Micro SaaS
Chrome Extensions
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The Ultimate Guide to Developing Chrome ExtensionsThis guide runs through everything you need to know at a high level in order to develop, test and release Chrome Extensions
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9 Chrome Extension IdeasCheck out these Chrome Extension ideas you could build!
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Cashflowing Chrome ExtensionsThe step by step guide to building your own profitable Chrome Extensions in 30 days
The Micro SaaS Handbook
Welcome to the Micro SaaS Handbook, which is a series of 12 chapters aiming to give you an introductory overview of how to build, monetise and exit your own bootstrapped Micro SaaS 💻
Why listen to me? Well, I am just a regular guy but I have been able to bootstrap my Micro SaaS apps up from just a side hustle, to earning me over $500,000 through subscription income and the money received when I sold and exited from my apps 🙌
Now I'm passionate about helping other software developers & programmers realise they can become a Micro SaaS startup founder and utilise their existing skillset 🤓
Having experienced the full journey from idea to exit, I feel like I'm in a great position to share the wins/fails/learnings from the journey with you 🏔
I'll answer some essential questions first and then below that you’ll find an index to all the chapters of my high level Micro SaaS guide, so you can read a summary of each part below and dive into each section in detail 📖
Why Develop Your Own Micro SaaS App?
From time and location freedom to a fresh sense of independence, there is a lot to gain by developing Micro SaaS applications.
For me personally, I’ve been able to:
- Earn multiple 6 figures in subscription income.
- Quit my life-sapping 9-5 job.
- Banish pointless meetings, office politics, chaos & firefighting.
- Work when I want.
- Work wherever and in whatever technologies I want.
- Spend more time with family.
- Have a better connection with the users of the apps I develop.
- Have way more financial stability
- Earn multiple 6 figures when I finally exited and sold my Micro SaaS apps.
If any of the above points resonate with you then it's worth imagining what your life could look like if you didn't have to work the 9-5 and you had greater control of your life and more freedom. If that sounds good then read on and hopefully I can help to show you a potential road to freedom.
The Micro SaaS Handbook Contents
Chapter 1
What is Micro SaaS?
In this introductory chapter I define what Micro SaaS is and how it compares to traditional SaaS.
I also outline details of the different forms of Micro SaaS with examples for each including:
- Web Apps
- Chrome Extensions
- Ecosystem App Stores
- Desktop Apps
- Mobile Apps
Chapter 2
Benefits of Micro SaaS
In this chapter, I detail some of the advantages of the Micro SaaS business model and what you can look forward to.
From leveraging compounding results to new found freedoms, there are many benefits to the Micro SaaS business model.
Take a read of the benefits of Micro SaaS to learn more about them.
Chapter 3
Challenges of Micro SaaS
In this chapter, I detail some of the drawbacks to the Micro SaaS business model and how you can minimise their impact.
From the hamster wheel of support to dealing with copycats, there are a few challenges of Micro SaaS you’ll want to be aware of so you can mitigate them effectively.
Chapter 4
Finding A Great Micro Niche
At the heart of everything is your user base and as the name suggests, you’ll be targeting a narrow user base in a micro niche.
The trick is discovering these underserved micro-niches which are crying out for someone to make their lives better through software.
Take a look at my Characteristics of a solid target Niche chapter so you know what to look for!
Chapter 5
What makes a solid Micro SaaS App
Having discovered a great target niche, you’ll be looking at the problems users are facing in that niche in order to come up with some app ideas to solve them.
I will be focussing on identifying problems your potential user base is experiencing and how to consider various solutions to these problems.
Take a look at my Characteristics of a solid Micro SaaS App chapter to find out what attributes you should be looking for in your Micro SaaS.
Chapter 6
Generating great Micro SaaS ideas
The best Micro SaaS ideas solve specific problems for a specific niche user group.
These problems will likely be costing the target users time and/or money.
Therefore, the key to generating solid Micro SaaS ideas revolves around simply being able to identify these problems and come up with a solution that fixes them.
If you’re struggling to come up with Micro SaaS ideas, then this chapter will teach you how to generate great Micro SaaS ideas.
Chapter 7
Validating Micro SaaS Ideas
Developing an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for your Micro SaaS app idea is the best way to establish whether or not your app genuinely solves a painful problem for your target audience.
