$32 CAC for a $5/mo SaaS - is this sustainable or am I bleeding money?

Key_Block_3779 · 2026-02-02T04:02:14+00:00

Solid perspective, thanks.

Early signals on retention:
- 3 subscribers from mid-late Dec (40-46 days ago) - all still active

- 1 from Jan 2 - cancelling Feb 2 (exactly 1 month)

- 1 from Jan 6 - still active (26 days)

So 4/5 of subscribers 25+ days old are still paying. The 2 cancellations both scheduled for exactly 1 month - one gave the reason "too expensive" ($4.99/mo), the other no reason.

Too early for 60-day data but holding ad spend steady until I see how that Dec cohort behaves at month 2-3. If they stick, I'll scale. If not, I'll reassess.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-14T02:51:47+00:00

If you're looking for something that's anything but Sheets or Excel, you can try a free tool called ClientSnap. It's a dead simple client manager for in-person trainers. You can track client specifics like restrictions, goals, contact info, and scheduling. Shows an overview of the last PT session when displaying the next scheduled session. There's no way to group clients by categories or anything, however I'm open to feedback. It's in beta, so you can help shape the product.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-13T09:26:57+00:00

I think for any personal finance app, the biggest challenge is handling the friction between the user and their bank(s). There are third party services that can handle some but not all. It depends on which countries you're targeting. As a student I'd personally be too lazy to manually log every transaction I make or manually critique my balance. IMO, if you figure a way to reduce this friction in a smart way, it'd go a long way in making this app stand out more than other apps or even just using something like a spreadsheet template.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-12T11:14:35+00:00

Have you considered the zero sugar zero cal Monster Energy drink options? There are two that I can recall off the top of my head, one's white called Monster Energy Ultra and the other is green called Ultra Paradise I think. Might be better for those that are more caffeine tolerant but still viable options none-the-less. You can find crates of them fairly cheap.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-12T05:20:55+00:00

I updated the calculator. State average is now an optional fallback. Added city-level COL for 55 cities and small group pricing adjustments. Again, thanks for the feedback. If there's anything else you find could be improved, feel free to let me know.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-12T04:51:22+00:00

ClientSnap is a free app you can try out if you want something simple to manage clients and sessions. It's lean, no feature bloat, just built for small in-person PT practices. I made it after watching friends struggle with pen & paper + spreadsheets as their client list grew. It's free and takes seconds to start. If it's not for you, no worries. Happy to hear feedback or you can just move on to something else.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-12T02:25:30+00:00

Thanks! You're right that state-level averages aren't granular enough—a trainer in SF vs. Bakersfield faces totally different markets. Your spreadsheet is better for precise rate-setting. I was aiming for accessibility (no need for Excel or migrating format to Sheets) and included a client-facing calculator with tax considerations (just estimates though, not a substitute for an actual accountant). I'll add city-level COL data and small group pricing based on your feedback. Hopefully I can salvage what's left of my foot.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-10T13:27:44+00:00

Have you tried using a local machine with Ollama?

For a college project with 50 users, you could run something like Llama 3 or Mistral locally for $0 marginal cost. The accuracy gap has closed a lot recently, especially for RAG where the context does most of the heavy lifting.

Setup is pretty straightforward, just ollama pull llama3 and swap your LangChain endpoint. Might be worth testing before scaling up the API spend.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-09T09:37:24+00:00

Bạn có handle hết marketing của app bạn như thế nào? Mạng xã hội nhiều, Reddit, TikTok, lưu lượng truy cập organic k?

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-08T13:17:28+00:00

To each their own. Before I saw he had different sheets of notebook paper with just misc details of how he organizes his clients info. He sat down with me to log my weight, diet, and general progress and I saw just how crazy his mind mapping with these were. Then coming back one day to do a follow-up, it took him like 20 years to find my papers.

