Ask Me Anything About SaaS ( I'm building my 7th )

[eliquid]

And I'm currently learning Saas solutions. I've already understood the main difference multi tenant vs single tenant, but I can't decide which solution is better for business? What are the benefits of these Saas solutions? Also, if you had a product with hundreds of tenants, would you automate single-tenant deployments using K8s or would you invest in creating a multi-tenant product?

This is where being an authority in your niche/topic would benefit you.

Both have advantages and are "better for business", but it depends what business you are in.

What does being an authority in your topic tell you for your specific application?

 

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[becks22]

Jason, if you are an authority in your niche like I am and you want to develop a SAAS based on current needs in your market but you don't have any programming experience, what do you think is my best course of action to get started? When a non technical person like myself outsources programming, a fear I have always had is being taken advantage of because of the lack of my programming skills. TIA

 

[eliquid]

Jason, if you are an authority in your niche like I am and you want to develop a SAAS based on current needs in your market but you don't have any programming experience, what do you think is my best course of action to get started? When a non technical person like myself outsources programming, a fear I have always had is being taken advantage of because of the lack of my programming skills. TIA

You're gonna have to trust someone. Bottom line.

But stack the odds in your favor. Something like the below:

1. Find someone that has experience building the type of SaaS you want. If it's a digital marketing SaaS, find someone that has experience in digital marketing SaaS's

2. Look at reviews and testimonials and actually verify and check them

3. Ask for recommendations from your peers or mentors

4. Get agreements in writing and also get payment terms in writing. Set up the terms to be fair to both of you, but that also protect you in the case of issues.

5. Sign the agreements under a legal entity such as an LLC. That way if the contractor flakes on you and you withhold payment ( rightfully so ), they can only ever sue your LLC which maybe has little to no assets anyways. You don't want your house or other property tied up in this potentially.

6. If you can pay via credit card, even better. You will have some ( though little ) assurance versus paying in cash or check.

7. Hire someone that is a neutral party to edit their work and report back to you weekly.

 

[bambz]

@eliquid

I have a few questions about finding ideas for SaaS because I've found some conflicting statements in this forum.

I've read that the best idea to do business is just helping other people not focusing on money. So I understand that I should look for problems in some (random?) groups (FB, Reddit, etc.) and then create Landing Page, validate ideas for SaaS, create MVP and do marketing from the first day.

But I have recently read your answer that the best idea is to build SaaS around area/domain where we are an expert and people know us. I am expert in programming, my other activities are just passion. For instance I love to do barbecue. I love grill a lot of different meets and fishes. But I'm not found that is place to do some SaaS ;p Maybe should I just find some domain which will be interesting for me, become an expert and then try do do SaaS?

I just totally don't know where i how should I look for ideas, communities etc.

 

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[Clinton7]

Hey Eliquid,

I haven't read through the thread so I'm sorry if any of the questions I'm about to ask have already been answered.

How long does it take to create a saas since you code by yourself?
How long does it take on average for you to start generating money from your saas?

 

[eliquid]

Hey Eliquid,

I haven't read through the thread so I'm sorry if any of the questions I'm about to ask have already been answered.

How long does it take to create a saas since you code by yourself?
How long does it take on average for you to start generating money from your saas?

These really can't be answered.

Not because I don't want to answer them, but:

1. Everyone codes at a different level and speed and knowledge. Also, is this is big or small SaaS, etc...
But if you just want to know personally, it takes a few months for me. Generally less than 6 months, but that's because I have other things going on in my life.

2. I normally start generating money from day 1, because I have an audience built up already most times. However, that might be completely different for you and take 12+ months or more.

 

[Clinton7]

2. I normally start generating money from day 1, because I have an audience built up already most times. However, that might be completely different for you and take 12+ months or more.

How can I build an audience?

 

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[eliquid]

How can I build an audience?

If you are an authority in your space, which I talk a lot about in this thread ( so you need to read it all ), then you already know where your audience hangs out and how to reach them.

Please go through the whole thread.

 

[bambz]

@eliquid could You answer in Your free time for my question (above) as well? Please, I could not find the answers in this forum.

 

[eliquid]

@eliquid could You answer in Your free time for my question (above) as well? Please, I could not find the answers in this forum.

I didn't answer because at the time I didn't really know what you were asking.

And I try to NOT answer posts, if the answer is somewhere else in the thread.

