Price your idea
The guides

One stage at a time, from idea to first revenue.

22 in-depth guides so far, with more on the way. Each one uses real 2026 prices and worked numbers.

Ten calls before ten lines of code: a desk phone beside a notepad of tally marksFind the problem

Ten calls before ten lines of code

How to find out whether a problem is worth building for: who to call, what to send them, how to run a fifteen-minute call, the one question that matters, and how to tell real pain from polite interest.

Guide14 min
A one-page test that costs $0: one sheet of paper with an envelopeFind the problem

A one-page test that costs $0

Before you build, put a single page in front of the people you interviewed and their peers. Write it in their words, build it for free, share it in two places, and read the numbers honestly.

Guide13 min
Pricing your first product: a balance with a coin and a product boxGet paid

Pricing your first product

A practical way to land on a first price: start from what customers already pay, check your floor against real costs, choose a simple plan shape, and set it up so you can change it later without drama.

Guide13 min
Free plans, mapped: a paper map with small flagsBuild

Free plans, mapped

Hosting, database, email, logins and payments: the free limits that matter once real customers arrive, how each one stops you, and what the first paid step costs.

Reference16 min
Netlify vs Vercel vs Cloudflare Pages: three stacked blocks compared side by sideBuild

Netlify vs Vercel vs Cloudflare Pages

Three popular places to host a small web product, compared on what matters once you charge money: terms, how usage is counted, what happens at the limit, team pricing and the monthly bill.

Comparison15 min
Domains, DNS and HTTPS: a key, a padlock and an address plaqueBuild

Domains, DNS and HTTPS

Apex or www, which records to add, why email keeps working, how long changes take, and how to get free HTTPS. Everything between buying a domain and seeing your product on it.

Guide12 min
Functions or a server?: small switches beside one large blockBuild

Functions or a server?

Most small products never need a server they manage. This guide covers what serverless functions handle well, where their limits bite, how background and scheduled jobs fit in, and the signs you've outgrown them.

Guide12 min
Forms without a backend: a paper form going into an inbox trayBuild

Forms without a backend

The forms every small product needs before it has a server: a waitlist, a contact form, a feedback box. How to collect them on a static site, handle spam, get notified and keep the data useful.

Guide11 min
Building with an AI assistant safely: hands at a keyboard with a magnifying glass on printed linesBuild

Building with an AI assistant safely

AI assistants can write most of a small product's first draft. This guide covers what you still need to understand yourself, how to review what they write, and the habits that keep secrets, customer data and bills safe.

Guide15 min
Free tiers that break on launch day: a paper rocket on a stack of envelopesLaunch

Free tiers that break on launch day

A normal day and a launch day are different products. How to count what your launch actually sends, deploys and stores, which limit breaks first, and when to upgrade so customers never notice.

Guide13 min
Launch week, day by day: a calendar week with the last day circledLaunch

Launch week, day by day

From seven days out to two days after: what to check, what to upgrade, what to write and who to tell, so launch day is about customers instead of firefighting. With a sample launch email and the numbers to watch.

Plan14 min
Previews, branches and rollbacks: a page checked under a loupe before filingLaunch

Previews, branches and rollbacks

How to stop shipping fixes straight to paying customers: preview links for every change, a simple branch habit, a rollback you've practised, and how this interacts with usage-based hosting.

Guide12 min
Why your emails land in spam: a sealed envelope in a tray and one in a binLaunch

Why your emails land in spam

Sending from your own domain, the three DNS records that prove an email is really yours, the rules Gmail and Yahoo now enforce, and how to check your setup in five minutes.

Guide14 min
Monitoring, alerts and backups: a gold heartbeat line, a stopwatch and an archive boxLaunch

Monitoring, alerts and backups

How to find out something broke before your customers tell you, what to back up and how to know the backup works, and the small weekly routine that keeps a solo product healthy.

Guide12 min
What card fees really cost a $20 subscription: a card with coins sliding off into a dishGet paid

What card fees really cost a $20 subscription

The fixed part, the percentage, the subscription fee, refunds and disputes, and why payment costs overtake hosting so quickly. Worked out at $10, $20 and $50.

Breakdown13 min
Free trial, freemium or neither: a door with a key on the handleGet paid

Free trial, freemium or neither

Card-upfront trials, no-card trials, free plans and paid pilots, compared on what they cost you, who they attract and how they end. With a way to pick one for your first launch.

Guide12 min
Selling abroad: who handles the tax?: a globe beside envelopes with various stampsGet paid

Selling abroad: who handles the tax?

Sales tax, VAT and digital services explained, the three ways small products handle them, what each costs on a $20 subscription, and the records to keep from your first sale.

Guide14 min
Monthly vs yearly pricing: twelve small coins becoming one large coinGrow

Monthly vs yearly pricing

What a yearly plan does to your cash, your card fees and your cancellations, with the math worked out for a $20 product, the break-even month, refund policies and how to show it on your pricing page.

Breakdown12 min
Early cancellations: a table with one empty chairGrow

Early cancellations

The first three months decide whether a customer stays. The common reasons small products lose people early, how to find out which one is yours, and the fixes that cost an evening rather than a rebuild.

Guide12 min
Costs at 0, 100 and 1,000 customers: three coin stacks growing in heightGrow

Costs at 0, 100 and 1,000 customers

A line-by-line monthly bill for a $20 subscription product at three stages, using published 2026 prices. Which costs jump in steps, which grow with every customer, and what changes if your price or product is different.

Breakdown14 min
Four products, four different bills: four boxes topped with different objectsGrow

Four products, four different bills

A reminder tool, a photo gallery, a booking page and an internal dashboard all look similar on day one. At 200 customers, their biggest costs are completely different, and so is the right way to price them.

Breakdown13 min
Glossary: 42 terms: an open book with a gold ribbonReference

Glossary: 42 terms

MRR, churn, egress, cold starts, DKIM, merchant of record and more. The words you'll meet while building and selling a small product, each explained with an example and a link to where it matters.

Reference16 min
The weekly bill

One product's real costs, every week

What it pays for, what it earns, and the cost that surprised its makers. Plus new guides when they're out.

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