Kickstarting Your SaaS Journey in 2023: Code, No-Code or Hiring Pros? [My Journey]

I Love SaaS.

The allure of starting a SaaS business is more compelling than ever. With its recurring revenue model and potential for high revenue multiples upon exit, SaaS is arguably one of the most worthwhile businesses to start.

Just look at this example:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...in-latest-fundraising?leadSource=uverify wall
Podium has developed a simple SaaS to help small businesses (plumbers, electricians etc) to modernize customer interactions, such as messaging and customer feedback, and improve their online reputations.

The company is now estimated to be worth $3 billion...

There are many more examples just like Podium, we have AI writers like Jasper, Writesonic and Rytr etc

Jasper's last raise gives them an estimated $1.5 billion valuation.


My SaaS Journey

I'm helping small local business owners, accountants, dentists, chiropractors etc with their marketing!

I leverage simple systems and automation tools to remove a lot of human error to consistently get them more leads, win them more clients and ultimately get them more money. And for the marketing services I provide for them, I charge them anywhere from $300-500 per month.

But wait, normally people say you need to be charging $1500-2000 per month for digital marketing services and that way you only need 5 or 6 clients, and your right, most online gurus do say this, but actually, most of the online gurus aren’t actually running their own agencies and they haven’t had to deal with the extra work of getting clients to stick at $2000 a month...

Small local business owners can’t afford $1500-2000 per month every month…

Churn rates for agencies charging these rates are extremely high. Trust me, I've worked for a few of them.

That’s why we can set up software and systems to scale our business so we can remove ourselves from spending hours and hours in the business and leverage these simple services we set up once and then charge $300-500 per month, every month which is much more sustainable for everyone.

$300-500 is actually affordable for most local business owners.

And you can afford it too, because we are leveraging software rather than your time as a service.

So how can you get started in SaaS?

Here are three popular routes you can take to launch your SaaS venture: Learning to code, leveraging no-code tools, or hiring professionals (freelancers or agencies).

1. Learn How to Code
   This path can be incredibly rewarding and beneficial in the long run. It gives you total control over your product and its development. However, it does come with a high learning curve and can be time-consuming, especially if you're starting from scratch.
   
   
2. No-Code Tools (e.g., Bubble.io)
   If you're looking for a quicker route to launch your MVP, no-code tools are a fantastic choice. They offer a lower learning curve and faster development. However, they're not without their limitations. Potential scalability issues and vendor lock-in are downsides to consider and you’re very restricted in terms of what you can build.
   
   
3. Hiring a Freelancer or an Agency
   If you have some extra cash or have recently exited a company, hiring professionals can be the quickest and most efficient way to get your SaaS up and running. You'll have access to experienced professionals who can bring your vision to life while you focus on other aspects of your business. The downsides? It can be costlier, and finding the right people to trust with your project can be a challenge.

Hopefully, reading this has been a lightbulb moment for some of you. If you're interested or want to know more, feel free to comment with any questions, I love talking SaaS!

Thanks for reading!

I love SAAS business too! I'm a programmer but I chose to start my business with a nocode platform and it was by far the right decision. Unless you have funds to hire a team of programmers, learn a no code platform and make your idea yourself!

What I have noticed is, what you think you should do right at the start will change - and it should change! Using a nocode platform will allow you to change faster and get features for your users when they need them.

Hey OP, good luck on your journey.

I think offering SaaS services, you have to at least have some knowledge of coding. Otherwise, you're either a middleman or someone that's easily exploited, at least that's my opinion.

facebookdude said:

nocode

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That's awesome mate! I highly recommend the nocode platform as well If you can build the tools yourself, it saves you money in the long run and you can adapt quickly when you need to. Worth the learning curve!

ScribScribScrib said:

Hey OP, good luck on your journey.

I think offering SaaS services, you have to at least have some knowledge of coding. Otherwise, you're either a middleman or someone that's easily exploited, at least that's my opinion.

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Thanks!

That's a fair comment, you get a lot more control, worth the effort!

I'm a coder and I would defintely go the nocode route. Starting from scratch means a lot of time coding the basics and features and dealing with bugs and whatnot. It leaves one with little time to market the service. Hiring coders sounds great but is expensive as all get out.

thedorf said:

I'm a coder and I would defintely go the nocode route. Starting from scratch means a lot of time coding the basics and features and dealing with bugs and whatnot. It leaves one with little time to market the service. Hiring coders sounds great but is expensive as all get out.

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100% agree. Have you built any SaaS tools yourself?

I am interested in the journey and building SaaS, but even with NoCode it requires knowledge.

What NoCode platform do you plan to use ?

facebookdude said:

I love SAAS business too! I'm a programmer but I chose to start my business with a nocode platform and it was by far the right decision. Unless you have funds to hire a team of programmers, learn a no code platform and make your idea yourself!

What I have noticed is, what you think you should do right at the start will change - and it should change! Using a nocode platform will allow you to change faster and get features for your users when they need them.

Click to expand...

Mr.SaaS said:

That's awesome mate! I highly recommend the nocode platform as well If you can build the tools yourself, it saves you money in the long run and you can adapt quickly when you need to. Worth the learning curve!

Click to expand...

thedorf said:

I'm a coder and I would defintely go the nocode route. Starting from scratch means a lot of time coding the basics and features and dealing with bugs and whatnot. It leaves one with little time to market the service. Hiring coders sounds great but is expensive as all get out.

