When starting your own business as a solopreneur, indie hacker, or solo affiliate, success stories can be a great source of inspiration. Luca Restagno is a solo entrepreneur who has made a name for himself in the Twitter tech and indie hackers community by building and selling four Software as a Service (SaaS) products since 2021. His latest achievement is the sale of Userdesk, an AI Chatbot platform.
In this article, we'll explore Restagno's journey, including the stories behind his SaaS tools, the lessons he learned, and the key factors that contributed to his success.
Luca Restagno
Getting started
Restagno's entrepreneurial journey began in 2019 when he started working on Iterspace, a software as a service (SaaS) product with a former colleague who was a design expert. While working full-time as a team lead and senior software engineer, Restagno used his spare time (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when commuting was reduced) to develop Iterspace.
The primary goal of Iterspace was to provide a centralized space for designers, developers, and stakeholders to collaborate on design projects seamlessly. The platform offered a range of features and tools designed to enhance the design feedback process, improve version control, and facilitate efficient collaboration.
While Iterspace garnered attention and positive feedback from users, it faced challenges in generating revenue. Despite the lack of revenue, Restagno and his co-founder recognized the potential of their product and decided to sell Iterspace. This decision was driven by their differing goals and priorities, as Restagno aimed to make a living from his entrepreneurial projects while his co-founder had alternative aspirations.
In early 2021, they promoted the product on Product Hunt, gaining some attention with 70 upvotes. This caught the attention of Giulio Michelon, who eventually connected Restagno and his co-founder with the buyer of Iterspace.
Lesson learned from the first exit
The sale of Iterspace marked a huge milestone for Restagno, providing him with valuable insights and lessons for his future projects.
- Setting clear goals and expectations:
The experience highlighted the importance of aligning goals and expectations with co-founders right from the beginning even when a product is not yet generating enough revenue.
- Issues with handing over the SaaS to the buyer:
Restagno's first exit came with its own challenges, particularly during the hand-off of the product. Since Restagno had created all the cloud resources on AWS using his personal account, transferring them to the buyer's account was a difficult process. The buyer had to recreate the entire infrastructure using their own AWS account, which took up valuable time. Learning from this experience, Restagno changed his approach for future SaaS projects. He started creating dedicated email accounts for each project, simplifying the hand-off process to just sharing credentials with the buyer.
Building more SaaS tools
Restagno's entrepreneurial spirit led him to explore opportunities within the Twitter ecosystem. In 2021, he became an active user on the platform and noticed challenges related to managing direct messages (DMs). This insight inspired him to create 2 Twitter-related products, Hivoe and Inboxs.
Hivoe was designed to simplify and streamline the process of managing DMs on Twitter. It offered features that allowed users to organize their messages, mark them as read or unread, and easily search through their DM history.
Inboxs, on the other hand, was another product aimed at enhancing the DM experience on Twitter. It provided additional features such as automated responses, message templates, and analytics to help users better understand their DM interactions. Inboxs was particularly useful for businesses and influencers who received a high volume of DMs and needed tools to manage and engage with their audience effectively.
Both Hivoe and Inboxs gained traction and achieved a combined monthly recurring revenue of $4,000. However, the success was short-lived due to a sudden change in Twitter's API pricing. Twitter introduced new fees, making it financially unfeasible for Restagno to continue operating these products. As a result, he made the decision to sell Hivoe and Inboxs to HypeFury.
Lesson learned: Managing risk
The experience with Hivoe and Inboxs taught Restagno an important lesson about platform risk. Relying heavily on a single platform like Twitter can be risky because changes in the platform's policies or pricing can significantly impact the viability of a business.
This highlights the need for entrepreneurs to diversify their products and minimize dependence on a single platform for sustainability. A similar case recently happened to SaaS entrepreneurs who were depending on OpenAI’s API for their AI wrapper software. The majority of them went out of business when OpenAI increased their pricing. So it's important to always diversify your products.
The 4th project — Userdesk
After the downfall of Hivoe and Inboxs, Luca Restagno started working on Userdesk in early 2023, inspired by the widespread excitement around AI chatbots. During that time, AI technology was incredibly hyped, and as a SaaS owner, Restagno recognized the immense value it could bring, particularly in customer support.
Userdesk was designed as a platform that allowed users to train their own AI chatbots using their website and other sources. The idea was to empower businesses with the ability to embed these AI chatbots on their websites, creating a powerful tool for customer support.
Restagno decided to pre-launch Userdesk with an appealing $69-lifetime deal, and the response seemed promising. Within 24 hours, 20 licenses were sold, which initially felt like validation for the product. However, when Userdesk was publicly launched a month later, only a small percentage of the presale users signed up and used it.
Restagno was puzzled by this outcome. He realized that his existing reputation on Twitter had led to impulsive purchases from followers who appreciated his work. While this was positive, it also resulted in misleading validation results. Additionally, Userdesk's positioning was unclear, as it didn't specifically target a particular niche.
Despite of the fact that the product was generating $1,100 MRR Restagno struggled to define the target audience. This also affected his ability to write effective landing page copy and create relevant content for the website’s blog.
