The journal
From the community
Field guides for indie builders. First customers, pricing, launch, and staying small. One person, or a team under twenty.
How to get your first 10 paying customers without ads
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 16 min
How to find a SaaS idea from a problem you already pay for
Building is cheap in 2026. Start from a problem that already has a receipt. Audit the tools you buy, copy the words of people who pay, and pick one mess you can sell this month.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
Micro SaaS ideas a solo founder can ship in 30 days
Building is cheap in 2026. Fake lists of 50 products with invented revenue are noise. Here is how to pick one small, sellable idea you can ship in a month.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to pick a profitable niche with no audience
You do not need followers to pick a niche. You need a buyer who already spends money on a problem you can name, and a room where they already complain.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
B2B vs B2C SaaS: which one can one person sell
Building is cheap in 2026. Selling is not. B2B lets one person name buyers and charge business money. B2C without ads is slower and harder to fund alone.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 12 min
What is a micro SaaS (and what is just a side project)
Micro SaaS is a real category with a public definition. A side project is code you shipped. A startup is a growth bet. Building is easy in 2026. Someone paying is what turns work into a product.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
How to validate a SaaS idea before you write any code
In 2026 you can build a SaaS in a weekend, so people skip validation and ship into silence. Talk first. Price the page. Get a yes before the repo exists.
Field guide
Customers · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to do customer interviews when you have zero users
No product and no users is still a good time to talk. Mom Test rules, where to find people, and scripts you can send this week.
Field guide
Customers · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
How to tell if people will pay, not just say they like it
Compliments are not customers. This is how you separate “cool idea” from money: ask for a real commitment, put a price on the table, and stop counting polite yeses.
Field guide
Pricing · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
Waitlist vs charging on day one
A waitlist counts people who relate to the problem. Payment counts people who will reorganize around it. Charge if you can deliver. Collect emails only when you honestly cannot.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
How to test a SaaS idea with a landing page and a price
In 2026 anyone can fake a landing page with AI. That is not the test. One page, a real price, and a way to pay or book is the test.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
How to build an MVP you can charge for
The MVP is not a thin product demo. It is the smallest thing a real person will pay for. Manual work is fine. In 2026, building is cheap, so people overbuild instead of charging.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 12 min
How long should a solo founder spend on an MVP
There is no average. An MVP is done when one person can get the outcome and you can ask for money. In 2026 that is days, not months.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
No-code vs code for a first SaaS
In 2026 you can ship with Bubble, Cursor, or a plain PHP file. Pick the path that gets you to a charge this week, not the stack that wins an argument.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 12 min
How to describe your SaaS in one sentence
Who pays, what pain you remove, and what it costs. Do not lead with easy, fast, or free. Write the sentence, say it out loud, then put it on the page and in the notes you send.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to build a SaaS while working a full-time job
Keep the job. Build at night and on weekends. Do not quit until the product makes money. This is how you ship a SaaS on the side in 2026 without losing the paycheck that funds it.
Field guide
Pricing · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
How to price a SaaS when you have no competitor to copy
No competitor price to mirror is not a crisis. Price against the time, tools, and mess people already pay for. Then say a number you can defend on a call.
Field guide
Pricing · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
How to price a SaaS with only 10 customers
Ten people paid. That is enough to pick a real price. Say a number you can defend. Skip invented ARPU targets. Raise for new buyers after you can say the higher number out loud.
Field guide
Pricing · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
Annual vs monthly pricing for a bootstrapped SaaS
Monthly is easy to say. Annual pulls next year's cash into this month. Here is how to offer both, ask for a year, and skip the fake discount.
Field guide
Pricing · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
Freemium vs free trial for a one-person product
Freemium and free trial are not a fashion choice. For one person, the question is who pays for free users: your time, your stack, or a paying customer. Pick the model that keeps you selling.
Field guide
Pricing · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
When and how to raise your SaaS prices
Most indie SaaS starts underpriced. Raise for new buyers when the signals say so, treat early customers with care, and say the new number in plain words.
Field guide
Customers · 17 Aug 2026 · 12 min
How to get your first paying SaaS customer
Ten customers start with one. Write a price, name the people who already know you, and ask one of them to pay this week.
Field guide
Customers · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
How to get SaaS customers from people you already know
Your network is not a growth hack. It is the shortest path to a paid customer. Write the names you already have, ask for intros, and put a price in the note.
Field guide
Customers · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to write a cold email that books a SaaS demo
AI filled every inbox with the same note. Short human emails still book demos: one person, one real detail, one clear ask for 15 minutes.
Field guide
Customers · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to get your first 100 SaaS customers
After ten people pay, the job changes. Intros, one channel you can run every week, and SEO only when you know the words buyers already use. Building is not the problem.
Field guide
Launch · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to launch a SaaS with no audience
In 2026 you can ship without followers or ad money. Launch is not a spike on Product Hunt. It is the first conversations with people who already have the pain, and the first time someone pays.