But I'll try for yours here.

Your question was:

@eliquid

I have a few questions about finding ideas for SaaS because I've found some conflicting statements in this forum.

I've read that the best idea to do business is just helping other people not focusing on money. So I understand that I should look for problems in some (random?) groups (FB, Reddit, etc.) and then create Landing Page, validate ideas for SaaS, create MVP and do marketing from the first day.

But I have recently read your answer that the best idea is to build SaaS around area/domain where we are an expert and people know us. I am expert in programming, my other activities are just passion. For instance, I love to do barbecue. I love grill a lot of different meets and fishes. But I'm not found that is place to do some SaaS ;p Maybe should I just find some domain which will be interesting for me, become an expert and then try do do SaaS?

I just totally don't know where i how should I look for ideas, communities etc.

It really comes down, who do you trust?

I lot of people who tell you to look for problems in some random groups:

1. Have never built a SaaS

2. Have never built a business

3. Have never done anything, but maybe guru out and then regurgitate what someone else told them.. who also never did anything

4. Their advice is like 20 years old, from a time and place when nothing was really online and they built 1 thing doing this and got lucky and now spout this out as the golden grail of problem solving

5. What's any easier sell to the mass public? "You can build anything for anyone and make millions if you just follow this simple framework of researching reddit communities for problems once you buy my $400 course!" OR "You should be a domain authority and build to what you know and solve problems for people that way for free" - I'll let you pick, but the easy button is in the simple research reddit, than to build on your authority ( for many reasons I won't go into just yet ).

Is what I said above 100% factual? No, I'm sure there are 1 or 2 outliers out there, but you will get that with anything, right?

Then, you have me. I've:

1. Built 7 SaaS products, building my 8th now.

2. Been making money since 7th grade ( 1988 ). Been making serious money since 2008 though.

3. Have done everything in digital marketing, and almost everything in web dev/programming

4. Been running different businesses, specifically online, since 1999

5. Self-taught, still do hands-on dirty work to this day.

Now, the above doesn't really qualify me to give any advice honestly.

But when it comes down to it, who would you rather trust? Random people on random forums like IndieHackers and even FLF, or people who play in this SaaS space and have a background you can verify ( look up SERPWoo or my name/handle online ) who also made a detailed AMA thread about the topic too?

At the end of that day, I could be a liar and the other random people on random forums with no verifiable background could be correct.

But if you were to put odds on the casino floor, I think most people would bet on maybe me.

I think that should answer a lot of questions for you.

For a more detailed look at the other question/thought you brought up:

But I have recently read your answer that the best idea is to build SaaS around area/domain where we are an expert and people know us. I am expert in programming, my other activities are just passion. For instance, I love to do barbecue. I love grill a lot of different meets and fishes. But I'm not found that is place to do some SaaS ;p Maybe should I just find some domain which will be interesting for me, become an expert and then try do do SaaS?

I just totally don't know where i how should I look for ideas, communities etc.

You're an expert in programming. Build a SaaS around programming.

You prob know more than the lay person on BBQ, so build a BBQ SaaS.

You could find another topic and become an expert, but you will lose time in learning it, instead of building now.

But your last line shows me you still are not getting it... you said -

"I just totally don't know where i how should I look for ideas, communities etc"

No where in my thread did I ever say or speak on, look for ideas and look for communities. No where.

Why?

Because all through my thread I said over and over and over again:

When you are the authority, you already know the ideas and where the people/community hangs out.

If you have no clue where BBQ or programming people hang out, or what ideas they need solved.. you are not the authority on that domain.

Because if you really were an expert/authority on programming, you would know where other programmers hang out, because you are one yourself and would know where YOU would go. And YOU would know what ideas need to be solved, because you have run into needs/wants as a programmer you need solved, right?

Same is true for ANY domain.

If you don't know the ideas because you haven't experienced the wants/needs AND YOU ALSO don't know the communities and places they hang out and ask questions and seek help or generally read for news and updates...

Well, you aren't an authority enough in that topic to build a SaaS for it.

What topics do you know the communities hang out, and what topic have you experienced wants/needs in?

That's your SaaS market.

 

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[Clinton7]

You prob know more than the lay person on BBQ, so build a BBQ SaaS.

Curious what they would need a SaaS for.

 

[eliquid]

Curious what they would need a SaaS for.

