Solo-operator principles
Solo SaaS selection looks at three axes: (1) Korea fit, (2) monthly fixed cost, (3) team expansion path. Tools that are "global but shallow in Korean" feel easy early and become bottlenecks as customer support scales.
By category
Support Channel.io — KakaoTalk + web + email unified.
Accounting / tax Samjeomsam, Doowon, or tax-accountant delegation + Hometax.
Payments TossPayments, PortOne (I'mport), Kakao Pay.
Email Stibee — Korean newsletter standard.
Docs Notion + Google Drive.
Project Dooray! free or Swit.
Automation Make → migrate to self-hosted n8n.
Analytics GA4 + Naver Analytics + Microsoft Clarity.
AI assistants Claude Pro, ChatGPT Plus, Wrtn.
Meetings / video Zoom, Google Meet, CLOVA Note.
Recommended minimum stack (~KRW 200–300k/month)
- Channel.io (support)
- Stibee (newsletter)
- Notion (docs/DB)
- n8n self-host (automation)
- Claude Pro (AI)
- CLOVA Note (meetings)
- Tax accountant delegation
Growth stack (when 3 or fewer teammates join)
Above + Dooray or Swit (collab), Flex (payroll), HubSpot Free CRM.
Common pitfalls
- Salesforce/HubSpot Pro from day one: cost/ROI doesn't match
- Korea-only tools: hits a ceiling for global customers
- Doing your own corporate tax: delegation wins on time ROI
Solo founders concentrate on customers, revenue, and automation. HR, tax, and legal should be delegated or minimized with SaaS automation.