Ten (10) Lessons I learned about Launching No-Code SaaS: Virtual Ghost Writer

On the last day of the year (2020), I pause to reflect on my failures and accomplishments for the entire year but more specifically those after joining the no-code community on indie hackers and twitter.

Ever since I started pursuing internet entrepreneurship in 2018, Artificial intelligence, specifically machine learning has been a great passion of mine. When I started my initial research it was clear to me that I had a steep learning curve to overcome and maybe I would have to pursue another bachelors degree to get to where I needed to be. Eventually I put a pause on pursuing AI to learn how the internet works. I got into domain names, wordpress site development and eventually found the no-code community on twitter through a post of a no-coder selling a no-code related domain name.

My journey started in August having signed up for bubble's immerse program and being unsuccessful, getting 2 free months courtesy of bubble. I used this time to learn bubble the best way I could with what was provided for free. A little while before, I had learned that OpenAI had opened their beta program and was accepting requests to join. I quickly applied and was successful. It seems to have been a coincidence (it wasn't, it was fate) in getting through with OpenAI just as I was learning of a possible way that I could build an app without code and that the core of the app could be simply making API calls. Without going into too much detail VirtualGhostWriter.com was born with $0 capital invested in the tech and $9.06 for the purchase of the domain name.

Here are ten (10) lessons that got me from zero to (#4 product of the day, trending on product hunt now: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/virtual-ghost-writer) 965 sign ups, 54 paid subscribers, $540 gross revenue and $260 MRR in one month:

1. Join your niche community and contribute

In my case, the #nocode community resides on twitter mostly and tweets surrounding no-code circulate everyday. From there I was able to see what successful no-coders did and how they got to where they were. I didn't even know producthunt.com existed before joining #nocode twitter. I also joined no-code related newsletters, facebook groups & email lists. I invested in getting a neat nocode related domain name; nocodemakers.com and started a twitter page, @nocodemakers_ and shared my thoughts on no-code there as well as my personal profile: @stepocampbell_. As my followers grew, and the interactions increased I started to see a pattern of success.

2. Settle on an idea quickly and ship it.

Having multiple ideas that you want to ship and not knowing which one to focus on can become a real show stopper. I've been there; just spending days scrolling through twitter thinking about what to focus on. To get an idea validated is a little bit of a chicken and egg situation. You don't know if it will work until you have tried shipping it. My idea is to learn to ship ideas quickly... get a minimalist functioning version of your product that does the basic function of the idea at a decent quality and ship it immediately. Study the feedback and adjust yourself appropriately. If it doesn't work... move on (Sometimes more push is what it needs too, so keep that in mind). I have personally done 10+ websites that didn't get traction and all of them are still active. I shipped them quickly and each one taught me a lesson on what I didn't want to focus on. Here are a few other things I shipped within the last three (3) months:

NoCodeDomains.com
FakeCommuting.com
Upvoted.io

3. Failure is inevitable

Before you succeed, you must fail. Chances are you will fail over and over and over again before you even make a single penny on the internet. That's just how it works... I don't know why it's like that but generally a success is usually preceded by a series of failures. Get use to the initial failures and move on. It's good to find cheap ways of implementing a product so that the loss isn't heavy if it fails initially. That's why no-code is so important for me.

4. Do it Yourself

There is a saying that if you want something done well, do it yourself. It's important to learn the ins and outs of building something from the ground up before collaborating or getting a partner/co-founder. Doing it yourself gives you a lot of value and independence. You are fully aware of everything that you have created and know exactly how it works. That is price-less. I learned bubble in a few days and launched VirtualGhostWriter.com within a few weeks.

5. Forget Perfection, Think Minimalist

All the pretty bells and whistles that only compliment the core of what you are making is not a necessity up front. It looks good and it's perfect but it's not necessary. It takes up time and resources to get those nice things integrated early. They can be added afterwards. What is important to find out is; Is my product functional? Does it add value? Does it work? Once those questions are in the affirmative, then ship it and get feedback. I did bear minimum with the UI for VirtualGhostWriter.com.

6. NEVER give up, I say, NEVER give up

I can't say how many times after posting on twitter there was just zero traction and I wanted to just give up. I kept posting though and based on the feedback I knew there was something special happening. I never gave up.

7. Post on other platforms

Twitter is very unpredictable. Sometimes your stuff takes off sometimes not one like. Here are my top platforms to post your SaaS:

1. Reddit

2. Product Hunt

3. Youtube

4. Indie Hackers

5. Twitter

6. Niche Specific Facebook groups

7. Write blogs on your personal site

8. Keep talking about it, keep believing in it

If you are not talking about your own application, who else will? When you talk about what you have built, it becomes contagious. Users can sense if you believe in your application or not. I talk about my SaaS mostly on twitter without being spammy. You can say that I am telling a story, forming a narrative around how the application works, what it does, how it helps/adds value, how it came about and how it is doing now. When you talk about it, it drives interest and more subscribers.

9. Get an email list and talk to your users

Let your users know when you have made a change, solved a common problem that they are facing with your product and when you have something special to point out. I have gotten quite a few sign ups convert to paid subscribers by just informing them of an update.

10. Launch on product hunt

After a month of seeing the app grow to hundreds of sign ups and having the validation that this provides value to 50+ paying users, I think it was time to launch it on product hunt. After all, that is what I learned from the successful no-code makers on twitter. After a while they launch their products on product hunt and most of the times it does really well (the fact that the algorithm highlights it in my twitter thread means it is doing well).

Wrap Up

I was thinking that since I have seen hope of running a SaaS being a 'solopreneur', working from home, which actually generates revenue month over month that I would share this with someone else. I hope this speaks to someone out there sitting on an idea for a product, an application, an online service, anything really. It is possible and you can make it online. Never ever give up.

Conclusion

I launched VirtualGhostWriter.com on product hunt yesterday and forgot about it, went to sleep and found a host of new sign ups and paid subscribers in the morning. It was trending at #3 Product of the Day earlier and has moved to #4, please help me get it up there. Much appreciated. Thanks for reading.

https://www.producthunt.com/posts/virtual-ghost-writer