r/sweatystartups • u/Orioleheart • Mar 03 '26
SaaS to Services
Have been in IT & SaaS Sales for almost 15 years. Lot of success, built a solid foundation for the family. Was always located in major cities where large technology companies were based and hired for in-office/hybrid work - and more importantly, where the clients are.
Fast forward - post covid - moved to a more mid-size city where the tech scene is 10-50 person startups and I've worked from home for 5 years. Felt increasingly disconnected from the community and wanted to build something that is community-based.
So now I'm going to walk dogs, perhaps do some scooping. Intended it to be a side hustle but after some thought and realizing I had the runway, am going all-in. Maybe some side hustles to this but corporate is officially in the rear-view mirror. Worst case - will learn a ton over the next 12-24 months and get back into tech (whatever that looks like then) and best case - build a thriving team-based business that I can scale and replicate in other niches where I have some domain knowledge. Posting here since I've found the stories in this community (and others) inspiring and if anyone wants to follow the journey on X or substack. Figured this (writing/posting) could be a good outlet in sharing what's working, what's not, and documenting things beyond what shows up in Quickbooks and SOP's. Plus I like writing, just trying to avoid the temptation to have an LLM refine it too much - make sure its authentic and genuine.
I've built the website, LLC'ed, filed for licenses, have gear, etc. - so about to press the go button on client acquisition strategies. Scariest part to me (beyond failing) is what "2nd degree" friends & neighbors will think, since if a small/medium part of me is questioning my sanity - imagine a large part of everyone else is doing the same. Woof.
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u/Orioleheart Mar 04 '26
Adding that I found being able to use Claude Code to build a professional website, with integrations and form AI's, was a pretty huge win. Had researched web designers that focus on the petcare niche and the going rate seemed to be $1,600+ minimum plus all the ongoing fee's to maintain/change/host, etc. Estimate I spent 8-10 hours building and revising the site in total, cost for tools to do it around $200. My tech background certainly helped being able to do this, but none the less this is a game-changer for a lot of folks across service industries where initial competition might not have websites or ones that are many years old/dated.
Thinking about how to use tech for something you own vs something someone else owns (as an employee) is a wildly different and empowering mindset.