By Addison Gernenz | Intern
While most students are still figuring out their calling after college, Los Angeles senior Sam Koo has just launched his second business: SaaS Console. The site went live just months after Koo launched EvolveDaily, a life-improvement app for college students.
According to Koo, SaaS Console is a web app designed to take tech startups to the next level by utilizing artificial intelligence to streamline small tasks. SaaS Console essentially helps founders turn an idea into reality with a more efficient process.
In both projects, Koo has worked alongside his middle school coding friend, Marshall Nickolauson, who works primarily for The Way Ministry, based in New Knoxville, Ohio.
Nickolauson, who serves as the main developer for SaaS Console, originally came up with the idea while encountering problems during the creation process of EvolveDaily.
Nickolauson said they want people to have a better understanding, grasp and guidance of SaaS, or “Software as a Service,” projects after they have been launched.
“There’s a lot of buildup to release and then nothing,” Nickolauson said. “It is in the weeks after that these websites will redefine their focus into something which is simple, tangible and repeatable.”
It took Koo and Nickolauson a month to create SaaS Console. Koo said that AI has sped up the process, and the tools he had access to helped aid a speedy launch.
Koo said they hope to achieve $100 in monthly recurring revenue by the end of the week. Beyond this week, their aim is for 50 users.
“We want to learn how to get our first user by providing value in solving a small set of specific problems,” Nickolauson said.
They originally had 250 people on the waitlist prelaunch, but now the challenge is converting them into actual people who are going to pay for the service.
As for pricing, SaaS Console offers a standard plan for $15 a month, a $24 a month premium plan for founders and a three-day trial for everyone.
Nickolauson said he has full confidence that SaaS Console will achieve its goals.
“We pray together a lot, and we have never seen a prayer go unanswered,” he said.
While this launch is new territory for the duo, both Nickolauson and Koo speak with assurance about how their business experiences strengthen their trust in God.
While Koo is now fully immersed in the business world, it wasn’t until his sophomore year that he decided entrepreneurship was a path he was interested in.
“I started getting surrounded naturally by a lot of students who had their own businesses, and then I just kind of realized I wanted to do something like that,” Koo said.
He called Nickolauson, knowing his background in coding and technology, and told him about his idea and desire to start a business. Koo spoke with his mentors about his career path, asking whether it was the right fit.
“It’s the most fulfilling one for me,” Koo said.
Koo credits God with his skill and passion for business. For him, entrepreneurship is a way to glorify his faith and show people that anyone can become an entrepreneur.
“You can come from literally no experience, but as long as you have faith, God could do wonderful things within your work,” Koo said.
Nickolauson said that through the ups and downs, he also leans on his faith for both clarity and confidence in business.
“There isn’t ever a dull day doing this stuff,” Nickolauson said. “The harder challenges we get, the more we talk to God, and then the greater the blessing and the outcome.”
While Koo continues to work on the launch of SaaS Console, he said that he has many other plans in the works as well. His long-term plan involves serial entrepreneurship alongside Nickolauson, eventually selling the businesses and keeping a few to manage, or going into technology sales.
Mainly focusing on the digital technology space, Koo said he and Nickolauson hope to help more early-stage entrepreneurs and software builders like themselves with the management tool they have created, especially those looking to get started in SaaS.