This is why you need to be an authority in a domain.. only they can answer that question, for that domain/topic/industry

 

[Clinton7]

What programming language would you recommend for creating a SaaS?

I'm stuck between javascript and python.

 

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[bambz]

@eliquid

Okay, I understand your thoughts and what you wanna convey.

Doing SaaS just like you do (being an authority in some domain) it's easy because you can sell it from the day one of writing code and you know your potential customers so you do marketing from the very beginning. But of course, the hardest thing is to be the authority in such a great level as you describe.

But.. there is other smart guy with a lot of experience on the forum.. @Andy Black say that the best and easiest way to successfully do a business is just helping people . MJ DeMarco (if I remember correctly) created a service for ordering limousines. Was he an authority in that market? I do not think so.

In my case .. I have over 6 years experience in programming. I read regularly forums about programming and so on. In my country (Poland) the biggest problem in this market is that people who want to become a programmer don't know how to start and what languages will be the best for their. I don't know what is the situation in other countries but in Poland there are a lot of wanna-be-programmers because the salaries are much higher than in other jobs. But I think this market is saturated (there are a lot of IT tutorials, blogs, books) and besides even if I created some SaaS to help these people they probably would use it for 3-4 months. I can't find other needs in programming area, maybe I have should been looking in more detail..

BBQ, and other passions like Brasilian Jiu Jitsu, Football, Physics - there are just hobbies but I am not an authority.

Referring to your advice and my current situation. The only way for me is just looking for some other hobby (domain) where are a lot of problems and needs, become an authority, maybe create blog with valuable content, meet people and so on.

On the other hand I know IT guy form my country who has registered in some FB group, was asking about problems and finally has found some need, has created SaaS and earn money ;p


Best regards and thank you for your answer.

 

[MTF]

I didn't answer because at the time I didn't really know what you were asking.

And I try to NOT answer posts, if the answer is somewhere else in the thread.

But I'll try for yours here.

Your question was:

@eliquid

I have a few questions about finding ideas for SaaS because I've found some conflicting statements in this forum.

I've read that the best idea to do business is just helping other people not focusing on money. So I understand that I should look for problems in some (random?) groups (FB, Reddit, etc.) and then create Landing Page, validate ideas for SaaS, create MVP and do marketing from the first day.

But I have recently read your answer that the best idea is to build SaaS around area/domain where we are an expert and people know us. I am expert in programming, my other activities are just passion. For instance, I love to do barbecue. I love grill a lot of different meets and fishes. But I'm not found that is place to do some SaaS ;p Maybe should I just find some domain which will be interesting for me, become an expert and then try do do SaaS?

I just totally don't know where i how should I look for ideas, communities etc.

It really comes down, who do you trust?

I lot of people who tell you to look for problems in some random groups:

1. Have never built a SaaS

2. Have never built a business

3. Have never done anything, but maybe guru out and then regurgitate what someone else told them.. who also never did anything

4. Their advice is like 20 years old, from a time and place when nothing was really online and they built 1 thing doing this and got lucky and now spout this out as the golden grail of problem solving

5. What's any easier sell to the mass public? "You can build anything for anyone and make millions if you just follow this simple framework of researching reddit communities for problems once you buy my $400 course!" OR "You should be a domain authority and build to what you know and solve problems for people that way for free" - I'll let you pick, but the easy button is in the simple research reddit, than to build on your authority ( for many reasons I won't go into just yet ).

Is what I said above 100% factual? No, I'm sure there are 1 or 2 outliers out there, but you will get that with anything, right?

Then, you have me. I've:

1. Built 7 SaaS products, building my 8th now.

2. Been making money since 7th grade ( 1988 ). Been making serious money since 2008 though.

3. Have done everything in digital marketing, and almost everything in web dev/programming

4. Been running different businesses, specifically online, since 1999

5. Self-taught, still do hands-on dirty work to this day.

Now, the above doesn't really qualify me to give any advice honestly.

But when it comes down to it, who would you rather trust? Random people on random forums like IndieHackers and even FLF, or people who play in this SaaS space and have a background you can verify ( look up SERPWoo or my name/handle online ) who also made a detailed AMA thread about the topic too?

At the end of that day, I could be a liar and the other random people on random forums with no verifiable background could be correct.

But if you were to put odds on the casino floor, I think most people would bet on maybe me.

I think that should answer a lot of questions for you.