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Can you guys be more specific about your recommended NoCode platform?

GenesisOne said:

Can you guys be more specific about your recommended NoCode platform?

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Bubble is the most comprehensive and easy to learn. Has a lot of successful businesses built with it.

If you're just starting out I recommend https://bubble.io/

Hiring a freelancer is very risky. If the tool gets popular, his demand will rise. He has all the skills needed to make a competing tool also

I actually don't get what exactly your saas doing? Something like showing some stats from all social media platforms...?
Anyway, I curently work as a IT PM, and Im really surpised how people invest in so kany bullshit startups.... And they succeed most of the time I have trie myself to launch couple services but no luck, just burned money
what do you think, were to look for problem to solve? I mean saas is just the problem solution for people or companys. So to start succesful saas first need to find the problem

Yapaz said:

I actually don't get what exactly your saas doing? Something like showing some stats from all social media platforms...?
Anyway, I curently work as a IT PM, and Im really surpised how people invest in so kany bullshit startups.... And they succeed most of the time I have trie myself to launch couple services but no luck, just burned money
what do you think, were to look for problem to solve? I mean saas is just the problem solution for people or companys. So to start succesful saas first need to find the problem

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I've worked for several agencies in the past and have aquired clients myself so understand their needs. They all need software tools to run their business and get leads. My SaaS combines all the tools in one place saving a fortune. It's a no brainer for most and once clients start using it it's an easy sell.

Have you thought about reaching out to local businesses and offering them a service?

Unless you are making a prototype or a MVP, going custom code by either hiring or making it on your own has and always will be the most reliable way in the long term.

Don't get me wrong, modern nocode platforms like Bubble are great, but after an MVP stage, you'll hit a wall where you need a feature that's not trivial to make in Bubble, you'll need custom code and you'll need to hire a "Bubble Developer" to make that feature anyways.

In the end, it's about "owning" the product. If you are offering some software as a service you need to own that software yourself first, only then can you reliably sell it as a service. Otherwise, a low code platform like Bubble would start charging 3x for some critical platform feature your saas depends on, and that would hurt your bottom-line hard.

What you can do instead is make an MVP with a lowcode tool, get customers and make money with it, and once you have a decent MRR, invest in a full rewrite in a robust fullstack framework as soon as possible. The quicker you do this transition the better, since you would have fewer customers and lesser feature complexity which helps when doing a complete rewrite.

Mr.SaaS said:

Have you thought about reaching out to local businesses and offering them a service?

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How do you sell? I've tried reaching out people but it never converted.

Ashk881 said:

Unless you are making a prototype or a MVP, going custom code by either hiring or making it on your own has and always will be the most reliable way in the long term.

Don't get me wrong, modern nocode platforms like Bubble are great, but after an MVP stage, you'll hit a wall where you need a feature that's not trivial to make in Bubble, you'll need custom code and you'll need to hire a "Bubble Developer" to make that feature anyways.

In the end, it's about "owning" the product. If you are offering some software as a service you need to own that software yourself first, only then can you reliably sell it as a service. Otherwise, a low code platform like Bubble would start charging 3x for some critical platform feature your saas depends on, and that would hurt your bottom-line hard.

What you can do instead is make an MVP with a lowcode tool, get customers and make money with it, and once you have a decent MRR, invest in a full rewrite in a robust fullstack framework as soon as possible. The quicker you do this transition the better, since you would have fewer customers and lesser feature complexity which helps when doing a complete rewrite.

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Amen

Ashk881 said:

How do you sell? I've tried reaching out people but it never converted.

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Offer a free trial or free demo to show the software. Make sure to have good onboarding help and support to get clients to stick. Use video, case studies and reviews in your funnels.

Ashk881 said:

Unless you are making a prototype or a MVP, going custom code by either hiring or making it on your own has and always will be the most reliable way in the long term.

Don't get me wrong, modern nocode platforms like Bubble are great, but after an MVP stage, you'll hit a wall where you need a feature that's not trivial to make in Bubble, you'll need custom code and you'll need to hire a "Bubble Developer" to make that feature anyways.

In the end, it's about "owning" the product. If you are offering some software as a service you need to own that software yourself first, only then can you reliably sell it as a service. Otherwise, a low code platform like Bubble would start charging 3x for some critical platform feature your saas depends on, and that would hurt your bottom-line hard.

What you can do instead is make an MVP with a lowcode tool, get customers and make money with it, and once you have a decent MRR, invest in a full rewrite in a robust fullstack framework as soon as possible. The quicker you do this transition the better, since you would have fewer customers and lesser feature complexity which helps when doing a complete rewrite.

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I would like to push back on this a little bit. Saying that you should invest in a fullstack framework version of your SAAS after you're making decent money could be the right move in some cases I think - if you're constantly feeling held back by some limitations of the no-code platform but if you're not I think coding it from scratch might be overkill.

Mr.SaaS said:

I've worked for several agencies in the past and have aquired clients myself so understand their needs. They all need software tools to run their business and get leads. My SaaS combines all the tools in one place saving a fortune. It's a no brainer for most and once clients start using it it's an easy sell.

Have you thought about reaching out to local businesses and offering them a service?

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Well, the one need to have services to offer. I guess I need to find the way to get the problems from the businesses, that I can solve Something like email them "Hey, what do you do daily that's piss you off and you would like to automate"