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Business cards Saas Success story: 0 to $25K MRR
22 June 2024
$25KMRR
SaasCategory
SubscriptionsBusiness Model
ShopifyWeb built on
Web wrapperMobile apps
Wave Connect
Wave Connect
MRR$25K
CategorySaas
Business ModelSubscriptions
Web built onShopify
Mobile appsWeb wrapper
All our content is created manually, without using AI to write it (we use it rarely only for grammar corrections). In an era of exponentially increasing useless information, we will stand out by creating high-quality and valuable knowledge
đĄ How do you come up with an idea?
It was an oportunistic time, during covid fiasco, that was December of 22, when the idea came up. Iâm from the bank industry and in this industry when you tipically go to events itâs very oldschool in terms of how you connect with people. Like âHey itâs my paper card save it!â. And I was like Why we are still doing this? The world transforming to digital, so I saw an opportunity
George El-HageFounder
At this point nfc cards also hiped, mostly by new features from apple, so it was a great opportunity
đ€ How you decided to quit your job and go for this business?
I think it was a mix of Nature and nurture, because both of my parents are entrepreneurs, so that kind brushed up on me a little bit. I saw them taking action and taking charge of their life. At that time my mom had magazine business and dad had shipping company. And then also the exsposure I got with a lot of people, especially entrepreneurs. Likely I was able to meet a lot of them and they inspired me quite a lot. The fact that they can do their own thing.
George El-HageFounder
I also wasnât feel this decision as a failure, because I could easily return back to 9-5, so why not to try?
I wanted some challenge in life at that moment, so it was a perfect desicion for me
Because you know, starting a company is Marketing, sales, product, Team building y etc. So itâs a lot of different places where you can learn and as long as I learn, progressing, I think thatâs what is most important to me. Itâs not about job itself, but about how I can become a better me
George El-HageFounder
đ„” What was your biggest challenge getting from 0 to 1?
George: I think the biggest challenge was a safety net, like if Iâm going to do that what is my backup plan. We all need to survive pay rent, groceries. So and that what I actually did, came back to Canada to my grandparentâs couch initially until I can build a safety net. I would say if you could live for 6 months off your savings by paying every single one of your expenses - then youâre somewhat ready to take that jump to entrepreneurship. Because in the case you donât have revenues for 6 months then you have something to fall back on and if youâre not able to make revenues in this 6 months you should rethink your business
Try to make a business Cash positive from day 1
George El-HageFounder
How you made a first MVP and first revenue?
George: uh, tough question, but you know there a lot of like testing involved. One founder told me that Product Market Fit (PMF) is important, but what more important then this is Product Market Channel (PMC). So you find a channel that works and eventually it could lead to some sort of PMF. There are so many marketplaces available. So for us we launched on Amazon and we saw sales increased by 400-500%. So what we did in a month on Ecom we did in a day on Amazon. But the product is the same, itâs only different channel
And after finding this PMC you will get a insane feedeback loop, understanding what your customer wants and then you can tweak and then get to that product
How do you find that channel?
For example by researching buyer Journey, for your specific product. Also get a different lens and perspective through mentors or friends, who are in the space. The more perspectives you have the more understanding you will get about a channel
About Product
Wave has been bootstrapped from the very beginning. Everything is reinvested back into growing the business.
We had sold thousands of cards in a first 3 months and had broken even on our initial startup costs
When running a bootstrapped startup, it's key to stay as lean as possible
You need to cut out any costs which you could alternatively do inhouse
The more you have in your bottom line the better you can play the game going forward. It is vital to learn how to create content, market yourself organically, manage your ecommerce store and generate leads or you'll drown in expenses.
George El-HageFounder
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