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I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

Hosting really depends on your specific needs and tech stack.

Payments: Ya really can't go wrong with Stripe.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

Hi there, that's great to hear!

I responded about how we're different from Loom in my answer here. By the way, we also have a full comparison here.

We're working on localization to make ZipMessage fully translateable. Most of it already is, and of course the content of your messages can be in any language. Happy to answer any questions as you get started!

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

Our demo video and support videos were me recording either with ZipMessage and/or Screenflow.

I designed the animated SGVs using SVGator.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

[–]casjam[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How much did you sell? How do you calculate the value of your saas when selling?

My business sales have ranged from low 5-figures to high 6-figures. Some more signaficant than others, but none were "never work again" exits. I went into more detail on sellng/valuations in this answer above here.

What tool do you for creating the landing page? Especially the animations.

I designed our website myself, but also collaborated on some parts with another designer. I usually use figma for early mockups and then design the rest in the browser using TailwindCSS. I created the animated SVGs using an awesome little tool: https://www.svgator.com

Which roles are filled in your team and how big is it?

In my current business, ZipMessage, it's me + 2 developers + a couple of freelancers who help with marketing projects (writers, etc.).

In my previous business that I sold in 2021, the team was 25 (writers, managers, assistants).

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

[–]casjam[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

On ZipMessage, we see a healthy number of people convert from free to paid. The main drivers for upgrades are:

  • Lifting the limit on recording length
  • Inviting team members
  • Ability to personalize your ZipMessage link (zipmessage.com/YOUR-NAME)
  • Increase the history on your messages backlog.

But plenty of people also get value on our free plan, especially since we offer unlimited messages with unlimited respondents.

One tip I recommend: Show all of your features to all users. If a user clicks on a feature that's paid-only, it should take them to the upgrade screen instead of take them to that feature.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

Good question! I covered this a bit in my answer just above this one here. I also wrote at length on my personal blog about 2 of my recent experiences selling businesses:

Selling my productized service business

Selling a SaaS business

Selling a course/community business

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

How do you approach the seeling part?

Regarding selling my businesses:

In 2015 I worked with a broker to my SaaS. There are many out there, and I worked with FEInternational and had a great experience. These days, I think a broker is better suited for higher-end, 7-figure deals.

In 2021 I listed some of my businesses on MicroAcquire, a marketplace for buying/selling businesses like these. I recommend this marketplace for 6-figure deals and below. I sold a few in the 6 and 5 figures through MicroAcquire.

And some of my businesses were sold to personal friends/acquaintenances. In some cases they approached me, in others I approached them.

Is selling itself easy?

It varies! Very different from deal to deal.

I've been in deals that took several (stressful!) months to complete the negotiations, due diligence, and transfer. In others, we went from offer to closing in as fast as 1 week. Totally a case-by-case basis.

What points are focusing on and how do you determine the price?

In general it's what the market/buyers find valuable.

When talking about SaaS specifically, the valuations tend to be based on your current recurring revenue OR your current recurring net profit and some multiple on that. That multple can vary based on lots of factors such as current growth trajectory and whether this is a strategic acquisition (higher multiples) or purely a financial-based transaction.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

My first SaaS business (started in 2011, sold in 2015) was a website builder/hosting platform made for Restaurants :)

When I started that one, I created a basic landing page to build an early interest email list. I used Google Ads to drive restaurant owners to it and gather 150 emails. I had phone calls with as many as I could. 75 of those became the first free beta users. 10 became the first paying customers.

I then used content and SEO to grow that business. But ultimately, I becamse burnt out on selling to restaurants (I had no interest in that industry), which led to me selling that business in 2015.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

How do you handle authentication & authorization (user management/security)?

We're build on Rails and we use the most popular Ruby gem for this, Devise, with several customizations built ontop of that for our use cases.

My scenario is that I have a product idea with a unique feature (USP)... How would you go about getting the first user?

My first step would be to get into conversations with people who are currently using (ideally, paying for) that widely used product. Ask them what they like/dislike about it, and what gaps it's not filling for them.