If you think you’ve found a fantastic idea but want some certainty, then read through my validating your Micro SaaS app idea chapter to find some techniques that will put your mind at ease.
Chapter 8
How to launch a Micro SaaS
Having generated an idea, developed an MVP and gathered beta testing feedback, you are now ready for your big launch.
In this chapter, I’ll cover what to do pre-launch to build up the hype train and the different launch phases.
By focusing on each of these things in turn, you give yourself the best chance of launching your Micro SaaS app and getting your first customers successfully.
Chapter 9
Preparing your app for scaling
In order to successfully scale your app’s user base, you’ll need to go through a short period of consolidation to sure up the foundations first.
These are important prerequisites to ensure that when you do scale your Micro SaaS, it goes smoothly.
Take a look at my detailed chapter on preparing a Micro SaaS app for scaling before you move on!
Chapter 10
Scaling your Micro SaaS app
Having laid the foundations carefully, we’re on to the exciting topic of actually scaling up both your user base and recurring income.
It’s vital that during this growth phase that customer satisfaction remains high. You can then look into utilising SaaS marketing techniques in this chapter to scale and grow your Micro SaaS app.
Chapter 11
Selling and exiting your Micro SaaS
You might think you’d never sell your lovingly created, successful cashflowing Micro SaaS startup.
After all, this is your little baby that you’ve nurtured all the way from its painful birth, through the growing years that’s now blossomed into a strong and independent software app.
In this chapter, I’ll be discussing reasons why you might be interested in selling your Micro SaaS app and exiting for a life changing lump sum payment:
Chapter 12
Micro SaaS Conclusions
On to the final chapter, let’s wrap things up and look at some high level conclusions I've drawn.
Next, we'll look at the future Of Micro SaaS and I'll go into what I have planned in the Micro SaaS world for myself.
Finally, I’ll also be covering how you can kickstart Your Micro SaaS Journey in my conclusion and Micro SaaS Quickstart chapter.
You can either read each of the chapters on my site or you can download the entire 12 chapter handbook as a free PDF to read on any device, anywhere, anytime.
CHAPTER 1 - PREVIEW
What is Micro SaaS?
Micro SaaS apps solve a specific problem for a niche audience in exchange for a recurring subscription. Built by an individual founder or small team without external funding, results compound over time in the form of a growing and predictable monthly recurring income.
Micro SaaS is similar to its big brother SaaS (Software as a Service) but without the pressure of external investors bearing aggressive growth targets. There are great opportunities in the smaller niche markets for Micro SaaS apps to operate in which are too small for the big SaaS companies to care about.
SaaS used to be just for cloud-based subscription software but this is no longer the case.
SaaS comes in many forms but it’s the subscription based business model that’s at its core. Customers will pay a monthly/annual subscription for any software if it brings them enough value, regardless of its form.
In some cases, it’ll be cloud based software, but other Micro SaaS apps examples include desktop apps, mobile apps, chrome extensions and ecosystem add-ons/plugins.
What’s the Difference Between Micro Saas and SaaS?
There are a several differences between Micro SaaS and its big SaaS (Software as a Service), namely:
- Team size - Micro SaaS apps are usually created by a single founder or run by a small micro team whereas large SaaS apps require multiple teams working across the business.
- Investment - Micro SaaS apps are typically self-funded, bootstrapped startups whereas SaaS apps require seed investment and then several rounds of investment raising.
- Growth Targets - SaaS apps have external investors bearing aggressive growth targets with the business under constant pressure. Micro SaaS startups are lifestyle businesses that can grow as per the appetite of the founder.
- Target Audience - SaaS businesses usually target wide audiences with a large total addressable market, whereas Micro SaaS startups focus on serving a niche audience in a very narrow and focussed manner.
- Freedom - Micro SaaS founders have more freedom to work when and where they want whereas SaaS owners will usually require office space and more traditional office hours across all the teams in the company.
There’s nothing to stop a successfully bootstrapped Micro SaaS ramping up into a self-funded medium size SaaS or even all the way to a big SaaS company.
For example, ConvertKit was started by solo founder Nathan Barry in 2013 and spent a few years as a one man business, before first expanding out to a micro-team and eventually a large SaaS operation with multiple teams and $20 million per year!
