3 pointsby pohwpa month ago10 comments
  • codingdave25 days ago
    Is there a reasonable migration path to help your customer move to another solution? If so, you could shut it down gracefully without giving pain to your people.

    Because unless you just don't care about your customers, thinking about the best answer for them is often a good guide. If you don't want to run it anymore, do you think someone else can just pick it up on the fly? FYI, In my experience, that answer is always "No", because SaaS apps are about knowing the problem space, the customer needs, and the history. Being able to read the code is 5% of the work. So people tend to quickly be willing to try, but then get discouraged when they realize the difficulties and just shut down on the customers anyway.

    So I'd recommend that if you don't want to run it, but also don't want to just turn it off, find a small group of people who know your niche/market, and who already run a SaaS, and pass it on to them. Often, competitors will turn into partners in such situations. Sometimes that even works best for everyone - you get to escape, your competitors grow a bit, and the customers are taken care of.

    That is a lot of rambling, but the overall point is that there are probably more options out there than just sell/quit/keep going.

    • pohwp24 days ago
      Thank you. I have worked alone for 18 years though it wasn't my desire. It is often hard to find collaborators. I agree as you say, passing it on to someone on the fly would problably be more work. People have thanked me for the software when I have sought no feedback. It obviously have value. I think I will have one more go at getting it up to date and more secure. I have the term micro changes in my head as a way forward. As a young man I created a beast of a thing and now in my 50s I need to tweak and not rewrite :-)
  • codyklimdev25 days ago
    If you make $10k/yr you could hire a contractor to refactor it for a few grand, maybe more. It'd be worth it not to shut it down wholesale.

    Also I see some people are throwing their hats in the ring in the comments below, I'd be willing to take a look. My email is on my profile.

  • nicboua month ago
    You could turn around and sell it for $30k. That's the rule of thumb for selling a profitable website, I keep reading. This would make a young developer really happy, I bet.

    Alternatively you can pay someone to rebuild it properly. It could be a fun project for a more junior dev too.

  • code_Whisperera month ago
    I am also interested in seeing what you have, and I love refactoring older code.

    Please reach out if interested and let me know more, let's see if there's a possible deal here. :-)

    codewhisperer at team803585.testinator.email (replace the " at ")

    • code_Whisperera month ago
      (I forgot I had an email contact in my HN profile, you can reach me there, as well) :-)
    • pohwp25 days ago
      I’m not there yet, but will keep your details, thanks.
  • DolfinsSunlighta month ago
    Would love to know more. I'm looking to take on a SaaS venture myself. Career as an engineer dipping my toes in the water of entrepreneurship.

    Feel free to send me a message, would be interested in acquiring it.

    ycom.precut439@passmail.net

  • leandot25 days ago
    I’d love to hear about it, for a reasonable amount and in a good niche it might be interesting, feel free to pm me
  • TheRealGLa month ago
    The first question is: is this making me happy (could I live without the $10k).

    Just interested, what language is the codebase in?

    • pohwp25 days ago
      Php/JQuery/MySQL
  • jaredwienera month ago
    Does it have value to the customers using/paying for it? Would someone want to acquire it?
    • pohwpa month ago
      Good point. Yes, very much so to value point. I imagine no to acquisition.
      • pavel_lishina month ago
        Do any of your customers find enough value in it to take it on themselves?
  • csomar25 days ago
    Feel free to email me. Depending on the niche, I might be interested in such an acquisition.
  • robtaylor24 days ago
    Would you be open to possible sale? (UK based)