There are many factors to consider when choosing the framework or platform you are going to use to build your micro SaaS product. Solo-founders-programmers who are considering to use WordPress often ask the question: What is the biggest advantage of building a micro SaaS using WP? Answer: You will 100% own and control your platform.
In this episode I look at some objective factors to demonstrate what an advantage this ownership is for an entrepreneur.
Leveraging WordPress as a Development Framework
We have already discussed this in detail in a previous article, but to summarize, here are 3 big advantages to using WP:
- #1 – Robust, Flexible, Reliable Tech-Stack
- #2 – Benefits of Open-Source
- #3 – The Gigantic WP Ecosystem = Thousands of plugins / themes / consultants / companies generating $600 billion
But when you talk to successful solo-founders / solo-programmers, they will often reply that the number one thing they value the most is ownership and control – both of their online products and businesses, as well as their time and attention.
So does WordPress offer this advantage? Yes it does!
To demonstrate how WP enables this ownership, let’s look at 4 factors we can use to evaluate this objectively:
- Startup-ability
- Scalability
- Sustainability
- Sale-ability
Startup-ability
By startup-ability I mean the difficulty level of getting a microSaaS project up and running as a bootstrapped startup.
- With 100% control, you can run your SaaS virtually anywhere (shared, server, VPS, cloud)
- Theoretically the lowest possible startup costs (mostly hosting)
- Contrast with bubble.io (hundreds $/month)
Scalability
This relates to the number of users you will have, the amount of content/data stored, the number of visitors, etc.
- With lower recurring costs, WP allows you to keep scaled down and still be profitable
- Also allows you to easily scale up with cloud servers
- WP is demonstrated to be able to handle incredibly large projects (wordpress.com)
Sustainability
This means the long term stability of the product / business you are creating. The main thing you need to watch is risk caused by your development choices. WordPress offers a huge advanatge in that you control everything and can move the entire system to any server or system.
- Reduced risk from the platform (like bubble.io) from:going out of business
- flagging your usage, users, content
- raising prices
Sale-ability
Even though we are focusing most of our energy at developing long-term, sustainable, micro-scaled businesses, we also should look at possible end-games. One of the rip-cords you can pull is the sale of your microSaaS. Developing it in WordPress gives you some real advantages.
- You own a tangible propertyyour configurations
- your custom plugin code
- your domain and intellectual property
- You can easily backup, export everything
Thanks for exploring this ownership topic with me. If you are interested on keeping up with more info and how-tos about building products, such as microSaaS, please sign-up for the Free Subscription to the newsletter.
For those of you who commute and want a podcast version of this show, below is the audio version.
We are exploring what it means to be a creative solo-programmer / solo-founder, and how to harness the power of WordPress by developing our own custom plugins. Plugins can be stand-alone products, all the way to the core of a micro SaaS, WaaS, or even XaaS bootstrapped business. Along the way we will learn how to code in PHP, JavaScript, and leverage the cool functions and hooks and libraries that come with the WordPress framework. The potential for creating new experiences and value for users is limited only by our creativity. Hosted by Jamie Robe, solo-founder of PluggedIntoProgramming.com
There are many factors to consider when choosing the framework or platform you are going to use to build your microSaaS product. Solo-founders-programmers who are considering to use WordPress often ask the question: What is the biggest advantage of building a microSaaS using WP? Answer: You will 100% own and control your platform.
In this episode I look at some objective factors to demonstrate what an advantage this ownership is for an entrepreneur.
If you are interested in learning more and WordPress, plugins programming, and microSaaS, join us at wpPluginCollege.com
Leveraging WordPress as a Development Framework
We have already discussed this in detail in a previous article, but to summarize, here are 3 big advantages to using WP:
- #1 – Robust, Flexible, Reliable Tech-Stack
- #2 – Benefits of Open-Source
- #3 – The Gigantic WP Ecosystem = Thousands of plugins / themes / consultants / companies generating $600 billion
But when you talk to successful solo-founders / solo-programmers, they will often reply that the number one thing they value the most is ownership and control – both of their online products and businesses, as well as their time and attention.
So does WordPress offer this advantage? Yes it does!
To demonstrate how WP enables this ownership, let’s look at 4 factors we can use to evaluate this objectively:
- Startup-ability
- Scalability
- Sustainability
- Sale-ability
Startup-ability
By startup-ability I mean the difficulty level of getting a microSaaS project up and running as a bootstrapped startup.
- With 100% control, you can run your SaaS virtually anywhere (shared, server, VPS, cloud)
- Theoretically the lowest possible startup costs (mostly hosting)
- Contrast with bubble.io (hundreds $/month)
Scalability
This relates to the number of users you will have, the amount of content/data stored, the number of visitors, etc.
- With lower recurring costs, WP allows you to keep scaled down and still be profitable
- Also allows you to easily scale up with cloud servers
- WP is demonstrated to be able to handle incredibly large projects (wordpress.com)
Sustainability
This means the long term stability of the product / business you are creating. The main thing you need to watch is risk caused by your development choices. WordPress offers a huge advanatge in that you control everything and can move the entire system to any server or system.
- Reduced risk from the platform (like bubble.io) from:going out of business
- flagging your usage, users, content
- raising prices
Sale-ability
Even though we are focusing most of our energy at developing long-term, sustainable, micro-scaled businesses, we also should look at possible end-games. One of the rip-cords you can pull is the sale of your microSaaS. Developing it in WordPress gives you some real advantages.
- You own a tangible propertyyour configurations
- your custom plugin code
- your domain and intellectual property
- You can easily backup, export everything
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Plugged Into Programming ( s1e8 ). I would love to get your comments and questions below. Thanks for participating – Jamie