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Micro-SaaS

One narrow piece of software, billed monthly. The hardest start on this list and the slowest.

Start

What this actually is

Money to start
$0-300
Time to a first sale
3-9 months
Length
13 lessons · 58 min

Checked 31 August 2026

Do not start this if

  • You cannot write code and you do not want to learn. There is no version of this where somebody else builds it for free.
  • You need money inside two months. Every other course on Learn is faster than this one, and that is not close.
  • You have no niche you already know from the inside - no job, trade, sport, club, or family business whose daily annoyances you could list from memory.
  • You want to be handed an idea. Picking the problem is the actual skill here, and a stranger cannot pick one that fits what you happen to know.
  • You stop caring about a project around week six. A product abandoned in month three is worth nothing to anyone, including you.
  • You will not talk to strangers about their work. Building alone in a room is the failure mode, not the job.
  • You want the passive part now. The passive part is the last chapter, not the first, and most people never write it.

What it costs before a single sale

Domain name
One bill a year
Hosting and database
Free tier first, then monthly
Payment processing
A cut of every charge
Transactional email
Free tier first, then monthly
Error tracking and logs
Free tier first, then monthly
Editor and coding assistant
Free, or monthly if you upgrade
Cash out of pocket before your first customer
$0-300
Your evenings, months one to six
150-400 hours
What you give up
Every faster option on Learn

The path

Part 1

Is this real?

Free

0 of 4 read

  1. What this actually isOne small piece of software, one narrow problem, one kind of buyer, billed every month. What that shape gives you and what it takes.Next up8 cards · 4 min
  2. What it really costsThe money is small and the time is not. A real line-item budget, why we refuse to print other companies' prices, and what you give up by choosing this.8 cards · 4 min
  3. Why most builds stallFive ways this ends before a first customer, the mechanism behind each one, and the support cost that surprises people who priced too low.9 cards · 4 min
  4. The one-week test, and the honest noSeven days to find out whether to keep going: pick the room you are already in, count the paid workarounds, write the paragraph, ask five people for money.11 cards · 5 min

Part 2

Set it up.

Operator

0 of 5 read

  1. Pick the problem, then cut it in halfThree filters for a workable problem, how to shrink a category into something one person can ship, and the idea shapes to reject on sight.Operator plan
  2. Validate with money, not complimentsTwo kinds of evidence that survive contact with a real month, how to run an honest pre-sale, and how to write kill criteria before you can talk yourself out of them.Operator plan
  3. Build the smallest version that finishes the jobOne problem, one screen, one outcome. What to cut, why manual work behind the scenes is allowed, how to pick a stack in ten minutes, and the definition of done.Operator plan
  4. The boring accounts, in orderEverything you have to set up before you can take a payment, the order to do it in, the billing decision that determines who handles sales tax, and the two pages you cannot skip.Operator plan
  5. Pricing, and why cheap is the trapHow to set a first price you can defend, why a low price makes the work harder rather than easier, trial versus free tier, and the lever you can pull at any time.Operator plan

Part 3

Get the first customer.

Operator

0 of 4 read

  1. Where the first ten come fromNot ads and not a launch post. The four places a narrow product finds its first customers, and the rule that keeps you from being thrown out of all of them.Operator plan
  2. The message that gets a replyWhat a first message has to do, four originals you can adapt, how to answer the three replies you will actually get, and how to run a demo that sells.Operator plan
  3. The first sale, and when it goes wrongCharge properly, set it up by hand, be present for week one, and know in advance what to do about bugs, refunds, feature demands and a failed card.Operator plan
  4. Churn is the real enemyWhy leaving customers end more small software products than a shortage of new ones, how to count it honestly at tiny numbers, and the three things that actually hold people.Operator plan

Parts 2 and 3 need an Operator account

Part one is free with no account. Operator is $7/mo.

  • Part 2, Set it up — the accounts, the tooling, the pricing and the first thing you put in front of a buyer.
  • Part 3, Get the first customer — what to say, who to say it to, and what to do when it goes wrong.
  • Both parts in every course here, not only this one.
  • The rest of the Operator plan: the Growth-tier catalog, county-personalized playbooks, catalog search, and publishing your site at a live address.
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