I’ve built five failed side hustles in ten years. Every time I had a new idea I had the same fear that someone would steal it, so I decided to build in a vacuum until release. Looking back, no one was going to steal my idea because they were all flawed.
This may well be my last side project, and if I’m going to build something flawed again I’d rather find out sooner and change direction.
Focus on the process not the outcome
One of the biggest mistakes I made with my other projects was having this vision of an end goal and using that as fuel to keep me going. I’d say to myself “the sooner I focus and build this, the quicker I can make money”, but I missed checking in on the milestones to see if it was ever going to make money.
This blog is about the process of building a SaaS rather than details specific to my product. I’ll talk about things like competitor research, landing pages, positioning, validation, user interviews, metrics, distribution, and probably a lots of other stuff.
Why build in public
Reading Twitter recently it seems like I’m late to the party with the build-in-public movement, but I was inspired to do this from reading The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.
The more desire I have for something to work out a certain way, the less likely I am to see the truth. Especially in business, if something isn’t going well, I try to acknowledge it publicly and I try to acknowledge it publicly in front of my co-founders and friends and co-workers. Then, I’m not hiding it from anybody else. If I’m not hiding it from anybody, I’m not going to delude myself from what’s actually going on - Naval
Here’s a few of the reasons I’m documenting my ideas:
1. Clearer thinking
Not only does becoming a better writer help become a better thinker, but documenting my thoughts keeps me honest about my progress. With previous projects when I internalised my thoughts it was easy to sidestep problems with other more manageable ideas when there was any resistance. Writing for an audience forces me to address questions I know others will ask.
2. Shared experiences
I’m sure there’s a lot of people in the same boat right now. I hope some of the things I write about are useful to others but equally I hope there are people a few steps ahead of me pointing out ideas that won’t work.
3. Consistency
Here’s another idea from Naval but I’m sure it’s taken from Influence: The psychology of persuasion. People want to be consistent with what they say so the more people I tell about my ideas, the more chance I’ll be to follow through with them.
4. Connecting with like-minded makers
Being a maker is tough. When things are going well you’re energised and happy to keep going. When things are going badly it’s a lonely void of dispair.
I honestly wish I had more people to talk to at the same stage as me to share war stories. If any of this resonates with you then feel free to reach out on Twitter.
5. Social Proof
If I see someone tweet they reached $100 MRR I’m already intrigued. I’ll click their profile and see what they’re selling. If I someone making over $1,000 MRR and documenting their experiences I’ll follow them straight away. Knowing people are paying even a small amount for your SaaS tells people your service is valuable. Knowing people are paying a lot for your SaaS tells people your ideas are valuable.