You can even leverage the power of Micro SaaS to quit your job. In my case, I was able to start my Micro SaaS app as a side hustle and eventually after I scaled it up I was able to quit my crappy 9-5 job and live a life of Micro SaaS freedom!
Examples of Micro SaaS Web Apps
$22k/month
Hypefury is a content posting and scheduling tool for Twitter. It's a cloud-based platform that allows businesses to create content for Twitter posts and schedule unlimited tweets and threads.
$15k/month
Upvoty is a user feedback tool with feature voting, product roadmap, and changelog to make better product SaaS products.
$50k/month
Browserless is built for developers and is a web-service that allows for remote programs to connect, pilot, and execute headless browser tasks — all inside of Docker.
Examples of Micro SaaS Browser Extensions
$10k/month
Merch Wizard and KDP Wizard were the Micro SaaS tools I built up initially as a side hustle but managed to scale them up to enable me to quit my job.
I later went on to sell them for a cash lump sum exit.
$35k/month
Closet Tools is a browser extension that helps Poshmark sellers make more sales, get more followers, and automatically share their items.
It all started with Indie Hacker Jordan O’Connor creating a simple script to help his wife automate some of the tedious tasks on Poshmark and it snowballed from there!
$13k/month
Huntr is a chrome extension that allows job hunters to keep track of their job applications in one place. It's like a mini CRM for your job search.
This Micro SaaS solves a genuine problem we've all experienced - tracking job applications across multiple disparate systems and websites.
Examples of Micro SaaS Platform/Ecosystems Plugins
$24k/month
KarmaBot is a Slack plugin for team bonding and rewards. Used by managers to build stronger and happier teams.
Managers can set goals on a monthly basis and KarmaBot will reward staff with karma points.
$25k/month
SuperLemon is a Shopify plugin that allows shoppers to engage with the store owners directly on WhatsApp.
It includes other features such as abandoned cart recovery and automated messaging.
$23k/month
Fly Plugins develop and maintain a successful learning management system plugin for WordPress.
Their plugin allows course creators to create their course right within their Wordpress site and using a drag and drop editor.
Examples of Micro SaaS Desktop Apps
$80k/month
AccelerList is a desktop app that allows Amazon sellers to list their products, reprice them and integrates with accounting software.
$25k/month
TextExpander is a cross-platform desktop app that replaces shortcode text with text you specify.
It sounds like something every dev could roll themselves. However, once you use it you'll see how sophisticated it is .... it's one of my favourite productivity tools.
$3k/month
Desktime is a desktop and mobile app time tracking app.
It handles cost management, pomodoro timers, invoicing, automatic screenshots and much more.
CHAPTER 2 - PREVIEW
Benefits of Micro SaaS
In this chapter, I detail some of the advantages of the Micro SaaS business model and what you can look forward to. From leveraging compounding results to new found freedoms, there are many benefits to the Micro SaaS business model
We wouldn’t be pursuing this if there weren’t a huge range of personal, professional, and financial benefits that come with it. Alongside being able to work from anywhere in the world and no longer having to work under someone else, there are a whole host of Micro SaaS benefits.
Here are the main advantages of the Micro SaaS business model:
1. Compounding results from your efforts
2. Financial security from a predictable recurring income
3. Minimal startup costs
4. Direct connection with your users
5. Ability to build it once but sell it to many
6. Time freedom
7. Location freedom
8. Technical freedom
9. Financial freedom
10. Self-employed status
#1 - Compounding results from your efforts
Firstly, as you add more features to your Micro SaaS app, you’re building upon its existing foundations. Instead of starting from scratch each month, you’re always building on top of the work you’ve done in the previous month. The more features you add, the more enticing your offering will be for your prospective users.
Secondly, your customer base will grow over time as early adopters of your app are joined by new customers. Again, the work you put in on promoting your app doesn’t start from scratch each month, it compounds and builds upon what you’ve done previously. I cover the various methods of scaling up your customer base in a later chapter but for the time being, I just want to communicate this compounding of the subscribers too.
This compounding of both the growing features of the app and the expanding customer base cannot be underestimated.
In my case, when I first launched the MVP of my Merch Wizard chrome extension, I did so with a barebones app that was functional but didn’t have any bells and whistles to it.
