My solo entrepreneur journey so far
Last week I launched my startup called FlowCog, it's a fully pre-built cash and revenue projection model in Google Sheets.
I built everything myself, from the spreadsheet, to the Node/TypeScript accompanying Google Sheet Add-On. It took me about 11 months to build the spreadsheet, and to write and test the code that simulates staffing and customer behavior.
Oh, and I also livestreamed myself doing it on Twitch the whole time (handle is Here_for_the_life_lessons).
Now on to the hard part of selling it. There's a 14 day free trial, so any feedback on the website/product is much appreciated!
- Adam
(
18 comments
| 5 points
| on HN
)
Some feedback on the landing page:
- Would be nice with a 2-3 minute demo video
- Put the screenshots (or demo video) closer to the top, so they're visible without scrolling
- Some of the copywriting could be clearer. For example: "Pre-built financial models for SaaS companies, with plug-and-play software built directly in Google Sheets" could be just "Financial models for SaaS companies, directly in Google Sheets"
- A demo video is a great idea, I'll get started on that this week.
- Screenshots/video closer to the top is a good idea too, think maybe I need an image in the hero.
- Good point on the copy, I'll have to revisit this.
Really appreciate the suggestions!
Suggest embedding a video of on the site.
Beyond the product/service offering— People buy from individuals the Know, Like, and Trust.
You’ve got a great story to share. Cheering you on!
- onboarding simplicity to get up and running quickly. I created a 10 question onboarding form for the user, and from those responses I infer a company persona to pre-fill all the model's inputs based on SaaS industry benchmarks.
- simulations for projecting a range of revenue outcomes. These simulations incorporate a bunch of the model's inputs to produce an expected distribution of outcomes based on customer behavior. Even models that split out customers into cohorts don't capture the actual risk to the business if there's lots of churn in a month. They also don't capture the interaction between hiring plans (in reality many are based on revenue) and how those hires themselves affect revenue along the way (i.e. hiring in the sales department).