# Marcus Tran, Founder at Tillr — read of Solo Analytics, June 19 2026

> 8 years in software, 3 years running Tillr solo (B2B scheduling SaaS, 63 paying customers). Sunday nights are my numbers night, after my 6-year-old is down.

## How I got here

Searched "baremetrics alternative under $20" on Saturday afternoon. One of the results was a Reddit comment from like 8 months ago that mentioned a few tools, and Solo Analytics was listed third. Clicked out of low expectations, mostly because Baremetrics raised their floor and I'm not paying $108/month for my current MRR. Not yet anyway.

## What I clicked first

The problem list actually stopped me. Not the hero copy ("Ship smarter. Know your numbers. Stop guessing." is fine, whatever) but the four bullet questions underneath. "Which customers generate the most profit?" and "When will you hit profitability?" hit close to home. I have a Notion doc where I track this manually. It's always two weeks out of date.

The line "You have 47 customers. You know one left last month, but you're not sure who paid" is weirdly specific and weirdly accurate. That's exactly my situation except it's 63 and it's usually two people who churned.

## Where I paused

"Unlock the dossier $5." I read that three times. I scrolled up to make sure I was on a product page and not a newsletter or a marketplace. Then I kept reading and hit this:

"Honest disclosure: we don't have live customers on this idea yet. We shipped the strategy package; you ship the customer conversations."

I had to sit with that for a minute. So this is not a product I can sign up for. It's a blueprint someone is selling me so I can build this product. The "Get Started Free" button at the top and the pricing table (Starter: Free, Pro: $19/month) made me think I was evaluating SaaS. Halfway down the page I learn I'm being sold a business idea.

That's a significant bait-and-switch in the reading experience, even if it's technically disclosed.

## What I distrusted

The scoring section at the bottom: "financial upside: 1/10" and "$800 Year-1 take-home (Fermi)." Those are disclosed honestly, which I respect. But they show up after a page full of confident "one dashboard, all your numbers" energy. The hero says solve my problem. The footer says the person who builds this will make $800 in year one.

Also "79/100 Adoptability" sounds like a real number until you realize it's a number they made up for their own scoring system. It's not meaningless, but it carries weight it hasn't earned yet.

The stock-question FAQ is thin. "Is my data secure? Yes." That's not an answer for someone connecting their Stripe account.

## What would convince me

If this product actually existed and I could sign up today, I'd want one thing: a screenshot of a real dashboard with real-looking (anonymized) data. The feature list is clear but "Revenue Dashboard: MRR, annual run rate, growth rate, churn rate, and profit margin at a glance" describes what every competitor also says. Show me the actual UI.

If I'm being sold the blueprint version: I'd want to see one founder who bought this dossier, built it, and has 10 paying customers. One real case. That's it. The honest disclosure about no customers is good but it leaves a vacuum.

## What I'd ask in an email reply

1. The page says "Get Started Free" and then also says no customers exist yet. Which is it? Can I actually connect my Stripe account today, or is this a pre-launch signup?

2. How is this different from Stripe's own dashboard plus a free Baremetrics account? I'm not trying to be difficult, I genuinely want to know where the gap is that you're filling.

3. The "Operator partnership" tier says "Hire the team that built this to install, customize, and run launch with you." Are you the team that would build my version of this product, or the team that already built it? I'm confused about who the customer is here.

## Verdict: on-the-fence

The pain articulation is the best part of this page and it's genuinely good. But I landed expecting a product and left unsure if I was a customer or a potential builder. That confusion costs trust, and trust is what you need when you're asking someone to connect their Stripe account.

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*Memo by skeptic persona, generated 2026-06-19. Studio breaks own self-grading loop.*