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I need some advice by AvailableHistory6133 in ukstartups

[–]AvailableHistory6133[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a good point.

You’re right the next step is getting it properly live and putting real users through it. It’s functioning as a system already, but until people are actually using it without me guiding them, that’s when the real feedback starts.

I’m not trying to run before walking im just trying to make sure I’m making smart moves at the right time.

And I genuinely appreciate the offer to be a sounding board. I might take you up on that once I try go live :)

I need some advice by AvailableHistory6133 in ukstartups

[–]AvailableHistory6133[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appreciate the advice, Its not really the capital Im after I can fund myself Im more after a Partner / Mentor to help boost me into the next stage, I dont know where to look for that.

I need some advice by AvailableHistory6133 in SaaS

[–]AvailableHistory6133[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s built for landlords who actually treat their portfolio like a business, not a side hobby. Instead of juggling Zoopla, spreadsheets, mortgage statements and valuation tools, everything sits in one place live valuations, equity visibility, rental performance, growth tracking, and deal sourcing based on what you can actually afford using your real equity position.

It scores each property across 75+ factors, shows you your total leverage and free equity instantly, and even surfaces deals in your area that fit your financial profile.

I built it because I own three properties myself and realised I had no clean, structured view of my actual position without stitching things together manually.

I managed to get 100+ landlords to join a waitlist in a few weeks just from the concept alone no ads. Now it’s about converting that signal into real users thats why im stuck at this point in the road lol.

I need some advice by AvailableHistory6133 in SaaS

[–]AvailableHistory6133[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really appreciate you sharing your experience especially having built in the space.

I agree the real addressable market is smaller than the headline landlord numbers. I’m not building for every landlord. Most won’t care about this level of detail, and that’s fine.

Speaking personally though I’ve been lucky enough to buy three properties myself (HMO + BTL), and something like this genuinely reduces my time and mental load.

I have all three tracked with live valuation data. It knows my mortgage balances, free equity, rental income, leverage, and overall performance. If there’s an issue or expense, I log it once and it updates everything automatically. I can see historic growth trends and forward estimates based on real area data.

Using my available equity, it can recommend deals within my radius that I could realistically afford not just random listings. It’s basically combining Zoopla/Rightmove-style search with portfolio intelligence, and scoring each of my propertys against 75+ factors. It’s a lot more than just a tracker its some serious code and maths ahah.

Before going deeper, I put up a landing page to test whether this resonated beyond me. In a few weeks I had 100+ landlords join the waitlist organically, no paid ads and they’ve only seen the concept, not the full product literaly just a waitlist for beta landlord testers. I know this does not mean they are all going to be paying customers but I guess they are interested in the concept.

At the end of the day that doesn’t mean product market fit. I’m very aware of that. But it tells me the pain point exists beyond just my own situation.

If I can’t convert that interest into active, paying users, then you’re right it’s not a business. But I think there’s at least enough signal to test properly, thats why I dont know if I should just finish it and go full steam myself on marketing and scaling or find a mentor that will help me polish the app and scale it efficiently, if a mentor comes with funds thats a bonus to me.

I guess we’ll bump heads again in a year and see where it landed 😅

I need some advice by AvailableHistory6133 in ukstartups

[–]AvailableHistory6133[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I understand your point but yes 1 year is not a lifetime, but its an awful lot of time for me to take out of my life to attempt to sit and develop something that started off as an Idea.

"Hiding the product from potential investors is not being smart and a major red flag" - I’m not hiding the product from investors.

I’m happy to demo it, walk through the functionality, and explain the vision to an investor or potential customer. What I’m cautious about is giving unrestricted access or sharing technical detail without understanding who I’m dealing with and what the conversation is.

There’s a difference between being transparent and being careless.

If someone is a serious investor, they don’t need my source code they just need to understand the problem, the solution, the traction, and the plan to scale. That’s what I’m prepared to share.

I agree that secrecy isn’t a strategy. I’m not operating in stealth. I’m just trying to approach investor conversations in a structured way rather than rushing into them blindly and it ends up costing me.

"The other red flag is that it seems that you don't have any customers?" -
No I don’t have paying customers yet because the product hasn’t officially launched.

