Susana.world
My first attempt at building and launching a B2B SaaS product solo
📅 December 2025
⚡ IN PROGRESS
I've spent years as Head of People at Samara, building HR processes, solving people problems, and living the daily grind of managing time tracking, vacations, and compliance. And like everyone in HR, I've had that recurring conversation with every HRIS salesperson:
"You manage vacations with Excel, right? And time tracking?"
The answer in our case was always: "No, we use Notion... and we've built our own processes."
This worked. But it wasn't pretty. And when Spain's new digital time-tracking law came into effect, I realized: we needed a real solution. But every HRIS felt like overkill for what we actually needed.
So I did what any developer-curious HR person would do: I built it myself.
What is Susana?
Susana is a Slack bot that manages time tracking and vacation requests for Spanish companies. That's it. No enterprise bloat, no modules you'll never use, no expensive per-seat pricing.
If your team lives in Slack, your time management should too.
Why I Built This
The HRIS Dilemma
There are three types of companies when it comes to time tracking:
- Companies with an HRIS (Personio, Factorial, Sesame) - ✅ They're covered
- Companies using Excel - ⚠️ They need help but aren't ready for enterprise software
- Companies with nothing - 🔥 They're about to get hit by compliance requirements
At Samara, we were somewhere between #2 and #3. We had processes, but not tools. And when the new time-tracking law kicked in, I realized:
- HRIS platforms are amazing but expensive and complex for companies under 80 people
- Excel works until it doesn't (and legally, it doesn't anymore)
- Slack is where teams already live - why add another tool?
The Personal Challenge
But beyond solving a work problem, this project had a bigger goal: learn to build and launch a product completely solo.
I wanted to understand:
- What it feels like to go from idea → code → product → market
- How to do product marketing when you're not a marketer
- Whether I could get people to actually use something I built
- If I could build a business, not just a feature
The Product
Susana is designed with four core principles:
1. In Spanish
Every HR tool is in English. Spanish companies deserve tools that speak their language.
2. Stupid Simple
No onboarding calls, no setup meetings, no training docs. Install, configure, and you're done.
3. Lives in Slack
Your team doesn't need another app to check. Vacations, time tracking - all inside Slack.
4. Built for SMBs
Pricing reflects reality: €50/year for small teams. Not per seat, not per feature. Flat.
The Technical Journey
This started as a Slack bot to remind people about work anniversaries. Then I realized: I'm not afraid of building bots anymore.
So I pushed further:
- Built a vacation request flow with approval workflows
- Added digital time tracking (clock in/out)
- Made it 100% compliant with Spanish labor law
- Integrated admin dashboards and export features
All powered by AI assistance (Claude, obviously). Not because AI does the work for you, but because it removes the fear of starting.
What I'm Learning
As a Builder:
- You can build products alone if you're willing to figure things out
- AI accelerates learning, it doesn't replace it
- Shipping imperfect > waiting for perfect
- The hardest part isn't coding, it's distribution
As a Marketer:
- SEO is a long game (currently working the blog at susana.world)
- Twitter can drive organic reach (@susanadehr)
- Cold outreach is humbling
- Product-market fit is elusive until it isn't
As a Product Person:
- Features don't sell products, problems do
- Pricing is guesswork until you have users
- Feedback from real users > 100 imaginary feature requests
- Compliance is a wedge, not a feature
The Current State
I launched Susana organically on Twitter and through SEO efforts. No paid ads, no big launch, just:
- Building in public
- Sharing progress
- Talking to potential users
- Learning what works (and what doesn't)
My goal: See if I can get companies to actually use it. Learn how to do marketing and sales solo. Document the whole journey.
This isn't about becoming a SaaS millionaire overnight. It's about learning the full cycle: build → launch → grow → iterate.
What's Next?
- Get more users (currently in early beta)
- Improve onboarding based on feedback
- Work on SEO and organic growth
- Keep learning how to sell B2B products
- Document everything I learn
If you want to try Susana, reach out at hola@itwasgonz.com - I'll give you a code for free access regardless of company size. All feedback is welcome.
This is my first real attempt at building a product from scratch and getting it into the market. There will be bugs. There will be mistakes. But that's the whole point.
I'm learning. And having fun doing it.
Link: www.susana.world
