This is an email response I wrote for someone who was in a similar situation as me last year, and wanted some advice.

Appreciate you reaching out. Man, I got so much to say about this...

I think the biggest learning for me was that I really only wanted SaaS because it's "SaaS". SaaS, in my head, seemed "better" than other businesses and business models because that's what the startup media had made me think.

But it's actually not "better". What's better is what's better for you. And by you, I mean bootstrapped founder. And by you, what unique qualities about YOU can you take advantage of to build the best business for YOU.

For me, that makes more sense. I'm not cut out to build a B2B SaaS app. I suck at sales, my code is sloppy, I'm too focused on features, and I think like a nerdy engineer... Starter Story is the way better business for ME because I can have way more fun, have a bit of sloppy code, and I don't have to do any sales or support.

There are lots of interesting business models that aren't SaaS. Like, for example, The New York Times. That's a media business that sells a subscription. They make money on ads + subscription. There's a lot of hype about building a media business and I have really bought into that hype train.

Everything is changing, too. Online communities, selling courses, all that's becoming way more mainstream (and more valuable) and I see so many people making 1M/year+ or even more NOT doing a SaaS.

So, I think there is HUGE opportunity for something like [REDACTED]. Because the market is quite big. Just some things that come to mind: [REDACTED] or like this [REDACTED].

I don't know too much about [REDACTED] but it sounds like you landed on something big!

If you enjoyed working on it, I'd explore more and at least try some more stuff. When I did that at Starter Story, I uncovered so much more.