← All questions

#87 · April was a big month for AI automation...

youtube ↗Offers

Should I package my automation as a SaaS subscription product rather than selling it as a service?

I think packaging automation as a SaaS product is cool. I've done this before for many viewers. You can view it as a way to improve consolidation, but essentially you can treat SaaS as either green or blue—just a label. SaaS product growth over time is tricky at first, then you hit product-market fit and scale rapidly. For most of the lifetime, especially the first couple years, you make basically no money, unlike an agency or service implementation where you can earn a fair amount right away. Agency revenue tends to be up and down and hard to scale; after 2-3 years, an agency might still be where it started, while a SaaS product could have completely overshot it. So there are pros and cons depending on the time scale you plan for. Market dynamics also help—SaaS is becoming easier to build with no-code tools. Additionally, you can package an automation as a SaaS but still sell it as a service implementation. For example, take your automation workflow and have Lovable or Bolt create a simple front end for it. If you want more nuance, check out a video where I actually built one. I don't recall which specific video it is, but there's an example: me wearing a backward baseball cap, turning a 2K automation into a 10K SaaS no-code product using Lovable to package the automation I built as a SaaS product resembling a little proposal generator. You can try that approach, but still sell it as a service. Hopefully that answers your question.

saasautomationpackagingno-code

Related answers

youtube ↗Agency Operations

I struggle to launch my AI/SaaS ideas despite confidence in building them; I get stuck between starting a SaaS or an AI agency and doubt my ability to create valuable products.

The feeling you describe is akrasia — knowing what to do but not doing it because the required activation energy feels too high. To overcome this, consider the two business models you mentioned. A SaaS model is highly scalable but requires product‑market fit and can take years to generate revenue, during which you burn runway with no income. An agency model, by contrast, lets you earn money quickly (e.g., $20k in the first month) but is hard to scale and lacks predictable recurring revenue. I recommend a blended approach: start with an agency to generate early cash flow and runway, use that revenue to fund your SaaS development, and then gradually shift from manual implementations to a SaaS product. This path takes longer to reach the same scalability as a pure SaaS, but it yields far more money in the early years and gives you proven business‑owner credibility, which makes raising funds or reinvesting easier.

saasagencyakrasiabusinessmodel
youtube ↗Other

What are the cons of running a managed service business compared to building a SaaS?

A managed service is a step below a SaaS: you build a technology solution that productizes or simplifies the service, then onboard clients to it, but the model remains high‑touch—you interact with clients regularly. It’s not hands‑off like an Uber‑style app where users never talk to a person. Because of the ongoing client interaction, scaling is harder; you can’t fully automate delivery, and you remain responsible for support, customization, and relationship management. The progression typically goes from manual service → managed service → full‑auto SaaS, so a managed service requires more ongoing effort and limits how much you can leverage automation and abstraction.

managed servicesaasbusiness model
youtube ↗Pricing

Hey neck, you often mentioned starting with a one-off project and moving into retainer. But once that initial project's been delivered and value has been provided, what kind of retainer makes sense from there? How do you continue to deliver meaningful value that justifies an ongoing engagement and maximizes customer LTV?

Start with a fixed‑price project to deliver quick ROI, minimize friction, and test the client relationship. Once the project is done and value is shown, transition to a recurring service (retainer) to capitalize on the proven ROI and maximize lifetime value. This lets you learn the client’s business, build stronger relationships, and improve conversion from the initial project to the retainer. Most of an agency’s income comes from this recurring step. For an automation agency, the recurring work often evolves beyond pure automation delivery. Begin with custom automations to learn the market, then identify repeatable tasks, productize them, and eventually become a specialized agency (e.g., a cold‑email or CRM agency) that focuses on a narrow set of high‑value services. Because selling pure automation‑as‑a‑service is hard to scale due to variable scopes and staffing challenges, you add value to the retainer with extras like unlimited maintenance on past builds, weekly strategy calls, daily availability for questions, team training, discount aggregators, affiliate/partner perks, and brand association. These tangential line items boost the perceived value of the retainer and help you lock in long‑term clients.

retainerlifetime valueagency