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How far into your SaaS did you automate account upgrades? Is 4 years a little long?

Today marks a milestone in one of my SaaS companies - users can now upgrade from freemium to paid without any human interaction.

This is after 4 years and around $250k in revenue.

I feel this helps highlight the difference between "like to have" and "must have" features that are often overlooked and prevent new startups/projects launching because you just aren't ready yet.

In my dev agency these are often demanded pre launch, which just adds to the cost and timescale.
Indie-hackers often (but not always) think the same that they need just one more feature before the product is ready.
You don't.
With my own projects I try to make a habit of launching without billing, after all what is the point of a fancy system if no-one wants to pay.

That said I don't normally wait this long.

This company has raised multiple investments and had steady revenue growth.
But for the first 2 years the lowest tech worked - Xero invoices and bank reconciliations.
Became a drag on time eventually so after 2 years automated a billing system with auto charging cards. Billing automated, but upgrades were still a typeform combined with manually changing a database column from 0 to 1.

This product is sticky so very low churn and typically doing a few manual upgrades per week (10 mins effort). Never reached the point where the effort became a pain worth automating.

Today the automated system is complete. 1 days work, but will take me a year or so still before the ROI gives me that day back.
Not expecting an increase in conversions (never had any resistance with the semi-manual typeform). But it lays the groundwork for a new idea that depends on this, so finally it hit top of the priority list.

So next time you think "we need this to launch" just stop to think. "Will this hold us back or can we get by with a functional but simpler alternative?"
You might surprise yourself and go 4 years, making $250k, before you "really" need it!

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    Most founders implement account creation just because others do it; they don't think it through. In most cases, creating an account isn't contributing to users getting additional value out of the product. It actually acts as a barrier to getting value and getting that 'aha' moment.

    I've seen founders that allow new users to interact with their products (eg: video editing tools) and ask for an account once users want to "save" their project. So timing (when you ask for sign-up) is def an aspect people should consider as well.

    1. 1

      We had account creating from very early days.
      Just old fashioned manual steps to first collecting money, which worked.

      Easy signups actually set us apart from competitors at first.
      Form to pay followed by invoice within 24 hours went unnoticed 99% of time.

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