My wife thinks I'm wasting my time building a SaaS. She might be right.

sounds like me wout the wife..just the girlfriend. Lol Have spent prob over a thousand hours the past 2 yrs building many businesses that ended up failing. Still at it. Not giving up.

The 'wife test' is the hardest validation framework out there.

But seriously, you are hitting a nerve here. Churn is the silent killer for SaaS, and the existing tools are indeed overpriced for indie hackers. Your 'performance-based pricing' (no results, no fee) is a killer differentiator. It removes the risk for the customer.

Keep pushing. The moment that first revenue hits the account, the 'waste of time' conversation usually turns into 'I knew you could do it'. Good luck!"

Funny — my wife and I are building a SaaS together. Opposite problem, same stress. We launched a week ago, $0 MRR, $70 spent on Google Ads, 0 conversions. Some days it feels like progress, other days you wonder if anyone will ever pay for it. But at least we're in it together. Keep going.

I think it's a great idea. It's disheartening when someone close to you says those kinds of things. Heck, I feel the same way as my whole friend group has graduated college and i'm half-butting school because i'm giving so much time on my app, and I can feel their disappointment in me. But I would say build that momentum and believe in yourself and soon she'll believe in it too. Plus it's building your skills and opening up new doors which will make you more money. I'm sure she won't be opposed to that lol.

If I would be you, and side hustle already started paying.

I would reduce work time for the job, keep going with the side hustle and not reduce time with family members (especially partner), very important.

(1) Go for it - solving that kind of problem, is what can make great founders. (2) I think this model is cool. Already spend way too much money on 10$/mo things that I barely use. This is kind of closer to the old-school "software-as-software" (haha) model that I appreciate, while hopefully giving you some more predictability.

The zone is flooded though now that we have these little agents that can help us turn our side projects into actual businesses in a weekend, just from the technical perspective. What does not change is that there is a huge difference in skill between being able to build an app, and then turn that app into a business. For most developers, the first part is the fun part. The second is where we drop off, because that's a totally different skill set required. It sounds like that's where you would shine so stick through the hard technical part and validate once you get to the business part!

Andrew, I can relate—sometimes passion projects feel risky, but experimenting and learning in small bursts is what keeps creativity alive. Just like testing new strategies in the Magic Brawl APK https://magicbrawlapk.com/es/home-es/, the process itself is rewarding even if the results take time.

The "learning velocity" reframe is underrated. Most founder discourse obsesses over output metrics (MRR, users, churn) and completely skips the meta-question of whether you're getting smarter faster than you're spending time.

The skeptical partner angle is real too — having to articulate "why this matters" to someone who doesn't give you free passes forces clarity you can't fake. If you can't explain the thesis to your wife in plain terms, it probably isn't solid yet.

We're building AnveVoice — voice OS for websites, one script tag, 53 languages. The pivot story is similar: 6 months of the wrong framing, then one audience that had actual urgency (WCAG compliance deadline) and everything clicked. Happy to share what shifted if useful.

Same dynamic here. Stable job, dinner, laptop, repeat. My wife stopped asking what I'm working on, not because she's given up, but because she can see I'm not going to stop regardless of the answer.

The honest thing I've learned: the people around us aren't questioning the idea. They're questioning the cost. Every hour at the laptop is an hour somewhere else. That's a real trade-off, not a failure of vision.

What keeps me going isn't certainty it'll work. It's that I've already had a few ideas wither and die because I didn't push hard enough. That feeling is worse than trying and failing publicly.

The "what if" is the expensive thing. Not the late nights.

She might be right about the specific thing you're building, but she's probably wrong about the category of activity.

The version that's actually a waste is building for months without talking to a single potential customer, validating with friends who are too polite, treating launch as the moment of truth rather than conversation number one.

The version that isn't is treating this like cheap education in whether you can find a real problem and sell a solution to it. Outcome-based pricing for churn reduction is a real hypothesis worth testing. The only way to find out if your wife is right is to get it in front of five paying customers.

