We built the "Excel of Finance Apps," but the growth isn't there. Next move?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46608663

by caoxhua • 6 months ago

2 8 6 months ago

news.ycombinator.com

Our platform is arguably the most flexible finance tracker on the market. It allows users to build complex models and insights purely through data points and formulas. From a product standpoint, we’ve hit our vision.

But the business reality is a different story. Three years later, the MRR isn't even enough to cover a single developer's cost of living. I’m constantly caught in a loop between "this is too good to give up" and "this isn't a viable business."

I’m torn between pushing forward and calling it quits. If you had a technically superior product that wasn't converting into a sustainable business after 3 years, what would your "red line" be?

blinkbat• 6 months ago

have you identified parts of your business that might be costing you users as opposed to if the product was freeware?

caoxhua4• 6 months ago

There are some big parts identified for this case, and because it is dependency of 3rd party service, we can not do much about it.

But more importantly, I think it is the product itself, the market is probably does not appreciate that much of "customization / personalization" as I thought, in other words, we are probably haven't figured out the best path to get the ideal users yet.

In the other side, free users do not have this issue. We do have free tier which counts for 1/3 of all active users.

takkatakka2• 6 months ago

Do you have product market fit, and just need to do more marketing? If so, I would keep going. Otherwise, I'd probably be a bit burnt out after 3 years of no PMF.

caoxhua4• 6 months ago

How do you tell product market fit? we have about ~1K paid users, people constantly send positive praises, but also many people churned away.

I doubt if "bootstrap" is the right way for this type of product/market.

The famous PMF survey (how do you feel if you can no longer use this), %50.8 responds with "very disappointed". And I deeply know this product is pretty unique offering in "finance tracking" market.

But the MRR stays in this level for 6 months now. I feel I do not have ideas to break it through.

takkatakka2• 6 months ago

Sounds like you certainly found a market. Do you have any estimates on how big that market is, and thus how much of the market you have captured?

And then from there, figuring out what the rest of the market is using, and why.

mmarian• 6 months ago

If I was in that position, I'd probably give up. 3 years is a huge opportunity cost of not working on something more successful.

caoxhua4• 6 months ago

yeah, opportunity cost is huge.

We built the "Excel of Finance Apps," but the growth isn't there. Next move?

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