I Made My First $19 Selling My SaaS — Without Product Hunt or Ads

Getting your first paying customer feels different.

It’s not about the amount.
It’s about proof.

A real person looked at what you built and decided it was worth paying for.

This is the story of how I made my first $19 selling Solo Launches, without Product Hunt, paid ads, or a big audience.

Just manual effort and distribution.

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What I Was Building

I’m building Solo Launches — a platform that helps early-stage SaaS founders get visibility, impressions, and clicks without spending money on ads or doing weeks of outreach.

Founders can submit their product for free, and if they want extra visibility, they can purchase a featured spot that highlights their SaaS across the platform.

You can check it out here: https://sololaunches.com

The idea came from a simple problem:

Building a product is hard.
Getting people to see it is harder.

I didn’t want to wait months polishing features before knowing if anyone would pay.

So I decided to sell early.

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The $19 Sale That Changed Everything

When I got the payment notification, I was in the gym and paused for a second.

Not because $19 is a lot of money —
but because it meant someone paid for a featured spot on a product I had just launched.

That single sale flipped my mindset from:

“I’m building something”

to:

“I’m running a business.”

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What Actually Worked (Step by Step)

I didn’t do anything fancy.

No growth hacks.
No viral loops.
No automation.

Here’s exactly what I did.

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Step 1: I Listed My SaaS on Launch Platforms

I submitted Solo Launches to a few launch platforms.

Not for traffic — but for context.

Being listed gave me:

• A public page to point people to
• Social proof that the product exists
• A reason to reach out without sounding random

This step made everything else easier.

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Step 2: I Found Startups That Were Already Launching

Instead of emailing random founders, I looked for startups that were:

• Recently launched
• Actively promoting
• Clearly early-stage

These founders already cared about visibility.

That made the conversation relevant.

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Step 3: I Sent Short, Honest Cold Emails

No long templates.
No fake personalization.

Just:

• Who I am
• What I’m building
• Why I thought it could help them
• A simple offer: a featured spot to get more visibility during their launch phase

No pressure.

Some didn’t reply.
Some said no.

One said yes.

That’s all it takes.

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Why This Worked

Looking back, a few things mattered:

• I didn’t wait for permission (Product Hunt, big launches, approval)
• I sold before scaling
• I focused on distribution, not features
• I talked to humans, not metrics

One real conversation beat a thousand impressions.

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What I’ll Do Next

Now that I know founders are willing to pay for visibility:

• I’ll repeat this process
• Improve the featured spot offering
• Build inbound traffic alongside outbound
• Keep selling while building

The goal isn’t to go viral.

The goal is to build something people actually want.

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Final Thought

If you’re building a SaaS and waiting for the “perfect launch” — don’t.

Sell early.
Talk to people.
Get rejected.
Get your first small win.

That first $19 featured spot mattered more than you think.

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If you’re launching a SaaS and want early visibility without ads or hype, you can submit your product on https://sololaunches.com.

I’m documenting everything I learn while building Solo Launches — the wins, the mistakes, and the boring parts nobody talks about.