After 20 Failures, I Finally Built A SaaS That Makes Money

Nicolaas Spivey -

Years of hard work, struggle, and pain.
20+ failed projects 😭

This one was different.

Built the first version in a few days, using tools I already knew (React, Node JS, Postgres, OpenAI, etc.).
No fancy architecture. No perfection. Just shipping.

What finally worked (with real numbers):
Solve one painful problem.
Not a cool idea - a painful one.
I noticed founders were spending 10–15 hours/week manually trying to understand users, leads, and feedback. Most still guessed wrong.

Use tools you already know.
I stopped tool-hopping.
Saved weeks by reusing my existing stack.
Customers never asked what I built it with - they only cared that it worked.

Start with an MVP (very small).
The MVP had 1 core feature. That’s it.
No dashboards, no settings, no “nice to haves”.
First version was honestly a bit ugly.

Validate fast or kill it.

Within the first 7 days:

  • Shared it on Reddit, X, and niche founder groups
  • Replied to posts complaining about competitors
  • Sent ~30 DMs

Result:

  • A few ignored it
  • Some gave brutal feedback
  • Real people paid → strongest signal possible

Fail fast, don’t over-engineer.
If nobody pays, move on.
Scalability doesn’t matter when you have 0 users.

Data > feelings.
I tracked:

  • Who came back
  • Who paid
  • What feature they actually used

80% of usage came from 20% of features - everything else was noise.

Iterate quickly.
Weekly improvements based on feedback.
Small changes, compounding results.

Marketing is mandatory.
Posting consistently + replying where pain already exists brought in more users than “launching” ever did.

Many small bets > one big dream.
Shipping often reduced emotional attachment - which made decisions clearer.

The simple playbook that worked:

  1. Problem
    Scratch your own itch.
    Read 1-star reviews.
    Lurk where your users complain.
  2. MVP
    Set a deadline (1 day or 1 week).
    If it feels unfinished, good.
  3. Validation
    Payment > praise.
    Usage > likes.
    Silence = move on.
  4. SEO (long game)
    Slow, boring, effective.
    2 out of my last 3 projects now get steady inbound traffic from it.

This isn’t magic.
It’s just repetition, data, and being honest with yourself.

If you’re on your 10th+ failed idea - you’re probably closer than you think.