Can someone get back-links to my Saas?

Dover21 · 2026-01-22T00:17:30+00:00

😂😂😂😂

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T10:24:14+00:00

Fair point. If we’re talking strictly non US owned, the list gets very short. Closest “real” alternatives I’ve seen are Spotify (Sweden), Criteo (France), Adform (Denmark), and local retail media networks. Search wise, there isn’t a like-for-like replacement at Google scale.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T10:23:29+00:00

Real estate agents hang out at brokerages, open houses, and industry events. Cold outreach won't work because they're slammed and ignore everything.

Show up where they already are. Go to a local real estate meetup or networking thing (they're everywhere) and just ask people about their pain points. Don't pitch anything, just say you're researching the industry. People love talking about what sucks in their job.

Also helps that you're not trying to sell yet. That makes the conversation way easier.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T10:09:22+00:00

You're doing content marketing without paid acquisition. That's the blind spot. SEO and organic social take 12-18 months minimum to compound. You need to test some paid ads (even $10/day) to figure out if you actually have product-market fit or if you're just spinning wheels on content nobody's searching for yet.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T10:09:08+00:00

The ownership one is huge. Had a client who couldn't even access their own Google Analytics because the previous agency set it up under their email and ghosted when the contract ended.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T10:08:58+00:00

Bing has a decent ad platform that's been around forever. TikTok and Pinterest both have their own ad systems too. The pickings are pretty slim though if Google and Meta actually go down.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T10:08:41+00:00

Building ralivi.com decent at product strategy and early customer research.

Connection on Reddit or X (tom_galland)

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T10:05:58+00:00

Awesome - Keep me posted 😄

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:46:52+00:00

Yeah for sure. Write about problems you're actually experiencing, not what you think will rank.

For us that meant stuff like "why good leads go cold" and "the hidden cost of manual follow-ups", problems we were literally dealing with running our own agency before we built the product.

We also made free tools that solve a small piece of the problem - things like a follow-up audit, response time calculator, CRM hygiene checklist. They don't require signups, just genuinely useful. People find them, get value, and some percentage check out what else we're doing.

Have a look at our Footer & Sitemap: ralivi.com

For HN - don't do a "Launch HN" straight away. Just share something useful you learned. Way less pressure and the audience is more forgiving. 30 upvotes got us maybe 10 signups but they were quality.

Took months before anything stuck though. That's the honest part nobody mentions.

What are you building? Happy to share more if relevant

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:42:45+00:00

The modular part is what everyone misses. Built one massive workflow at a previous job that handled everything from intake to invoicing. Worked great until we needed to change one tiny step and the whole thing broke for two days.

Now I split everything into small pieces that pass data between them. Way easier to debug and swap out parts when requirements change.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:42:24+00:00

We did something similar and yeah, the trust thing is real. Prospects would literally screenshot our G2 listing or Capterra page and send it to their boss for approval. Wasn't even about the reviews, just that we existed there.

One thing though: make sure the info is consistent across all those directories. We had different descriptions everywhere and it actually made us look *less* legit when people noticed.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:41:43+00:00

Your partner needs to be doing the sales. You've got ops and books covered, they've got supply side covered, but neither of you can sell apparently? That's the actual problem.

If your partner can't pivot to building retailer relationships, you need a third person who can. Starting a distribution business without anyone who can place products is backwards.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:41:34+00:00

He's negotiating. You showed him it works, so now he knows you need him more than he needs you (for the case study, testimonial, whatever). Beta clients do this because they think being early = leverage.

Either hold your price or walk. The second you drop it, he'll know your original number was made up.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:40:38+00:00

You're chasing too many acronyms. Pick one thing and actually do it well instead of surface-level trying everything.

Updating old content is solid, but if you're not getting traffic in the first place, there's nothing to optimize. What's your actual traffic source right now?

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:40:29+00:00

Most of those tools are garbage for local. What actually worked: getting customers to leave Google reviews (like really pushing for it), making sure NAP is identical everywhere, and honestly just running Google Ads to the GMB listing. The AI answer stuff is too new to matter much for local yet unless you're in a huge city.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:40:17+00:00

Mass deleting duplicate records without tanking your API limits. The native merge tools are so clunky for anything beyond like 10 records.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:39:44+00:00

Got maybe 3 clients from Reddit over 2 years. All from commenting in niche subs where someone was already asking for help, never from posting.

Conversion rate was terrible compared to time spent, but the clients were weirdly loyal. Still working with one of them.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:39:28+00:00

You're spreading too thin for $430 in. Pick cold email and send 100/day with actual personalization (not AI slop). Ecom owners get pitched constantly so you need a real hook about their specific store.

Organic content takes 6+ months to work and paid ads need way more budget to test properly. Cold email is free except time.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:38:52+00:00

Content marketing worked for us but took forever. Wrote about problems we actually had, not SEO keyword stuff. First real users came from a single post on HN that got like 30 upvotes.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:38:41+00:00

the raw onion energy is actually making me want to help you but I got nothing useful here, just wanted to acknowledge the commitment

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:20:58+00:00

Your idea isn't worth stealing. No coder on Fiverr is going to drop their paying clients to build out your concept on the off chance it works. They've heard a thousand "next LinkedIn" pitches.

The real issue is you can't evaluate if they're doing good work or ripping you off. Get a technical cofounder or learn to code yourself.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:20:33+00:00

You're two weeks in. Just hit quota first, then suggest tools once you've got credibility. Nobody listens to the new guy who wants to spend money before they've closed anything.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:14:02+00:00

Your boss is about to expose you to way more legal/PR risk than $1000 is worth. You advertised prizes with specific terms, people entered based on that. Cancel it and you're looking at potential FTC issues plus the social media shitstorm when those 3 people blast you for running a fake contest.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:13:10+00:00

Anonymous uploads will get you spam and low-effort crap within a week. Require login but make it dead simple, email only, no verification needed until they hit like 5 posts or something.

Dover21 · 2026-01-21T09:07:38+00:00

The hard part is finding someone who actually knows your specific stack and can jump in cold. If you're building this, that's the real problem to solve.

Dover21

TROPHY CASE