交付方式 saas

by Tigran Hakobyan

由Tigran Hakobyan

我在全職工作時如何交付我的第一個SaaS副項目 (How I shipped my first SaaS side-project while working full-time)

This is my personal story of how I shipped my very first SaaS side-project while working full-time at Buffer. The goal of this article is to inspire you. If you’re someone like me who has a full-time job and wants to build a profitable side-business as a source of income, then this story may resonate with you.

這是我關(guān)于在Buffer從事全職工作時如何交付我的第一個SaaS副項目的個人故事。 本文的目的是激發(fā)您的靈感。 如果像我這樣的人有一份全職工作，并且想建立一個有利可圖的副業(yè)作為收入來源，那么這個故事可能會引起您的共鳴。

With this article, I want to show how I didn’t “hustle” or overwork and was still able to ship a real SaaS product.

在這篇文章中，我想展示我如何“不忙”或不勞累，仍然能夠交付真正的SaaS產(chǎn)品。

I’m a web developer and I’m very lucky that, apart from playing soccer in my free time, I also enjoy coding and building web projects for fun. Most recently, I’ve created Booknshelf which helps many people organize their books online. While working full-time has a big impact on my engineering growth, some of the developer skills I’ve acquired were from working on my personal projects.

我是一名Web開發(fā)人員，我很幸運，除了在業(yè)余時間踢足球之外，我還喜歡編寫代碼和構(gòu)建有趣的Web項目。 最近，我創(chuàng)建了Booknshelf ，該書可幫助許多人在線組織書籍。 雖然全職工作對我的工程發(fā)展有很大影響，但我獲得的一些開發(fā)人員技能來自從事個人項目。

It was only last year when I started to think about having a different source of income apart from my full-time job. The idea of being dependent on a single paycheck is a bit scary. I knew I had the skills and passion to figure something out.

直到去年，我才開始考慮除了全職工作以外還擁有其他收入來源。 依賴一張薪水的想法有點嚇人。 我知道我有技巧和熱情去解決問題。

I decided I wanted to start a business, probably an online business considering the skills I have. The other trigger of those thoughts was that I wanted to experience and learn what it means to build a business. I had never run any business in my life, so I saw this as a great learning opportunity, a path on which I could learn skills that I don’t currently have. The worst thing that could happen would be that if I failed, I’d still end up with experience and tons of learnings.

考慮到我的技能，我決定要創(chuàng)業(yè)，可能是一家網(wǎng)上公司。 這些想法的另一個觸發(fā)因素是我想體驗并了解建立業(yè)務(wù)的意義。 我一生中從未經(jīng)營過任何業(yè)務(wù)，因此我將其視為一個很好的學(xué)習(xí)機(jī)會，這是我可以學(xué)習(xí)目前沒有的技能的途徑。 可能發(fā)生的最糟糕的事情是，如果我失敗了，我仍然會獲得經(jīng)驗和大量的學(xué)習(xí)經(jīng)驗。

理念 (Idea)

As you might have guessed, the first thing that I, as a developer, did was to start thinking about ideas. Ideas were never a problem for me, but figuring out which ideas were a good fit always was. This time, I decided to try a different approach and really think through the idea before I jumped on it. There were some criteria I wanted to run each idea through.

您可能已經(jīng)猜到了，作為開發(fā)人員，我做的第一件事就是開始考慮想法。 想法對我來說從來都不是問題，但找出哪種想法總是很合適。 這次，我決定嘗試一種不同的方法，并在跳上之前仔細(xì)考慮一下這個想法。 我想通過一些標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來貫穿每個想法。

• I wanted to solve a real problem, probably something I personally was facing
  我想解決一個實際的問題，可能是我個人面臨的問題
• It should be for the market I know well
  應(yīng)該是我很了解的市場
• It should not be a new idea (it’s not going to change the world)
  這不應(yīng)該是一個新主意(它不會改變世界)
• It could become a business
  可能成為生意

The golden rule of any idea is that it has to solve a problem that people face. In the past, I’d added so many ideas to my notes — so it was a matter of visiting the pool of ideas I’d saved.

任何想法的黃金法則都是必須解決人們面臨的問題。 過去，我在筆記中添加了很多想法-因此，只需訪問我保存的想法庫即可。

I knew from the beginning that I’d probably be more successful if I built something for developers, because I know the market pretty well and most of my close friends and online followers are tech-based. I could use my network and audience to validate my idea and get a solid feedback before I commited to anything.

