out there who teach how to generate leads from social media platforms. But there are far less who have their own chrome extension which automates conversations, allowing you to manage hundreds of leads in minutes. That digital marketer would have a tough time selling his course as a monthly subscription. But when he includes his own micro-SaaS tool - it becomes a compelling offer. One that people would pay monthly for. You don't have to reinvent the wheel - you simply need to identify how a micro-SaaS tool can fit into your existing process. Your info-product already has demand; you've now just supercharged it by combining it with Micro-SaaS. And opened the door to recurring revenue - the real money machine. If you're interested in learning more, book a free discovery call with me here, and let's see if your offer has the potential to be supercharged.

After seeing the amazing tips here, I want to set a clear action plan for myself. So I consumed all YC's stuff and structured it to one 5-minute action a day. Join here if interested in the experiment(free).

Dalton and Michael discuss 'Tarpit ideas', and it's very interesting to hear their definition and insight into ideas which they feel should be avoided. Firstly, they recommend building products for businesses - not consumers. With consumers, the bar is extremely high - and timing plays a big factor. They also share some of their experience with apps that help you 'find new things', like restaurants, or concerts through a friend network - or some machine learning recommendation system. People say they would love to be able to discover new experiences - so you know people want it, and you want to build an app that helps them discover it. But the sad reality is, the 'magical place' doesn't exist. There are a finite number of restaurants that are open tonight, and you wanting there to be a better option, doesn't mean that a better option exists. Everyday people go on Yelp and search for restaurants, and don't like what they find - but that doesn't mean there are restaurants they don't know about, it just means that what exists is not sufficient, and the same goes for parties, events, etc. So there is a problem, but it's a physical one that your application won't solve. Dalton has experience in this from the music discovery side of things. People say they want to discover new music - but in practice, most people like popular music from a small number of bands. Just like with food - from their experience with DoorDash, they found that most people like to order McDonalds, or something comparable, like a burger from somewhere else. It turns out most people are not interested in ordering strange dishes or trying something new. They recommend doing thorough research before investing time and energy into projects like this - because many have gone down these roads before, and their experiences should guide you. On the other hand, there are startup ideas with a low supply of founders, and a high demand from customers. These are ideas beyond the typical social network and consumer spaces.

Came across this video where Frank Slootman, CEO of Snowflake, discusses what he believes are the key factors that helped him build three billion-dollar companies. Obviously there is a lot that goes into it - but I think there are a lot of takeaways that apply to any small/medium-business SaaS Founders. 1. Struggle and failure are normal in entrepreneurship, but they are formative and can teach valuable lessons. 2. Leadership requires conviction, courage, and clarity to bring people together towards a common mission and to create energy within an organization. 3. To succeed, you need to choose the right elevator by picking a growing, expanding industry with good cards and knowing how to play them. The whole video is worth a watch. He hits the nail on the head in many ways, especially when it comes to prioritizing speed and taking action.

When you've been in business long enough, you have a specific way of doing things. This might involve the way you run ads, or close deals, or capture leads, or spark interest, etc. It's a process you created - which is why you know it works. It stems from your experience, which is why hardly anyone would think of it. Perhaps you currently perform that procedure manually, and it works well enough for you. But if that process was turned into a digital product, could it help other people too? For example, here's a website I came across: https://www.sharedocview.com/ This is a tool that helps you capture leads from documents that you send to people. You can require emails to view your uploaded document, and see how many times those people visited the page. If you uploaded a powerpoint, you can see how many slides they viewed, and gauge their interest. This idea isn't something that would randomly come to mind while taking a shower. An idea like this comes from experience - from someone who was sending out documents to prospects, and then realized they would like to know the metrics behind their efforts. If you're scratching your own itch - then you already have one customer. This likely indicates that thousands of others share the same need, providing the foundation for a unique and profitable micro-SaaS idea.

One of the biggest mistakes I've seen developers make is not creating a clickable prototype for their clients. You describe your idea to a developer, usually in the form of rough sketches and whiteboard diagrams. Sometimes you may have the flow represented in something like powerpoint or excel - but much is left open to interpretation. But then the developer immediately starts coding based on this, because they 'get' your idea. Weeks go by...and you start getting anxious. You want to see an update, and the anticipation has turned this into a big reveal. When the reveal comes...you're shocked. You imagined your project completely differently - and now you're scared, because this just went from being exciting, to being a nightmare. You're going to spend weeks going back and forth with revisions, having the developer change live code and details in every corner. But it didn't have to be this way - if you had just received a clickable prototype. Before we write a single line of code for any project, we create a complete, high-fidelity, clickable prototype of the application. You will be able to use the software, as if it were real. But it's not real. It's a visual prototype. When we make the first version of this prototype - we send it to you and get your feedback. Change the colors? Easy fix. The flow seems off? We'll switch it up. We bring your vision to life through this process, and nail it down with a clickable prototype. And now you can rest easy - because you know everyone's on the same page, and the final result has been completely confirmed. And while we take it through the coding stage - you now have an asset you can share with people to create hype and a waiting list. You can demo your software with your clickable prototype, through screenshots and videos of it. You could even pay for the entire development before it's even coded, by pre-selling it to people for a discount. So make sure you get a clickable prototype. Or just work with us, and we'll make sure you get one.