For a more detailed look at the other question/thought you brought up:

But I have recently read your answer that the best idea is to build SaaS around area/domain where we are an expert and people know us. I am expert in programming, my other activities are just passion. For instance, I love to do barbecue. I love grill a lot of different meets and fishes. But I'm not found that is place to do some SaaS ;p Maybe should I just find some domain which will be interesting for me, become an expert and then try do do SaaS?

I just totally don't know where i how should I look for ideas, communities etc.

You're an expert in programming. Build a SaaS around programming.

You prob know more than the lay person on BBQ, so build a BBQ SaaS.

You could find another topic and become an expert, but you will lose time in learning it, instead of building now.

But your last line shows me you still are not getting it... you said -

"I just totally don't know where i how should I look for ideas, communities etc"

No where in my thread did I ever say or speak on, look for ideas and look for communities. No where.

Why?

Because all through my thread I said over and over and over again:

When you are the authority, you already know the ideas and where the people/community hangs out.

If you have no clue where BBQ or programming people hang out, or what ideas they need solved.. you are not the authority on that domain.

Because if you really were an expert/authority on programming, you would know where other programmers hang out, because you are one yourself and would know where YOU would go. And YOU would know what ideas need to be solved, because you have run into needs/wants as a programmer you need solved, right?

Same is true for ANY domain.

If you don't know the ideas because you haven't experienced the wants/needs AND YOU ALSO don't know the communities and places they hang out and ask questions and seek help or generally read for news and updates...

Well, you aren't an authority enough in that topic to build a SaaS for it.

What topics do you know the communities hang out, and what topic have you experienced wants/needs in?

That's your SaaS market.

What an awesome reply. Thank you for taking the time to write this.

But.. there is other smart guy with a lot of experience on the forum.. @Andy Black say that the best and easiest way to successfully do a business is just helping people . MJ DeMarco (if I remember correctly) created a service for ordering limousines. Was he an authority in that market? I do not think so.

You can help people more if you understand them better. MJ was a limo driver before so he understood the ins and outs of the industry.

In my case .. I have over 6 years experience in programming. I read regularly forums about programming and so on. In my country (Poland) the biggest problem in this market is that people who want to become a programmer don't know how to start and what languages will be the best for their. I don't know what is the situation in other countries but in Poland there are a lot of wanna-be-programmers because the salaries are much higher than in other jobs. But I think this market is saturated (there are a lot of IT tutorials, blogs, books) and besides even if I created some SaaS to help these people they probably would use it for 3-4 months. I can't find other needs in programming area, maybe I have should been looking in more detail..

So if not programming, what are programmers interested in other than programming? As a programmer you probably share many things with other programmers. You may have the same or similar needs and wants. You may buy from the same companies as they do.

As for that last point - (shitty) example: most programmers probably need a great office/gaming chair. What if you created SaaS for companies that sell office/gaming chairs? You don't have to provide value directly to the programmers. You can provide value to companies who then provide value to programmers.

 

[Andy Black]

@Andy Black say that the best and easiest way to successfully do a business is just helping people

It's still compatible with what @eliquid says...

• Help people.
• Be seen helping people.
• Get better at helping people.
• Become known as a helpful person.
• Become known as an authority in the domain(s) you help people.
• Start seeing patterns of what people regularly need help with.
• Start seeing patterns of why people regularly need help.
• Start seeing patterns how to help people at scale.
• Start getting tagged when people need help.
• Start having people reach out to you for help.
• etc

It all starts with helping people imo, and making that your guiding light means lots of other things fall into place.

I keep advising people to start by just helping people so they can get out of their own way. People are often stuck over-thinking, over-reading, or "building stuff" when they'd do better to "engage the market".

You might like this:

• Who have you helped?

 

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[eliquid]

What programming language would you recommend for creating a SaaS?

I'm stuck between javascript and python.

You can really do everything in both.

More than likely, you will end up doing the front end in JS and the backend in Python.

However, whatever you are most comfortable with is what you should go forward with.

 

[eliquid]

@bambz

I kinda feel like, maybe you already know what you want to do and have it made up in your mind.. but you want someone to reaffirm it for you before you do what you want to do.

I get it, but I'm not that guy to do it for you.

Let us look over what you have mentioned...

Doing SaaS just like you do (being an authority in some domain) it's easy because you can sell it from the day one of writing code and you know your potential customers so you do marketing from the very beginning. But of course, the hardest thing is to be the authority in such a great level as you describe.