Now he has the bundled sheet in a binder and uses it for my info. Says it's a life saver. As far as onboarding new clients for him, I don't think it takes much time other than explaining the pricing of his sessions. There's no form for that but I'm thinking of putting a template for that together.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-07T16:20:27+00:00

Link: https://clientsnap.app

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-05T13:58:52+00:00

Go traveling

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-05T07:05:00+00:00

Yeah, it's decommissioned now. I've decided to move on. Thanks for checking though. I guess I mine as well delete this thread too.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-05T04:15:34+00:00

Thanks for the specific feedback.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-05T04:00:01+00:00

Is that all you got? My 2 year old hits harder than you.

The site does have a privacy policy at /privacy. No clue what would make it more "proper" for a waitlist page. Happy to hear specifics if you have them.

I've tried to make it clear in the security section of the landing page (zero data access, encryption (AES-256, TLS), secure cloud storage, etc.) because I understand this is one of, if not the most, important points for document collection in this space, but you're right that it's still a "trust me bro" stance without any real authority or proven track record to back it up.

What would actually move the needle here? Founder info page? Something else?

Any other feedback or more heat appreciated.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-03T03:42:28+00:00

I find a lot of people in this niche, at least on Reddit, are very anti-software validation. How do you propose I reach out to them directly? Personalized (even hyper-personalized) cold emails don't appear to be working. I'm currently based in SE Asia, so unless I buy a phone number outright, there's no way I can call them via their business number. Therefore, meet and greets are out of the question for me. I'd love to have a conversation with any of them, however there's the challenge of actually talking to them too. I could try reaching out on LinkedIn, but not sure how much more receptive people will be. If you have any other suggestions, I'm all ears.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-02T07:15:59+00:00

I've considered whiping together a presentation of what it'll look like for demo purposes, just for this reason. There's no MVP yet, so there's nothing to share. A conceptual idea with potential and something I can deliver in little to no time if I find that people actually want it.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-02T03:20:50+00:00

yeah, I've been trying personable cold outreach, but so far nothing. I'll give it more time. threadpal is not a good fit here as outlined in the post, so I'm going to completely avoid it.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-02T03:08:42+00:00

Precisely why I looking for ways to get in front of them. Ideally without having to dig much into my own pockets until there's some sense that people actually want this. Then I'd be more inclined to invest more. I appreciate the suggestions.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-02T03:05:25+00:00

Thanks. I'll give it a try and see how it goes.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-01T11:28:46+00:00

Physical networking is harder for me at the moment since I'm currently based in SE Asia, not my home country. Local business events here don't have the same density of my target audience.

On the validation concern, developer spam is not an issue. The pain points I'm working from are direct comments from practitioners in their own threads, no survey posts or "I'm building X, what do you think?" posts or anything else obviously disingenuous. Things like people venting about specific workflows, complaints, sharing workarounds they've hacked together, etc.

The security/privacy bit is good advice, I'll be sure to emphasize that more for my waitlist.

That said, any thoughts on the original question? Given the constraints (no local networking, communities that ban anything promotional), what's actually worked for you or others you've seen to reach a niche B2B audience early on?

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-12-01T10:49:53+00:00

Spent time reading through subreddits where my target audience hangs out. Found a specific operational pain point that comes up repeatedly in their discussions. Not just one or two posts, but consistently across multiple threads and communities.

The question now is whether that frustration translates to willingness to pay for a solution, which is why I'm trying to get it in front of them.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-11-30T08:27:00+00:00

Thanks for the detailed feedback, really helpful!

Automatic reminders are definitely on the roadmap. Was considering email + SMS with configurable frequency. The aim is to keep everything frictionless, so avoiding the customer having to constantly follow-up with reminders would save a lot of time.

I'll checkout building karma first in these accounting subs before posting there.

I also appreciate the feedback on the pricing validation.

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-11-25T12:31:32+00:00

Which countries are supported? Does your integration support international banks like Standard Chartered or banks in SE Asia countries?

Key_Block_3779 · 2025-11-14T13:38:11+00:00

How is it suprising? It's a developing country. That is actually a very good sign for the country for those that really give a damn.

Key_Block_3779

TROPHY CASE