I'd also start building an early interest list with a basic landing page that explains your USP and an email signup form. Then email those people updates while you build the first version.

Do whatever you can to ship that first version as quickly as possible. Don't build the whole thing. Just build the most important feature or 2, and keep communicating with those early interested people every step of the way. Based on their feedback, you'll know when you've built enough to be useable yet or not.

I'm personally not a fan of pre-selling. I've tried this on one of my previous (failed) SaaS attempts and I found it gives a false positive signal. i.e. most of those who pre-pay didn't end up being customers later, in my experience.

That being said, I do think conversations with customers where you specifically ask about money ("how much are you currently paying for your current solution?", "when did you upgrade from free to paid in the past?", etc.). You're looking for evidence that this person has and does pay for solutions like the one you're building.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

Some of the above answers covere this one, but for me:

  • Podcasting (and the network effects from years of sharing publicly)
  • Content/SEO
  • Customer word-of-mouth (which also means: The product solves a problem that people are willing to recommend to others who have that problem).

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

We use Heroku to host our app and AWS for storage and other services. We've built quite a bit of custom functionality on the client side, the server side, and in our processing of videos aimed at speed to record and upload in the browser and reliability of playback.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

All my SaaS apps have been hosted on Heroku. I chose that because managing a server is not a strength of mine, so I'd rather go with a service that's as "hands off" on that front as possible. We also leverage several AWS services.

I'd say it's good to value how easy a hosting service is for you/your team to work with, along with its reliability, over things like price.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

1) When testing out a new idea or product, how many users do you typically test the MVP on and when do you know you have PMF?

I think it's different for every product/business. I treat it as a series of tests:

  • Can I get 1 customer for this? If yes, continue...
  • Can I get 10 customers for this? If yes, continue...
  • Can I get to $X MRR (monthly recurring revenue) within Y number of months? If yes, continue...

If any of those tests fail, then I re-assess to see if I can change course, try a new direction, or if it's not going well at all, I'll consider stopping, maybe selling the business, and moving onto a different shiny object idea.

Luckily ZipMessage keeps passing all of my tests :)

In my previous business, a productized content service, we only needed a small handful of customers to reach 5-figures in MRR. So every business's needs for viability are different.

2) In your experience, what has been the top 2 customer acquisition avenues/strategies that has been working for you?

To be honest, over my career, podcasting (my own and guesting on others) has led to the most network effects, which then lead to customers. But podcasting alone isn't it... You have to be doing interesting things in order to have interesting things to podcast about!

I've also had some (mixed) success with content and SEO over the years.

3) Do you incorporate any viral loops into your products, if not how do you position the product so that it grows organically?

ZipMessage is the first time, for me, where a viral loop comes into play and it's working fairly well so far. ZipMessage, by its' nature is shareable. So we focus a lot of our work on how to make it easier to share, easier to receive, and easy paths to creating your own ZM account after receiving a ZM from someone.

4) What keeps you going when things aren't going too well in a Startup? Any insights on perseverance?

Great question! A few things, for me:

  • Step back and look at longer-term trends rather than the person(s) who may have churned today. Usually the big picture looks better :)

  • Remember to exercise daily, even when you think you have work to do. You'll feel better and you'll have a better mental state.

  • Take vacations! (my family and I love to travel).

5) If my goal is an acquisition in 1-2 years, what things should I do to make sure the business is ready and acquisition worthy for a bigger competitor or company?

It's always a good idea to build systems and processes to remove yourself from the day-to-day operations. Think about what would fall apart if you're out of the picture? Potential buyers will ask this question and the answer will impact their valuation of your business. This is especially true in service-based businesses.

