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I launched my first ever SaaS startup a month ago and I have already made 0 dollars š„³
r/SaaS
7/21/2025
Content Summary
A first-year college student launched Instaport.io, a SaaS that auto-generates and auto-updates personal portfolios by pulling data from LinkedIn and GitHub. Inspired by wanting to modernize MIT professor Hal Abelsonās outdated portfolio, the creator shipped the product in one month but has earned $0 so far. The community applauds the shipping milestone, offers positioning advice (target developers/professors, clarify value prop, add free tier), and shares growth tactics (niche subreddits, storytelling, cold outreach). Common consensus: building is step oneādistribution and clear pain-point messaging are what unlock revenue.
Opinion Analysis
Mainstream view: Shipping any usable SaaS while still in college is already a win; revenue takes time and iteration. Supporters emphasize the clever auto-update feature and inspirational origin story. Skeptics question whether outdated portfolios are a painful enough problem and whether the messaging is clear. A vocal minority jokes about the subredditās frequent ā$10k MRRā claims, while experienced founders stress that real growth comes from pre-sales customer discovery, B2B focus, and relentless distribution rather than pure building. Overall sentiment is encouraging but pragmatic: keep iterating, talk to users, and treat $0 as the starting line, not the end.
SAAS TOOLS
| SaaS | URL | Category | Features/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instaport.io | https://instaport.io | Portfolio/Resume Builder | Auto-updating portfolio from LinkedIn/GitHub, design templates, no-code |
| Hello.cv | http://hello.cv | Resume-to-Website | Converts resume data into personal website |
| GoAgentic | https://goagentic.com | AI Agents | Not detailed |
| Hello, World! | https://hw.glich.co/ | Newsletter/Content | 25k subscribers, not yet monetized |
| Carrd | (mentioned) | Landing Page Builder | For A/B testing copy |
| Hotjar | (mentioned) | UX Analytics | Session recordings, drop-off analysis |
| Pulse for Reddit | (mentioned) | Social Listening | Spot niche threads |
| QR code platform (WaleedNas) | (not disclosed) | QR/Link Management | Dynamic codes, analytics, smart pages |
USER NEEDS
Pain Points:
- Manual updating of LinkedIn & CV/portfolio is tedious
- Portfolios quickly become outdated
- Developers & creatives dislike maintaining personal sites
- Lack of design skills to build attractive portfolios
- No clear, urgent motivation to pay for yet another site builder
Problems to Solve:
- Automatically keep portfolio/CV in sync with LinkedIn/GitHub
- Reduce time spent on personal branding
- Provide polished, professional online presence without design effort
- Stand out to recruiters/clients with minimal ongoing work
Potential Solutions:
- Offer free tier to seed usage & testimonials
- Create niche landing pages (devs, designers, researchers, indie-hackers)
- Use storytelling ("built for Hal Abelson") for viral marketing
- Provide live sandbox/demo profiles for instant value demonstration
- Cold outreach to job-seekers & bad-portfolio owners
GROWTH FACTORS
Effective Strategies:
- Focus on B2B niches with ā„$1k MRR potential or value-based pricing floor
- Validate willingness to pay before building (customer discovery calls)
- Pretend to be contractors: say yes to whatever someone will pay for, then morph product accordingly
- Share build-in-public journey on Instagram/Twitter for organic reach
Marketing & Acquisition:
- Post in niche subreddits (r/SideProject, r/InternetIsBeautiful, r/UXDesign)
- Publish "How I built this for [famous person]" posts with screenshots
- Use LinkedIn outreach to job-seeker communities & recruiters
- Roast CVs publicly then offer tool as subtle upsell
- Run small PPC experiments on Google search for portfolio-related keywords
Monetization & Product:
- Usage-first, monetize-later: custom domains, analytics, premium layouts
- Free tier to drive adoption & social proof, then upsell paid upgrades
- Keep product simple; avoid over-engineering integrations early on
- A/B test one-liner value props above the fold (e.g., "Auto-sync LinkedIn & GitHub into a clean portfolio in 30 seconds")
User Engagement:
- Provide editable sandbox profiles for immediate hands-on experience
- Encourage early users to share portfolio links & screenshots for testimonials
- Build in public to create community of fellow builders and supporters