About bootstrapping: several micro-SaaS or 'one-shot SaaS'?
Yesterday I was thinking about bootstrapping, about what could be the best path to achieve some purpose and financial freedom.
I like the idea of not putting all the eggs in the same basket, so in theory, creating several micro-SaaS that combined could bring good revenue sounds great.
However, I think the lack of focus and the time needed to create something minimally relevant for someone could be challenging. Not to mention that it's damn difficult to get it right the first time... So iteration seems essential, so more time is needed.
I'm wondering if it's better to first just validate several ideas (another whole post 😅) and then focus on what works, instead of trying to maintain a sort of micro-SaaS constellation.
“Small differences in initial state yield widely different outcomes." – from Chaos Theory
That's why I think that in the end, people who go for several micro-projects it's because they didn't find it yet a very good product where they can put all their effort.
I imagine 'the truth' lies in each of us, so it will always depend on our preferences, past experiences, wills, etc.
I would like to hear your impressions and ideas on this topic. 🤓
As with all things indie hacking, there is no right answer.
There are plenty of arguments for focusing on one product.
Plenty for trying out different things.
Much of it depends on what stage of the journey you are at, and how much you need to experiment to get to what is a good and growth worthy product.
I like @dr's current progress. He has multiple projects, but they (mostly) focus in on Ghost. So now if I think of doing something on Ghost, of course I'll go to see what he is doing and seek his advice before deciding on what to do how to proceed.
Thank you Rosie! ☺️
@JGarciaVidal Personally, I couldn't work on just one project, I have so many ideas that I want to explore. My Ghost stuff is a good example. It started with a commenting tool (cove.chat) and now also includes themes (rdnthemes.com), custom installations and maintenance (gloat.dev) and managed hosting (ongloat.com).
I also runs two other SaaS projects, subsail.com and ilo.so.
It sounds like a lot to manage but it isn't, though I have launched all but Subsail this year 😆 I just focus on one project intensely for a month or so to get it out there and then incrementally update them frequently moving forward.
I may see more success on a single project if I focussed 100% on it and let the others go. But I really enjoy being able to work on different things all the time, whenever I want. Plus I am putting myself out there in multiple markets at the same time. Each project has its own little niche (ilo for people who want to increase their Twitter engagement, Cove for Ghost sites with memberships etc) but my "total niche" (if that's a thing) is much larger.
I'm also in a lucky position that this is on top of a job and reliable salary. There is no pressure for these projects to make money. If I was doing this full time and was forced to make a certain amount of income from them each month, or was forced to grow them by X% every month, then maybe I would have to handle all the different projects differently.
Experimenting is good, but once you find something to work on, dedicating yourself to a single project is the best route.
It's just too much work to juggle multiple successful projects and scale them all to their full potential.