Dropping SaaS

The mantra in bootstrapping circles for the past while has been “charge more”. And the best way to charge more, over time, is a SaaS. So it’s natural that most bootstrapers default to a SaaS pricing model when starting their new projects and companies.

I’m no different. I build web-apps professionally and have for the past 10 years. Web apps are my bread and butter.

But when I compare my successful SaaS projects to my successful desktop app projects, no matter the metric, I’ve always made more when I charge less and charge it once.

And since I’ve been so focused on SaaS and this charge more mentality, I’ve automatically dismissed ideas that I had that weren’t SaaS.

After attempting to build a number of web apps independently I’ve mostly stopped midway through. The slog of getting the basics perfect, managing servers, dealing with recurring payments, it’s too much like my day-job.

And so I find myself considering going back to my old bread and butter for side-projects: native apps for the Macintosh.

So far I’ve got a few ideas for small utility apps. The ones I’m most interested in are the ones that fit in the open web and apps that can help increase privacy for its users.

It’s been a breath of fresh air and I’m excited to be having fun making things again.