It's not hard. You just need to know more than the next lay person.

Does your daughter or wife know how to BBQ? Maybe they know how to heat meat in an oven, but do they know how to smoke a 5lb brisket properly for 12+ hours on 200 degree heat and properly do the charcoal and wood smoke? Probably not.

But you do. Maybe you've done only 3 times. But you know more than her.

And that makes you an authority ( to her ).

Not hard, pretty easy. Right?

And doing SaaS like I do ( which you mentioned above ) is easy because you can sell it from day one because you know your potential customers and do marketing from day 1 ( like you mentioned above ). See why I suggest it??? Why would you do it the complete opposite way and make it hard on yourself?

I taught it the way I do it, because it makes it easy for you and others to market and sell it from day 1. Why do it any other way?

A nice SaaS that has no marketing = no one cares or finds it and you don't make money ( I've built a few of those myself.... avoid this at all cost ).

But.. there is other smart guy with a lot of experience on the forum.. @Andy Black say that the best and easiest way to successfully do a business is just helping people . MJ DeMarco (if I remember correctly) created a service for ordering limousines. Was he an authority in that market? I do not think so.

@Andy Black and @MJ DeMarco are both smart, yes.

But would you say, they are not an authority? Nah, you wouldn't.

So really my advice still rings true for Andy and MJ.

MJ was a limo driver. He was an authority on limos and limo driving over me or you or Andy ( sorry Andy if you were a limo authority too! ). So he created a limo service, right? Seems like an authority creating a service which is what I said. Uhmmm

Andy is an authority on lots of things, like Google Ads and PPC. So he made a service. Seems my logic is still on point, right? Uhmmm

And yes, Andy says to help people. To just help people and you will have a successful business. That's true.

But how are you gonna help someone if you don't know more than them on a topic/subject ( knowing more than the lay person, which makes you an authority )? So again, my advice rings true.

How could you just help someone, if you yourself don't know the topic or issue at hand? That would be the blind leading the blind, right?

In order to help someone, you have to be some kind of authority or else you are just "the blind leading the blind" and that helps no one.

The value you provide in helping someone comes from you knowing how to solve their problem. How are you going to solve their problem if you don't know the problem's topic?

In my case .. I have over 6 years experience in programming. I read regularly forums about programming and so on. In my country (Poland) the biggest problem in this market is that people who want to become a programmer don't know how to start and what languages will be the best for their. I don't know what is the situation in other countries but in Poland there are a lot of wanna-be-programmers because the salaries are much higher than in other jobs. But I think this market is saturated (there are a lot of IT tutorials, blogs, books) and besides even if I created some SaaS to help these people they probably would use it for 3-4 months. I can't find other needs in programming area, maybe I have should been looking in more detail..

Wait, didn't later in your response you say you know an IT guy that went to some forums and helped people and is making money? So your thought about saturation is untrue, right? If he can do it, you can do it.

And if people stay for 3-4 months, what's the big problem with that? At least you are making money and built a SaaS.. the next step would be to figure out how to make them stay for 9 months or more once you build.

You are not gonna build ROME in 3 months on your first try.

I've been a programmer since 1998 when I started to code in Perl. If you can't find a need in programming then you:

1. Aren't programming
2. Aren't thinking
3. Aren't looking
4. Aren't trying
5. Never had an issue or problem in programming yourself, which makes me doubt a few things about your background ( no offense).

BBQ, and other passions like Brasilian Jiu Jitsu, Football, Physics - there are just hobbies but I am not an authority.

Yeah, you brought up the BBQ and hobbies. I was just trying to show you through example how you could do those instead. Not trying to say you should do a SaaS in those, but trying to point out what you could do.

Again, if you do these as a hobby, you probably know more than the next lay person.

My mom quilts as a hobby. I know nothing about it. She is an authority to me. If she built a SaaS or service or course on quilting, she would be an authority over me and could teach me something I would pay for. No one cares that she isn't the oldest most degreed person who is a famous TikToker before they buy her course or SaaS.

If I have question about quilting, I go to her and ask.

If we know nothing about quilting, she is an authority and can teach us something.. right? Money is just the transfer of value. She had value ( info ) that we want and don't know ourselves. That is what SaaS is too.

Referring to your advice and my current situation. The only way for me is just looking for some other hobby (domain) where are a lot of problems and needs, become an authority, maybe create blog with valuable content, meet people and so on.

