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I'm Sharath ππΌ I sold a startup while hustling at a full-time job. AMA.
Hello there! I'm Sharath, founder, community builder, and content creator. Currently, I work at Threado as Head of Community, but in my free time, I build products, host a podcast, advise founders and help makers launch on Product Hunt!
In the past, I built 15+ side projects using no-code tools and got the opportunity to work with prolific people like Naval Ravikant. I accidentally built a startup called Shoutout in my maker journey which grew to $30K ARR and eventually, I sold for 6 figures. All this happened when I was hustling at full-time jobs. As a startup operator, I got the opportunity to work for the most prominent brands in tech like Product Hunt, and On Deck where I nurtured community.
Right now Iβm tinkering with a couple of side-projects:
- Blubi, a permanent home for your social content where you can use AI to remix it.
- Next Step, a tight-knit community for first-time founders figuring out the next steps.
I'm here to answer questions about SaaS, building in public, audience building, community, bootstrapping, no-code, and anything startups!
AMA π
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@hosseinyazdi @nuno_ms_reis Answering here so you both will get my response.
Micro Acquire is the best place to sell micro SaaS products. They have built a tight network of buyers. But in my case, I tweeted that I was looking for a new founder to take up and within a day I got a bunch of DMs - one of them was the buyer who I felt was a good fit.
@5harath Didn't know about Micro Aquire and that tweeting about product selling can actually work! Thanks for sharing Sharath! :)
Love seeing some smaller startups get sold. We always hear about the million dollar sales, but these are great as well
Haha, maverick intro, thanks!
Curious to hear more about how you ended up selling? Particularly:
- How you got approached;
- General process;
@rawoyemi big compliment haha
The decision was definitely a hard one to take. But you need to pick priorities and go with your reality.
Regarding the process, look at acquire.com - the best place to sell businesses. In my case, I tweeted about it and a founder showed interest. But it didn't happen overnight. I had to go through many to find the right fit.
Which no-code tools you think are the best to build side-projects?
I am a non-technical founder myself and I want to try no-code to build my next app. Thanks
@rashid_khasanov depends on the idea you have.
- Bubble is good for building a platform
- Softr is good for curation projects
- Glide is good for mobile projects
- Carrd is good for launching and validating ideas
@nuno_ms_reis We reached a point where we shipped 0 features and made 0 progress. But, thanks to my co-founder, who built a robust product and the idea has a self-marketing quality, we saw growth happening organically.
It made me feel guilty since there was nothing I was doing. Also, I felt the need for someone who takes the product to the level. We decided, and the acquisition went smoothly.
Hi Sharath, thanks for doing this AMA. What side project are you most passionate about right now? Next Step looks super interesting.
@between_team Hey David. I'm super excited about blubi.ai for two reasons:
1. I'm building for myself. Hopefully, find people like me who can use it.
2. I'm excited to create a platform that helps content creators create content without worrying about the platform.
My question is about building a community for our SaaS users. (questions at the end fyi)
We recently started gaining more users to our SaaS product Tamly, it is a LinkedIn automation tool for sales and business development teams.
Although it is super simple once the users get a grip and complete a whole funnel even once (e.g. middle aged, less tech savvy sales people love it), connecting the user's LinkedIn and Tamly accounts for the first time could feel a bit complicated.
So, we have a lot of new users come in, sign up, and leave soon after without executing their first funnel successfully. I want to create a community and enable instant communication between our users and myself. Our 'product champions' for example, never hesitate to give me a call any time and I actively help them with their campaigns and stuff. I want our new users to feel the same way and communicate with us.
Now for the questions:
1) Is it weird for us to reach out to users on WhatsApp for a more sincere and instant communication? Consider the users provided their mobile number optionally, and so far we didn't have any adverse reactions.
2) I simply need to pinpoint the stage that users find ambiguous/challenging, to provide the right support at the right moment (and have them subscribe hopefully ;p). Would you have any other suggestions than user outreach?
3) I know utilizing Slack for such efforts is effective and am planning to do so. Which other channels would you recommend for community building?
Congrats on your success! What does your schedule look like? Please break it down as much as possible.
Thanks @psd
Haha you are making me question my routines now. Hard to pinpoint but my usual days looks like this:
1. Deep work
2. Important habits like meditation, and journaling for 5-10mins
3. Dropping my son to daycare
4. Have limited meetings.
5. Dedicated work time for my full-time job
6. Dedicated work time for my side projects.
7 Past 6pm family time starts
Hey Sharath, thanks for doing this. What is one piece of advice that you would have loved to be given when you started on your journey?
@narenbhandary ππΌ Ah that's a great question.
There are many, but the most important one is not to lose any momentum - product-wise, mentally.
what would you suggest we do as a two sided marketplace with limited to no marketing resource to find a scalable channel of acquisition as fast as possible (with users on the waitlist pre-launch)?
@aldo_petruzzelli It seems like you want things fast with less effort - in my experience, that's like finding a bigfoot sitting in a city. It's not real lol
Not to be rude but you have to put in the work and play the long game.
Some advice:
1. Figure out supply and demand for your marketplace.
2. Start building in public - solves marketing and needs $0 to spend on.
3. Use Twitter as your distribution channel.
4. Launch the product and get some revenue.
5. Be impatient with actions and patient with results.
Your story is inspiring! What do you think is the best distribution channel for a brand new saas where the founder is tight on cash and has no personal brand???
Glad to hear that @clay_raterman
Best distribution channel - Launch multiple mini projects(that add value) on Product Hunt
Thanks for hosting AMA. How did you find first 100 users? I don't have an audience or personal brand in any social media. And my potential customers are not super tech savvy to do digital ads or social media campaign. Currently planning to create a DB manually by googling and do email or SMS campaign. Your thoughts on this or alternatives?
What is your go to strategy after you come up with the idea for a project?
Hi Sharath,
This is really inspiring to hear! Juggling a full-time job with side projects is no small feat, and achieving such success is truly commendable.
I'm particularly interested in your experience with no-code tools. Could you share a bit about how these tools have helped in your startup journey, especially when it comes to prototyping and iterating quickly?
Also, how did you manage your time between your full-time job and your side projects? Any tips or strategies you'd recommend for those of us trying to balance a similar load?
Thanks for the kind word @svitlana_palamarchuk
Idea validation - Used Carrd to build the landing page
MVP validation - Used Bubble to build the first MVP
They massively helped me move fast. And the community supported me when I got stuck.
I wrote a thread on some tips to balance a full-time job and side projects: https://twitter.com/5harath/stat...
Hey Sharath, well-done man sincerely.
As you're jumping in Ai related product building, I am sure you'd like to keep an eye on Argil.ai.
We're building a tool to render AI integration to your application seamless.
You can build different workflows just with clicks. @5harath
@thisismeihere the interest came from Twitter. It would be best to have clarity on what you want - that decides how discussions will go. We wanted a specific number, and we crafted a story supporting it.
Hey Sharath - Was Shoutout still based on no-code infrastructure when you sold it?
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