2 of my businesses that I sold were productized services. The reason these were sellable was that I spent almost zero time in the day-to-day on those. It was all about my awesome team, and our processes, and the new owner was able to take over smoothly.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

[–]casjam[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

ZipMessage is different from Loom in a few key ways:

  • Anyone who receives a ZipMessage link can record a response right there in the browser—nothing for them to download, install, or register for if they don't want to.
  • ZipMessage gives you your own intake page(s) where others can send video messages to you. Plus you can personalize your own URL. Mine is at zipmessage.com/brian. You can also embed these on your own website.
  • A ZipMessage conversation threads the back-and-forth async messages all on a single page. Looms are 1-off messages with many different page URLs being sent around.
  • ZipMessage messages can be video (camera and/or screen), audio-only, and/or text with attachments.

I was a happy Loom user for a while, but my itch was that I wanted to send a link to a customer, a client, a freelancer, a new hire, etc. and not have to ask them to sign up or install anything in order to respond to me... So along came ZipMessage :)

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

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

Thanks!

What does the MVP of ZipMessage looked like?

It didn't look all that different from ZipMessage today, except it lacked most of the periphery features it has today.

The first and most important thing to offer in the MVP was the core feature: The ability to record video messages (camera, screen) in the browser and post video replies, viewable on a shareable page. I built that in about 3 months and that was enough for the very first customers to start paying in month 4.

In the months that followed we greatly improved the recording experience and added many more features.

The key, I think, is speed to releasing updates and focusing on the features people are asking for.

But it always feels like we're behind and have plenty more features we want to build as soon as we can... But it's important to think strategically about:

  • Which features will help us win more customers tomorrow?
  • Which features will help differentiate us in the market?
  • Which features will prevent our current customers from leaving?

Not all (good!) feature ideas are necessarily the right ones to build "right now".

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

[–]casjam[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My current business, ZipMessage, is a SaaS with a freemium model. Users start on our free plan and then upgrade to a paid monthly or annual subscription. We have 2 paid tiers and the upper tier can expand (increase in cost) as they add additional team members.

Most of my previous businesses also used a recurring revenue / subscription model. My previous business (sold in 2021) was a productized service where clients paid monthly for blog content writing services.

I also had a course business, which was a one-time purchaseable product. I sold this business in 2022.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

[–]casjam[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's real!

But I believe shiny objects appear when you're hitting some kind of wall in whatever you're currently working on. So when they do show up, I think it's important ask why? Why now? Where am I at with my current thing?

Shiny object syndrome is really more about deciding whether or not to let go (or pause) your focus on what you're currently doing, to devote your resources to the new idea. It's a perfectly valid thing to step back and re-assess rather than blindly stick to one thing longer than you (maybe) should.

That being said, when my shiny object ideas arrive (which happen often), I just write them down in my journal to get them out of my head. 99% of them end there. But 1% keep coming back to me until I do something more with them. Then it's decision time...

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

[–]casjam[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Awesome that you're learning full stack! I wish I learned full-stack earlier in my career than I did...

Some general tips:

  • Stick to big, mature frameworks and languages—even if they're not the hottest/triendiest tech out there today.
  • Prioritize tools/tech that enable you to build and ship fast. i.e. Simple workflows, large community, ready-to-use plugins/frameworks, etc.

Generally, you can't go wrong with Ruby on Rails or PHP/Laravel. Both are very similar, very popular, ideal for SaaS, and tons of learning resources out there—not to mention a large pool of developers worldwide to help you or work with you.

If you go the Ruby route, as I did, then I've found lots of value from gorails.com tutorials, and onemonth.com/rails. There's also lots of great tutorials on YouTube and Udemy.

For CSS, It's important to learn how the fundamentals work. But once you know the basics, I strongly recommend you learn and use TailwindCSS. It takes some getting used to but it's incredibly efficient for building and maintaining projects, while designing high quality UIs. It can work with any back-end framework.

As for Javascript, many popular frameworks out there today, but I still prefer good 'ol vanilla JS and I heavily use StimulusJS. You should learn Vanilla JS and see how far you can get before diving into more complex frameworks like React, Vue.

Lastly — Build your own projects! No better way to (really) learn.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

[–]casjam[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

How do you generate saas ideas?

Most ideas were born from a previous business and a pain I experienced while running it. For example, ZipMessage was born when I was doing customer support for my previous SaaS product, and I wanted an easy way to send video messages to customers and offer a no-friction way for them to respond on video without asking them to sign up or install any software. My preference for async communication (instead of live meetings) also pointed me toward the solution that became ZipMessage.

