It's the Money, Stupid.

The Vanity Trap#

We are obsessed with the wrong numbers.

“I have 10,000 monthly active users.” “I have 1TB of user data.” “My app is viral on Twitter.”

Who cares?

If those 10,000 users aren’t paying you, you don’t have a business. You have a volunteer organization. You are paying for their server costs out of your own pocket to give them free entertainment.

Engineers and makers love to optimize for usage. It feeds the ego. Seeing the graph go up feels good. But unless that graph is MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue), it is a vanity metric.

Convenience vs. Value#

There is a harsh truth about what people pay for.

People rarely pay for “nice to have.” They rarely pay for simple convenience if they can do it themselves for free. And they definitely struggle to pay for “fun” unless you are Disney or Netflix.

Building a “cool” app that organizes your bookmarks? Hard to sell. Building a “fun” social network for pets? Impossible to sell.

These are Vitamins. They are nice to take, but you won’t die without them.

The ROI Equation#

Real money is made by Painkillers.

The software that generates revenue is the software that generates revenue for its users.

If your software costs $50/month but saves a company $5,000/month in manual labor, it is a no-brainer. If your software helps a freelancer land one extra client worth $500, they will happily pay you $20.

This is why “boring” B2B SaaS often makes millions while “revolutionary” consumer apps go bankrupt. The B2B tool has a clear ROI. The consumer app relies on the fickle attention of users who expect everything for free.

Execution is not enough, Value is key#

We often hear “Execution is everything.” I’ve said it myself. But execution in the wrong direction is just running faster toward a cliff.

You can execute a “Cat Photo Sharing App” perfectly. You can have the cleanest code, the fastest load times, and the most beautiful UI. You will still make $0.

Because you are not creating monetary value.

Conclusion#

Stop asking “Will users like this?” Start asking “Will users pay for this?”

Better yet, ask: “Does this put money in my user’s pocket?”

If the answer is yes, you won’t have to sell hard. The math will sell itself. If the answer is no, you are fighting an uphill battle against the entire history of consumer economics.

Don’t chase the likes. Chase the value.