Why launch your own ESP instead of reselling SaaS?
Reselling SaaS gives ~30-40% margin and zero infrastructure
control. Operating your own ESP gives 60-80% margin, full
control over deliverability decisions, IP rotation flexibility,
jurisdiction choice, at the cost of operational responsibility.
Right answer depends on whether deliverability differentiation
is part of your value proposition. If you compete with
SendGrid on brand and ease-of-use, reselling their stack
with billing UI works. If you compete on infrastructure
quality (vertical reputation, IP rotation, regional
jurisdiction), you need infrastructure control resale
can't provide.
How many customers can the bundle support?
Comfortably 20-40 active customers at typical SaaS-ESP
volumes (10K-100K monthly each). Architecture scales to
~80-100 customers before hardware capacity becomes
constraint and second server makes sense. Bundle is sized
for first 12-24 months of growth, not perpetual scaling.
Beyond ~80 customers, two paths: add second Iron-E5 server
(€499/mo additional, doubles capacity) or upgrade to
higher-tier server (Iron-E7 with 256 GB RAM, €699/mo).
Most ESPs reach 20 customers within 12-18 months at moderate
marketing investment.
Can I run this on bare-metal we already have?
Possible but adds complexity. Hardware requirements: 16+
CPU cores, 64+ GB RAM, NVMe storage, dedicated 1 Gbps
network with 5+ IPs available. PowerMTA license is
transferable; we can re-license for your hardware (some
additional cost for license re-issuance).
Most operators find the bundled hardware sensible because
jurisdiction matters (you want hosting in EU sovereign or
offshore for ESP business; many existing setups are
US-located which limits target market). Discuss in
pre-purchase Telegram conversation.
What happens if a customer abuses the platform?
Operational responsibility on your side. You enforce AUP
(Acceptable Use Policy), you handle complaints, you suspend
abusers. We provide AUP template language and abuse-handling
playbook in onboarding. We provide backup support in
office hours for genuinely complex cases.
Repeat abuse pattern from your customers damages our shared
IP reputation across the platform. We monitor for fleet-wide
abuse signals; if your tenant's behaviour starts affecting
other tenants, we contact you for resolution. Persistent
abuse without resolution can lead to platform termination
(last resort; rare).
Can I customise PowerMTA configuration?
Yes. You have full root SSH access to the server; PowerMTA
configuration is yours to modify post-launch. We provide
reference configuration as starting point; advanced
operators often customise for vertical-specific patterns
(transactional vs marketing split, customer-tier rate
limiting, custom bounce categorisation).
Office hours included for configuration questions. Beyond
included hours, advanced configuration consulting at
€199/hour. Most ESPs run reference configuration unchanged
for first 6-12 months and customise once specific patterns
emerge.
Do you provide customer billing?
No. Customer billing is your responsibility: payment
processor (Stripe, Paddle, crypto via BTCPay, whatever
fits), pricing tiers (you decide), invoice generation
(your billing platform), tax compliance (your jurisdiction).
MailWizz does have basic per-customer usage tracking; you
integrate with your billing system.
Many operators use Stripe for fiat customers and BTCPay
for crypto-paying customers. Some use Lago or Chargebee
for usage-based billing. Whatever fits your customer
base; we don't lock you into specific billing platform.
How do I handle deliverability incidents?
First-line incident handling is yours: customer reports
issue, you investigate (monitoring dashboards, MailWizz
campaign data, customer's specific sending pattern). Most
incidents (60-80%) resolve through customer-side fixes:
list cleaning, content adjustment, sending pattern.
Escalate to office hours for complex incidents: RBL
listings affecting your IPs, sustained inbox-rate
collapse, infrastructure-side issues. Office hours
included monthly; additional consulting at €199/hour.
Most ESPs use 1-3 hours/month escalation in steady-state.
What if I want to scale beyond bundle capacity?
Three paths depending on growth: (1) Add second Iron-E5
server €499/mo additional (doubles capacity); (2) Upgrade
to Iron-E7 server €699/mo (256 GB RAM, more cores, denser
single-server scaling); (3) Multi-region deployment for
jurisdiction-specific customer cohorts (custom quote).
Most ESPs scale via path (1) until ~150 customers, then
evaluate (3) for jurisdiction-specific growth. Path (2)
fits operations with very high per-customer volumes (TX
email or large e-commerce ESPs).
How does cancellation work?
Cancel anytime via Telegram. Setup fee (€1,499) is
non-refundable since the work has been done. Monthly
fee prorates to cancellation date. Server, PowerMTA
license, MailWizz license, IPs all transfer to you on
cancellation; you can self-host going forward.
About 5-10% of starter-kit ESPs cancel within first 12
months, usually because the business case didn't pan
out (insufficient customers, market validation
challenges). The infrastructure remains yours; some
operators self-host for personal use even after winding
down customer business.
How does payment work?
Setup fee (€1,499) charged at order; first month (€499)
charged at server provisioning. Subsequent months billed
in advance on subscription anniversary. Payable in any
of our 11 supported cryptocurrencies via self-hosted
BTCPay. Pre-paid 6-month: 5% discount. Pre-paid 12-month:
10% discount.