Field guide
Launch · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to launch on Product Hunt without making it the whole plan
Product Hunt is an afternoon of strangers. Featured or buried, the business starts when you follow up. Here is how to run the day without treating rank as the plan.
Field guide
Launch · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
What to do the week after your SaaS launch dies
Launch day went quiet. Do not open the editor for v2. Write the people who already showed up, ask for 15 minutes, and treat silence as data.
Field guide
Launch · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to launch a SaaS on Hacker News
Show HN is for something people can try, not a landing page or a marketing blast. Follow the real guidelines, write like a peer, stay in the thread, and do not ask friends to upvote.
Field guide
Launch · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to launch to a small email list and still get paid
Forty people who know you beat four thousand strangers. Warm the list, put a price in the email, and ask for money. A big list of cold names is not demand.
Field guide
Grow · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to get SaaS customers from SEO as a solo founder
Building pages is easy in 2026. Picking the one question a buyer already types is the work. One page, one question, your product in the answer.
Field guide
Grow · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to get SaaS customers from Reddit without getting banned
Help first, pitch last. Find buyer threads the day they vent, answer like you belong in the sub, and only mention your product when it is the real answer.
Field guide
Grow · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to grow a SaaS if you will not post on Twitter every day
Daily posts are optional. Support that earns referrals, one useful page a month, and rooms you already belong to are enough to grow without a content treadmill.
Field guide
Grow · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to turn support emails into paying customers
People who email support already care. Answer the problem, then use the same thread for the upgrade, the seat, or the intro. Support is a growth channel, not a tax.
Field guide
Grow · 17 Aug 2026 · 16 min
How to start a founder newsletter that sells the product
The letter is the product, or it sells one. Pick a small audience, make one promise, send on a schedule, and put a price in the issues that matter. List size is not demand.
Field guide
Money · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
What is MRR (and which number to watch)
MRR is normalized monthly subscription revenue, not last month’s bank deposit and not a lucky spike times twelve. Here is how ChartMogul and Stripe define it, what to leave out, and which number an indie should actually watch.
Field guide
Money · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
How to get to $1k MRR without ads
$1k MRR is price times customers. Building is not the problem. Do the math, ask people to pay, and stop treating revenue like a mystery.
Field guide
Money · 17 Aug 2026 · 16 min
How to get to $10k MRR as a solo founder
Ten thousand a month is price times customers who stay, plus one channel you actually work. Not a feature factory. Not a fake month-by-month chart.
Field guide
Money · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
How much MRR do you need before quitting your job
There is no universal number. Build on the side until the product pays. Then quit only when your real monthly burn, taxes, and stability line up with profit you can trust.
Field guide
Team · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
Bootstrap vs raising funding if you want to stay under 20 people
VC money is not free. It buys a company that must grow big and exit on a fund clock. If you want a team under twenty, bootstrap is usually the fit. Here is how to choose without the pitch-deck story.
Field guide
Money · 17 Aug 2026 · 12 min
What is a good churn rate for an early SaaS
Public medians exist. With a small customer count the percentage jumps every cancel. Read the benchmarks as context, then watch who leaves and why.
Field guide
Money · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to reduce SaaS churn when you only have 20 customers
With twenty payers, one cancel is loud. Skip health-score software. Call the people who leave, the quiet ones, and the ones who just paid. Fix billing, then fix the product.
Field guide
Grow · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to onboard SaaS users with no success team
You do not have a CSM. You are the success team. Get people to one real win with a short email sequence and one call, not a playbook you never staff.
Field guide
Team · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
Should you find a cofounder or stay solo
Solo is not a moral win. A cofounder is not a trophy. Name the skill gap, decide if you will learn it, and only then ask if equity is the right fix.
Field guide
Team · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
When to hire your first employee in a bootstrapped SaaS
Hire after the work no longer fits one person, not because a blog said $10k MRR. Profit pays the person. You already know the job. Stay small until those three are true.
Field guide
Team · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to keep a SaaS under 20 people as it grows
Revenue can grow without a fake org chart. Use software, cut scope, hire only when it hurts, and stay under twenty people because you chose that size.
Field guide
Money · 17 Aug 2026 · 16 min
How to sell a bootstrapped SaaS
Selling a one-person or small-team SaaS is a public process now. Clean the books, build a data room, let buyers find you, and understand the deal before you sign an LOI.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
Build a second product or double down on the first
Portfolio vs focus is not a personality test. Who paid, what work you skipped, and whether product two is a new bet or an escape from selling.
Field guide
Launch · 17 Aug 2026 · 14 min
What to do if your SaaS has zero paying customers after launch
You shipped. Nobody paid. Do not open a v2 roadmap. Talk to people who already have the pain, ask for money, and treat zero as data.
Field guide
Build · 17 Aug 2026 · 15 min
How to start a SaaS with no money
In 2026 you do not need funding to ship. Open source, a cheap VPS, an AI API, and R2 or S3 cover the stack. The hard part is a price and someone who pays.
Field guide