我從一開始就知道，如果我為開發(fā)人員構(gòu)建一些東西，可能會更成功，因為我非常了解市場，并且我的許多親密朋友和在線關(guān)注者都是基于技術(shù)的。 在做出任何承諾之前，我可以利用自己的網(wǎng)絡(luò)和聽眾來驗證我的想法并獲得可靠的反饋。

This really filtered down all my ideas into a list of 2–3 things I could work on. One of the ideas was something I kept coming back to over and over again. It was something I’ve faced both at Buffer and during the work on my previous side-projects: a simple way to monitor scheduled cron jobs.

這確實將我所有的想法過濾成了我可以處理的2到3件事情的列表。 其中一個主意是我不斷地反復(fù)提及。 這是我在Buffer以及以前的副項目工作中都遇到的問題：一種監(jiān)視計劃的cron作業(yè)的簡單方法。

Since one of the areas I own at work is the analytics data infrastructure, I have run a dozen cron jobs in the background to collect the daily analytics data for our customers. It has to be up to date. The Datadog monitoring service that we use is really great, but it’s primarily designed to monitor continuous services or servers. I wanted a simple dashboard where I could see the list of all my cron jobs, their statuses, and logs. Every day get a report of all run jobs so I know everything is on track.

由于我工作的領(lǐng)域之一是分析數(shù)據(jù)基礎(chǔ)架構(gòu)，因此我在后臺運行了12個cron作業(yè)，以為客戶收集每日分析數(shù)據(jù)。 它必須是最新的。 我們使用的Datadog監(jiān)視服務(wù)確實很棒，但是它主要用于監(jiān)視連續(xù)的服務(wù)或服務(wù)器。 我想要一個簡單的儀表板，從中可以看到我所有cron作業(yè)的列表，它們的狀態(tài)和日志。 每天都會收到所有正在運行的作業(yè)的報告，因此我知道一切都按計劃進(jìn)行。

After picking this idea, I wanted to see if there were any existing solutions on the market. If there were, that’s a good sign that there was a demand for certain tools.

在選擇了這個想法之后，我想看看市場上是否有任何現(xiàn)有的解決方案。 如果有的話，這很好地表明了對某些工具的需求。

In fact, there were a couple on the market with different paid plans. I didn’t necessarily want to build something completely new, because if I did it would have been so much harder for me to define and validate the market. All the existing solutions had paid plans, so I knew people would pay for it. The next goal was to validate if my thinking was right by building and launching the initial MVP.

實際上，市場上有幾對夫婦有不同的付費計劃。 我不一定要構(gòu)建全新的東西，因為如果我這樣做了，那么定義和驗證市場將變得非常困難。 現(xiàn)有的所有解決方案都已支付了計劃，所以我知道人們會為此付費。 下一個目標(biāo)是通過構(gòu)建和啟動初始MVP來驗證我的想法是否正確。

最有價值球員 (MVP)

I spent 2 months building the initial version of Cronhub (yes, I gave it a name). Something viable that I could send to a handful of my friends and Twitter followers to try. For the MVP I wanted something very simple but also valuable enough that people would pay for it. I know you may think that two months is a long time to build an MVP, but I didn’t take the traditional “hustle” approach. Instead, I:

我花了2個月的時間構(gòu)建了Cronhub的初始版本(是的，我給它起了個名字)。 我可以發(fā)送給少數(shù)幾個朋友和Twitter追隨者嘗試的可行方法。 對于MVP，我想要一些非常簡單但又有價值的東西，以至于人們會為此付出代價。 我知道您可能會認(rèn)為建立MVP花費了兩個月的時間，但是我沒有采用傳統(tǒng)的“忙碌”方法。 相反，我：

• Worked only 1–2 hours every day
  每天只工作1-2小時
• Slept 8 hours every day
  每天睡8個小時
• Watched Netflix whenever I wanted to
  每當(dāng)我想觀看Netflix時
• Fully rested on the weekends
  周末充分休息
• Used the tech stack I felt most comfortable with
  使用了我最滿意的技術(shù)堆棧

Since I have a full-time job, I worked on Cronhub usually from 7 to 8:30 pm. I could also work in early mornings, but I spend most of my mornings at the gym. There were some days when I felt mentally very exhausted after work and I took it easy, but most of the time I stuck to my routine.

由于我有一份全職工作，所以我通常在晚上7點至8:30下午在Cronhub工作。 我也可以在清晨工作，但是大部分時間我都在健身房里度過。 有時候，下班后我精神上非常疲憊，所以我放松了下來，但是大部分時間我都堅持常規(guī)。

I knew if I wanted to finish this project I had to keep the momentum and commit every day even if it was a small change (could be a single line commit). Consistency has always been super useful for me to stay on track and ship. I used Trello to break down my project tasks into small milestones.

