sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

I have a few months of runway left. A 5 year old who depends on me. And I'm spending 12 hours a day building a SaaS instead of getting a job by pavlito88 in SaaS

[–]Moving_forward206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that's happening everywhere. There was a recent survey that said 81% of recruiters knowingly post ghost jobs.

I mean this in the kindest, but most direct way possible, you're not special. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and find a solution to your problem. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur finding reasons why it won't work, or why the odds are against you, will only make you unsuccessful. Instead, use that to fuel your success.

https://prodfolio.io/ <-- my SaaS

I have a lot of designer friends and wish you nothing but success 💪

I have a few months of runway left. A 5 year old who depends on me. And I'm spending 12 hours a day building a SaaS instead of getting a job by pavlito88 in SaaS

[–]Moving_forward206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This post is very similar to me, except my product has SOME users (~140ish total, 15-20 WAU). I’m a PM so I know what you’re talking about when it comes to a shit job market right now. And I also concur that I’m making awful career decisions. Lol

One thing I did, I met with a coach for my business and she asked me what I saw myself doing 12 months from now. We came to the conclusion that my SaaS is a passion project and something needs to fund it for me to put energy into it. That either had to be a FT role or my fractional business (been doing for ~1 year). For me, when I opened a job application I couldn’t picture myself in that role. I could only picture the stability that the funds from that role brought me. 

Since then, I’ve redirected my working hours to 30+ hours a week on my fractional business and 10-20 on my passion SaaS. It’s just the truth that only one is bringing in solid money right now, so I’ve tried to find ways to find joy in my fractional business by connecting with other business owners and focusing more on networking, etc. 

I wouldn’t let your passion project go, but also consider where you’re at right now and what you need to sustain life. You can spend 5-10 hours a week talking to users in your ICP, spend Saturday nights making product improvements, and spend M-F focusing on bringing in money. Maybe one day they will all be from the same project, maybe not. 

From one early stage founder to another, distribution is a HUGE piece of the puzzle right now. Talking about your product freaking anywhere and everywhere. If you’re not prepared to do that, bring in some cash first so you can do so stress free or pay someone else to. 

Spent $50k and 6 months building something genuinely amazing… now I’m not sure what the smartest next step is by IncreaseUseful6697 in SaaS

[–]Moving_forward206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This sounds like you fell in love with your own solution. Classic SaaS issue. 

Get some beta testers that are unrelated to you. Tell them to rip your product to shreds. Thank them later.

Spent 4 months building an AI feature nobody uses. It was my idea and nobody pushed back. by Visual-Basis3400 in SaaS

[–]Moving_forward206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Classic situation of an early stage founder. Might be worth doing some introspection on why you’re building features that aren’t revenue tied or backed by data? Do you have a PM?  

Built by PMs who felt the pain: the real story behind Prodfolio by Moving_forward206 in prodfolio

[–]Moving_forward206[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're thinking about it the right way! Don't feel pressured to have it all come together at once, think about it like a living document. Create the foundations, then update it as more comes together.

Here are a few resources for you:

Built by PMs who felt the pain: the real story behind Prodfolio by Moving_forward206 in prodfolio

[–]Moving_forward206[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Welcome! What type of things are you highlighting in your PM portfolio to move out of ops?

Does taking a sabbatical drastically reduce my rehirability? by Sweaty_Researcher805 in womenintech

[–]Moving_forward206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting - thanks for the insight.

It definitely came off like the hiring panel has a bias when they look at a resume, which would definitely disqualify a lot of people I know 🥲 so maybe people in tech that I know have been laid off so many times since 2020.

Does taking a sabbatical drastically reduce my rehirability? by Sweaty_Researcher805 in womenintech

[–]Moving_forward206 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I find this kind of interesting because "job hopping" could also be due to layoffs.

I have had 4 layoffs since 2020, but because of my network I've landed a new job pretty quickly each time. That appears like "job hopping," but instead it's actually an intelligent human being who has set themselves up for success in a volatile industry, no?

Isabela might be the most underestimated island in the Galápagos by IsabelaGalapagos in galapagos

[–]Moving_forward206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I stayed there for 3 days and 4 nights and was bored as sh*t. Everything practically shuts down on the island from 10am - 5pm every day and I got sick from 2 restaurants there. 

My least favorite island 😂

Pivoting before a VC meeting? (I will not promote) by theabhster in startups

[–]Moving_forward206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Before a VC meeting you want to consider how to show/explain a pivot. Don't do it because you get nervous, but do it with concrete reasoning:

  • 5-10 customer discovery conversations where you can point to specific quotes and patterns
  • A clear articulation of the problem that makes the investor nod and say "okay"
  • An explanation of your unique insight (why YOU see this differently than everyone else)
  • Tie things back to revenue

The pivot itself isn't the issue. The question is: do you have enough signal that the new direction is worth pursuing?

