#saas
4 articles
10,000 Free Users, $1 Each in Infrastructure, 4.5% Conversion: The Median Freemium Product Loses $1,000/Month
At a $1/month cost per free user and $20 ARPU, breakeven needs 5% of free users converting. The reported 2026 median freemium conversion rate is 4.5% — just under it, and the gap costs real money at scale.
$25K MRR and Two Founders Still Can't Pay Themselves: the Math
Most indie founders pick salary by feel. The result is usually wrong in one of two directions: too high (no runway buffer when growth stalls) or too low (defeats the point of building). The static math gives you the floor and ceiling — picking inside the range is the actual decision.
CAC Payback > 18 Months Means You Can't Bootstrap (Even With $5K MRR)
LTV/CAC ≥ 3 is the hype number. CAC payback is the one that decides if you can grow without funding. We modeled $5K MRR through six unit-economic profiles — three are sustainable, three quietly burn cash even on healthy LTV/CAC.
$30/Month AWS Bill Becomes $480 the Week Your Side Project Goes Viral (the Egress Trap)
Egress at $0.09/GB is the line that destroys hobbyist AWS bills. 5 TB of viral traffic is $450. We modeled the typical SaaS stack from solo project to growth, and the egress line is what surprises every founder.