However, the functionality in that first version laid the foundations for the app as it is today and many of the original MVP features haven’t needed to be updated since their launch. They say that you should cringe when you think about the first version of the app you release. I am cringing right now thinking about that MVP version, but you’ve got to start somewhere and gaining that early feedback is vital!
My Merch Wizard MVP (Cringe)
I offered a low monthly subscription for early adopters that many of them are still paying today! This group of early adopters formed a stable base of monthly subscription income which I was able to build upon as the app evolved and became more well known within the community.
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Click the link below to read the remaining benefits of Micro SaaS 🙂
CHAPTER 3 - PREVIEW
Challenges of Micro SaaS
In this chapter, I detail some of the drawbacks to the Micro SaaS business model and how you can minimise their impact. From the hamster wheel of support to dealing with copycats, there are a few challenges of Micro SaaS you’ll want to be aware of.
While the benefits significantly outweigh the challenges, there are some downsides that cannot be overlooked. Luckily for us, by understanding what challenges lie on our roadmap to success, we’ll be able to prepare for them.
Here are some of the drawbacks to the Micro SaaS business model:
- Reliance On Systems & Platforms
- Personal Motivation Dependent
- Endless Customer Support
- Copycat Micro SaaS apps
#4 Micro SaaS Copycats
If people within your niche see your app gaining popularity, they may look into launching a competing product. In certain cases, they blatantly rip off the features of your app and sprinkle some UI changes on to make it appear different.
To minimize copycats and their effects you’ll want to ensure any client side code is obfuscated and try to perform as much of the app’s magic server side where possible. In some cases, this just isn’t possible and you have to go into it with your eyes wide open.
The best way to combat copycats is to offer the best in class customer experience, listen to user feedback, implement feature requests and continue to innovate and introduce new features to keep your app’s offering more appealing than any potential competitors.
Click the link below to read the remaining challenges of Micro SaaS 🙂
CHAPTER 4 - PREVIEW
How to find a great Micro Niche
As the saying goes, the Riches are in the Niches. Finding a great micro niche is a fundamental part of Micro SaaS; otherwise it’d just be plain old SaaS with a wide audience.
Instead of looking for huge markets with few identifying characteristics, you want to niche down to a micro-niche that has a highly targetable potential customer base for your app. For example, think about how you’d go about targeting the following user base:
The more micro you go, the better. Not only will you be able to find and engage with potential customers much more easily, but you’ll be able to serve them better with a much more tailored solution.
Imagine being a Real Estate Lawyer and searching for a Case Management Solution …. you’d immediately be drawn to the below link as it is so specific to you:
as opposed to the generic offering below:
With that in mind, the next step is to find a few micro SaaS niches that could be a good fit for you. You’re not yet looking at the possible problems/solutions in these niches, rather just shortlisting a number of suitable niches you’re interested in exploring further.
Here are some of the key characteristics you’ll want to look for:
- An Expanding Niche
- A User Base With Budget For Tools
- An Understanding Of The Niche
- A B2B, B2C, or B2M Niche
- A Customer Base That You Like
- A Specific and Focused Niche
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Click the link below to take a look at my detailed chapter to find out exactly what to look for when selecting a target niche.
CHAPTER 5 - PREVIEW
Characteristics of a Solid Micro SaaS App Idea
Once you’ve established the niche you’re going to be working in, it's time to establish a solid Micro SaaS app idea. These ideas won’t come out of thin air, instead you’ll need to find pain points that your audience is experiencing that could be remedied with software.
Building a Micro SaaS app without focussing on a specific problem for a targeted audience will vastly reduce your chances of success. This is a common issue for products that launch on Product Hunt.
Unfortunately, many of these apps are solutions in search of a problem and launch to untested audiences without any validation and as a result many of them fade away after their initial launch.
To make sure you don’t fall foul of this, ensure that your Micro SaaS application has the following core characteristics:
- Fixes A Painful Problem
- Not A Solution Looking For A Problem
- Has An Attainable Solution
- The Problem It Fixes Is Evergreen
- Built On Strong Foundations
Rule #1 - Your Micro SaaS App Idea Must Fix a Painful Problem.
Whilst it is possible to create something that improves people’s lives, you’ll have far more interest in your app if it is actually fixing a painful problem that the users are experiencing. These problems need to be genuine problems that are in dire need of a solution, rather than temporary irritations.