我知道，如果我想完成這個項目，我必須保持動力并每天提交，即使這是一個很小的變化(可以是一行提交)。 始終如一的一致性對于我保持跟蹤和航行非常有用。 我使用Trello將我的項目任務(wù)分解為幾個小里程碑。

I tried to make each task very small so I could start and finish in a single day. Keeping tasks small helped me to ship faster and see my daily progress. When you see progress it motivates you a lot and keeps you going. I think it’s a mind trick. Working on big tasks slows you down, and eventually you give up because you get bored and you want to jump on something else.

我試圖將每個任務(wù)做得很小，這樣我就可以在一天內(nèi)開始和完成。 保持較小的任務(wù)有助于我更快地發(fā)貨，并查看自己的日常進(jìn)度。 當(dāng)您看到進(jìn)步時，它會激發(fā)您很多動力并讓您繼續(xù)前進(jìn)。 我認(rèn)為這是一個頭腦把戲。 處理大型任務(wù)會使您減慢速度，最終您會放棄，因為您感到無聊而又想跳上其他事情。

I never worked overnight. I went to bed around 10:30 every day and woke up at 7. Having proper sleep is my number one priority. It defines the mental energy I have during the day and I can’t sacrifice it. Besides sleeping well, I decided to spend most of my weekends doing something completely different like playing soccer, watching movies, or hanging with friends and family. Even though I love coding, I know it’s easy to burn yourself out. Weekends helped me to refresh my brain.

我從來沒有過夜。 我每天大約10:30上床睡覺，然后在7點醒來。適當(dāng)?shù)乃呤俏业念^等大事。 它定義了我白天的精神能量，我不能犧牲它。 除了睡得好之外，我決定在周末的大部分時間里做一些完全不同的事情，例如踢足球，看電影或與朋友和家人一起閑逛。 即使我喜歡編碼，我也知道很容易筋疲力盡。 周末幫助我恢復(fù)了頭腦。

I think as a developer you always want to use the hottest and coolest technologies. And it’s okay. I want that, too. However, my goal was different and I wanted to build and ship Cronhub as fast as I could with the technologies I already knew. I stayed focused on my goal and used Laravel and Vuejs. Cronhub is a single page application using Laravel for the backend.

我認(rèn)為作為開發(fā)人員，您總是想使用最熱門和最酷的技術(shù)。 沒關(guān)系。 我也想要那個。 但是，我的目標(biāo)是不同的，我想用我已經(jīng)知道的技術(shù)來盡快構(gòu)建和交付Cronhub。 我一直專注于自己的目標(biāo)，并使用Laravel和Vuejs。 Cronhub是使用Laravel作為后端的單頁應(yīng)用程序。

內(nèi)測發(fā)布 (Closed Beta Launch)

On Feb 20, I finished the bare-minimum of Cronhub and was ready to invite the first pool of early adopters to try it out. After my tweet, around 20–25 people reached out to me on Twitter asking for an invitation. The feedback I got from them was super valuable.

2月20日，我完成了Cronhub的最低要求，并準(zhǔn)備邀請第一批早期采用者試用它。 發(fā)完推文后，大約有20-25個人在Twitter上與我聯(lián)系，請求邀請。 我從他們那里得到的反饋非常有價值。

There were a couple reported bugs and some great feature suggestions that I’ve added to my feedback document. Keeping track of user feedback is an important step, because it helps to identify the obvious patterns you can refer to when you make product decisions.

我已經(jīng)在反饋文檔中添加了一些錯誤報告和一些很棒的功能建議。 跟蹤用戶反饋是重要的一步，因為它有助于確定做出產(chǎn)品決策時可以參考的明顯模式。

Overall, the first impression and feedback were encouraging. Now I needed to continue improving the product and make it ready for the first public launch. I planned the first public launch to be within a month.

總體而言，第一印象和反饋令人鼓舞。 現(xiàn)在，我需要繼續(xù)改進(jìn)產(chǎn)品，并使其能夠為首次公開發(fā)布做好準(zhǔn)備。 我計劃在一個月內(nèi)進(jìn)行首次公開??發(fā)布。

公開發(fā)布 (Public Launch)

After three months, I’m launching my first SaaS side-project to the public. Yay!

三個月后，我將向公眾發(fā)布我的第一個SaaS附帶項目。 好極了！

Of course I’m nervous, and don’t know if this is going to work out or not. However, I know this brings me one step closer to my goal. The goal to make Cronhub into a profitable online business where I can learn and experience all the hidden secrets of running a business. After all, what’s the worst that could happen? I’d learn so much!

我當(dāng)然很緊張，不知道這是否會解決。 但是，我知道這使我離目標(biāo)更近了一步。 使Cronhub成為盈利的在線業(yè)務(wù)的目標(biāo)，讓我可以學(xué)習(xí)和體驗經(jīng)營業(yè)務(wù)的所有秘密。 畢竟，可能發(fā)生的最壞情況是什么？ 我會學(xué)到很多！

I know maybe I’m too much focused on thinking about profitability, but after building a couple side-projects for free in the past I knew it was time for me to take my time a little bit more seriously. Time is the most valuable asset I have and I want to spend it consciously. Building a paid product is way more motivating and it pushes you forward. Also, maintaining side-projects for free is expensive — I know it from my experience.

