We see a lot of people commenting with their products but very few people ever detail what they got from this sub. I'll try to be transparent and perhaps this could help some of you:
Let me tell you exactly what has been going on:
2 years ago, I started an AI SaaS for social media (yes another one). I first started by setting up a waitlist, worked on the landing page and designed a funnel to drive potential users to the waitlist and then upsell a lifetime subscription. We grew it to 350+ users but only had a few customers that brought in 300€. This is not much but this was more than the money, it was about showing that you could make money online.
See, I grew up in France from immigrant parents working traditional jobs (construction), you can then imagine my surprise when I found out it was possible.
To develop this software we first used the no-code platform bubble and then learned how to develop (my co-founder is the technical one). Now seeing what we had built, we received some enquiries from fellow founders to develop their own softwares.
We then opened up this no-code software company where you'd get your product in a month and took on 5-6 projects like these. We started with $1,400 then $3,000 then $4,500 and this was the sweet spot for founders.
From there, one founder came to develop their AI shopping assistant with an AI led interface and no-code development wasn't enough. So we turned into a more traditional web dev company focussing on developing AI ideas for founders. This project sold for 6.5k€.
She was very happy with the result and brought another referral which is an AI scanning application for 13.5k, which brought another platform (AI for legal tech) for 7.5k€. At the same time we closed two other projects (AI for traders and AI for mental health) which was $15k and maintenance fees + project in the pipeline for $100k.
Here's a few things I've learnt from this:
Validate your idea first before developing your SaaS
If you sell services, you need to make your proof first before asking the right price. You'll always start being undervalued but this then builds your experience and portfolio to ask the price that you deserve.
Also I can assure you most of the people making money from SaaS are selling services. However, the very small percentage that makes it with their SaaS is at a different scales.
It might be safer to start with services and then learning your craft and launching your SaaS later on. Everyone has their journey.