Don’t Create A Solution That’s Looking For A Problem
Always start with the problem, rather than the solution. Whilst it’s tempting to create something that just popped into your mind, it’s likely that you’ll fall head over heels in love with the idea and simply have your blinkers on.
You’ll tell yourself that it’s a wonderful idea, maybe even “the one!”. In reality, when you start with a solution in mind rather than a problem in mind, it’s likely you’ll find it difficult to attract an audience seeing as nobody is searching for a fix for a non-existent problem. You’ll be wasting your time trying to convince people that they need it in their lives.
Building a Micro SaaS app without focussing on a specific problem for a targeted audience will vastly reduce your chances of success.
This is one of the big issues for products that launch on Product Hunt - many of these apps are solutions in search of a problem and launch in search of a user base that may or may not exist.
An example of a solution searching for a problem
Founder Problem Fixes
The majority of Micro SaaS apps are created to overcome a problem that the founder is experiencing themselves.
This was true in my case too. I created my first app when I was trying to upload designs using the Merch By Amazon UI.
At the time, you could only edit one product at a time, there was no way to open another product in a new tab. Being constrained to one tab like this felt like a full-on violation to my rights as a modern day user of the internet 😂. I also saw others complaining about this on the Merch forums and Facebook groups.
Problem identified!
Within a weekend, I’d created my first chrome extension - Merch Batch Editor. It was a super simple and incredibly ugly chrome extension, but users responded really well to it. I set a one-off price of $12.99 for this app. But, even with the low price, I had very low expectations that anyone would want to buy it. After all, I wasn’t going to run any ads to it, just rely on organic traffic methods.
However, I was soon proved wrong as this super-basic tool made me over $3,000!
This small app was the building block to my bigger chrome extensions and helped me earn the trust of the users and build a reputation in the community as a trustworthy app developer.
My first Micro SaaS app, the butt ugly but functional and surprisingly profitable Merch Batch Editor
Fixing a problem your customers have
Another reason to create a Micro SaaS app is to fix a problem your clients/customers are experiencing. It could be that in your full-time job or freelance work that you see a recurring problem for which there isn’t a viable solution yet.
Is there a way you could create something that plugs in the gap?
Just remember though, if you don’t like the industry/clients you service in your day job/freelance work, then it may not be the best fit for you.
For me, when I was working in my full-time job as Technical Director of an Insurance Software business, I could see plenty of gaps in the market for some Micro SaaS apps.
But, the problem was that after 10 years of working in that same industry, I couldn’t think of anything worse than building more software for insurance brokers 🥱
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Click the link below to read the remaining characteristics of a solid Micro SaaS app 🙂
CHAPTER 6 - PREVIEW
How to Generate Great Micro SaaS Ideas
The best Micro SaaS ideas solve specific problems for a specific niche user group. These problems will likely be costing the target users time and/or money.
Therefore, the key to generating solid Micro SaaS ideas revolves around simply being able to identify these problems and come up with a solution that fixes them.
Your users should be able to see your app as a no-brainer solution in terms of the value it brings vs the cost of the subscription.
In this article, I’ll cover the following topics so you know how to come up with great Micro SaaS ideas:
#1 - Types of Problems That Suit Micro SaaS Apps
#2 - Questions To Ask Yourself
#3 - Finding Specific Problems
#4 - Thinking Of Possible Solutions
#5 - Scoring Your Problems & Solutions
#6 - Micro SaaS Idea Examples & Case Studies
#1 - Types of Problems That Suit Micro SaaS Apps
Micro SaaS apps are great at fixing many common “problem” scenarios, for example:
- Automating repetitive and/or tedious tasks.
- Performing calculations that are currently calculated manually.
- Connecting disparate systems.
- Replacing Excel spreadsheet workarounds.
- Plugging in gaps of missing functionality in host ecosystems
- Enhancing reporting
- Etc etc etc ...
Ask yourself these questions when you go searching for problems:
- How could software help with this?
- Could I automate this tedious process?
- Is it possible to surface more data to improve the user’s experience?
- Could I make this easier/less painful?
- Would I be able to create an app that streamlines this lengthy multi-step manual process?
- How could I provide an integration between these systems?
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Click the link below to take a look at my generating a great Micro SaaS idea chapter to help spark your idea generation!
