SaaS Dialogue 3: How float.so made $3.000 before even launching
Can you tell us a little bit about Float and why are you building it together?
So Float is a tool that converts Notion docs into interactive, sellable courses. Blake and I are both into teaching and we both love Notion, so it made sense that we would end up working on this :)
Float.so Factsheet:
What is Float.so and what's the value you provide?
Float is really designed for people who want to make money selling courses but also love the flexibility of Notion. It's a small subset of people, but we really think Float will be the fastest way for Notion lovers to monetize their content.
You both work for copy.ai. Why did you decide to work on your own side-project as well?
The founders of CopyAI, Chris Lu and Paul Yacoubian, are very supportive of our side projects and actively encourage us to work on them.
How did you get the idea for float.so?
Blake came up with it! He knew I had built and sold another Notion-based app (Potion Pages) so we partnered up.
You already got over 900 sign ups and a few paying customers before you even launched. Could you tell us about your marketing efforts so far, and do you feel SaaS builders underestimate the relevance of marketing?
Blake has built up a sizable Twitter following (15K strong) that is very engaged with his content. So far our marketing efforts have only been on Twitter and word of mouth, but we are planning to expand into other channels after we've polished the product more.
What motivated you to work together?
I like working with people that can handle all the marketing/financial/admin stuff, and I think Blake likes working with someone who can translate his ideas into code.
Zack, Potionpages, a product you previously built, was a no-code page-builder for notion. Does this help with building float.so?
100%. I'm very familiar with the Notion data structures and how to integrate it into applications.
Recently, we interviewed Max Stoiber covering his project “Bedrock” and saw that you are using it for float. How is your experience with Bedrock so far?
Bedrock is pretty amazing - I've tried many boilerplates, and I think I'm going to stick with Bedrock for a while. It's both flexible and super scalable, which I love.
What are the essential skills for a successful entrepreneur?
Persistence and drive are the two most important.
Coming up with the right price is always difficult. How did you overcome the challenge of finding the right price?
Blake and I are fans of consumer-friendly pricing. We like the idea of keeping prices low, even if it means hurting our revenue.
Do you think a great name is important for your product and what makes a great name to you?
Absolutely. I am a huge fan of company names that are one word. A great name is easy to remember and isn't easily confused for other brands.
We built indiebrands because we often had a hard time finding a good name in the past. How did indiebrands help you find the right name for your product?
As soon as I saw float.so listed on Indiebrands, I knew I had to buy it. I didn't even have an idea for Float at the time - I actually wanted to use the domain to build a Webflow ⇒ React conversion tool. It's just great to keep an inventory of company names/domains, even if you don't use them immediately.
Last but not least, what other makers should we talk to?
- Dustin McCaffree (@terribledustin on Twitter)
- Bereket (@heybereket on Twitter)
Thank you for the time! Be sure to check out their product: Float.so