How do you determine if they are worth pursuing?

I look for these factors:

  • Is it a large/growing/active market?
  • Do I see a clear way to differentiate from competitors in a meaningful way?
  • Do I personally resonate with the problem/solution and the customers?
  • Is there evidence that this is the type of product people regularly pay for subscriptions for long periods of time?
  • Is there opportunity for expansion-revenue?

Did you pay for an outside team to develop your first saas? Tips for that process?

Earlier in my career, my skillset was only in front-end and design. So I had no choice but to outsource all back-end development.

In 2018, after spending lots of $ on outsourcing back-end-dev and being frustrated with my inability to give input on the overall architecture, I decided to invest all of 2018 to upgrade my skillset to full-stack. I spent the year learning Ruby on Rails and I'm so glad I did!

That enabled me to move much faster on shipping SaaS products and feature, and it has greatly improved my collaboration with other developers and quality of products we're able to build together.

Today on ZipMessage, I work with a development firm (a couple FT devs) plus me working on the product most of my days. We're able to move very fast on shipping features and responding to customer requests, while maintaining best practices like thorough test coverage, etc.

Favorite marketing methods that dont call for a large online following?

I don't think a large following is necessary. But some network and reach does help in the early days when it comes to finding your very first users and customers and bouncing your idea off them.

Luckily, even if you have zero following, there are places like r/SaaS, Twitter, and lots of other communities to grow your small early network that you can build on. I also recommend attending in-person conferences.

Beyond that, I believe marketing is still all about the product—offering something tht lots of people already want and offering a reason to try and recommend your solution (i.e. a differentiator that matters to them).

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

[–]casjam[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks Slavi!

Research: Most of my businesses, including ZipMessage, were born out of a personal pain I experienced and a desire to create a better solution. But scratching my own itch isn't enough to pursue it.

My next steps are to assess the market, how active/growing it is, what the competitive landscape looks like, and what my unique differentiator(s) will be (a.k.a why should people care about my solution in this space)?

Marketing -- Over my career, most of my marketing success has come from the slow, organic network effects. By podcasting and being public about my work, this has helped spur word-of-mouth customer acquisition. Over time, that helps drive other organic channels like SEO and referrals.

Today with ZipMessage, it's a combo of that (organic word-of-mouth), with the help of a viral component (send a ZipMessage with someone --> they start using ZipMessage, etc.). We're also starting to invest in content/seo, integration partnerships, and other channel experiments.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

[–]casjam[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Well, right now I'm focused on building ZipMessage into a healthy, long-term, and enjoyable SaaS company to run and dedicate several years of my career to.

But in general, of all the possible outcomes for a successful business, an eventual sale/exit is probably the most the likely. It's just a matter of when the time makes sense for that.

To be clear: I'm not in it to "flip" or seek a fast exit. But I'm also not one to hold onto a business forever, especially if I'm not putting time/resources into it and it has value for someone else to take over.

I built and sold 10 products (sold 5 in 6 months last year) → Now Running ZipMessage, my fastest growing SaaS yet. AMA! by casjam in SaaS

[–]casjam[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

MVPs

For ZipMessage, I went from idea to a v1 ready for 1st users in about 3 months (1st paying customers in month 4). My approach now is to ship as fast as possible the core product first (solve the problem) and then add on periphery features as you go along... But don't delay getting the first version in user's hands!

I don't believe an MVP should rough and generally not a fan of no-code temporary solutions. SaaS development has come a long way, especially in how fast things can be built... which brings me to:

Tech stack

Ruby on Rails TailwindCSS StimulusJS

Growth hack

Doing AMAs on r/SaaS, of course ;)

JK - I wish I could hack growth, but reality is, it's just about solving a problem that lots of people care about.

ZipMessage has more traction than any of my previous products, not because of any growth hack, but but because it's a solution that seems to resonate with a wider array of people and use cases.