CHAPTER 7 - PREVIEW
Validating Your Micro SaaS App Idea
In this chapter, I discuss a number of ways you can validate your idea. Developing an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for your Micro SaaS app idea is the best way to establish whether or not your app genuinely solves a painful problem for your target audience.
However, before you jump into coding your MVP, there are a few steps you can take to validate your idea too. The high level idea validation process of will look as follows:
- Soft Validation Checks
- Using Online Communities For Idea Validation
- Review Existing Solutions
- Dipping Your Toes In
- The Dummy Order Page
- Alternative Methods To Validate Your Micro SaaS App Idea
- Building An MVP
- Throwaway of Foundational MVP?
- Beta Testing your MVP
#1 - Soft Validation Checks
Revisit and re-validate the niche & problem with a fresh set of eyes, how many people are in your target niche, is it evergreen, and are they searching for a solution to this problem?
Here are a few ways to look for search intent to get a feeling for the numbers.
- Google Trends - check the popularity of your target niche. We want stable/growing rather than declining.
- Google Keyword Planner - find out approximate search volumes for software in your target niche. Add your specific problem search term to this if it’s common enough.
- Keywords Everywhere chrome extension - (a great example of a Micro SaaS app idea itself) - repeat the above to give some further indicators of search volume.
- UberSuggest and AnswerThePublic - Gain more insights and to spark further ideas.
Using Online Communities For Idea Validation
Next, move on to the places online where your niche’s users hang out in communities. This could be Facebook Groups, Reddit subs, Slack, Discord, etc.
Join these communities and use the search function on the platform to find people’s thoughts on the problem you’re considering fixing and the workarounds. If possible, try to message these people one on one in a non-spammy way and if appropriate, outline your high level app idea to them to get their feedback.
Be wary that it’s easier for them to give you a false positive by encouraging you to build it, so make a point of asking for honest feedback and how much they’d pay for that solution.
Review Existing Solutions
Next, check out any existing solutions to the problem. If there aren’t any solutions or there are only manual workarounds, then you may think you’ve struck gold and that your solution must be better than no solution right?
Well, there may be a good reason why others have passed up on the opportunity, so make sure you do your due diligence and consider all angles carefully.
If there are already some solutions in place for the problem it doesn’t mean that they’ve got it 100% right and it’s a non-starter for you. Look for the gaps or issues users have with the existing solutions:
- Are they too expensive for the users to justify? Could you produce something more affordable? For example, Pabbly is a slimmed-down, cheaper version of Zapier and it is becoming very popular proving there’s plenty of room in the market for both of these platforms to thrive.
- Are they bundled with too many other features? Start your app off with just one core module that provides an express service.
- Are they hard to understand or use? Build something that is easier to set up and use.
- Are they missing key features? Build these as your USP key starting features.
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Read my full chapter on validating your Micro SaaS idea to put your mind at ease that your idea is worth pursuing ...
CHAPTER 8 - PREVIEW
Launching your Micro SaaS App
So, you’ve got an idea, developed an MVP, gathered beta testing feedback, and are now ready for your big launch.
First of all, congratulations! Not everyone has the stamina it takes to get to this point.
At least 30-60 days out from your Micro Saas app launch, you’ll want to start to build up an audience to launch to. Alongside this, you’ll need to be planning out your launch channels. But that’s far from everything.
You should be actively trying to do the following things when getting ready for the exciting day:
- Don’t Delay Your Launch
- Commit To Writing X Blog Articles Per Month
- Gather Reviews From Beta Users
- Build Up The Pre-Launch Hype
- Launch Your Micro SaaS!
- Treat Your Early Adopters Well
- Failure Minimisation
- My Multi-5-Figure Micro SaaS App Launch
#4 - Build Up The Pre-Launch Hype
On to the actual micro SaaS app launch itself! Set a realistic date and then start to build up some excitement for the launch 🚀
Starting from T-minus 30 days, every few days you should be providing some fresh content for your potential user base. This content shouldn’t just be the “X days to go” style mundane countdown email sequence.
Build up a content calendar in which you’ll drip feed them each feature’s description and the benefits of it to them. Believe it or not, people will genuinely get excited for your app launch if you're drip feeding them solutions to their problems.
Here’s an example of a simple post I made in the KDP Wizard Facebook Group showing a searchable treeview control I’d been working on to replace the clunky native treeview control.