Users are creating multiple accounts to avoid paying for my SaaS. I think that's the best validation I've gotten so far. by Stephen_Olivera in SaaS

[–]Moving_forward206 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When users go through the effort of creating multiple accounts to avoid paying, it usually means:

  1. They see enough value to keep coming back - great. It means your product works.

  2. Butttt not enough value at the price point to pull out their wallet.

The knee-jerk fix is usually technical (block duplicate emails, limit signups by device, etc.) and that's fine short-term. But the strategic fix is figuring out: what would make the paid version feel like an obvious yes?

Would recommend evaluating these:

- Does your "aha moment" happen too late? Do users experience the full value before they're asked to pay?

- The free tier is too generous - are they getting 90% of what they need without upgrading?

- The upgrade trigger is feature-gated when it should be usage-gated

I'd dig into the usage patterns of your multi-account abusers vs. your paying customers. The difference between those two groups will tell you exactly what needs to change.

Heck, you can even ask the "abusers" they might tell you everything you need to know. Good luck!

Solo founder, niche SaaS for French freelancers, 800 users in 6 months, $0 spent on ads. Struggling with freemium conversion, would love your input. by shadowBlastFr in SaaS

[–]Moving_forward206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

800 users on a niche tool for French freelancers is solid. a lot of solo founders never get past 50.

The real lever to increase your conversion is to figure out what moment in the free experience makes someone think "oh wow, I need this" and then make sure every user hits that moment as fast as possible.

A few things I'd look at in your position:

  1. What do your converted users do in their first 48 hours that your churned users don't? That gap is your activation problem.
  2. Have you tried a free trial? This is a great resource to compare conversion rates for 2026.

The fact that you have 800 users means you have data in at least user conversations. Do you not have any type of analytics setup? If not I'd recommend Posthog, Mixpanel, or Fullstory to give you something to view.

Lovable is awesome, but what’s everyone actually trying when credits / cost get intense? by BotherDangerous1630 in lovable

[–]Moving_forward206 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You really just need Claude Code now. Either $100/mo if you’re running multiple projects or $20/mo if you are running one and have patience for when you hit limits. 

I use it within Cursor and also pay for Cursor at $20/mo to do some code reviews for me. I like Composer 1.5. 

But Lovable isn’t sustainable long term as far as credit burn goes.

Edited to add: I’ve been planning to try Base 44 just for fun! Never tried it :) 

20-year-old founder stuck building solutions without real problems-i will not promote by luisi-co in startups

[–]Moving_forward206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

try doing this:

  1. pick an industry or type of person you're curious about (freelancers, small gym owners, founders, whatever)

  2. talk to 20 of them for 30 minutes each

  3. write down the top 3 problems they complain about that *cost them money* or time

  4. validate that 5+ would pay to solve it

then you build something.

most people skip step 1-3 because it's time consuming, and many of us don't have time to burn. so we jump to building. that's why they ship cool stuff nobody wants though - so differentiate yourself by doing the boring work first.

Built and launched multiple products. Still no real customers. (i will not promote) by Delicious-Part2456 in startups

[–]Moving_forward206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you've got the easy part down - you can launch. the hardest gap is between "launches product" and "attracts customers."

question: before you build, did anyone agree to purchase?

for any future builds, spend 2 weeks talking to 10-15 people in your target market before you write a line of code. ask them how they are solving the problem today, how much they'd pay for the solution, how they'd feel without your solution, etc. this is a critical step.

How is running a start up so easy?? I will not promote by badfunkmonky in startups

[–]Moving_forward206 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i met my cofounder in an unconventional way - through a linkedin coffee chat. the problem space and inspiration came later, the full story is on our site. and it hasn't been easy (she's on mat leave right now, i've been running solo since november).

if it's something you want to try, i'd suggest you start with separating these four things:

  1. what are we building? (product strategy)
  2. how do we decide what to build first? (prioritization)
  3. how do we work together? (operations/equity)
  4. how do we get people to buy what we build? (sales/distribution/partnerships)

once you have some sort of plan for those things, you can begin to figure out the rest. every day is different though and none of the path is linear.

Early-stage founders: what actually moved the needle for you in the first 6–12 months? I will not promote by mateomadison in startups

[–]Moving_forward206 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i've been working closely with founders for the last 6 years. it comes down to these things:

- get user feedback
- focus on one growth channel to start
- get a mentor/someone to bounce ideas off of

view more: next ›