You’re not crazy — you’re in the uncomfortable middle that every builder hits.
From the outside it looks irrational:
stable job ✅
profitable side hustle ✅
late nights for something uncertain ❓
But from the inside it’s simple: you found a problem you care about. And that’s rare.
Also, you’re not “risking everything” — you’re doing it in the safest possible way: nights and weekends, with income already in place. That’s not reckless, that’s calculated.
Your pricing idea is actually the strongest signal here.
“Pay only when it works” =
👉 clear pain
👉 clear differentiation
👉 clear ICP (indie founders who feel the churn cost)
That’s not a random SaaS. That’s a thesis.
And about your wife — she’s not the villain in this story. She’s optimizing for stability. You’re optimizing for meaning and upside. Both are valid. The real win is showing progress in small, visible milestones so this becomes something tangible, not just late-night screen time.
Most people don’t fail because the idea is bad.
They fail because they stop.
So no — you haven’t lost the plot.
You’re doing what every successful indie founder did for months (or years) before anyone took them seriously.
Keep shipping. Validate fast.
And measure success not only in revenue — but in number of real users getting value.
That’s the moment when the head-shakes turn into support 🙂

Yes, building is hard when surrounded by skeptics. But this is an opportunity: turn your wife into a believer by writing a clear, non-technical description that makes your idea tangible.
As a developer who uses LLMs, I know exactly what I need, from architecture to specific functions. You're not a developer, so you need to be extraordinarily clear in your specifications. Write them as if explaining to someone outside the industry.
Do this: build a working prototype, validate it with real work, then pitch the product to your company.

Respect the courage. Building after a 9–5 isn’t crazy — it’s conviction. Better to try and fail than spend your life wondering “what if.” Keep going.

i relate to this more than I’d like to admit.

I spent seven years building a SaaS and invested over $1M into it. It never broke even. I had to shut it down. That experience changed how I think about risk. Not because I regret trying, but because I learned the cost is real and it compounds quietly.

I’m building again now, but differently. Smaller. Leaner. Testing for signal first. Six months. Free tool. If it resonates, I’ll double down. If not, I move on.

I also have a stable 9–5. From the outside, it can look irrational. But when you find a problem that won’t leave you alone, ignoring it feels heavier than trying.

the tension doesn’t mean you’re crazy. It just means you care.

I get this constantly. Unfortunately my wife is not technically minded, and has absolutely no inclination to change that 😆. I have hundreds of, potentially, great ideas pop into my head daily.. And some I just have to try out, but I do regularly lose interest half way through a project, and I've yet to actually monetise any of my side projects, so I guess she is warranted in her skepticism 😅 anyone have any tips for getting projects "over the line"?

The real question is whether you're learning something valuable from the build, not just whether it hits /mo. If it's teaching you about your market, your customers, or how to ship faster — that's not wasted time. Even the fails compound.

distribution is genuinely the hardest part. spent months building minifon thinking the product would sell itself. 2 kickstarter backers later i finally understand what people mean by build in public

same boat. been building minifon (iOS focus launcher) for a while and the people around me genuinely think its a waste of time because 'there are already apps for that'. the problem is none of them actually work for people with real addiction patterns. not blockers, not screen time limits, nothing. so yeah, the problem lives rent free in your head and you cant stop. your performance pricing model sounds genuinely smart btw, removes the main objection for a skeptical buyer

This hits close to home. I've been that person disappearing after dinner with a laptop too. What struck me about your story isn't just the doubt (we all get that), but how you've structured the business model around actual results.

Most churn tools are like insurance you pay for regardless of claims. Your approach flips that completely. If founders knew they only pay when customers are actually saved, that removes a huge mental barrier to trying it.

The fact that you keep coming back to this problem despite the doubt tells me something. Real problems don't let you go easily. Have you started reaching out to SaaS founders yet to validate the pain point, or still in build mode?

I felt this deeply. My partner asked me the same thing 6 months in. What helped me was reframing it from 'am I wasting time' to 'what am I learning that I couldn't learn any other way.' The honest answer for me was: everything about distribution, customers, and myself.

Really like your approach! One small thought — making your brand and logo clearly reflect your ‘no-results, no-fee’ promise could help visitors instantly understand your unique value.

This hits home. The "what if" is way worse than any failure. Your pay-only-when-it-works model is actually genius — aligns incentives perfectly. Most SaaS tools charge regardless of value delivered. Keep going, that first paying customer changes everything.

