Target: $3k MRR at ~15 hrs/week, or $5k MRR full-time, by month 24. Profitable, ≥80% gross margin once past ~$2k MRR, monthly revenue churn ≤2.5%. $10k is the stretch. $20k is not a plan for this product.
Rule: nothing in a later phase starts until the current phase's gate is hit. Gates and pivot rules are in WHAT-TO-DO-AND-AVOID.md. The detail for days 1–90 is in 08-90-day-plan.md.
Phase 1: Prove someone pays (Months 0–3) → Gates G1 (day 45), G2 (day 90)
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Customers | 30 buyer calls. Concierge file plus alerts for design partners at ₹1,999 a month. |
| Data | 2026–27 calendar for 34 RBI centres, RTGS and account-closing days, NSE/BSE/MCX trading holidays. Source link on every date. A 3-year count of mid-year changes. |
| Product | Source-watching scripts (every 30 minutes) that alert you. From week 7: versioned table, core endpoints, webhooks, keys, Razorpay billing, status page, public changelog. |
| Distribution | Open-source package (Python, Node) with the confirmed current year. 3 changelog posts about past changes. |
| Pricing | Developer ₹1,999, Business ₹4,999. Founding customers keep their price for 12 months. |
| Exit | Day 45: 4–5 paying. Day 90: 10 paying (~15 hrs/week) or 15 (full-time), zero missed changes. |
Phase 2: Make it trustworthy and repeatable (Months 4–6) → Gate G3
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | add-business-days, combined calendars (bank + exchange), tentative dates for next year, CSV/iCal export, Slack/Teams alerts. |
| Data | Settlement holidays and special sessions (Muhurat, Saturday sessions) for brokers. State public holidays. |
| Ops | Source-silence alerts. A named, paid backup for weekends and festival weeks once MRR passes ₹25k ($285). A written runbook for every source. |
| Distribution | Java SDK. One API-marketplace listing. Monthly "what changed" post. Answer business-day questions in developer forums. |
| Exit | $800 MRR (~15 hrs/week) or $1.5k (full-time). Churn ≤3%. Median notice-to-publish ≤4 hours. |
Phase 3: Regulated buyers and Enterprise (Months 7–12) → Gate G4
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Enterprise plan: SFTP/S3 file drop, "as known on" audit export, uptime SLA, contract. Global USD plan ($149). |
| Sales | Founder-led outreach to NBFCs, banks' digital-lending teams and brokers. One integration partnership with a loan-management or lending-software vendor. |
| Paperwork | Security one-pager, standard contract with a liability cap, professional indemnity insurance. |
| Exit | $1.5k MRR (~15 hrs/week) or $3k (full-time). ≥60% of MRR from regulated firms. ≥30% of signups from the open-source package. |
Phase 4: Deepen, don't widen (Months 13–24) → Gate G5
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Bank cut-off times (RTGS/NEFT windows, NACH presentation windows) as a paid add-on, only after $3k MRR. |
| Test | One demand test for a second calendar with the same shape: GST, TDS and MCA filing due dates that move by notification. Build only if 10 buyers pre-pay. |
| Distribution | Double down on the single best channel from months 1–12 (usually direct outreach to regulated buyers, or the package). |
| Team | No hires. The only paid help is the weekend and festival backup. |
| Checkpoint | Month 18: $2.2k (~15 hrs/week) or $4k (full-time). Missing it means putting everything into one segment. |
| Decision at month 24 | At or above target with churn ≤2.5%: run it with ~5 hours a week of upkeep, or sell it (Acquire.com median 3.9x profit). Below $1k: stop, or sell the code, dataset and customer list. |
| Exit | $3k+ MRR (~15 hrs/week) or $5k+ (full-time) |
Revenue path (illustrative, not a forecast)
| Month | Customers (~15 hrs/week) | MRR (~15 hrs/week) | Customers (full-time) | MRR (full-time) |
|---|
| 3 | 10 | ~$300 | 15 | ~$500 |
| 6 | 22 | ~$800 | 35 | ~$1.5k |
| 12 | 35 | ~$1.5k | 60 | ~$3k |
| 18 | 48 | ~$2.2k | 72 | ~$4k |
| 24 | 60 | ~$3k | 84 | ~$5k |
This assumes blended ARPA rising from ~$30 (early Developer-heavy mix) to ~$50–60 as Business and Enterprise plans are added, monthly churn ≤2.5% after month 6, and ≥60% of MRR from regulated firms. If ARPA stays near $30, every customer count doubles and $5k is out of reach. If churn runs above 4%, stop acquiring and fix the buyer mix.
Budget guardrails (bootstrapped)
- Hosting, monitoring and tools: under $60 a month.
- The weekend and festival backup is the only real cost. Start it at ~₹25k MRR, and keep it under 10% of revenue after $3k MRR.
- Zero paid acquisition. Direct outreach, the package and the changelog only.
- Keep the checking routine to ≤30 minutes a day on average. If it creeps above an hour, automate a source or drop one.