I think the conclusion I’m drawing here is, there is a bridge between what I can build and what I can sell. I can build B2B software because a lot of open source libraries are there, and I can sell B2C because, as a person, I can naturally just talk about it. Those two don’t align. So I need capital to bridge this gap. Either I make B2B products and run ads, or I pay someone to create a B2C app and just create organic content for it. Capital is the bridge I need right now.
So I also have a philosophy here that either build a common denominator type of shit – like everyone kind of wants it type of thing when it comes to B2C, but if you are making for B2B, make it as dialed down and as niched down as possible.
For B2C, make generic shit like note taking or looks maxing or to-do or addiction quitting stuff like that. For B2B, make really specific things like randomized trial management software for companies that run clinical trials. Really dialing down one can help you run ads, but for organic content, B2C type things, keep the product such that matches the organic audience that you can cultivate via content.
In retrospect, all the things that I’ve written about instant gratification and compressing time to value and effort to value stand true, but the roadblock I’m facing with Rohkun is that of distribution. The channel that I have access to is Instagram reels, and that is not the way to sell Rohkun. I need to run paid ads for it, and that is a capital commitment that I don’t want to do due to other priorities. Maybe with a bit of funding, I can commit to devoting 4-5 more months to Rohkun. But that is beyond the point right now.
This whole operation of creating and trying to sell this code analysis tool has taught me a lot about product development and distribution. And it is also showed me that I am successful at trying to optimize things for cost, and I am decent at generating interest via content also. But the big flaw here was to create something with a complicated user flow and long time to value, because you would need to do at least 7-8 scans to get value out of Rohkun, and not have any access to channels where B2B GTM can be done effectively.
B2C product should be generic at the surface but differentiated under the hood because people are rough around the edges and unique. Tasteful differentiations like that help you hold the guy. For B2B product, you need to niche down enough but it should be boring and generic by design.
B2C needs idea simplicity, and B2B needs usage simplicity.
Well, this is the second instance in recent times where I have been cock-blocked by Money/ Capital. One was a flight ticket, and another one is a SaaS venture. I need to resolve this channel conflict by becoming full stack in either B2B or B2C software. Hopefully B2B by getting funding from someone.
I think the funding question can be solved by showcasing some type of traction even before starting to build.
- Have an idea
- Create some type of landing page
- Run ads for it, but ad costs might be a bit cheaper than an actual app
- Have some type of waitlist
- Collect contacts, talk with them.
- Think about the features properly and then pitch to some investor
I think this is the way that I should go forward with. Instead of paying for Cursor and Kiro for a few months, Research a bit. Use the saved up amount to run ads.
I remember 4-5 months ago, I did some analysis about marketing spend when it comes to software companies. In best-case scenarios, the company will be spending around 50%. I have seen many companies that spend more on sales, marketing, and advertisement than they have in revenue. Those companies literally cannot survive without funding. And I am talking about listed companies here. Forget about the Blitz scaling players. So either be a clown in front of the camera to get some motion for your B2C, or try to play the valuation game because the revenue is never going to be enough in the initial days. And you are going to be dependent on the exit amount. Because even if the customer acquisition costs are greater than revenue, they will always be smaller than whatever the exit amount you are going to get. The exit value of the firm is what makes high customer acquisition costs rational or worth it. That’s why venture capitalists and investors allow people to burn money on marketing because the exit value is going to be more than whatever deficit is going to be from these sales costs. It could have been a problem if the valuation multiple was just like 1.5 or 2x the revenue, but in software as a service companies, we see multiples of like 7 and beyond. And funding also makes you more eligible for exits. So yeah, this whole B2B SaaS thing is a game of funding because that’s how you prop up the sales. And that’s how you justify exit also. Because even if you are losing $1M every year and you get an exit on the 3rd year worth $8M, then you are still up.
This actually makes me detest this whole business model. I am thoroughly a cash-flow guy. I want to give a good product or service and have really good margins. If I am giving you something, you better give me the amount in return that makes me green right now, not in the future. So, I don’t know where that leads me now. Most probably service or info or physical products business.
Or maybe stop looking at Saas at all. Look at lifetime licenses. Just sell the damn thing for a good enough price and walk away! Don’t run a web app, make it completely client-side, and be happy. It’s almost like I have to now figure out how to sell software using a drop shipping funnel, where you are trying to keep your average order value comfortably above your customer acquisition cost and fulfillment cost. Except I won’t have any fulfillment to do.
Maybe this actually enables me to deploy a lot of dropshipping-like tactics. Where interactions are more like one-off, so you really optimize your funnels because hey, you get someone who is cold and you try to sell them something worth high 2 digits or low 3 digits in dollars. I need to figure out how these people are actually able to sell useless junk over the Internet and how I can actually sell some useful software using their tactics. Maybe I will learn more from some nerd geeking out over funnel economics than someone talking about scaling up their saas.