Despite its simplicity, the group’s users loved it because they knew it’d save them so much time every time they listed a book:
Micro SaaS apps are great at fixing many common “problem” scenarios, for example:
- Automating repetitive and/or tedious tasks.
- Performing calculations that are currently calculated manually.
- Connecting disparate systems.
- Replacing Excel spreadsheet workarounds.
- Plugging in gaps of missing functionality in host ecosystems
- Enhancing reporting
- Etc etc etc ...
Ask yourself these questions when you go searching for problems:
- How could software help with this?
- Could I automate this tedious process?
- Is it possible to surface more data to improve the user’s experience?
- Could I make this easier/less painful?
- Would I be able to create an app that streamlines this lengthy multi-step manual process?
- How could I provide an integration between these systems?
.......................................
Click the link below to take a look at the full chapter on launching your Micro SaaS!
CHAPTER 9 - PREVIEW
Preparing Your Micro SaaS App For Scaling
Post-launch, you’ll want to come up for air and take a breath. You’ll have been working flat out for the last few weeks/months up to the launch.
So, before you move on to scaling up your Micro SaaS app you’ll want to go through a short period of consolidation to sure up the foundations before the next sprint.
Let’s run through some important prerequisites to ensure that when you do scale your Micro SaaS, it goes smoothly:
- Ensuring Customer Satisfaction Remains High
- Setting Goals And Celebrating Milestones
- Discovering Your Financial Objectives
- Is The App Ready To Scale?
- Is The Business Ready To Scale?
#1 - Ensuring Customer Satisfaction Remains High
I have put this point first on the list as it really is that crucial. You must always have a happy user base, it will be the foundation you build upon.
Underpromise and overdeliver; engage with your users; have a transparent roadmap and overdeliver on the features that the users are expecting.
If there are support issues, resolve them as quickly as possible - whatever it takes!
I recommend screenshares where possible for an expedited resolution and in turn, happier customers.This is even more essential in the early days as you try to:
- Build trust in the community.
- Ask existing users for reviews.
- Minimise churn (% of users cancelling their subscription).
- Encourage early adopters to refer other users (we want them to be gushing about the app).
Customer satisfaction really is the foundation of the growth process. There’s no point in having a high number of users try out your app only for them to leave the next month due to it being buggy and support taking ages to come back to them.
Take this snippet from a review of my app Merch Wizard, which was left by an early adopter who was super-impressed with the rapid response of myself and the support team.
Imagine being a prospective user and reading this review, you’d be reassured that even if you did have any issues running the software, they’d be resolved very swiftly.
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Click the link below to take a look at the full chapter on laying the foundations ahead of scaling your Micro SaaS!
CHAPTER 10 - PREVIEW
Scaling up your Micro SaaS App
Now we’re on to the exciting topic of actually scaling up both your user base and the recurring income your app generates.
It’s vital that during this growth phase that customer satisfaction remains high. You must keep on top of support, continue to add the features promised on the product roadmap. You can then look at utilising SaaS marketing to attract more users.
At a high level, the key elements of your Micro SaaS growth strategy should include:
- Ramp Up Organic Traffic
- Recruit Affiliates
- Harvesting Blog Traffic
- Referral Program
- Baking In Virality
- Discoverable By Nature
- Ramp Up Paid Traffic
#1 - Ramp Up Organic Traffic
Now that there’s a healthy foundation of happy users for the app, it’s time to start growing your Micro SaaS organically, spreading the world far and wide and finding new subscribers.
If you have built up an email list and not yet emailed all of them through your launch cycle, now is the time to email them.
If you have built up a Facebook group for your niche or if you’ve become an active (and contributing member) of any other groups, then now is the time to raise awareness around your app within these groups.
All my Micro SaaS apps have been marketed purely via organic traffic. Sure, it’s more effort than running ads, but in the long term it’ll give you a great ROI.
You might think you need to wait until you have the app ready to launch before announcing it to the world but as long as you’re ready with your marketing efforts, you can start showing people what you’re going to offer well before you launch your app.
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CHAPTER 11 - PREVIEW
Selling & Exiting Your Micro SaaS App
You might wonder why on earth you’d want to sell your successful cashflowing Micro SaaS startup.
