Any in-person meetups in the UK you would recommend?
1
Woah productpeople, kinda like where the IH community is. Cool resource. Is there an actual wait list or is that just some sales gig? lol
4
Yup, I open and close registration periodically. I like being able to onboard just a few folks at a time.
3
Thanks for a great interview Simon!
Particularly interesting to hear you've had good returns from sponsoring podcasts, and thanks for the numbers on Laravel News. I've yet to dip my toe in the water with buying ads for my product (Dependabot) but might give that a try now.
Any other advice on ads for a developer product / places you've had success?
1
Hey Grey,
Love the product I was recommended it by a Developer at owncloud!
I have not really had any success elsewhere, I have yet to find the perfect place to put an ad. I tried sponsoring blog articles with a little bit of success. I would love a good answer to this issue.
2
You shipped your first version in ~ 2 weeks, that's so awesome!
Congrats on your success!
2
Great interview and idea! Have you considered what happens if digital ocean adds more frequent snapshots?
1
Hey @timleland, your right its a worry they could completely close it down by blocking or by offering the service themselves.
I have discussions with them and I don't think its something on the roadmap. There support staff sometimes refer bigger clients who want this service to us.
It is a worry so I am looking at building products in other spaces :)
2
Wow this is amazing! I'm new here but hoping to add payments to my current software. I'm wondering how much work do you outsource or do you do it all yourself?
1
Hey Tim,
I am a software consultant so I build it all myself :)
1
I was working on the same thing when I was on my parental leave two months ago but I didn't finish it, I guess I'm too late now 😅.
Anyway, congratulations on finishing the product and, of course, on your success!! It's hard to get a rentable service nowadays.
1
I guess I need to improve my marketing :) SnapShooter is over a year old now :).
1
I'm not late then, I'm absolutely out of any possible success window.
So, time to start the next thing in my personal and infinite backlog.
1
If you want to tick off of mine off while your at it :)
1
Just wanted to let you know my personal opinion on your pricing...
Idea is great, everything looks simple and user friendly.
My DO cost is about 90 bucks which earns me about $30k monthly. Of course backup is great idea for me and I went to your website just yesterday willing to buy your service(after 1 month from reading this article).
Region replication is something I need, but in order to get it I need to pay $49 monthly! My server is $90...
I ended up writing my own code to get the same functionality. Yes, it doesn't have your fancy interface, but it does the job just fine. (spent 2-3 hours on it)
I don't really comment often, but I liked your service and idea. My suggestion would be to lower your price to smth more reasonable. ($1 - $15).
3
How does the fact that you're making $30k a month matter here?
0
It means that I am making money out of those $90 droplets(it includes 3 droplets) and can afford some backup solution.
Now please compare my hosting expenses and $49 that I have to pay in order to use snapshooter.io. I think it's too much.
1
Hello, @finik thanks for your comments. First of all congrats on your business! $30k MMR is amazing. That's the dream.
I feel very strongly SnapShooter is worth the values I put on the pricing page, I spent a long time talking to existing customers about this before making the prices they are today. For the simplicity, ease, redundancy and awesomeness of our app. If you ever find yourself needing more than what you have built feel free to reach out to me personally and I would love to chat about how we can work together to protect your business.
1
that's for you to decide... I personally value feedback, that's why I left you one.
An alternative might be a percentage from droplet cost which you can get from API (as DO did with their backup system).
Good luck with your project!
1
Great business!
I noticed you have some sort affiliate program on your website where existing customers get 10% discount for referring new customers.
What are you experiences with this system? Do people use it often? Is it easy to maintain? Have you considered offering paying people to refer new customers instead of only giving a discount?
2
Hello, @WhiteAfro it's a very new system, it was not hard to program in, it's all automated.
So far I have had a couple of free customers refer free customers which means they get an extra droplet on their account. I am hoping this helps promote SnapShooter to the point they might get a paid plan (at work for example).
As for paying people that's a more complex system that I might consider in the future
1
Very cool project and a great example of a value added niche. I was about to create something like this for my own droplets but I will try your service instead.
1
Thanks! Yeah it's very niche, its free for basic backups of one droplet and 14 day trial if you want more :)
Do you find people to hang out with in person or are you mainly doing this thru online forums? What other places do you hang out online?
Also, how much experience did you have with digitalocean before developing SnapShooter?
2
I had been using DigitalOcean for a couple of years before creating snapshooter. I had played with there API but never really had a use case. I wish I had thought of SnapShooter sooner but I guess I did not have the need before
Clearly, your annoyed about something I have done as you have made an account just to leave these comments. I am sorry you feel this way, I am unsure what has upset you, but would love to help settle this. Why not email me simon@snapshooter.io and lets see if we can resolve this?
Great post @mrsimonbennett ! Regarding:
Do you find people to hang out with in person or are you mainly doing this thru online forums? What other places do you hang out online?
Hey
I am finding these people mostly online, for example, the https://productpeople.club/ by @mijustin has been a great place to hang out.
@mrsimonbennett great article. Really cool to that see some guys in the UK are building successful products.