She’s not wrong.
Most SaaS side projects fail.

The real question isn’t is this risky? it’s is this structured intelligently?

Are you validating churn willingness-to-pay before building?
Are founders already agreeing to the performance model?

If you can get 5–10 founders to verbally commit before the product exists, that’s not delusion ....that’s signal.

I feel you, Andrew. My family also wonders why I spend hours staring at a screen filled with 56,484 vectors. It’s hard for them to see the vision when we are in the middle of the 'messy' build phase.

I'm currently building a tool to render complex scenes to MP4 in under 3 minutes. Some nights I'm just debugging dynamic animation tags instead of sleeping. But like you said, the 'what if' is worse than the struggle.

Keep going! The best products come from people who can't stop thinking about the problem.

Building at night always looks irrational to the people who value stability. Sometimes you have to milk the small wins just to remind yourself you’re not delusional.

100% relate to this. I'm building a side project after hours too and the hardest part isn't the code — it's explaining to people around you why you're voluntarily adding more work to your life. The "what if" feeling is exactly what keeps me going. Even if it doesn't become a huge business, the skills you pick up shipping a real product are worth more than most people realize. Keep at it.

Make money then she’ll believe. Till then forget about her. It’s not about proving her wrong, it’s about proving yourself right.

———->
Build a vibe coded landing page.

———->
Setup a google ad, marketing campaign and start pulling in some initial potential users.
Collect some emails.

If you start talking to real people, and can maybe even pull in your first few dollars , it’ll stop being a play thing .

I think consistency matters a lot when building a side project. Even small progress daily adds up over time.

My family also feels im wasting my time for continually building products with no users

Honestly, I feel this in my bones. building something while everyone else thinks you're crazy is a lonely road. Especially when you've got a stable gig already, but that 'what if' gnaws at you, right? My wife still rolls her eyes when I mention a new feature idea after midnight. keep going man. That pricing model sounds like a lightbulb moment.

Friend, if it's just for hobbies, then you can develop software in your spare time.

But if it's for starting a business, and you've done in-depth market analysis of SaaS projects, or it addresses your own pain points, then I want to share a genuine thought of my own.

Creators always forge a path where others don't understand. If the people around you all readily agree with your software, I don't think it will be very innovative.

But because of this, as a creator, as a pioneer, starting your own business or project inevitably involves taking huge risks, because you also don't know if the software will be recognized by society and accepted by users once it's released. If it isn't, will you still have the perseverance to continue developing new software?

Raises hand at being another solo developer building something while the people around me think I've lost the plot. I was let go from a long-time corporate role a couple of years back and have spent the time since obsessively developing a productivity suite. Unemployment and savings are gone, and the advice to switch gears to something of a "real job" is louder than ever. But I'm also closer than ever to launching, and there's no turning back.

In an age of dogged pursuit of maximum profit-seeking, your pricing model based around real results seems refreshing. Have you discovered how to quantify that measure solidly?

The "only charge when it works" model is underrated. Most indie hackers default to monthly subscriptions because it's predictable, but it also means your incentives aren't truly aligned with your customers.

I'm building a mobile app right now (AI-based photo tool) and the hardest part isn't the tech — it's exactly what you described: convincing people around you that the time investment is worth it. My approach has been to set small, concrete milestones instead of vague goals. "Get 100 real users this month" is way more motivating (and defensible to skeptics) than "I'm building a startup."

Also, the no-code path is legit. Ship fast, validate fast. You can always rebuild later if it takes off.

I feel this so much. My family didn't understand why I was spending nights and weekends building FontPreview instead of "relaxing."

What helped me was showing them small wins – even just one user saying "this helped me." It doesn't make the doubt disappear, but it makes it easier to keep going.

Hang in there, friend. 🚀

Dinner yo laptop grind is way too relatable. Most people only see the time you’re spending, not the problem living rent-free in your head.

Honestly, the pay-only-when-it-works angle is refreshing. Too many tools get paid whether they help or not. If you can prove you actually save customers, that’s a killer wedge.