If you want to chase hobbies, that will be your choice. But that is a lot of time-wasting, if you are chasing hobbies to just build a SaaS.

If you chase them to have fun and learn, that is good.

If you chase them to build a SaaS.. you are missing everything in this AMA I have tried to teach.

On the other hand I know IT guy form my country who has registered in some FB group, was asking about problems and finally has found some need, has created SaaS and earn money ;p

So saturation ( your worry from prior ) is really not a concern. Because IT is just as big as programming with blogs and articles and such available online.

And I never said, that this is the only 1 true way.

There are always outliers in everything.

I know a guy that took 2 shipping containers and made a house and lives in it. Does that mean my dad who is a builder that tells me to own a brick home is wrong? No.

But it also doesn't make the shipping container guy wrong either.

But when it comes to resale value 20 years from now, potential fire and tornado/hurricane issues, insurance costs, heating and cooling issues, etc... one of these solutions may end up being the better choice in the long run over time.

Both are not wrong, but one tends to come up a lot better option when you step back and look from the 50,000 foot view of things.

Also, the idea of "shipping container homes" is an easy sell to lots of people, just like browsing Reddit or FB groups is an easy sell. I mean, how hard could browsing Reddit or FB be? It's a lot easier than having real authority in a subject. Just like slapping 2 shipping containers together for $8k and cutting out windows seems a ton easier than building a brick home for $300k and lots of contractors and paperwork.

Can you live in both ( or make money from both ) ideas? Sure. Is one of them a better long-term solution? Yes

That is what this AMA is.

That is what my advice is.

The problem with your friend is, he built something based on someone else's need ( someone in that FB group ) and made some money. When he gets stuck and needs to pivot or add on or change things.. what is he going to do? Ask people in that FB group again?

What if they are no longer there? What if FB takes away the group. What if they grow tired of his questions and not answer him? What if they give him the wrong advice and he follows it because he doesn't know any better since he isn't an authority?

I could go on, but I think you see my point.

 

[Clinton7]

You can really do everything in both.

More than likely, you will end up doing the front end in JS and the backend in Python.

However, whatever you are most comfortable with is what you should go forward with.

Thanks for having the time to respond to all my questions.

They gave the same advice you have been giving

I have already thought of an industry to do this but can I tell if it will be profitable? The amount of people that make money there aren't much.

 

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[bambz]

@eliquid, @Andy Black, @MTF thank you for the answers.

First of all - I could introduce an inaccuracy. When I mentioned a friend who had created a SaaS based on some random FB groups I didn't mean that the SaaS was built around programming. That SaaS was built around insurance and this guy had no knowledge in that domain. He had a friend who was commissioned for a web application for an insurance agency and thought that he would help him and create an application not for a single agency but for many. To get to know the market and problems much more he registered in the FB group. Finally, he got success and sell this SaaS because the domain wasn't interesting for him.


Okay, I'm starting to feel your message much more. I've been wondering for the last few hours whether I've ever helped people with programming .. and yes, I told them how to start and how to choose programming languages and what are the possibilities in an IT career. Maybe should I build SaaS which helps beginners to feel less lost in this new world and shows them some roadmap? But on the other hand, wouldn't be an e-book the better form in this case? ;p


And about other domains... what if we are interested in markets/domains where there aren't too many people, where there isn't too much money and people don't have problems which they would like to pay for? For instance, BBQ -> people have main problems with recipes or choice which bbq should they buy ;p And they get rather answers in forums or Fb groups for free. What if all of our passions are similar to the above one and it's hard to make money around them?

 

[MTF]

And about other domains... what if we are interested in markets/domains where there aren't too many people, where there isn't too much money and people don't have problems which they would like to pay for? For instance, BBQ -> people have main problems with recipes or choice which bbq should they buy ;p

You're trying to force a business model onto the market.

Let's say I approach you and tell you that I have 1,000 rock solid buyers who want to buy a specific kind of BBQ. They can even pay you in advance. The problem is that the BBQ they want to buy is only manufactured in a small Caribbean country, say Barbados.

And here you come and say: COME ON GUYS, WHAT KIND OF SAAS DO YOU WANT?

An entrepreneur sees the problem above and figures out a way to solve it. Secure pre-orders. Contact the manufacturer. Negotiate the price. Figure out international shipping. Figure out local delivery.

