Start A SaaS in 5 Simple Steps (I did it) - Brett Malinowski

0:00Flowing ad-bunch it on metrics that look great, till the CFO sees them, that's Bullspend. And marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions. I remember telling my boss, it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't. Cut the Bullspend. LinkedIn lets you target by company, job title, and more. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a $250 credit go to LinkedIn.com slash campaign term secretions apply. Hey Spotify listeners, when you travel with American Airlines, you'll enjoy comfort and convenience at every altitude. Before takeoff, unwind in the AdMIRAL's Club Lounge with curated self-serve offerings of party vites and refreshments. In flight, stay connected with high-speed Wi-Fi, sponsored by AT&T. Your journey is designed to feel easy from the moment you check in to the moment you arrive. No matter where you're going, American gets you there. Book now at AA.com. College football is back. So Hilton called on me the superstition concierge

1:00to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching bandwick up call it 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for this day. Starting your own SaaS company has never been easier. New tools make it simple for anyone to build software with no code. Gone are the days of raising millions, hiring developers, and racking your own servers. If you have a SaaS idea and a few hundred bucks, well, you're in luck. Because today, I'm going to show you the new way to build SaaS in 2024. I built my own AI SaaS a few months ago. So today, I'm going to break down how you can build your first SaaS in five simple steps with zero code. Then, at the end, I'm going to share our launch strategy that got us hundreds of paid users on our first day.

2:03Our goal is to be as cost efficient and as time efficient as possible. So the first thing that you're going to want to do is create a wireframe of your app. This is a good way to visualize what your app will look like without spending the time it takes to actually build functionality. This is important because we have no clue if our idea is even good yet. To build a wireframe, Figma is going to be your best friend. Now, if you have an eye for design and you're on a tight budget, Figma is very user friendly and has all the components you need to lay out your app. But if you have $200 to spare, you're much better off just hiring a professional on Upwork. To do this, you'll want to write down a description of what your app will do. Then, list out all of the features that you want and then gather a few reference images, some screenshots of other apps that you want yours to look like. The more reference images you have, the better the designer will actually understand your vision and the faster they will get it done. And here's an example of an Upwork listing that we have used to hire Figma designers on Upwork.

3:03A Figma design should be done relatively quick and can be done in a week, but it depends on the complexity of your idea. Once you have your Figma design, now it's time to figure out if people think your idea is good. So step two, test your idea. This is what people typically call validating your software. It's best to see if people are even interested in your idea before you spend all this time building the functionality. And since you have a Figma, you can easily show people what the app looks like. And from the outside, it looks like a fully built app. Some advanced Figma apps are clickable, so people can navigate each tab and click through the app. The first thing you want to do is find a few people that could potentially be interested in your app. Then send them a message. Just say, hey, I'm working on a new software idea and I'm curious. If this existed, would you use it? Then send them the Figma and see what they say. We are looking for brutally honest feedback and suggestions that we can use to improve the app to better fit their needs.

4:04A lot of the times, your friends are going to be supportive, so it's best to find strangers who don't care about hurting your feelings. You can find these people and discord communities, Twitter, Reddit, or even LinkedIn by just searching typical keywords that your target audience would naturally be searching on social media. You can offer to pay them for their time, but you would be surprised how many people are actually just happy to help you. So don't be shy. Getting their feedback on features they like or don't like will help you prioritize on what to include in your MVP, but I'll talk more about that in step three. Next, you will want to create a quick landing page on Webflow and start a waiting list. Just a very simple website with a quick headline, a short description, and some screenshots of your Figma app. Then create an email submission form for people to sign up and join your wait list. Then put that link to your landing page in your bio on social media. Then just create three pieces of content to drive traffic to your website. This could be organic TikToks showing off your app, Twitter threads, Reddit posts,

5:05or probably the most effective, a $50 Facebook ad. If people are signing up for the wait list, you might be sitting on a gold mine. When people sign up for your email list, email them, ask what they're looking for, what they need it for, why they're looking for it right now, how they found it, and what else they're considering. When it goes well, ask them to hop on the phone. This strategy validates your idea. It helps you discover your ideal customer profile and helps you find customer acquisition channels that are gonna help you in step four. Now, I know the sound really uncomfortable, but this pain in the short term will save you months of misery. Now, side note, if you have a small following, some cheeky founders will do a presale. They will offer lifetime access for a steep discount if the person pays before the app is released. This is a way to fund the actual development of the app and getting someone to actually pull out their credit card and pay you is the best form of validation. It's basically a clear sign that your idea is a winner.

6:06Now that your idea is validated, it's time for step three, building your MVP. So an MVP is a common term in the SaaS world and it stands for minimal viable product. Your goal is to build only that one core feature that people want and to launch as fast as possible. Perfectionism is the number one reason most first time founders fail. You will add the rest of the bells and whistles as you go. But building your MVP is the exciting part. The old way of doing things was to hire a developer and wait. But now, anyone can build software thanks to no code tools. We use bubble, make.com, and rapid APIs. Depending on what you want your app to do, odds are there's already an API that can do it. So instead of having to hard code everything from scratch, you just use the existing pre-built features. Also known as APIs. SaaS in 2024 is more about combining existing features in a unique way that solves a very specific niche problem. It's like building a computer.

