Sometimes SaaS Founders Need A Little Re-Evaluation
Halting projects that are going nowhere ...
Posted by Steffi Lewis on 15/08/2023 @ 8:00AM
It's been a really interesting few months during Steffi's Summer of Coding 2023. I have achieved a lot and followed many different ideas, producing some great tweaks, changes and updates. But sometimes you just have to call a halt to something ...
I feel so much better now I've made that decision!
And this has been true of the Companies House data I've been working with. I can't get it to reliably give me the data I want when I want it. And this is mostly around sorting the very latest 'incorporations' at the top of the list, but it also happens around correspondence addresses for persons with significant control because the data is just not stable.
"I just seemed to be stuck in a loop!"
When code gets stuck in a loop, you have to find out why, and for now, I can't find out why because the Companies House API isn't telling me. So, I've taken the decision to stop working on it for now and switch my focus to improving my other discovery tool making it easier to use for my existing subscribers.
I'm adding in an email deliverability checker and a TPS checker too. I've also created an 'anywhere' search that will become the foundation of the YourPCM international version when I'm ready to release that. And I'm tweaking the data that's returned to include addresses where possible ready for my Print & Post service I'm working on with Cardly.
I should have all that finished this week, which means I'm still on for my target of completing all code by the last week of August so I can get on with my Go To Market strategy again ready for September!
So, my advice to all SaaS founders is that when you're chasing your tail and are getting bogged down in code, call a halt to what you're doing and go do something else instead. The Companies House project is going nowhere for now, but who knows when I'll revisit it again? They may have updated the API data by then which will give me the answers I need to complete the project.
But for now, an update to Discovery v1.5, Print & Post v1, and then we're done.
Love, light and logic ...
STEFFI LEWIS
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Foodie, sci-fi nut, cat lover, brain aneurysm & cancer survivor, countryside dweller, SaaS entrepreneur, developer and networker.
Published my first website in 1993 for the Open University and am highly experienced with Windows Servers, SQL Server, HTML, Classic ASP, JavaScript, and CSS.
I've also worked as a professional photographer in Los Angeles, USA and been a vision mixer and producer for live television in my time.
I live in a village north of Milton Keynes with my two cats, Baggins and Gimley, and a large planted aquarium full of unruly tropical fish.
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