Most people start a business because they want to make money. They want to exit the rat race, be their own boss, quit their 9–5, and become a famous, successful businessperson.
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But to be completely honest, that wasn’t my intention when I created my software-as-a-service platform, NexusTrade. I started the app as a personal project when I was a student because I was passionate about the subject. I knew that AI was going to revolutionize how people traded and invested, and I thought that my approach was unique and valuable.
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And yet, one month ago, I decided to monetize my app. I didn’t do it for greed or because I backed down on my principles. This article will be a reflection on my decision to monetize my SaaS platform, and the benefits that monetization has for both myself and the users of my platform.
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For those that know me, they know that I’m a one-man solopreneur army. I work on design, product, software engineering, marketing, and sales, while still working my full-time job as a software engineer.
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Initially, my app was released to the public as completely free and unrestricted. The reason for this was simple, I didn’t create this app to make money. In fact, the first version of my app, NextTrade, is completely open-source, and anybody can go onto my GitHub, download the code, and start doing algorithmic trading.
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However, eventually, I was forced to think about a monetization strategy. As my user base grew, my costs did too, and I ended up paying hundreds of dollars per month just to keep the lights on for this project.
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Additionally, with the free version, I simply couldn’t offer some features to the public. The prime example of this was the genetic optimization engine. This feature uses genetic algorithms to optimize one’s trading strategy based on past historical data.
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This algorithm is extremely computationally expensive. Allowing all of my users to have unrestricted access to it would’ve cost me thousands of dollars. I needed a guard rail that allowed my serious users to use the algorithm but also save my bank account from financial ruin.
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