Just make sure the startup doesn’t cost you the marriage in the process. Ship fast, talk to users early, get those first tiny wins, and let results do the convincing.

Better to try and fail than spend 20 years wondering “what if.” Keep going.

The doubt from people closest to us hits different than any stranger's criticism. I've been there — the silence at dinner that says everything they won't say out loud. Your performance-based pricing model is actually a sharp differentiator; most churn tools charge regardless of results which has always felt backwards. Keep building and let the work do the talking.

If this works, what specific signal would prove your model actually reduces churn rather than correlates with it?

Honestly, most people only see the time you spend, not the problem you can’t stop thinking about. That obsession is usually the signal you’re onto something. Keep going.

Respect for sharing this so honestly. One thing that helped me frame this with family is setting a clear “experiment window” (e.g., 8 weeks) with specific success metrics: conversations booked, trial signups, or first paid customer. It lowers the emotional uncertainty and turns it into a measurable bet. Your pricing thesis (pay-for-results vs expensive fixed tools) is a strong wedge if you can prove ROI fast with early users.

i know it can be disheartening- but if you believe in it - do it.

I can definitely relate to this.

We just launched our first consumer app this week after building it for about a year on the side, mostly in the evenings and weekends.

I’m also not a developer by background. My co-builder is actually a former nurse who had never written a line of code before this project. We ended up building the whole product by breaking problems down, prompting AI, testing, fixing and repeating.

Now that it's finally live, it feels like the real work is only just beginning: getting people who aren't friends or family to actually try it and care about it.

Would be really interested to hear how your "pay only if it works" model plays out in practice.

I can relate. When building my startup, most people around me thought I was crazy and that it would never result in anything. Nothing could stop me though, and once the money started flowing in, the same people pretended that they believed in me all along.

Stick with it Andrew, I recently fund myself unemployed after a long period of ill health which restricts most decent paying jobs, so, I'm now, like many developing tools to fill niches that are otherwise overlooked and any tool which reduces the headache of running a business, is well needed. I wish us both luck, the right idea can turn anyone into a wealthy one in a short space of time. Believe in yourself :)

Andy, consider starting out offering a results-based consulting services that leverages your technology, where you are the only person that uses the application. That would allow you to start making offers now.

If you believe in it- please never give up

Raises hand at being another solo developer building something while the people around me think I've lost the plot. I was let go from a long-time corporate role a couple of years back and have spent the time since obsessively developing a productivity suite. Unemployment and savings are gone, and the advice to switch gears to something of a "real job" is louder than ever. But I'm also closer than ever to launching, and there's no turning back.

In an age of dogged pursuit of maximum profit-seeking, your pricing model based around real results seems refreshing. Have you discovered how to quantify that measure solidly?

I felt this deeply. Building something after a full workday isn’t easy, especially when the people around you don’t fully see the vision yet. But solving a problem you truly believe in is hard to ignore. Keep going, stay balanced, and trust the process. The “what if” question is always louder than the fear of trying.

That's a great line of thinking, never give up, my friend!

Hi Andrew,

I feel this. Stable job, side project already making money, but I'm still up at midnight fixing bugs because I can't let go of the problem I'm solving.
My family doesn't get it either. "You already have income from it, why the obsession?" But it's not about money anymore, it's about building something I wish existed.
You're doing this with no-code tools and a business degree? That's impressive. No excuses, just building. I respect that.
Those nights staring at the screen wondering if they're right? I've been there. Last week I spent 3 hours on something that still doesn't work perfectly. But the alternative is spending the next 10 years wondering "what if."

Your performance-based pricing is smart. Real differentiator in a sea of subscription fatigue.

Keep going. The people who think we've lost the plot will be the ones asking "how did you do it?" when it works out.

Man, the dinner-to-laptop routine hits close to home. I did the same thing for about a year and a half building dev tools on the side. My partner wasn't skeptical exactly, more like... confused about why I'd voluntarily add more screen time after a full day of it.

The performance-based pricing angle is actually really interesting though. I've seen so many churn tools that basically charge you a flat fee to send automated emails that may or may not do anything. Tying your revenue to actual results is gutsy but it forces you to build something that genuinely works. The tricky part will be defining what counts as a 'save' — like demogod mentioned, attribution in churn is messy.