Just made another YouTube video - in this one, I discuss how online experts such as Frank Kern and Sam Ovens leveraged their info-products to become SaaS Founders. I also share the benefits of using your SaaS to build a community, and share a framework for how you can generate revenue while evolving your SaaS towards product/market fit. I'm thinking for the next video, I'll talk about the benefits of creating Clickable Prototype - both when it comes to confirming your vision, and also as a promotional tool. Let me know what you think!

I'm going to be around for an hour today for the collab call - feel free to drop in!

I came across this website, and it stood out to me as an interesting example of a Tech Lead Magnet. Salesman.com offers a framework sales-training, and they are very systemized about it. Part of their system is based around this free assessment software, which is a series of questions that tests your personality, and then outputs your strengths and weaknesses as a salesman. As far as digital products go, it is very simple. No one is going to pay to use this tool on it's own - but when combined with their core info-product, it becomes powerful. It can be leveraged to build your email list, and used to introduce prospects to the framework of your core offer. This is a great example of how as a consultant, you can look at your existing offer, and see where a digital product can fit into your process. In this case, it fits in as a lead magnet, which complements the existing info-product which already has demand. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it serves as a powerful tool that your business can leverage in exchange for your visitors contact information.

The 'discussions' drama in Skool has been very interesting, and reminded me of this short piece I wrote: The power of saying 'no' in software development Sam clearly knows that great software gives you an approach, and not just every feature. But once you give people a feature, they'll be pissed off once you take it away - even if the feature sucked. It seems like he is sticking to his guns, and not making a judgement based on the initial reaction. Once things cool down in a week or two, it will be like it never happened - but not every SaaS founder can stand the pressure of the initial push-back.

The topic of when to launch a SaaS product came up during our collaboration call on Thursday. If you are a consultant, coach, or online expert selling an info-product, it would be beneficial to launch your SaaS product as soon as your info-product is validated. Your info-product already has demand, and that's what you are trying to sell. Your SaaS product exists to enhance your offer, reduce lead costs, and build a community rapidly - which are tangible benefits that can be realized from day one. These benefits are unique to those who sell info-products. Most SaaS founders start with a goal of monetizing their product as soon as possible, but it takes several iterations to reach product/market fit. Once you do, you'll have an incredible product - but you're in a different position. Even when you give away your SaaS product for free, you still reap huge benefits because you have coaching, a mastermind, or other another kind of info-product to sell. By developing a SaaS product that complements your Info-Product, you stand out in even the reddest of oceans. And when you do reach product/market fit, you will have something that is even more powerful than your info-product, and incredibly scalable. So to answer the question - I think you should launch when your info-product is ready, and you're looking to gain a competitive advantage.

Another video that is pure gold from Michael Seibel, this time joined by Dalton Caldwell. They give so much amazing advice, but I just want to focus on the core message - you need to like your customers. Many startups see the convoluted systems that bigger businesses have implemented - and try to act like they are a big company too. They do things like pretend the customer service rep isn't actually the founder. But it's actually a competitive advantage to be accessible, and it's hard to beat a competitor who cares about their customer. No matter what industry you serve, it's about helping and caring about people. You're making money of course, but in your heart you know you're delivering value in a big way. The customer can sense when that's the case, and they can also feel it in their bones when you don't care.

Hi, Just joined the group because I liked the idea presented in Wetube. I’m a mix between a fullstack marketer (10 years of experience) and fullstack developer (not as good as a developer than I am a marketer, but decent enough). I’m currently the co-founder and CMO of Superhote.com, a bootstrapped SaaS startup targeting short term rental owners (our main market is the French market, but we’ll expand to the English market this year). We’re currently doing around 1M€ of ARR and we want to double that in 2023. Glad to be part of the group. 😊

This video is pure gold, and encapsulates the core philosophy I write about regarding product development. Launch fast, learn fast, iterate fast. Don't spend a year planning and building - get something to the market fast, and start learning. The faster you learn, the more likely you are to build something that people love before anyone else. Tips for building an MVP: 1. Give yourself a deadline. 2. Write down your specific features. 3. After you write it down, cut out the features you don't need. Get the basic stuff out first. 4. Don't fall in love with your MVP. It will change over time - fall in love with your user instead. Get those initial users, care about them, and work with them. If you solve their problems, you will build a great product.