Lesson learned: The importance of positioning and founder-product fit
The lesson Restagno learned from the Userdesk experience was that founder-product fit matters much more than he had initially expected. It's essential for a founder to have a strong alignment with the product they are creating, as it affects their ability to understand their target audience, effectively position the product, and drive its success. Additionally, increased competition in the AI chatbot space highlighted the need for clear differentiation and positioning.
Restagno also realized the significance of founder-product fit. Despite his strong reputation and a growing Twitter following, there was little overlap between his audience and Userdesk's target market. This meant more effort was required to acquire new clients, leading Restagno to reevaluate his priorities and focus on projects that aligned better with his expertise and values.
The Success of Shipped.club
After the inconsistency of Userdesk in December 2023, Restagno launched Shipped.club, a Next.js SaaS Boilerplate. It was designed specifically to help developers and people who wanted to start their own businesses in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry. The goal of Shipped.club was to give them a solid starting point for their projects, making it easier for them to get things up and running.
Shipped.com has so far generated him $20,000 in license sales within the last 4 months. The reason Shipped.club is doing so well is that Restagno deeply understood the developer community and their needs. He had a lot of knowledge and experience in that field, which helped him create a product that truly resonated with his target audience. Developers and aspiring SaaS entrepreneurs saw the value in Shipped.club and were eager to use it.
It's crucial for a founder to find a project that matches their expertise, interests, and values. This is what is called founder-product fit. When there is a strong connection between the founder and the product, it increases the chances of creating something valuable and attracting the right customers. Restagno's experience with Userdesk showed him the importance of this alignment, and the success of Shipped.club further emphasized its importance.
Lesson learned: Building in public
From his experience with Userdesk and Shipped.club, Restagno learned the value of building in public and leveraging his personal brand to gain visibility and credibility. By sharing his journey, insights, and expertise on platforms like Twitter and Indie Hackers, Restagno was able to attract an audience that resonated with his products and vision. Building in public also allowed him to receive valuable feedback, iterate on his ideas, and create products that met the specific needs of his target users.
Selling Userdesk
Despite the challenges faced with Userdesk, Restagno found success in several aspects of the project. The product's user interface and user experience stood out among competitors, with many users praising it as the best they had encountered. This achievement was a testament to Restagno's skills as a software engineer and his dedication to crafting intuitive and visually appealing products.
Additionally, Userdesk managed to generate $1.1k MRR within 12 months, largely due to its presence on AI directories and the domain authority gained from a handful of well-written blog posts. The product's pricing strategy, with plans starting at $19 per month and attracting enterprise customers at $500 per month, contributed to its rapid MRR growth.
Restagno acknowledged that with more focused marketing efforts, including positioning, content creation, and social media engagement, Userdesk could have achieved even greater success. However, he remained confident in his decision to sell the product and shift his focus to Shipped.club and future SaaS projects that better aligned with his expertise and values.
The legal process of selling a SaaS:
The legal process of selling a SaaS product involves several important steps and agreements to ensure a smooth and secure transaction. In the case of Restagno selling Userdesk, he used the platform Acquire.com to list the product for sale. This platform helped attract approximately 20 interested buyers, resulting in a few offers.
Once a suitable offer was identified, Restagno and the buyer entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI). The LOI prevented Restagno from considering offers from other potential buyers during a specific period known as the due diligence period.
The due diligence period is a crucial phase in the sales process. During this time, the buyer carefully assesses the technical aspects and business model of Userdesk to ensure that the product aligns with their expectations and requirements.
Simultaneously, negotiations on the final price and other terms of the sale continue.
Upon the successful completion of the due diligence process and the agreement on the final terms, Restagno and the buyer proceed to sign an Asset Purchase Agreement (APA). The contract finalized the exchange of Userdesk’s assets, providing a detailed framework for the transaction, including the payment method, the amount to be paid, and the agreed-upon date for the transfer of ownership.
With the signing of the APA, the deal is concluded, and the focus shifts to the actual transfer of assets. This process involves transferring the necessary intellectual property rights, software code, customer data (if applicable), and any other assets associated with Userdesk to the buyer.
Generally, the legal process of selling a SaaS product involves careful negotiation, due diligence, and the signing of legally binding agreements to protect the interests of both the seller and the buyer. Through these steps, Restagno successfully completed the sale of Userdesk and ensured a smooth handover of the assets to the buyer.
Conclusion
Luca Restagno's entrepreneurial journey serves as an inspiring tale of perseverance, adaptability, and continuous learning. Through his experiences with Iterspace, Hivoe, Inboxs, Userdesk, and Shipped.club, Restagno has demonstrated the importance of setting clear goals, mitigating platform risk, positioning products effectively, and aligning projects with personal expertise and values.
By sharing his story, Restagno offers valuable insights and lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs and SaaS owners. His candid reflections on the challenges faced and the strategies employed to overcome them provide a roadmap for others to follow. As Restagno continues to pursue his passion for building and scaling successful SaaS products, his journey remains a testament to the power of resilience, innovation, and the unwavering pursuit of entrepreneurial success.
