HN Explorer

Ask HN: The Tools we used to build a SAAS. 1100/month in 6 wks. Favorite tools?

21 points by kumarski ↗ HN
Friend and I built http://linktexting.com[1] in a few days and launched it 6 weeks ago. Feedback welcome. Doryphores not.

http://populr.me[2] - Worked quickly to mock up the concept and show it to mobile app devs to get their feedback. pwd protection too. http://efabless.populr.me/linktexting[3] (old mockup)

http://linktally.com[4] - Blog post popularity. Blogpostmetrics.com (built this with my friend)

[http://ifttt.com-[5] ] reminders.

http://jetstrap.com[6] Front end bootstrap changes. i like: http://webflow.com[7]

Google Alerts[8] - sms app distribution content.

Hnsearch.com[9] needs no explanation. Hn.algolia

Freelancer.com[10] to find workers for scraping emails of mobile app devs to find the best apps.

Producthunt.com[11] to find cool tools for every aspect of my startup.

Untorch.com[12] - for betalisting a product.

KillerStartups.com[13] - $169 to get listed in a featured blog post.

StartupLister.com[14] - $50 bucks and we got some paid traffic from it.

Leadfeeder.com[15] - free.

Compose.io[16] - for database shtuff.

Heroku.com[17] -- you know what it's for. :)

Hipchat[18] - for team comms.

Stripe[19] - gotta love it.

Chrrp[20] for Stripe notifications.

ReferralSaasquatch[21] - for Customer referral maximization. Designed for SAAS.

Medium[22] We use this for blogging and had a few very viral posts (over 2K shares and 25K visits + 60% read rate.)

Twilio[25]

SSL Certificate purchased via Godaddy.com

Mandrill.[26]

YouCanBook.me (setup kumarovski.me) and it works great in terms of minimizing email time. Just send them the link and they'll click on an available time.

What tools do you use for your SAAS?

15 comments

[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 37.7 ms ] thread
anigbrowl
Interesting concept, but I can already use the Google Play store to install stuff on an Android device from my desktop, so I'm not sure what problem you're solving here - how is this approach more efficient than a clear link to eh apps store, or conversely, if people ignore an app store link why do you think they'll ignore a text? For stuff I may just 'want to try out' then I very much prefer to go through the app store for the extra bit of security, as opposed to a download link from who-knows-where.

Obviously you've already got a bunch of subscribers - well done! - so it has some value, but talking about monthly income after 6 weeks seems a little premature - my initial instinct was to flag it for spam. Might be better to phrase it as '$1100 subscriber income in 6 weeks.'

Edit: 'Concept' refers to the underlying idea rather than the current state of the product. If you don't like pedantry then you should probably eschew it in your own responses.

palidanx
Thanks for all of the links! I was just kind of curious, what was the thought process behind the inception of the saas product? And did you have many pivots or was this a first stab?

To add to your list [1] briteverify.com [2] braintreepayments.com [3] clicky.com

kumarski
first stab.
palidanx
How did you find your first customers?
kumarski
Haha. walked into a restaurant in SOMA and asked around.
acesubido
Slightly off-topic, great job launching! You did ask for feedback on your site, just pointing out a specific copy that was bolded out:

"You are losing customers right now. Desktop viewers of your website are leaving without downloading the app..."

Here's a friendly tip from a conversation between Amy Hoy and Nathan Barry that can be found here -- http://nathanbarry.com/step-by-step-landing-page-copywriting...

Nathan: Good. I wrote out half a dozen headlines trying to get at the core pain.

Amy: How would you feel, though, if a stranger came up to you and said “You’re losing hundreds of sales.”?

Nathan: Who the hell are you to tell me what’s wrong with my business…

Amy: Right, me too. Not because you’re not interested in getting extra sales, but because it SOUNDS like you’re being attacked.

Nathan: Good point.

Amy: I tell my students to be very careful with statements that might sound accusatory.

kumarski
Hmmm... good point. I like the example and thanks for sharing the link.
justintbassett
I wonder if something more like, "Hundreds of sales are waiting" could work?
tim_nuwin
What kind of conversion as well as impressions were you getting from those listing sites?

| KillerStartups.com[13] - $169 to get listed in a featured blog post. StartupLister.com[14] - $50 bucks and we got some paid traffic from it. Leadfeeder.com[15] - free.

kumarski
Killerstartups sucks.
tim_nuwin
Heh. How many impressions did you get from startup lister if you don't mind me asking?
kumarski
Not many, but helped our domain authority go up.
jtfairbank
The tools I use every day:

Loving Slack, even with the TOS hubub.

Just getting started with FrontApp but they seem great for business / shared email accounts.

Firebase for our DB, they've been super helpful.

Github of course.

Google docs for shared docs.

KeyPassX to track all the company online accounts.

justintbassett
Nice! There are a few resources in there I haven't seen before.

Mind if I do some quick copy-edit?

- "Save yourself hours in reading through API documentation to build this yourself." Keep the tense consistent: "reading through API documentation and building this yourself."

- Photoshop/GIMP the imgflip watermark out on step6.gif

-"...only charged for successfuly sent SMS..." should be "successfully"