Pt 2: Bootstrapping a SaaS Tool with No Budget, Beginner Coding Skills & Less Than 15 Hours a Week.

(Read part 1 here: https://maxeccles.medium.com/bootstrapping-a-saas-tool-with-no-budget-beginner-coding-skills-less-than-15-hours-a-week-92c9dfd50ff9)

Over the last 2 weeks, I’ve sent 80 more emails — mostly in the evenings after work. I found the emails using a free trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator paired with 4 free accounts of Snov.io to find email addresses (each limited to 10 searches per day).

Almost half of these were sent in the last 3 days. My first 20 emails resulted in 4 calls booked so I took my foot off the gas and haven’t had a single call booked since. I also experimented with upping the company size of my ICP which could be the cause of the drop-off in responses. I’ve therefore decided to go back to a 1–10 company size.

I also noticed that because my ICP is related to the field I work in, my boss is connected with north of 50% of potential prospects. It feels a little icky reaching out to those people and I’m not sure if it could constitute as some kind of conflict of interest, so I’ve adjusted my focus to outside of the UK. I’m testing Australia because the time zones align nicely with my evenings.

I’ve completed 3 calls so far. 2/3 CMOs said onboarding was a primary pain-point which is the most interesting insight I’ve gained so far. If this continues to come up, I’ll have to do some research into whether or not I could build a profitable business around an Onboarding SaaS solution. Recurring revenue would be an important aspect of any solution I’ll be building so I’d have to figure out whether or not a long-term onboarding tool would be valuable as opposed to a one-off service.

I’m also gradually learning how to conduct these calls. I started out a little too rigid and awkward — it felt like an interview. This week I’m going to focus on making it more conversational.

I have 2 more calls booked already for the coming week and I’m looking forward to seeing the results of the 40 emails sent this weekend. While the outreach is repetitive and can be tough at the end of a long day, I have to say that this process is so fun!

If you read this far, thank you! I’d love to know what brought you to read this post. I’ve been consuming all the bootstrap saas content I can get my hands on so please get in touch with me if you’re looking for some specific content and I’d be happy to try and point you in the right direction! On the other hand, if you’re experienced and have any advice for me at this stage in my journey, I’d be eternally grateful if you’d reach out for a chat at me@maxeccles.co.uk.