I spent 6 years building a SaaS (~$2k MRR) before making a tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyGex7I8xvk
Abot (https://abot.app) MRR has been trending down for a while. I finally released a video tutorial - probably a few years too late.
Abot (https://abot.app) MRR has been trending down for a while. I finally released a video tutorial - probably a few years too late.
Really appreciate the honesty here — six years of building and learning is a lot more common than the “overnight success” stories we see everywhere.
One thing that stood out is how quickly developers fall into prioritizing features and demos over content that actually helps users adopt the tool. Tutorials and docs often compound much later, but they really reduce friction for new adopters.
From a dev perspective, I’m curious: now that you’ve released the tutorial, are you planning to treat content creation as an ongoing experiment (e.g., A/B testing topics or formats), or is this more of a one-off milestone? If you do plan to iterate on content, how are you measuring whether it’s moving actual user behavior (e.g., conversions, retention) versus surface engagement?
The "few years too late" admission is brutally honest - and probably more common than most founders admit. Content as a growth channel works best when compounding early, but it's rarely prioritized because it doesn't feel as urgent as product work.
Curious what triggered making the tutorial now vs 6 years ago (or 3, or 1)? Was it the declining MRR forcing a re-evaluation of what growth levers you haven't tried, or something else?
Also wondering: at $2k MRR trending down, what's the goal with the tutorial? Stabilize revenue by capturing new users, transition to info-product/course income, or more of a "document the journey" before deciding what's next?
6 years of sustained building is rare. Most people quit way before then. That persistence itself is worth examining - what kept you going through the low points?
Honestly since ~3 years the product has been on 90% autopilot, and I did not work actively on it. This tutorial is my first attempt at marketing since a long time. I've done dozens of demos requested by potential customers, but it never occurred to me that video tutorial is missing, until now
The "90% autopilot for 3 years" is interesting - that's actually a success story in disguise. Most SaaS products require constant attention to avoid churn. If yours held at $2k MRR on autopilot, there's something sticky about it that customers genuinely need.
The "dozens of demos but never a tutorial" gap is common. Live demos feel productive because you get immediate feedback and can adjust. Tutorials feel like a one-way bet - you put in the work and hope someone finds it. But tutorials compound while demos don't.
Curious: now that you've made one, are you thinking about this as a "marketing experiment" to see if it moves the MRR needle, or more of a foundation for a content strategy? The difference matters for what you'd do next if this one doesn't immediately convert.