And just like that, I feel everything is clicking again. I used to watch a lot of copywriting and branded drop shipping stuff back in the days. But couldn’t do it because I didn’t want to handle inventory and logistics. Plus minimum order quantity could have been a bitch. This feels refreshingly exciting. Life is amazing, to be honest. Nothing you ever do goes to waste. All those videos from the past might finally be useful now.
I might actually become the drop shipper of open-source softwares duct taped together.
And I won’t even need any complicated payment code. I don’t need anything like Stripe or Dodo Pay. I can just provide a serial key from Gumroad and activate it from my site. That is the only piece of server I will have to authenticate, other than that I don’t even need it. In case they ever lose it, just show me your transaction, I will give you a new key. And maybe once after activation, I can even make the application offline also. Like, once your key is authenticated, I give the green light that app is just sure to run. If you need another key, tell me.
The VCs can keep their SaaS unicorns. We are bringing back the early 2000s era of software, and all of this is because these totally nice people created a business model where non-funded people can’t do anything. But the internet boom also made apps a bit more complicated, as they need to fetch data from APIs constantly. I think we can still have enough wiggle room to create some product that can still be operational. I used few stock trading applications by Indian brokers, or maybe they were white-labeled. It was a desktop application. It would still use API as it would fetch data from the internet. And yeah, they would just tell you to update the application. It’s completely like Rohkun, where I force people to update if they are below certain versions. I believe if the API structure never changed, those apps would just do fine. Even if something changes, they can just update it. So I don’t think SaaS or non-SaaS is a point of impact here. I can still keep the development ongoing even if the license is sold one time only. It’s not like ongoing development and support is a privilege of SaaS only. Maybe it was just me who got tunnel vision because hey, you can even make a browser which is the epitome of accessing the web and APIs, and you can make it a one-time purchase.
You can build a browser, a trading app, a data analysis tool, a code editor – literally ANYTHING – and sell it once.
From Claude
The Key Insight: Dropshipping forces brutal economic discipline. You HAVE to make the math work on the first transaction because there’s often no LTV to bail you out. If your CAC is $40 and your product is $50 with $15 fulfillment costs, you’re looking at razor-thin margins or losses. This forces dropshippers to become absolutely savage at:
- Conversion optimization – Every step of the funnel is measured and A/B tested obsessively
- Creative testing – They’ll run 50+ ad variations to find winners
- Impulse triggers – Scarcity, social proof, urgency done well (or manipulatively)
- AOV optimization – Upsells, bundles, order bumps to get that average order value up
Your Advantage: You have near-zero marginal costs. A dropshipper selling a $100 product might have $30-40 in product+shipping costs. You have maybe $2 in payment processing. This means:
- You can profitably acquire customers at much higher CACs
- Your AOV threshold for profitability is way lower
- You can offer aggressive guarantees/refunds without inventory risk
- You can do upsells/downsells purely in software with no logistics headaches
The dropshipping crowd has figured out how to sell literal garbage profitably because they’ve mastered the economics and psychology of cold traffic conversion. If they can sell a $80 “posture corrector” that costs $8 from Alibaba, you should absolutely be able to sell genuinely useful software for $100-300.
Places to Learn This:
- Look at how people sell Gumroad products, Notion templates, or spreadsheet tools
- Study direct response copywriting (not SaaS marketing blogs)
- Check out the “make money online” space – they’re selling info products using these exact funnels
- YouTube channels about media buying and funnel economics
The SaaS world got you thinking in terms of MRR, LTV:CAC ratios, and venture scale. But there’s a whole parallel universe of people making great cash flow selling one-time software/digital products with dropshipping-style funnels. You just need to figure out what product solves a painful enough problem that someone would impulse-buy it for $100-300.
Lol also love how quickly i adopted to the new paradigm uncovered at start of article after i put that mahoraga wheel.
Why you’ll WANT to keep developing even with one-time sales:
- New customers keep buying: Every improvement makes it easier to sell to NEW people
- Reputation compounds: “This dev actually updates their software” becomes your marketing
- Upsell opportunities: Sell them your NEXT product when you build it
- It’s just good business: Happy customers tell others, negative reviews kill sales
- You own the asset: The better the product, the more valuable your business is
Products that work great offline/locally:
- Creative tools: Image editors, video tools, design apps, audio processors
- Productivity tools: Note-taking, writing apps, markdown editors, browsers, task managers (sync is optional)
- Developer tools: Code formatters, linters, local analyzers, documentation generators
- Data tools: CSV processors, file converters, batch renaming, data cleaners
- Utility apps: PDF tools, screenshot utilities, screen recorders, clipboard managers