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19 Comments

I asked my startup advisor how to reach $10,000 MRR

Recently I hired a startup advisor. He analyzed why startups failed and more importantly, how to succeed in building a SaaS product.

Here's his answer to my ultimate question about how to reach $10,000 MRR.

A conversation with my startup advisor

What do you think, indie hackers?

on December 2, 2022
  1. 6

    ChatGPT gives pretty good advice, I recommend him as adviser to everyone.

    1. 1

      Hahaha, so true :)

  2. 5

    Very generic advice.

    I believe advisor must help us to figure out

    • Why and how a particular strategy to execute

    • Which strategic to pick from a pool of strategies

    • When to execute which strategy

    1. 1

      I think that’s our responsibility as an indie hacker to figure it out, not his.

      That’s why he said to stay committed to the goals because there would be trial & error involved.

      There’s no shortcut to success.

      1. 1

        What was your goal for hiring a startup advisor ?

        1. 1

          Same with why I’m part of this community. The difference is I have a 1-on-1 session whenever the schedule matches.

  3. 2

    Hey Wilbert, those are for sure good advices. I just googled your question and the first page I found could help you more: https://goodmanlantern.com/blog/simple-tricks-to-boost-mrr/

    1. 1

      I noticed now you used ChatGPT, right?

  4. 2

    No offense, but it looks like an AI-generated text 100%. Although he is true, it might take you 10 years with those recommendations to get $10K in MRR.

    I believe you're paying him '000 $ per session/month, right?

    Here are the main takeaways after analyzing over 120 growth strategies:

    • 10 x $1,000 per customer = $10K // you need to be a thought leader - ex-VP at Salesforce or something
    • 100 x $100 per customer = $10K // you need to be a micro-influencer (100K followers)
    • 10,000 x $1 per customer = $10K // you need to be a micro-influencer + have product built-in virality or a strong WOM (word of mouth).

    For a smooth acquisition process, the price = the perceived value of your product.

    • So if you're charging $1,000/month, then it definitely needs to be/have a back-end + front-end solution.
    • If you're charging $100/month, you can get away with only a front-end solution, but it needs to have a high usage frequency.
    • If you're charging $1/month (or a really low price), then you definitely need to build a solid audience first (>100k) and also have a virality built-in (think of Calendly, Loom, Airtable, etc.)

    Again, what few of these growth advisors say/recommend - is to build an agency, or be a consultant first, then productize your service (aka build a SaaS). This way, you can understand and go through those pain points yourself.

    Where should I send the invoice? 😁

  5. 1

    Nothing of any value in his answer. Just the usual baseline.

    1. 1

      And he spent money for that

      1. 1

        Haha, yes, even worse!

  6. 1

    Next time, please hire me. I will give you a discount :-D

  7. 1

    stop paying it immediately.
    advisors that don't ship and have success should be learning and not advising.

  8. 1

    I think this is pretty bad advice. Everything is focused around building a product and making the customers who use that product happy. This is risky.

    Instead, focus on solving the sales portion first. Find something that businesses need. With 10k a month MRR, that could be 10-100 companies depending on what you offer. But I would find those first ten companies before building anything.

    Build a product for those customers, it doesn't even have to be that great. I have a product that's pretty much filling out a form and the company pays about $500/month for it because it works within their specific industry and honestly the product is mediocre.

  9. 1

    Hey Wilbert, insightful points!

    1. 1

      Now is the time to execute what has been told. Otherwise, success will never come.

      1. 1

        💯% accepted! This knowledge will also help you stay focused and motivated throughout the entire development process.

        As well said above, building a successful SaaS application requires a clear vision and strategic execution. This means defining key metrics and focusing on customer experience.