I am a solo developer running 4 SaaS products simultaneously. No team, no funding, no office. Here is what I learned.
The Products
- SellerMind - AI tools for Etsy sellers (fee calculator, tag generator, title generator)
- PodCrisp - AI podcast production assistant (title generator, show notes)
- SaaSLaunch - Tools for indie SaaS builders (SEO checker, launch checklist)
- Parcelglance - Post-purchase tracking widget for Shopify
Lesson 1: Free Tools Are the Best Marketing
Every product has a free tool as its entry point. The Etsy Fee Calculator, the Podcast Title Generator, the SEO Checker. These tools:
- Rank on Google for long-tail keywords
- Build trust before asking for money
- Generate word-of-mouth naturally
Lesson 2: Tech Stack Matters
I standardized on:
- Next.js for frontends
- Cloudflare Workers for APIs/edge computing
- Vercel for hosting
- Supabase for databases
- Dodo Payments for billing
This consistency lets me ship fast and maintain everything alone.
Lesson 3: Niche Down Ruthlessly
Each product serves a specific audience. Not "everyone with a website" but "Etsy sellers who need fee calculations." Specific audiences are easier to find, serve, and market to.
Lesson 4: Ship Before You Are Ready
All 4 products launched with rough edges. But they launched. User feedback taught me more than months of building in isolation ever could.
What I Would Do Differently
- Start marketing earlier (I waited too long)
- Build in public more (transparency builds trust)
- Focus on one product first (parallel launches are hard)
The Numbers
I will share revenue numbers in a future post. But the key metric I track: free tool users converting to paid. That ratio tells me if the product-market fit is real.
Are you a solo developer? What products are you building? Drop a comment - I love hearing about other indie projects.
Full disclosure: I'm the developer of SellerMind / PodCrisp / SaaSLaunch / Parcelglance. I built this tool because I needed it myself.
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