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Ask HN: If you only needed 200 customers at$49, how would you approach it?

9 points by OmKadam ago | 10 comments

Hi HN,

I’m not trying to build a unicorn or a scalable SaaS.

I’m offering a highly personalized, manual service priced at $49. My goal is very specific and limited:

Get exactly 200 paying customers. Not 2,000. Not VC-scale. Just 200.

Once I hit that, I’m happy.

Given this constraint: • What distribution channels make the most sense when volume is small but personalization is high? • Would you bias toward 1:1 outreach, niche communities, or something else entirely? • If you were optimizing for speed to first 200 sales, what would you avoid doing?

I’m intentionally keeping the scope small and realistic and would love advice from people who’ve done similar “small but profitable” launches.

Thanks — and happy to share results back.

muzani |next [-]

A specialized POS-inventory-CRM system for an offline store. Pick something - coffee, babysitting, barbers, massage parlors, sushi restaurants.

POS first because everyone has to record money. The value proposition is theft prevention, bookkeeping & taxes, etc. Inventory next because supply chains are too complex for most generic systems. Then some kind of customer retention/acquisition thing so they don't feel like it's a cost center.

The market is too red ocean for VCs to enter. Sales doesn't scale exponentially. That's your moat. I would say just tackle one American sized state, not even the big ones.

Users won't come to you. They'd go to whatever well known system is in your area. You have to go to them. Skip the online ads, TikTok, etc.

yellow_lead |next |previous [-]

You mean $200/mo. right?

I think you should avoid casting a wide net, i.e untargeted ads. Post or contribute to niche communities, reach out 1:1, ask friends for leads. If none of this works, you could try highly targeted ads.

OmKadam |root |parent [-]

Thanks for the detailed advice, Not $200/Mo, Just need 200 one time paying users $49 per user, for my digital service [Turn your Face into 60+ animated doodles and get attention improve CTR]

satvikpendem |next |previous [-]

This depends entirely on your product and niche, we don't know that.

OmKadam |root |parent [-]

Its not a SaaS or monthly subscription product simply it is a one time [$49] fee digital service in which you can convert your face into 60+ animated doodles which will help you get attention on X & improves CTR.

csomar |next |previous [-]

I am working on a SaaS now and the amount of effort required to build a product for 1, 200 or 2.000 persons is roughly the same. There isn't 200 persons out of 20.000 who will accept a sub-par product and pay for it. However, once you get a few people paying for it, there are already more who you just need to discover.

Instead of 200, focus on 5 potential customers only.

senordevnyc |previous [-]

I’m growing a solo SaaS in a tiny niche market. In the last six months I’ve gone from zero to about $200k ARR. My average subscription price is about $250/month.

I’m not sure it’d work for your price point, but I’m running Meta ads, and then having leads schedule a call with me (no public pricing). I close them on the call (they give me their CC to start a trial). That’s worked well, though I do want to move towards a self-serve model over time.

OmKadam |root |parent |next [-]

Thank you so much mate you inspire me a lot for the day, can i know about your conversion rate ad add budget.

senordevnyc |root |parent [-]

$25 / day. I could scale and optimize the ads more, but the calls are the bottleneck right now

pighive |root |parent |previous [-]

Curious, what is your product?