10 Rules to Not Abandon Your SaaS Project After Years of Trying

I've been coding my own projects for over a decade. I've launched dozens of MVPs, built complete systems from scratch, and watched some projects flourish while others remained in the limbo of "someday I'll get back to it."

My secret? There's no magic. Just rules that have saved me from the abandoned project syndrome.

Because let's be honest: starting a SaaS project is relatively easy when you master the stack. The hard part is not giving up when users don't come, when the code becomes legacy, or when the next brilliant idea appears.

Today I'm sharing my 10 golden rules so your next project doesn't end up being another dusty folder in your GitHub repository.

This is ideal for you if you have several half-finished projects and don't know which one to prioritize, you've already launched something but feel like it's a burden to maintain, or you've abandoned projects and are looking for motivation to not repeat the pattern.

Let's go with these rules:

1. Define the purpose from the code

What do you want to achieve with this project? Generate passive income? Learn a new technology? Solve a real problem? Build your portfolio?

I encounter many developers who start projects for the simple pleasure of programming and don't have a clear final objective. I'm not saying experimentation is wrong, but if you don't have a defined purpose, it's easier to abandon when the project doesn't evolve as you expected.

The key is being honest with yourself from the first commit. If your goal is to learn GraphQL, accept that monetization is secondary. If you're looking for income, don't get distracted trying the latest trendy library just because it's trending on GitHub.

2. Choose a scope that fits your real time

The "I'm going to build the next Slack" syndrome is widespread among us. We've all been there: designing complex architectures for applications that require teams of hundreds of developers.

Adjust the project scope to your available time, your current stack, and above all, what you can realistically maintain long-term. Better a small, functional project than a half-finished mastodonic application.

A good rule is to think of the smallest possible MVP that solves 80% of the problem. If you work with Drupal, for example, leverage the entire ecosystem of existing modules instead of reinventing the wheel. Your time is limited, use it where you really add value.

3. The perfect stack doesn't exist

Not even Drupal 10 is perfect, and look how much I like it.

Don't fall into technological paralysis looking for the framework that best fits your idea. All technologies have their pros and cons. React is great for dynamic interfaces, but can be overkill for simple projects. Laravel speeds up backend development, but if you come from Symfony it might slow you down at first.

The perfect technology is the one you already master. If you have years of experience with a specific stack, leverage it. There will be time to refactor when the project has traction and justifies the time investment in migrating.

4. Don't dramatize failures

It's inevitable: every feature you launch can bring bugs or not be adopted by users. It's not personal, just market feedback.

Maybe that feature doesn't solve the real problem or users simply need time to adopt it. As developers, we tend to fall in love with our elegant technical solutions, but the market doesn't always appreciate the beauty of code.

Implement metrics from the beginning to understand what works and what doesn't, and don't be afraid to kill features that don't add value.

5. Take breaks from the project

Maintaining momentum is important, but so is listening to your mind when it's saturated.

Over these years I've paused projects several times. Some due to work, others due to burnout, and some simply because I needed perspective. You know what? I've always come back with more clarity about which direction to take.

The key is not to blame yourself for stopping, but to use that time to see the project from the outside. Sometimes, those weeks away from code give you the perspective you need to simplify the architecture or realize you're solving the wrong problem.

6. If you don't promote, you won't see users

It's that simple. The best code in the world is useless if nobody knows about it.

You can't expect the project to grow organically if you don't invest time in making it known. This includes sharing the process on social media, looking for early adopters in relevant communities, investing time in SEO or content marketing, and showing demos at events or meetups.

As developers, we tend to underestimate this part, but it's just as important as the code. Dedicate at least 30% of your project time to marketing and outreach. If it's hard for you, start small: share progress screenshots, write about technical problems you've solved, or participate in communities where your potential audience is.

7. Show the process, not just the result

Developers tend to show only the polished final product. Mistake.

From my own experience, the more natural you are showing the process, deployment errors, complicated technical decisions, and also small wins, the more you connect with other developers and potential users.

People buy stories, not just functionalities. Share how you solved that performance problem, why you chose a specific architecture, or even how you managed with hosting when the budget was tight. That transparency generates more engagement than polished marketing.

8. Don't compare yourself to unicorns

There will always be someone who codes better, has more users, or seems to scale effortlessly. It's normal to compare, but try to get inspired instead of intimidated.

Those successful applications also started with a crappy MVP and had years of evolution we don't see. We never know the complete story of success cases: how many sleepless nights, how many complete refactors, how many desperate pivots.

Many of those projects that seem to have everything under control have also had moments of wanting to throw in the towel. The difference is they kept iterating when others gave up.

9. Relax with perfection

You don't need every release to be revolutionary. Sometimes, a bug fix and minor improvements are enough.

If one day you feel technical block, close the IDE, go for a walk, read documentation about something else, and I assure you the solution will appear. Some of my best ideas were born in moments when I simply relaxed and coded without pressure.

Perfection is the enemy of progress. It's better to have functionality at 80% in production than at 99% in development. Real users will give you more valuable feedback than any internal code review.

10. Enjoy programming

The last and most important. Have fun in the process, learn something in each sprint, and remember why you started programming.

If you develop reluctantly, that's reflected in the code and the final product. Burnout in personal projects is real and more common than it seems, because you don't have the external pressure that forces you to continue, but you also don't have immediate economic motivation.

So relax, code, and enjoy the process. In the end, the difference between an abandoned project and a successful one isn't just in the idea or technology, but in consistency and long-term perspective.

The reality behind the code: beyond monetization

After years developing my own projects, I've reached a conclusion: getting people to pay for your services is damn difficult.

If your main goal is to monetize, prepare for an emotional rollercoaster. But here comes the plot twist: if your project has other purposes like learning, building portfolio, or experimenting, monetization takes a backseat and the project becomes more psychologically sustainable.

In my case, each personal project serves as a testing laboratory. I implement techniques I haven't used with clients or have only touched superficially. This allows me to arrive at commercial projects with real experience, not just theoretical knowledge.

More than once I've been hired specifically because I had a production project where I had applied that technology or solved that specific problem. Clients highly value practical experience, not just having read the documentation.

That's why I always try to use Drupal in my personal projects. Being my main technology, every line of code I write adds to my expertise and portfolio. I've even published several modules in the community that were born from real needs in my projects.

But let's be honest, the technical part is easy for us. Setting up architecture, solving performance problems, creating functional interfaces, integrating complex APIs... we have that under control.

What kills us is everything else: really understanding what the user needs, how to communicate the product's value, how to reach the right audience, how to set the right price, how to handle customer support. Basically, everything that's not code.

We have brilliant ideas and program them elegantly, but we fail at product thinking and marketing. It's the classic developer problem: we build perfect solutions for problems that maybe don't exist or that we don't know how to explain in a way that resonates with the end user.

In the end, accepting this reality has taken a lot of pressure off me and allowed me to focus my projects more strategically. Now my projects have value regardless of whether they generate income, because they always give me knowledge, portfolio, and professional credibility.