One thing I'd suggest: don't wait until it's polished. Get a handful of beta users ASAP, even if it's rough around the edges. The feedback loop from real users will tell you more in a week than months of solo building ever will. And honestly, those early conversations are what kept me going when the motivation dipped.

i also feel this pain same like you i also working on NixQr The all-in-one QR-based OS for restaurants to automate orders, POS, and loyalty. I do my 9-5 job and then side hustle for it dont know is there someone accepting this or not.

the build, the grind, the imposter syndrome, the second-guessing...we all go through it. I've helped build a billion $ company that almost failed 2 years in, and now it's a category leader. Keep going!

I feel this so much. I'm building PromptGear - an AI website builder - and there are days when I question everything too. But then someone uses it and loves it, and it makes it all worth it. Keep going!

As long as you are loving/enjoying what you're building keep going. If it were easy everyone would do it. That being said, don't let it overshadow the important things in life, like spending quality time with your wife, and just relaxing and unwinding.
All the best on your journey!

Been there. The look from people when you say you're "working on something" instead of watching TV or just relaxing. It gets old.

What I've learned is that showing beats explaining. Nobody cares about your startup until you show them actual money, even if it's tiny. A £10 payment notification feels silly but it changes the conversation.

The performance-based pricing is smart. Most churn tools feel like they're designed to protect the vendor, not prove value. If you can make the "this worked" moment undeniable, you've got something.

One thing though: set a deadline for yourself. Not for launching (launch early), but for deciding if this specific idea is worth continuing. The danger isn't failing, it's building something mediocre for years because you're emotionally attached. Give yourself six months to hit a real milestone. If it's not working, pivot. That way you're being responsible, not reckless.

The performance-based pricing model you're describing is the hardest type of SaaS to execute, but also the most defensible if you can make it work.

Here's why it's hard: you're not just building a tool, you're building attribution infrastructure. To charge only when it works, you need to definitively prove causation — that your intervention is what saved the customer. Churn is messy. Was it your email sequence that stopped them from canceling, or did they just change their mind? Did your feature prompt work, or were they already going to upgrade?

The SaaS companies that charge £300-500/month regardless of results aren't doing it because they're greedy. They're doing it because proving ROI at the individual customer level is genuinely difficult. They shift that measurement burden to you.

But if you can crack the attribution problem, you've built something remarkable. Because the moment you can say "we saved you Customer X, here's the receipt," you're no longer selling software — you're selling saved revenue. And saved revenue is infinitely easier to justify than "access to a dashboard."

The question that will determine whether this works: can you define "it works" precisely enough that both you and your customer agree on what counts as a save? If you can nail that definition early, everything else gets easier.

The fact that you're questioning it means you're being honest with yourself, which is more than most founders do.

One thing that helped me reframe this: stop measuring progress by revenue alone in the early days. Measure by learning velocity — are you understanding your users better each week? Are you getting closer to the problem?

The founders who waste time are the ones who build in isolation for months without talking to users. If you're iterating based on real feedback, you're not wasting time — you're investing it.

Also, having a skeptical partner is actually a superpower. They force you to justify every decision, which makes you a sharper thinker. Use that friction productively.

The "pay only when it works" model is brilliant. Most SaaS founders get this backwards — they charge for access to the tool, not for the outcome.

Your wife will come around. Mine thought I was crazy too, building an AI secretary after forgetting her mom's birthday. Then she saw the first paying customer notification at 11pm on a Tuesday.

The look changes from "you're wasting time" to "okay, maybe you know what you're doing."

The dinner-to-laptop grind is real. But there's something about building your own thing that a 9-5 can never replace. Keep going.

yeah been there. my girlfriend gave me that same look for a solid six months while i was building stuff after work every night. the thing that helped was when i stopped talking about the product and started showing her the actual numbers, even when they were tiny. like "hey, someone paid me 9 quid for this thing i built" hits different than "i'm working on my startup."

the pay-only-when-it-works model is a genuinely smart angle btw. churn tools that charge regardless of results always felt backwards to me. if you can nail that, it's a real differentiator.

keep going. the people who think you've lost the plot usually come around once something clicks.