Software Ideas started from my own frustration with finding good SaaS opportunities. I was doing market research anyway, so why not share it?

The Beginning - July 2020

I had just launched a failed SaaS (CoderNotes.io) and was doing research on existing markets, trying to find bootstrapper-sized opportunities. I realized this research was valuable to other bootstrappers.

I made a quick landing page and talked to a few people. 10 users paid $19 each to join for the first month. That was my validation.

The Hockey Stick - July to December

$0 MRR -> $1,692 MRR (July) $1,730 MRR -> $3,687 MRR (August) $3,706 MRR -> $5,544 MRR (September) $5,544 MRR -> $8,104 MRR (October) $8,161 MRR -> $11,132 MRR (November)

What Worked

1. **Indie Hackers distribution**: I posted a free issue on IH and it took off. My email list went from 35 to 350+ people in two days.

2. **Building in public**: I shared daily updates on my journey, which built trust and attracted subscribers.

3. **Pricing experiments**: Started at $19/month, then moved to $57/quarter to prevent one-month-and-cancel behavior.

Black Friday Success

A 20% off (for life) sale brought in over $2,000 MRR in just a few days, hitting $10k MRR within the five-month mark.