7:07You just buy a pre-built hard drive, processor, graphics card, and motherboard, then piece them all together. If you want to make a sports betting app, just use the rapid APIs, sports betting, API, and then you have all of the odds, all of the recommended bets, and payouts in your app. Just connect the Stripe API and your own. Flowing ad bunched on metrics that look great till the CFO sees them, that's bullspin'd. And marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions. I remember telling my boss, it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't. Cut the bullspend. LinkedIn lets you target by company, job title, and more. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 on your first campaign. And get a $250 credit go to LinkedIn.com slash campaign term secretions apply. Hey Spotify listeners. When you travel with American Airlines, you'll enjoy comfort and convenience at every altitude. Before takeoff, unwind in the AdMIRL's Club Lounge with curated self-serve offerings of party vites

8:07and refreshments. In flight, stay connected with high-speed Wi-Fi, sponsored by AT&T. Your journey is designed to feel easy from the moment you check in to the moment you arrive, no matter where you're going, American gets you there. Book now at AA.com. College football is back. So Hilton called to me the superstition concierge to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Ooh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching bandwink up call it 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for this day. Open for business. Make.com is the easiest no-code API builder to use because it's 100% visual. You just drag, drop, and connect each step. And that's what we used to power the back end of revamped. Rapid API has just about every feature you could imagine,

9:09but you will need to be able to copy and paste a small line of code. It sounds intimidating, but bubble makes it super easy. I promise. Once you find the prebuilt features that you want to use, it's now time to bring your Figma wireframe to life in bubble. Bubble is a drag and drop software builder where you can start adding all of your components, tying all your APIs together, and connect all the buttons. Since it's all visual, you can get the hang of it pretty quick, but I want to make one thing clear. I started this video saying software has never been easier, but that doesn't mean you snap your fingers and it's done. There is still a learning curve. You need to understand SAS Lingo, like servers, databases, admin panels, APIs. And even though bubble is 90% faster than traditional code, you still have to learn where everything is, how to configure apps, and the overall flow. I can't cover all the technicals here on YouTube, but that's why we created our new No Code SAS course, FutureDev, where we teach you how to use bubble, make.com, and rapid APIs. The course is designed to take you from a complete beginner

10:10to being able to build virtually any SAS idea that you have. The course walks you through the entire process on how to combine all of these tools to build SAS with No Code. FutureDev will give you the full picture and all the technical details. This is a brand new way to build SAS, and it's not being talked about anywhere else. So if you're serious about bringing your SAS idea to life, go to wgmiacademy.io to join. Right now, a yearly subscription is only $147. This is the lowest price that the WGMI Academy will ever be offered for. And if you sign up today, you will be locked in at this annual rate for life. We will continually be building new course material, including my personal brand content creator course, creatorize, and the coming months. So click the link in the description, join the WGMI Academy, and start building your MVP. Now, step four, the pre-launch. What I like to do is start building up media assets as I'm building my MVP. And the earlier you start doing this, the more money you're going to make when you launch. And by media assets, I mean Instagram accounts,

11:13Discord communities, newsletters, Twitter accounts, this YouTube channel. This is where you have to know your own personal strengths. Some people are good at writing, others are good at talking, maybe you're good at video editing, or make banger memes. It doesn't matter what style of content you're good at, but you need a content strategy. In 2024, content is king. So to set your sass up for success, you just need one content style on one content platform. This could be memes on Reddit, threads on Twitter, AI generated ads on Instagram, or my personal favorite, paying UGC creators for TikTok. The goal of this is to build an audience of people in your target audience. And I want to make one thing clear. You're not making an account under your software company's name. We are making what I call disguise accounts. You're just an innocent account giving people free content. For example, if you're making a sass for people who lip cars, you can start an Instagram account called Everyday Car Guy and start educating people on the car market.

12:14Whether that's cars for sale in a certain area, news on the car market, or trending models. You are trying to attract people who will naturally be interested in your sass when you launch. And you attract them by giving them content up front and for free. Another example is if you're making that sports betting app, create a Twitter account and start tweeting your picks for popular games, write threads on your strategy and your thesis, or even just make memes that are culturally relevant in the sports betting community. Then when your sports betting app is ready, you can start advertising your tool organically through your content. This is called content marketing, and it is by far the most effective way to launch sass in 2024. And you don't even have to use your own face or voice. You can use AI generated voices, make graphics on Canva, higher UGC creators, just get creative. The future is pretty cool. Now, step five, launch. It's time to prepare for the launch. The first thing you're going to need for your launch is a sales page.