After all, this is your baby that you’ve lovingly nurtured all the way from its painful birth, through the growing years that’s now blossomed into a strong and independent software app. Well, it could be that the honeymoon period is slowly drawing to a close and you’ve simply fallen out of love with your Micro SaaS.
The daily operations may become too much for a single developer to handle effectively. You may have needed to hire a small team and now spend your time in meetings with them rather than building apps which is your core passion.
So, in this chapter I’ll be discussing reasons why you might be interested in selling your Micro SaaS app and how to go about it including:
- Why Exit & Sell Your Micro SaaS app?
- Why I Sold My Micro SaaS Apps
- Valuing A Micro SaaS Business
- Factors Affecting The Valuation Multiplier
- SaaS Metrics To Constantly Monitor & Improve
- How I Sold My Micro SaaS Apps In 5 hours (at full asking price) 😲
- From Idea To Exit
- What Next?
#1 - Why Exit & Sell Your Micro SaaS app?
Once you’ve scaled your Micro SaaS app to a certain level, the day-to-day operations may become too much for one person to handle effectively. You may need to hire a small team to help to free up your time to pull the biggest levers in your Micro SaaS business.
It’s at this point that you’ll want to revisit your goals and milestones that you set when you were preparing your Micro SaaS App for scaling. What targets have you hit, and what do you want to achieve from your Micro SaaS?
It’s worth taking some time to consider your purpose and motivation. Do you want to work on this app for the next year, 3 years, 10 years?!? It may be that you’ve reached your goals, and now you’ve become a little less enthusiastic about the grind of ramping up your Micro SaaS.
Some days, it may actually feel like a JOB, which is what you were probably trying to escape from way back when.
Reasons You Might Sell Your Micro SaaS App
- Scaling Pains - Perhaps you’re better suited to developing technical solutions rather than scaling up a customer base. This could be the perfect opportunity to pass over the baton to someone with skills in organic/paid traffic.
- Risk - You foresee some element of risk to your apps in the near or distant future and you’d rather get out whilst the going is still relatively good.
- Trends - Maybe you’ve noticed that your niche is starting to stagnate or decline and worry about how that will affect your app’s growth potential.
- Change of scenery - You may simply fancy working on a different technology stack or in a different niche.
- Burnout - Starting and scaling a Micro SaaS app isn’t plain sailing. It can take a tonne of effort and you may have had enough of all the support and need to take an extended break from work.
- Show me the money - Simply having a life-changing lump sum paid into your bank account could just be too appealing to resist.
- Shiny object syndrome - You may have noticed potential opportunities in other niches and become distracted by the excitement of building something new. I am certainly guilty of this one as the image below sums up well 🤣
Micro SaaS Shiny Object Syndrome Sufferer ✋
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CHAPTER 12 - PREVIEW
Conclusions On Micro SaaS
In this chapter I wrap up my conclusions on Micro SaaS, tell you more about my Micro SaaS hourney and let you know what I think is next for Micro SaaS and for myself.
From time and location freedom to a fresh sense of independence, there is a lot to gain by developing Micro SaaS applications. For me personally, I’ve been able to:
- Earn multiple 6 figures in subscription income.
- Quit my life-sapping 9-5 job.
- Banish pointless meetings, office politics, chaos & firefighting.
- Work when I want.
- Work wherever and in whatever technologies I want.
- Spend more time with family.
- Have a better connection with the users of the apps I develop.
- Have way more financial stability
- Earn multiple 6 figures when I finally exited and sold my Micro SaaS apps.
Let’s wrap things up and dive into the following topics:
- My Journey From Idea To Exit
- What’s Next For Me In Micro SaaS
- The Future Of Micro SaaS
- How To Kickstart Your Micro SaaS Journey
About the Author
Hi, my name is Rick and I help unfulfilled software developers quit their 9-5 jobs, with minimal risk by creating their own cash-flowing Micro SaaS businesses.
I have been on the journey myself, starting as a nobody; finding a niche; establishing credibility; building up multiple Micro SaaS apps to the point that I could quit my (well paid) Technical Director job and work on my apps full time.
I then scaled the apps up and eventually sold and exited them for a life changing amount of money. You can read my full story on my about page.
I am passionate about sharing the knowledge I’ve gained from this journey … welcome to my site 👋
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