Unsolicited Advice for Young Founders and Entrepreneurs

I’ve been observing for a while now, and sometimes I see very poor advice given to young entrepreneurs.

One-Time Payment vs Monthly Subscription

Don’t price your SaaS as a one-time payment, unless it’s a closed product with no marginal costs. For example, a downloadable product with no backend services, no Ai services, no ongoing costs. Sure.

Think long-term.

If your SaaS has any costs after the point of sale, it makes zero sense to charge a one-time fee. I can’t believe how much bad advice I see about this. People telling young founders and indie hackers to price their Ai SaaS with a fixed one-time price—theyre fu**** with you. They know it.

If you have ongoing costs after the sale, then a subscription is the way to go.

If you have a closed product, like downloadable video screen capture software, yes, a one-time payment is great. Your client gets lifetime updates, you have zero cost to sustain old users, and you can make them happy with product updates.

The Obsession with Revenue

Looking only at revenue is like driving by looking at your rearview mirror—you’ll crash 99.55% of the time. Please, look at your P&L and your bottom line.

And yes, this includes taxes. Everyone pays taxes.

Looking only at revenue is like looking at your gross salary and ignoring your withholdings, monthly expenses, rent, etc.

Bad idea, right? So why do it for your startup?

Look at your runway, your PL long term. Just use a tool like EvryThink to in a few clicks look at the future of your project, startup or business.

Revenue is just a part, net profit and cashflow is as important. Being profitable cash flow positive long term is what matters.

Create a good business plan, each one is different but equally necessary.

Challenges of Right Pricing

Pricing is organic. It’s about what someone is willing to pay for the solution you're providing to address a specific pain point. If your solution is niche and has a lot of competition, pricing can’t be the differentiator.

Don’t think about price—think about features. Lower prices are great for capturing more users, especially in the early days.

You can always create a higher tier with more features. It’s not easy to lower prices from an expensive plan, and user expectations for a high price can lead to disappointment. Value perception and fair pricing should intersect.

You can get really close to the right price by just spending a few days on research.

Ship Fast: Crash Fast

This is great advice, but does it matter? If the solution is needed, yes, ship fast and iterate. This works great for micro-solutions.

Yes, ship it fast—don’t look for excuses. You’ll learn fast as well.

But if you're thinking long-term, building a venue (whether bootstrapped or VC-funded), you have to start with a solution that has the potential to capture 10 million users. And create a good roadmap.

Ship smart, not fast.

If you’re a technical indie or founder, get a business mentor—someone who has zero understanding of code (or product), but knows the market, economy, finance, or even marketing. This helps you compensate.

Get advice outside your niche. It’s unbiased.

Rarely do developers have the business DNA. But if you do, you’d know it, because you’d be looking at the problem and distraction before writing a single line of code.

Look Realistically at Your Competition

Everyone these days is trying to launch a Product Hunt alternative. Why? What does PH solve? Exposure, distribution, user feedback? I used it. It’s great for a few clicks, but like any platform, everyone is there to get to number 1 and use the banner, which in 99% of cases does not translate into real users, active users, or anything that helps your product.

How is your solution better? How is your solution solving the problem better? Is the problem still relevant?

No one will win against PH. Every clone will be subpar. Instead, find a way to add value and see how that product should have evolved.

Directories and SEO for Startups

I tried it myself. I subscribed to 50 directories and only paid for a few because I liked the effort the founder was putting into them. But it translated into nothing—basically no traffic, no signals, nothing. Is that my product’s fault? Is it the directory’s fault? Both?

SEO is extremely important. I’m obsessed with it, but its just one of many strategies. You can’t rely solely on it, waiting for one of your posts to go viral on Google Search. That’s putting all your eggs in one basket.

Advertising works, but it’s expensive—going back to the point of only looking at revenue.

Financial Independence

There’s no such thing as financial independence.

Do you think Mark Cuban or Elon Musk are financially independent? They are just very wealthy. Those selling financial independence are selling magic pills.

It works for 1 in 1,000,000 because they were there first, they're way smarter than you, or theyre less scrupulous than you, doing things borderline illegal. How many products out there are directly against GDPR?

For example: my personal phone was sold on RocketReach.

Most Numbers are Fake

Almost 25 years in finance have taught me that numbers are not always what they seem.

I’ve seen fictitious revenue numbers more times than I can count.

Show me your P&L (Profit and Loss), and I’ll show you mine.

This is particularly bad on social platforms where entrepreneurs compete by showing what I believe are, in most cases, fake numbers—creating false expectations.

Quitting Your Job Too Soon

Why? Why would you do that? Build in parallel until you get to a point where you can ensure you have 2 years of runway. The majority of startups fail.

Do your job, be responsible, but use your free time to build. Weekends, late nights, whatever it takes.

Quitting your job before having a good projected runway is risky, and you may kill your idea before it becomes something.

Plan Your Startup's Finances

Whether youre building your startup while working full-time or already made the jump, planning your finances is crucial. EvryThink helps you track expenses, manage budgets, and forecast your runway without overcomplicating things.

Don’t risk running out of cash—use EvryThink to stay on top of your finances 10x faster, so you can focus on building, not stressing over numbers.

Disclaimer: The information provided here is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice. Every business and financial situation is unique, and its important to consult with a professional or conduct your own thorough research before making any financial decisions.