I've scaled 2 SaaS to over $10k/month (here's my playbook)
I’ve scaled 2 SaaS products to > $10k/month.
It took me 10 years to learn.
I’ll teach you in under 60 seconds.
(brutally honest)
it took me a decade of building the wrong stuff
here’s what i would do today if i had to start over from scratch.
10 years boiled down into 7 steps:
step 1: validate before you build
I used to work in stealth for months before showing anything.
dumb.
now I launch in under 24h with just this:
- one clean landing page (framer)
- a lead capture form (beehiiv or tally)
- simple logo made in canva in 5 min
you’re not testing the tech. you’re testing demand.
step 2: launch before you build (again)
before you even write a single line of code…
- drop your landing page in FB groups, reddit, etc
- DM early signups and ask why they signed up
- let their feedback shape your roadmap
if no one bites, pivot the messaging to test different angles
step 3: build the MVP (only after step 2 works)
don’t over-engineer.
you can code it yourself or hire:
- devs from upwork/fiverr (filter by ratings + hourly rate)
- designers from dribbble or twitter
pro tip: don’t go cheap.
a $75/hr dev with strong reviews is worth 10x more than the $25/hr chaos.
step 4: study the competitors like a freak
this is where your edge lives.
- read every 1-star review they’ve ever gotten
- join their user forums and lurk
- find gaps they’ll never fix, and build that
then create comparison pages like “X vs your-product”
let the SEO slow-burn do its thing.
step 5: launch quietly, fail privately
don’t blast your product until you’ve fixed the leaks.
- launch to early users only (beta testers from your list)
- fix what breaks, improve UX, tighten onboarding
- soft launch on FB groups, reddit, etc.
no one remembers a bad private launch.
everyone remembers a messy public one.
pro tip: give away a limited product to early birds for 3 months in exchange for feedback.
product gets better bc of their feedback
they hit limits > upgrade > fund your next product dev stage
That’s how I acquired the first $1k/mrr before we went public.
step 6: target the pissed-off users
your first dollars will come from people already paying for a tool they hate.
- run google ads: “alternative to [competitor]”
- post in threads where people complain about those tools
- DM users who say “this tool sucks” with a kind, real pitch
I once converted 5 paying users this way with one reddit reply.
step 7: BLR (build, launch, repeat!)
this is the real engine.
every feature, every product, every test goes through:
build → launch → repeat
don’t guess but test.
don’t “market” but launch like it’s day 1 every week.
I wrote the whole BLR system as a free resource if you want to steal it:
you don’t need 100 playbooks.
you need one that works with your energy, your time, your budget.
this is mine.
take it, tweak it, run it.
btw, I share free weekly playbooks in my newsletter at
Love this, my cofounder and I currently have several mvps ready to go, but are struggling to put the pieces together to get them out there. Great insight.
Great insight, this is really helpful for new indie hackers who want to start or stuck in MVPs cycle.
So crisp. The BLR loop (build, launch, repeat) deserves to be a mental model every indie founder memorizes. Simplicity with structure — rare combo.
It seems very practical.
Really amazing insights. I must say these steps are very much practical and effective when you starting from ground level.
This is gold. Love how you flipped the traditional “build first, validate later” mindset on its head. Step 6 really stands out—targeting frustrated users is such a simple yet often overlooked growth hack. I also appreciate the emphasis on soft launches; so many people mistake early exposure for validation when it’s really testing. BLR feels like a repeatable framework any founder could steal and scale.
Are FB groups really worth it? for the SaaS usually twitter and reddit look more relevant
The first link is broken, the second works. Do you have the actual traffic from IH on your urls?
This is an inspiring post! Your approach to scaling SaaS businesses is practical and motivating. Validating ideas early and focusing on user pain points truly make a difference. Thanks for sharing!
Totally agree. I am also doing the same thing for my own product. These steps are aggressive and practical.
Talking to users is great, but you don't need to find them online. You can also find it with the people around it. Wonder how your playbook would work for tools that are creating a new category of product and there is no market available yet,
Love how practical this is ... especially the ‘validate before you build’ bit...
This is pure gold, Mike especially the “validate before you build” and “target pissed-off users” parts. Too many founders still hide behind stealth mode and miss out on that early market truth.
I’ve seen this play out again and again with early SaaS builders, once they start testing demand instead of features, momentum comes way faster. Your BLR loop nails that mindset perfectly.
Curious , have you noticed any patterns in which early channels (Reddit, FB groups, X, etc.) consistently give the best signal during validation?
Great read, most founders get stuck building instead of going straight to the user (myself included). Thanks for sharing!
Thanks dude for the story it really helps me as a newcomer
Love this. 🔥
I’m currently walking the same path — validating and building my own SaaS called CraftName (check it in my profile if interested)
It helps founders generate startup names and instantly find available domains.
Your journey really resonates — especially the “validate before you build” part.
That lesson alone saves months of wasted effort.
Huge respect for what you’ve built, Mike.
Hope to meet you at the top one day — builders to builders. 🚀
Ten years of lessons condensed into seven clear steps is genuinely valuable. Your emphasis on validating before building and targeting dissatisfied users with competitors resonates deeply. The honesty about what actually worked versus what you tried earlier is what makes this guide credible and practical.