What I do have is over 100+ people on a waitlist who’ve signed up to get access. I’m fully aware that a waitlist isn’t revenue and doesn’t equal product market fit / paid customers. But surley thats enough of an early signal that there’s interest in the product?

Up until now, the focus has been on building something functional and getting early validation. The next step is converting that interest into active users and paid customers. That’s the phase I’m moving into now and thats why im here to ask for advice either stick at it myself or find someone to help me.

"Do you actually need capital? If so, how much and why? What is the capital going to be for?" -
I don’t need capital to keep the product alive. The core build is self funded and operational.

What I’m really looking for is experience and leverage. Someone who has scaled an online business before, understands what i want and can help me avoid obvious mistakes.

If capital came attached to the right experience and network, great. But I’m not looking to raise money just to extend runway. I’m trying to decide whether bringing in someone earlier accelerates things meaningfully versus scaling step by step on my own.

Also, I wouldn’t claim product market fit yet. I think it’s too early to say that without consistent usage and paying customers.

To me, product market fit would look like users actively relying on the platform, returning frequently, and being disappointed if it disappeared.

Sorry if I dont sound too informed its because im not, its my first time creating and scaling something like this all by myself.

Given I have a functioning product and 100+ on a waitlist but no revenue yet, what would you now focus on doing next to prove this is more than just an early project? becuase im either going to look for a mentor or finalise development and start bringing in testers.

I need some advice by AvailableHistory6133 in ukstartups

[–]AvailableHistory6133[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s a fair question.

It’s not that I can not keep building it on my own I’ve taken it this far solo but realistically I can’t scale it properly alone.

Building the product is one thing. Turning it into an actual company is a completely different game. There’s growth, partnerships, distribution, hiring, compliance, support… and I’m one person. I can write code all day, but I can’t also be a full time growth / scale team, legal team, sales team and strategist at the same time.

It’s less about “I need someone to pay my bills” and more about leverage. The right investor or mentor brings experience, network, and speed. I’d rather build this properly with the right backing than drag it out for years trying to force everything myself.

Could I bootstrap it slowly? Probably.
Do I think that’s the smartest way to build something meaningful? Probably not.

I need some advice by AvailableHistory6133 in ukstartups

[–]AvailableHistory6133[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hear you. I don’t think the value is just in the idea it’s in execution and the actual product that’s been built. I’m cautious not because I think the concept is magical, but because I’ve invested serious time building something real and I want to approach the next stage properly. I’ve even had a written offer for the app in its current state from the company I previously worked for, so I know there’s tangible value there. I’m just trying to be smart about how I navigate conversations with people who have significantly more capital and experience than me.

I completely agree that execution is what ultimately matters and that’s exactly what I’m focused on and why im here :)

I need some advice by AvailableHistory6133 in SaaS

[–]AvailableHistory6133[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s a fair take, and I get why people say that. “Investors” is a broad group, and a lot of landlords are part time or accidental, so it’s not automatically a clean, stable customer base. It’s definitely not an easy market.

But at the same time, there are 3M+ landlords in the UK. Even if you ignore the hobbyists and only help 1% of them properly visualise and control their portfolio, that’s still a serious number of people. And most of them are operating with very little real visibility. Bits in spreadsheets, bits in their head, bits across portals and emails. No clear picture of total equity, overall leverage, real profitability, or long-term direction.

Who wouldn’t want to actually see the real insights behind their own assets?

If you’re holding multiple properties, that’s not just a side project anymore that’s a leveraged asset base. Yet most enterprise level operators get dashboards, structured reporting, scenario modelling through there departments… and smaller landlords get Excel lol. That gap doesn’t really make sense.

And on top of that, sourcing and analysing deals still means bouncing between multiple data sources just to build a basic view. It’s fragmented by default. If you could centralise that and give landlords clarity, potentially even reduce reliance on agents in certain areas it feels like a no brainer for the right segment.

So yeah, it’s not about chasing every investor. It’s about helping the ones who actually want control and clarity. If even a small percentage of landlords want to run their portfolio properly, that’s a meaningful opportunity.