This email is a continuation of the previous one. You can read it by clicking here

I'm writing this email, sitting on my grandparents' old sofa, in a small village in Portugal.

And it's like very very hot outside.

I use to come here since I was a kid. Even before all this entrepreneur journey. And I have some great memories.

I even remember learning some PHP here. On my old computer.

I didn't have internet so I had to download all the pages with tutorials before 😂

What's going on?

Vacation 🌞

I needed some time so I visited my family in Portugal. And I'll stay for 2 weeks.

I'll stay a week with my grandparents (they are near Lisbon) and then go to the north to visit my other grandparents (near Porto).

I think I needed it. But as a business owner, you can't really stop working. So I told myself I'd only do what's necessary.

It means managing my team, fixing issues, and doing important calls. But I'll not do what can wait.

And that's important too. If you're building a business it's usually to be able to take time off when you want to. So use that privilege!

I'll keep tweeting. But if I take time to comment or reply to the DMs don't worry!

Shopify Unite London is in 1 month 🕺

I have to tell you a secret. The best opportunities I've had in my life were when I attended live events.

You can meet incredible people. Sometimes people you wouldn't be able to talk to!

It will boost your energy because you are surrounded by success. Trust me. I always try to go to events because they can change your life.

You can watch a video tomorrow if you don't want to do it today. You can read a book next week if you don't want to do it now.

But the problem with live events is that they happen once and never come back. The talks, the people, the opportunities. They are all unique!

Now I know some people couldn't take their tickets for Unite but don't worry, some people even created non-official events that you can attend!

And they are also great for learning or networking.

I wrote my best tweet

When I say "my best tweet" I mean the tweet that was the most liked.

I share my ideal process for learning marketing as a developer. I know this is the biggest pain point.

Developers know how to build a product but don't know its most important part: How to sell it.

And trust me, if you can't sell, you can't make money. And your product here doesn't matter.

You won't make money if you're the best developer with poor marketing skills.

But you'll be rich if you're an average developer with excellent marketing skills.

In this tweet I share these steps:

• Learn what is the MVP process

• Learn what is the AARRR framework

• Read the book "Lean Startup" by Eric Ries

• Read the book "Zero To Sold" by Arvid Khal

• Pick a niche you want to help and learn everything about it

• Read the book "The Unfair Advantages" by Ash Ali and Hasan

• Read Dotcom Secrets and Expert Secrets by Russel Brunson

• Start doing

It's a process that can take you less than 1 month.

And believe me. You'll be better at marketing than 95% of other developers if you learn all that!

Yes, it's simple as that. But the hardest part was to find what resources you had to learn.

I'm not saying you'll be a beast at marketing and that you'll make millions. I'm just telling you you'll have enough to start your SaaS business!

Or it will even help you sell yourself if you want to find a new job!

Wins of the week

$31,000 MRR

$31,000 MRR for WideBundle and WideReview combined! Here we are! 🥳

We're going for $41,666 MRR ($500,000 per year).

We have a lot of things planned to reach that goal!

And I can't wait until the end of 2022 to let you know how our plan went.

Because if you remember, in January 2022 I set up a goal, with a 5-step plan and I broke down each step into multiple steps.

Even if I'm all about transparency, I have to wait to explain this one!

800 subscribers to the newsletter

The goal was to reach 1000 subscribers by the end of 2022...

And I set up that goal even before creating this newsletter!

And look where we are now! I'm super happy! Thank you all for reading this newsletter!

9000 followers on Twitter

Another goal that I had was 10,000 followers by the end of 2022. And we are already 9600!

We're early! And I'm very happy to see that many people follow my content!

I mean, when you have a lot of people who read what you write, you must deliver good content!

That's how I see it, so it motivates me to do more!

Tutorial of the week

I shared the roadmap to learning marketing as a developer and have already written a tutorial in the newsletter for the framework AARRR.

So I think I should talk about how I use the "MVP method" to start a new SaaS business.

One of the biggest mistakes developers to when starting a SaaS business is thinking that the app has to be "perfect" before releasing it to the public.

It's usually because:

• You're afraid people won't like your product

• You're afraid of dealing with "real" people so you prefer to stay alone

And these are legitimate thoughts. No worries. We all go through these.

But what you have to understand is that:

People are not interested in your product. They are interested in their problem being solved. If you find a real problem that people face. Even if your product isn't perfect. Even if your product doesn't exist yet, it's ok!

Because if they have a problem, they need to hear that someone will solve it. And that's enough.

They'll encourage you. They'll help you build your product. They will find the bugs for you. They will even tell you the features they want.

The second thing you have to understand is that the definition of "perfect" is different for everyone. What you think is "perfect" might not be perfect for your users.

And who knows best what is perfect?

Your potential user dealing with the problem every day who tried every possible solution? Or you, with a vague idea of what they want?

MVP = Minimum Viable Product

Now you know that people with problems want to know that someone is working on a fix even if the product doesn't exist yet.

So you want to give them the first version as fast as possible!

For multiple reasons:

• They will help you determine what features they want so you don't have to think about it

• They will find the bugs for you

• You'll start to get users early in your journey.

• You won't build features users don't need so you will save time

How to build an MVP?

Usually, the problem is that you don't know what an MVP is, what features to add, etc.

MVP means minimum viable product. It means the first version of your products with features that provide value to the user.

Think about the different features and ask yourself: Do I really need this to give value to the user?

Sometimes, a feature gives value but is unnecessary because you would have enough value even without it.

I build my MVP based on the answers from early users. I talk to them and try to understand what features they all want.

The features they all want are usually those that need to be here for them to use your app.

And remember something, never assume you're right! For your MVP, validate it with users before working on it!

That's it for this week!

I'll rest a little bit as I'm on vacation!

Thanks for reading!

See you next week,

Mat 😁