我知道也許我過于專注于盈利能力，但是在過去免費建立了幾個副業(yè)項目之后，我知道現(xiàn)在是時候讓我更加認(rèn)真地考慮了。 時間是我擁有的最寶貴的資產(chǎn)，我想自覺地度過。 打造付費產(chǎn)品更具激勵性，并且可以推動您前進(jìn)。 另外，免費維護(hù)附帶項目很昂貴-我從我的經(jīng)驗中知道。

得到教訓(xùn) (Lessons Learned)

The past three months have been great for reflection as well as evaluating what worked well and what didn’t. Every time I build a new project, it’s a new learning experience. Each project is unique and requires a different thinking process around the product. As a product engineer, I want to develop my product mindset and this helps.

在過去的三個月中，對于反思以及評估什么有效，什么無效都非常有用。 每當(dāng)我建立一個新項目時，這都是一種新的學(xué)習(xí)體驗。 每個項目都是唯一的，并且圍繞產(chǎn)品需要不同的思維過程。 作為產(chǎn)品工程師，我想發(fā)展自己的產(chǎn)品心態(tài)，這會有所幫助。

Overall, I’ve learned many lessons that really helped me to start and launch an idea. I want to share the most important ones with you.

總體而言，我學(xué)到了很多課程，這些課程確實幫助我開始和提出了一個想法。 我想與您分享最重要的內(nèi)容。

• Solve a problem you personally face. This is so key, because essentially you build the product for yourself, always keeping you in mind. This makes it a lot easier to make good product decisions. You know what questions you should ask and chances are higher that you ask the right questions.

  解決您個人面對的問題 。 這很關(guān)鍵，因為從本質(zhì)上講，您是為自己創(chuàng)建產(chǎn)品，始終牢記在心。 這使得制定良好的產(chǎn)品決策變得容易得多。 您知道應(yīng)該提出什么問題，提出正確問題的幾率更高。

• Keep your tasks small. When you break down your project into pieces, try to make them smaller. A good way to measure the size of the task is to ask yourself “Can I do this task in a day?” If the answer is “No” then it’s probably a big task and you can break it down further.

  保持小任務(wù) 。 當(dāng)您將項目分解成多個部分時，請嘗試將它們縮小。 衡量任務(wù)大小的一種好方法是問自己：“我一天可以做嗎？” 如果答案是“否”，那么這可能是一個艱巨的任務(wù)，您可以進(jìn)一步分解。

• Sleep well and rest. I can’t stress how important proper sleep is. You don’t have to work overnight. Focus on incremental progress and small daily commitments. If you don’t take care of yourself you will get tired soon and eventually give up.

  睡個好覺，休息。 我不能強(qiáng)調(diào)適當(dāng)?shù)乃哂卸嘀匾?您不必整夜工作。 專注于增量進(jìn)步和小的日常承諾。 如果您不照顧自己，很快就會累，最終放棄。

• Choose a market you know well. I’m a developer and I know this market well. I know what it takes to be a developer and how developer teams collaborate. This gives me a sense of things that will and won’t work out in this market. Of course, I can still be wrong, but chances are a lot smaller.

  選擇一個您熟悉的市場。 我是一名開發(fā)商，并且我對這個市場非常了解。 我知道成為一名開發(fā)人員需要什么，以及開發(fā)人員團(tuán)隊如何合作。 這使我對在這個市場上可以解決的問題有所了解。 當(dāng)然，我還是會錯的，但是機(jī)會要小得多。

• Talk about your project. This is a challenging one for me and I’m still adapting to this. I don’t really like to talk about myself. I like listening more. It’s not easy for me to talk about the project I’m building, because I’m a bit shy and don’t want to make an impression that I constantly talk about myself. However, I know I have to get the word out and market my project. That’s how others will discover it in the beginning. This article is an example of that.

  談?wù)撃捻椖俊?/strong> 對我來說，這是一項具有挑戰(zhàn)性的工作，我仍然會適應(yīng)這一點。 我真的不喜歡談?wù)撟约骸?我喜歡聽。 要談?wù)撐艺跇?gòu)建的項目對我來說并不容易，因為我有點害羞，不想留下我經(jīng)常談?wù)撟约旱挠∠蟆?但是，我知道我必須言出必行并推銷我的項目。 這就是其他人一開始會發(fā)現(xiàn)它的方式。 本文就是一個例子。

總結(jié)一下 (To conclude)