Where are you based? Been trying to find some Indie Hacker-ish meetups in London but nothing fits the bill! Saw this thread which looks promising:
https://www.indiehackers.com/forum/london-meetup-1c9ee93913
Any in-person meetups in the UK you would recommend?
Woah productpeople, kinda like where the IH community is. Cool resource. Is there an actual wait list or is that just some sales gig? lol
Yup, I open and close registration periodically. I like being able to onboard just a few folks at a time.
Thanks for a great interview Simon!
Particularly interesting to hear you've had good returns from sponsoring podcasts, and thanks for the numbers on Laravel News. I've yet to dip my toe in the water with buying ads for my product (Dependabot) but might give that a try now.
Any other advice on ads for a developer product / places you've had success?
Hey Grey,
Love the product I was recommended it by a Developer at owncloud!
I have not really had any success elsewhere, I have yet to find the perfect place to put an ad. I tried sponsoring blog articles with a little bit of success. I would love a good answer to this issue.
You shipped your first version in ~ 2 weeks, that's so awesome!
Congrats on your success!
Great interview and idea! Have you considered what happens if digital ocean adds more frequent snapshots?
Hey @timleland, your right its a worry they could completely close it down by blocking or by offering the service themselves.
I have discussions with them and I don't think its something on the roadmap. There support staff sometimes refer bigger clients who want this service to us.
It is a worry so I am looking at building products in other spaces :)
Wow this is amazing! I'm new here but hoping to add payments to my current software. I'm wondering how much work do you outsource or do you do it all yourself?
Hey Tim,
I am a software consultant so I build it all myself :)
I was working on the same thing when I was on my parental leave two months ago but I didn't finish it, I guess I'm too late now 😅.
Anyway, congratulations on finishing the product and, of course, on your success!! It's hard to get a rentable service nowadays.
I guess I need to improve my marketing :) SnapShooter is over a year old now :).
I'm not late then, I'm absolutely out of any possible success window.
So, time to start the next thing in my personal and infinite backlog.
If you want to tick off of mine off while your at it :)
Just wanted to let you know my personal opinion on your pricing...
Idea is great, everything looks simple and user friendly.
My DO cost is about 90 bucks which earns me about $30k monthly. Of course backup is great idea for me and I went to your website just yesterday willing to buy your service(after 1 month from reading this article).
Region replication is something I need, but in order to get it I need to pay $49 monthly! My server is $90...
I ended up writing my own code to get the same functionality. Yes, it doesn't have your fancy interface, but it does the job just fine. (spent 2-3 hours on it)
I don't really comment often, but I liked your service and idea. My suggestion would be to lower your price to smth more reasonable. ($1 - $15).
How does the fact that you're making $30k a month matter here?
It means that I am making money out of those $90 droplets(it includes 3 droplets) and can afford some backup solution.
Now please compare my hosting expenses and $49 that I have to pay in order to use snapshooter.io. I think it's too much.
Hello, @finik thanks for your comments. First of all congrats on your business! $30k MMR is amazing. That's the dream.
I do mention in the interview, at the beginning of SnapShooter I charged a lot less, I should have gone into more detail. Here is an article (not written by me) that goes into more detail about pricing cheaply https://www.chargify.com/blog/product-too-cheap-ultimate-guide-saas-pricing/
I feel very strongly SnapShooter is worth the values I put on the pricing page, I spent a long time talking to existing customers about this before making the prices they are today. For the simplicity, ease, redundancy and awesomeness of our app. If you ever find yourself needing more than what you have built feel free to reach out to me personally and I would love to chat about how we can work together to protect your business.
that's for you to decide... I personally value feedback, that's why I left you one.
An alternative might be a percentage from droplet cost which you can get from API (as DO did with their backup system).
Good luck with your project!
Great business!
I noticed you have some sort affiliate program on your website where existing customers get 10% discount for referring new customers.
What are you experiences with this system? Do people use it often? Is it easy to maintain? Have you considered offering paying people to refer new customers instead of only giving a discount?
Hello, @WhiteAfro it's a very new system, it was not hard to program in, it's all automated.
So far I have had a couple of free customers refer free customers which means they get an extra droplet on their account. I am hoping this helps promote SnapShooter to the point they might get a paid plan (at work for example).
As for paying people that's a more complex system that I might consider in the future
Very cool project and a great example of a value added niche. I was about to create something like this for my own droplets but I will try your service instead.
Thanks! Yeah it's very niche, its free for basic backups of one droplet and 14 day trial if you want more :)
and I'm a user now :)
@howMuchCheeseIs2Much asked it first, but I'm also interested:
Also, how much experience did you have with digitalocean before developing SnapShooter?
I had been using DigitalOcean for a couple of years before creating snapshooter. I had played with there API but never really had a use case. I wish I had thought of SnapShooter sooner but I guess I did not have the need before
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Hello @kataaaama
Clearly, your annoyed about something I have done as you have made an account just to leave these comments. I am sorry you feel this way, I am unsure what has upset you, but would love to help settle this. Why not email me simon@snapshooter.io and lets see if we can resolve this?
Regards
Simon
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