Are Your Support Tools Putting You in 'Cost Jail'?

From One Bootstrapper to Another

I'm Tamas Ham-Szabo, and I've spent 12 years as a bootstrapped SaaS founder, building multiple companies from scratch with:

• No investors
• No mentors
• Very little capital

For me, this isn't just a business; it's personal. I really get the struggles you face as a small or medium business owner. I know them because I've lived them. We share the same challenge: growing a business on a very small budget. This is a note from one bootstrapper to another.

Let's talk about a problem we all face. A problem that can quietly kill your profits.

Why More Customers Can Mean Less Profit

Have you ever felt that frustrating irony? You're working harder than ever, your customer base is growing, but your profitability is not growing. This feeling can be very discouraging for a founder. It makes you feel like you're running in place while the bills pile up. A big reason for these increasing costs is often the very tools meant to help you: your customer support software. I learned this the hard way. I used Intercom 3-4 years ago, and even with a small team, we were paying thousands of dollars every single month, with prices that just kept increasing.

Welcome to the 'Cost Jail' of Enterprise Software

This is what I call 'Cost Jail'. It's a trap where you, as an SMB owner, are locked into paying very high fees for software that was never truly built for you. These tools are made and priced for massive, large companies funded by investors. As I've seen firsthand, "Intercom and HubSpot are priced for the US market and huge companies." Their business models aren't set up to help you be profitable. Instead, "these tools are optimized to make immense tons of money and they don't care about SMB profitability. They only care about raising capital and stock prices." This pricing makes sense for a company that has raised $100M or $1B, but it's a death sentence for a bootstrapped startup.

Hidden Traps Like Surprise Price Hikes and Per-Seat Penalties

The 'Cost Jail' is built with hidden traps designed to catch you off guard. It starts with a seemingly affordable entry price, but the reality quickly sets in:

• Unpredictable Price Hikes: Companies hit you with common and unpredictable monthly price increases, growing from a couple hundred dollars to thousands. I've seen bills jump by over $1,000 in a single month. This makes you regret choosing your current, expensive solution.
• Per-Seat Penalties: The 'per-seat' models actively punish you for growing your support team, turning a positive step for your business into a financial penalty.

The Money You're Burning Could Be Your Growth Engine

Think about the real cost here. It's not just about the monthly invoice; it's about what you're missing out on. As a small business owner, you must spend every single dollar wisely. Automating customer support is a necessary task, but it shouldn't cost you tens of thousands of dollars a month. That money is your growth engine. Imagine what you could do with those funds if they weren't being burned on overpriced software. These funds could go to more important business priorities, like:

• Building your product faster.
• Spending on marketing that actually works.
• Hiring that one person you really need.

Seeing the Problem is Your First Step to Freedom

You are not alone in this feeling. This is a common and solvable problem. The solution starts with thinking about it differently. SMB owners must use common sense. You have to move away from these expensive solutions. There are alternatives with fair prices out there. You don't have to accept the way things are now.

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