Show HN: My First SaaS – Turn App Giveaways into a Marketing Asset

1 point

10 months ago

This is my first SaaS, and I built it out of my own frustration. I wanted a better way to manage promo code giveaways for students or run campaigns on Reddit, but the manual process was a time sink. I spent hours sorting DMs, trying to be fair, and getting zero useful data from the whole process. I lost opportunity from users genuinely interested in my products.

This is where I realized my "first 20 DMs" giveaway was a liability, I needed to turn it into a marketing asset.

So, I built Promo Code Queue: https://promocodequeue.com

It's a web app that automates the entire giveaway process. You:

1. Add your product details. 2. Create a promotion and paste in your list of single-use codes (from the App Store, Stripe, Steam, etc.). 3. Get a single, shareable link.

When you post that link, the app handles the rest. It distributes the codes one by one on a fair, first-come-first-serve basis. It uses Cloudflare Turnstile and IP checking to ensure bots don't grab all your codes, and it stops automatically when the codes run out.

Crucially, when the codes are gone, the page instantly converts to a mailing list signup form. It turns that moment of scarcity into an opportunity to capture leads from interested users for your next drop.

The Pro plan also includes an analytics dashboard to track visitors, claim rates, and top referrers so you can actually see the ROI of your campaigns.

Tech Stack:

Frontend: Next.js / React on Vercel

Backend: Firebase (Firestore, Auth, and Cloud Functions for all secure logic like claiming codes, IP checks, and analytics aggregation).

Payments: Paddle

The Business Model: There are two simple paid tiers ("Starter" for one app, "Pro" for unlimited apps and analytics).

I'm also a big believer in open source. The self-hosted "Hobby" version is available now on GitHub: https://github.com/promocodequeue/promo-code-queue-hobby

To show you how it works, I'm giving away some codes for my most popular Mac app, "USB Connection Information."

If you have a Mac, you can grab one here using the platform: https://www.promocodequeue.com/promo/b7qg9jd

I would love to get your feedback on the app, the pricing model, and any features you think are missing.

Thanks for checking it out!