13:14This is going to be similar to the wait list page you created in step two, but you're going to need a demo video and a sign up page. The demo video can be a simple loom video of you walking them through how the app works with voice over and screen recording. Your sign up page should just clearly display your pricing and encourage them to sign up for a seven day free trial. Just make sure your stripe is connected properly. We do cover lists in the WGMI Academy, but it's pretty straightforward. Next, you'll want to make the copy on your sales page as concise as possible. Do not get bogged down in all of the details of your app. Only focus on the outcome that they will get and the problem that your app solves. People should be able to understand what it does and who it is for and only two sentences. Lastly, visual step-by-step images with short descriptions, breaking down how the app works will be very helpful because not everyone will be able to watch the demo video with volume on. And now that our sales page is ready, you're ready to launch on product hunt. Product hunt is a curation of the best new products every day,

14:17where people go to discover the latest mobile apps, websites, and technology products that everyone's talking about. You see, two sentences. Launching on product hunt can make or break your sass. If you become the number one product of the day, you will get thousands of users, but you only have one shot at it. So listen closely, here's how it works. First, you submit your product, create your product page, and then schedule your launch day. You can schedule your launch up to one month before your launch day. That way, you can tease it, you can drive traffic, and you can collect followers before your big day. For the best results, you'll want to... Are your ad campaigns lighting up the dashboard? But not the pipeline. That's bullspend. And marketers are calling it out in... Dashboard Confessions. My boss asks for results, so I open my dashboard for the only positive sounding metric I add. Impressions. Cut the bullspend. See revenue? Not just reach. LinkedIn delivers the highest return on ad spend of major ad networks. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 on your first campaign

15:18and get a $25 credit at gotolinked.com slash campaign turn sick edition supply. Hey Spotify listeners, when you travel with American Airlines, you'll enjoy comfort and convenience at every altitude. Before takeoff, unwind in the AdMIRAL's Club Lounge with curated self-serve offerings of hardy vites and refreshments. In flight, stay connected with high-speed Wi-Fi, sponsored by AT&T. Your journey is designed to feel easy from the moment you check in to the moment you arrive. No matter where you're going, American gets you there. Book now at AA.com. College football is back. So Hilton called to me the superstition concierge to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching band wake up call at 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for this day. Schedule your launch for 12.01 AM PST on a Sunday.

16:24This gives people the full 24 hours to view your product on the least competitive day. When you launch dozens of early adopters, tech people, entrepreneurs, and people who just like new products will view your page. And if they like it, they're going to give you an up vote. Each vote moves you up the leaderboard. But remember, you're competing against hundreds of other apps that are launching on the same day. So you have 24 hours to try and climb the leaderboard to the number one spot. This is where those media assets that we have been building for the last few months will give you an unfair advantage. Promote the launch on your social media accounts, on your email list, and text all of your friends to vote for your product. If your app does get the most votes, you will be featured on their homepage and their newsletter. And you will get thousands of new users overnight. Also, you will receive the coveted number one on product launch badge that you can proudly display on your website, which is great social proof. This can literally change your life overnight. But even if you don't get the number one spot,

17:24you'll still get a lot of page views and it's a lot of fun. Now, here's how we launched our AI software revamped and got hundreds of paid users in our first week. Early in 2023, we had an idea for an AI writing tool to help us write our newsletter. So we started working on the design for an app we called auto newsletter at the time. Over the next month or so, we finished the design and I sent it out to my content creator friends. They liked it, but none of them were like excited about it. However, they gave me interesting feedback. They liked the concept, but their newsletter was only one part of their content creation problem. So we decided to pivot away from just newsletters and added tweets, LinkedIn posts, short form scripts, even email marketing generators and we solved their entire problem. We rebranded the app to revamped and started building the MVP on bubbleandmake.com. Since we were building an AI tool, we created an AI Instagram account and started covering AI topics, news,

18:24and we frequently reviewed AI tools. Then we urged people to sign up to our free AI newsletter for more content. Over the next three months, our Instagram strategy started to pay off. We had gained over 150,000 followers, 70,000 newsletter subscribers from various channels and our MVP was ready to launch. So I made an Instagram video promoting our AI tool revamped. We posted on our story about it a few times. We featured it in the newsletter. And just like that, we had our very first 100 users paying us $45 per month in the first week. A month later, on the back of our newsletter success, I made a big video on how to start a newsletter. And in the video, I showcased how we use revamped to write our newsletter. And that got us another few hundred users. And if you're one of them, thank you. I would love feedback on how we can make it better for you. So if you're someone who uses revamped frequently, please leave a comment and I'll personally reach out to you. Now, our next step is to implement a viral loop. This is something where your logo or your brand name

19:27is shown publicly when a customer uses your product. Beehive is a great example. When someone signs up for the free version of Beehive, they let you build a landing page for free. But the catch is the domain to subscribe to your newsletter is beehive.com slash your newsletter name. So when someone signs up for that person's newsletter, they see the beehive domain. And if that subscriber ever decides to start his own newsletter, odds are he's gonna go with Beehive because it's familiar now. Another great example is Link Tree. Everyone puts those in their bios on social media. It's genius because it's free word of mouth marketing and it's organically baked into the product. Viral loops are the ultimate hack for SaaS growth. If you wanna learn how to build no-code SaaS, click the link below and join the WGMI Academy. This episode is brought to you by Born in Roma fragrances by Valentino Beauty, the iconic fragrance duo. Donna Born in Roma Ode to Parfume is a feminine fragrance featuring juicy black current,

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