Rob Fitzpatrick wrote a book called 'The Mom Test', which explains how to get honest and useful feedback from anyone - even your mom, who doesn't want to hurt your feelings. People say that you should never ask your mom about whether your business idea is good, and that's true. But the real truth is, you shouldn't ask anyone whether your business idea is good - or atleast not directly. That question invites people to lie to you - when your responsibility is to uncover the truth. You do that by asking good questions. What you want is to gather is concrete facts about your customers lives and world views. This is what will allow you to improve your business. And you do that by never talking about your idea. This may seem weird, but that's how you start asking better questions, and finding out what people care about. You talk about them and their lives. The Mom Test: 1. Talk about their life instead of your idea 2. Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future 3. Talk less and listen more It's called The Mom Test because it leads to questions even your mom can't lie to you about. If you do it properly, the person you're speaking to won't even know you have an idea. Here is are examples from the book: - "Do you think it's a good idea?" Bad question. Only the market can tell if your idea is good. Everything else is just opinion. Unless you’re talking to a deep industry expert, this is self-indulgent noise with a high risk of false positives. Rule of thumb: Opinions are worthless. - "Would you buy a product which did X?" Bad question. You’re asking for opinions and hypotheticals from overly optimistic people who want to make you happy. The answer to a question like this is almost always “yes”, which makes it worthless. Rule of thumb: Anything involving the future is an over-optimistic lie. - "How much would you pay for X?" Bad question. This is exactly as bad as the last one, except it’s more likely to trick you because the number makes it feel rigorous and truthy.

I've noticed a kind of 'System as a Service' that applies to so many industries - Central Dashboards. For example - an Amazon Coach teaches the strategies for how to become a successful online seller, and also provides an E-Commerce Dashboard where you can manage your PPC, monitor your sales, check inventory, and automate review requests. Here are some more ideas: Social Media Dashboard: A social media expert could create an info-product that teaches businesses how to create a successful social media strategy, and combine it with a central dashboard where businesses can manage all their social media accounts, schedule posts, track analytics, and engage with their audience. Marketing Dashboard: A marketing consultant could create an info-product that teaches businesses how to create and implement a marketing plan, and combine it with a central dashboard where businesses can track their marketing campaigns, monitor their website traffic, and analyze their audience. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Dashboard: A sales expert could create an info-product that teaches businesses how to manage their customer relationships effectively, and combine it with a central dashboard where businesses can track their leads, manage their contacts, and automate their sales processes. Project Management Dashboard: A project management expert could create an info-product that teaches businesses how to manage their projects effectively, and combine it with a central dashboard where businesses can track tasks, collaborate with team members, and manage deadlines. Financial Dashboard: A financial consultant could create an info-product that teaches businesses how to manage their finances effectively, and combine it with a central dashboard where businesses can track their income and expenses, manage budgets, and plan for financial goals. Website Analytics Dashboard: A website optimization expert could create an info-product that teaches businesses how to optimize their website for better performance, and combine it with a central dashboard where businesses can track website analytics, monitor visitor behavior, and make data-driven decisions for website improvement.

Sam discusses Darwin's Theory of Evolution extensively in his content. He describes how we all need to evolve to survive in business, just like animals in nature. All organisms are in a fight for resources, and they need to adapt to a changing eco-system in order to survive, reproduce, and live. This is true for every creature, all the way from bugs to humans - and business is no different. Business is an eco-system, where you are competing for customers, and you have to adapt to changing customer preferences and technology in order to thrive. The people you are fighting against are your competitors, and how you win is by providing more value than anybody else. But people often forget about this. They experience success, and then they remain static. They coast, and don't continue to evolve. But then someone comes in who is a bit hungrier, and ready to adapt faster. They think a little bit differently then the existing businesses, and are ready to provide more. And this is what kills existing businesses. It is failure to adapt to change. Sam has already evolved, but he isn't teaching it - yet we're all experiencing it here with Skool. The evolution is SaaS - and it's a big jump. But if you're a consultant/coach/online expert - you may have the same key ingredients to evolve like Sam did, and supercharge your offer with SaaS. With the right strategy, you can become a SaaS Founder, avoid development hell, and thrive in even the reddest of oceans.

