Went from $0 to $1k MRR. If I started my SaaS over, here's exactly what I'd do

After going from $0 to $1K MRR, I've learned that what you focus on matters, but the order you focus on it matters even more.

Here are the 7 steps, in the exact sequence I'd follow if I started over:

1) Solve a recurring painpoint

This is a non-negotiable. My earlier projects solved one-time problems and slowly died. This one solves a problem that comes back every week, which means recurring revenue. If your users can't explain why they're paying in one sentence, it's probably a nice-to-have.

2) Validate your distribution before you build

In the past, I'd build first and figure out how to reach people later. That's backwards. Before writing any code this time, I made sure I could actually reach my target audience. Could I find them? Could I start conversations with them? Did they want my offer? If I couldn't get people to sign up to a waitlist, I knew I wouldn't be able to get them to sign up when I launched.

3) Launch your MVP fast, but don't treat onboarding as an afterthought

Speed matters. I got something in front of real users as fast as possible. But here's what I almost skipped: if your user has to figure out how to get value on their own, they won't. And getting value fast is the whole point of an MVP.

Here's what I did to get users to activate: instead of having the user fill everything on their own, they just enter their product URL and I use AI to pre-fill everything they need to get started.

I also set up email notifications that pull users back into the app when something happens. Because most people will never open your app again unless you give them a reason to come back.

4) Talk to users 1:1 and collect feedback constantly

I talked to everyone. I asked people why they signed up, what confused them, what they expected. I asked people who canceled why they left. Every conversation sharpened my product, positioning, and messaging in ways no dashboard ever could.

5) Fix churn before scaling acquisition

I learned this the hard way. If users leave as fast as you bring them in, more marketing just means more waste. What worked for me: making the tool more valuable and getting users to experience that value as fast as possible.

6) Find the bottlenecks in your funnel

Once churn was under control, I mapped out where I was losing people:

• visitors → signup
• signup → trial
• trial → paid
• paid → retained

I didn't try to fix everything at once. I found the biggest drop-off and fixed that first, then moved to the next one. You don't need world-class metrics at every stage, you just need to get to average for a pre-PMF SaaS.

7) Stack marketing channels, but systematize what already works first

I started with just cold outreach. Only once my funnel was healthy did I start stacking more. And I didn't abandon what was already working, I built a repeatable daily system around it so it kept running while I layered on the next thing.

New channels on top of a broken funnel = wasted effort.

New channels on top of a working funnel = compounding growth.

This is the exact sequence I followed. Every step builds on the one before it. Skip a step and the ones after it break.

If you want to see proof and the actual timeline of $0 to $1k MRR, you can see it here.

Happy to answer any questions or go deeper on any of these!