It sounds like you've done everything 'right' (and congrats on getting this far!)
I wouldn't be put off by slow demand - in my experience momentum takes a long time to build (unless you're lucky enough to have timed your launch to a bubble/trend)... but momentum compounds, and given enough time/effort, it'll compound into something meaningful.
The only caveat is that this assumes you're solving a problem people:
- Have
- Find truly painful
- Are willing to spend money to fix
If your problem space is solid, I'd personally push on and lock in for the journey...especially if your intuition is telling you that you're onto something - trust it :)
This'll be unpopular, but if you want to keep it super lean and avoid being asked for compliance certs like SOC2/ISO, you could consider building it as an installable app on top of a platform your customers already trust
ie. a Salesforce App.
That way, they already use/trust the environment where the storage/processing of their sensitive data is taking place, akin to an old school 'on prem' solution (but without as much headache for you)
IMO just get ISO 27001 to demonstrate that you are managing the sensitive information properly, and you will also improve your client confidence.
I work as ISO 27001 auditor, and help companies get ISO 27001 certified in no time (1-2 months), with a budget from 5k - 8k in total (external support and certification included). The goal it to keep it simple, save costs, and in the end get the company certified.
"Oh, wow, I had no idea it was that affordable, we should talk..." is the response you are hoping for, correct? Self-promotion is not prohibited, but it goes better if you engage with the discussions here beyond just your own marketing.
Anyhoo, I don't think thousands of dollars for certification makes sense for a solo dev who is kicking an idea around.
The helps only if your extendee is providing a PaaS for you and makes guarantees. Last time I made a slack extension, for example, I had to egress and ingress client data.
Can't speak about Retool but I wouldn't want to go away from standard software development life cycle with version control, release management and testing... And I definitely would want to avoid a proprietary platform. Isn't there an open source alternative?
I'm a bootstrapped founder (with some prior experience zero-to-one-ing startups before), and have spent the best part of this year trying to find PMF for two of my bootstrapped products.
At least for the style of businesses i'm building, my biggest learning is quite simply that finding PMF can not be shortcutted (trust me, I've tried).
For me, finding PMF has meant:
- Spending as much time with potential customers as possible (on calls, in their office etc). Learn/Listen
- Constantly playing with positioning/messaging/feature-set based on insights you're learning.
- Building out a pilot/prototype and seeing if customers will pre-pay to be in a early pilot group
The great news is, most of this can be done without writing a single line of code.
For one of my product we spray and prayed, iterated fast and have not necessarily got/found PMF yet.
For my products we are 'pre-selling' (which feels much much better):
We've been reaching potential customers on LinkedIn, asking them for 15 mins to give feedback on our 'product' (at this point is just a sales deck).
At the end of the 'pitch' we get feedback from the customer. We also explain that we're launching a pilot, and give them an opportunity to join the pilot.
The pilot is paid (but cheaper than the public pricing will be), and it involves signing a v.simple 1 page contract/agreement which allows us to invoice them ahead of the 'launch'.
For us, this has been incredibly effective at:
- Understanding if this product hits a pain-point that customers are actually willing to spend budget on
- Weeding out the 'weak' signals like 'I quite like it' (people who 'like' it but may never buy)
- Giving us financial/commercial confidence, since we have invoiceable revenue guaranteed
And what it feels like? It feels awesome!
Sometimes, when you find somebody that really gets it, their body language and attitude is entirely different....they literally PULL the product from your hands (vs. you pushing it on them). They're asking questions like "when can we launch/try it", and "can I introduce you to X Y Z people, who are going to love this?". And they say things like "We're budget constrained, but there are tons of things I'd rather get rid of, to make budget for this"
I was terribly burnt out back in 2019 when I was in a very hands on role.
Once I recovered, I've moved 'up the chain' into a COO role and it didn't help at all - I felt exactly as you described.
With a lot of reflection, I've come to believe that I love 'doing' much more than I love 'managing' and that was a big contributor towards the empty, lethargic feeling.
I've now left that style of work and have started building bootstrapped products with a co-founder, and it's amazing. New energy, hands-on every day, fun!
I wouldn't be put off by slow demand - in my experience momentum takes a long time to build (unless you're lucky enough to have timed your launch to a bubble/trend)... but momentum compounds, and given enough time/effort, it'll compound into something meaningful.
The only caveat is that this assumes you're solving a problem people:
- Have
- Find truly painful
- Are willing to spend money to fix
If your problem space is solid, I'd personally push on and lock in for the journey...especially if your intuition is telling you that you're onto something - trust it :)
Hope that's helpful
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