Converting a €250k dev shop to a SaaS business
We started back in 2013 as a dev shop and we have achieved much since. We built a great team and we had been profitable for years. We made approx. €250 000 in annual revenue in 2019, which is something I’m very proud of. So why do I want to change all this? I have three main reasons:
- Most of my revenue is not recurring, generating ups and downs in revenue and workload.
- My recurring revenue is not scalable. It is engineering hours sold in various packaging.
- Most of the value that we create goes to our clients. They own what we create. If we were to create the most amazing application of the planet, we would get paid for the hours we worked. It’s a fair deal, but I’d like to play a different game.
My goal is to use the skills we have in building and hosting into creating SaaS products. One advantage we have is that we are good at building. But nobody on the team has much experience in building something for many customers. We had to serve one, and if the customer insisted on something crazy, we would build it and they would be happy with it. This time it will have to be different.
You can find our net sales from 2019 split by category, I’ll be using this as a baseline for the future. The chart gives away, that we already have a SaaS attempt. The product works and it generates some income. It also has a few major product issues that make me want to start over with something new.
All right, I’ll get back to building. Follow me on Twitter for updates or if you have any questions. My handle is @MateUzsoki.