Hey everyone - I've met with some members of this community, and the conversations have been great. Everyone comes from different experiences, but it's clear there is a desire to connect and learn from each other. I've put a weekly call on the calendar. These calls are going to evolve as time goes on, but right now I imagine it as a time where we can discuss each members questions, goals, and progress towards becoming a SaaS founder. Soon I will be uploading content to the classroom for free - at that point, these calls will include discussions regarding implementation of the content there. Maybe you have an idea you are not sure how to proceed with, or you have a concept you would like to get feedback on. Come in, ask questions, and don't be worried. You joined for a reason - let's meet and discuss your journey. Let me know what you think, would you be interested in a weekly collab call?

If you watch Sam's videos, he talks about how he's always saying 'no' to things, and the power of that word. I think he even calls himself Mr. No. I think it's interesting, because saying no is a great habit to have in software development, and that philosophy reflects in the quality of Skool. Every idea should have to prove it's worth, and work hard to be implemented. It's better to say no to every idea the first time it appears, and let it stand outside in the rain for a few days. If it keeps coming back, that's when you know it might be worth taking a deeper look - because each time you say yes, you've actually said yes to a whole chain of events. You need to take that single yes through planning, design, coding, testing, tweaking, testing, tweaking, testing, tweaking...updating any copy if necessary, making sure pricing is not effected, launching, and then hoping you didn't break any promises. And once that feature is out there, it's tough to take away - people will get pissed off, even if the feature sucked. So it's better to start with no - and pick carefully when you do say yes. Right now, Skool doesn't have a landing page builder, or a catalogue of groups, or a post scheduler, or custom gamification, or white labeling, or a myriad of other requests that come in daily. I definitely like a few of those ideas, and some of them may become reality - but I think what makes great software is the tendency to lean towards no, instead of trying to please everyone all the time. Because great software has a vision, instead of being as flexible as possible. Great software is opinionated, and doesn't just give you every feature - it gives you an approach. Skool certainly does that, and I think it's better for it.

I'd like to know more about all of you in this group. What are your goals? What are the challenges you're facing? Do you see SaaS as a solution to them? Or is SaaS itself the goal, and the challenge is getting it made? Or maybe it's something else entirely? Feel free share your thoughts and questions - like the candle from 'Beauty and the Beast', I live to serve.

Hey everyone, I'm excited to share with you a new idea I have for a FREE mini-course and open-source app that I believe can help this community thrive. The idea is to provide you with a functioning, open-source micro-SaaS app that you can customize with your branding and deploy to the Chrome Store with minimal coding required. The goal is to get running software up fast and learn best practices through hands-on experience. Through the mini-course, I will guide you through the process of customizing the app and deploying it. By participating, you will learn valuable skills that can help you take your business to the next level. And if you get stuck along the way, this community is here to support you. Share your questions, ideas, and progress updates with us! This mini-course and open-source app will lay the foundation for everyone to start making progress quickly, and it could even lead to me releasing more micro-SaaS prototypes and tutorials for different niches. I'm really excited about this idea and believe it has the potential to help this community achieve great things. I plan to launch the mini-course and open-source app very soon, and in the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how we can make this project even more valuable. Let me know in the comments what you think!

Here's a case study of how we helped an Amazon agency align itself with a micro-SaaS product and the effect it had on their lead generation. Following the formula of "Info-Product + Micro-SaaS = System as a Service," we developed a "Product Research Micro-SaaS" for an Amazon agency to offer as a lead magnet and build a community of fans around. When launched on a page of Amazon products, it summarizes all the key information into a chart, including sales revenue. The user is able to load data for hundreds of products within seconds, export information as a CSV file, and view product images all in one window. On top of that, it has a 90-day product history, saved folders, Amazon Alerts, and more. To an Amazon seller, this is an irresistible lead magnet - and as an Amazon agency, you can easily build a "System as a Service" around this product. Teach people how to find their perfect product, build goodwill at scale, and warm them up to your paid offerings. When Facebook ads were run to this offer, our client got 30%+ email conversions compared to industry standards of 2-3%. With just one organic post on LinkedIn, over 65 people signed up to their community in order to gain access. In their community, people also get access to a course that shows them how to use the tool to find a great product. People share their feedback and appreciation, and they also post about the challenges they are facing on Amazon, which are opportunities to close sales. We helped them accomplish all this by building a Micro-SaaS they could combine with their Info-Product and leverage to establish a community. Now they are warming up their community to their paid offer, gathering feedback, and moving closer to product-market fit - all while staying out of development hell, and focusing on what they do best.