Don't let your job define you as an entrepreneur.

What if all of our passions are similar to the above one and it's hard to make money around them?

It doesn't have to be your current passion (or even a passion at all).

Let's say I see opportunities marketing to seniors. I don't know anything about it. So I'll read some articles, a couple of books, and now I know more about marketing to the elderly than most people (including marketers). Now I can reach out to retirement communities and ask them if they're open to me helping them find new residents. I don't need to have a passion for the elderly to help them.

 

[UK_Mike]

And about other domains... what if we are interested in markets/domains where there aren't too many people, where there isn't too much money and people don't have problems which they would like to pay for?

That touches on my post in "hobby as a business" elsewhere on here - I'm making some specific products (not software related, but not really relevant), but it's not a big market, it just happens to be one where I have some experience that I can make use of. If I was thinking about it properly as a business proposition, I wouldn't be picking the market I'm in, I'd pick a bigger, richer one.

 

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[AlfaStream]

In terms of market segmentation(niche), do you have a framework/process for someone to find good/unsaturated traffic sources when they're starting out for rapid growth?

If so, can you give an example of how you go about finding new places to source traffic?

 

[bambz]

Thank you @MTF

I’m not sure I understand you correctly. So in your example with BBQ from Barbados SaaS isn’t appropriate business model?

In this case should I rather create some online shop?

And the problem is that I want to create SaaS in markets where it doesn’y fit, yeah?

„Don't let your job define you as an entrepreneur.” - could you tell sth more about this sencence? I don’t understand what could it mean.

 

[MTF]

I’m not sure I understand you correctly. So in your example with BBQ from Barbados SaaS isn’t appropriate business model?

In this case should I rather create some online shop?

And the problem is that I want to create SaaS in markets where it doesn’y fit, yeah?

Yeah that's what I meant. I wanted to show you the proper mentality for an entrepreneur. When you see a problem that needs solving, you figure out how to solve it in whatever way it needs to be solved. Oftentimes, that won't be software.

Granted, you CAN limit yourself to offering software only but it will prevent you from seeing obvious opportunities that software can't solve.

For example, being from Poland and potentially knowing many developers, maybe you could build a much more lucrative business for yourself than a random SaaS by building a job board, for example a better clone of https://www.go.jobrack.eu/employers-offer-a1.

„Don't let your job define you as an entrepreneur.” - could you tell sth more about this sencence? I don’t understand what could it mean.

So maybe I interpreted this the wrong way but I assume you're a developer. So your day job defines you as an entrepreneur because you only see opportunities to create a business using what you do at your day job.

But there are so many other ways to build a business. Having some kind of a skill-set helps but you don't have to pigeonhole yourself into a belief like "I can only help with software" because I'm sure that you can help people in many other ways.

My main skill is writing. That's how I've reached most success in business. It's tempting to forever limit myself just to writing but it's not conducive for growth. There may be a clear business opportunity for me but I won't see it because I'll be thinking in terms "how to provide value with writing" while there's an obvious different way. Sort of like the example with software.

 

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[eliquid]

Thanks for having the time to respond to all my questions.

They gave the same advice you have been giving

I have already thought of an industry to do this but can I tell if it will be profitable? The amount of people that make money there aren't much.

There are a few ways you could try to estimate this, but this is again why you really need to know the industry you are building in ( being an authority ) and not just taking random people's advice in a FB group or surveying people in an industry you do not know.

 

[eliquid]

And about other domains... what if we are interested in markets/domains where there aren't too many people, where there isn't too much money and people don't have problems which they would like to pay for? For instance, BBQ -> people have main problems with recipes or choice which bbq should they buy ;p And they get rather answers in forums or Fb groups for free. What if all of our passions are similar to the above one and it's hard to make money around them?

Welcome to Business 101.

What you're asking is not a SaaS question now, but what all business owners face day to day.

1. Does this business cater to people with money
2. Will people pay for this widget?
3. Will people rather go to forums to get their info, or use my service/agency/product?

At some point, what you are asking really isn't SaaS and more about business and marketing and creating value.

That's a whole other forum post outside of this one.

 

[eliquid]

In terms of market segmentation(niche), do you have a framework/process for someone to find good/unsaturated traffic sources when they're starting out for rapid growth?

If so, can you give an example of how you go about finding new places to source traffic?

The first part of this AMA touches on marketing and getting eyeballs.

It even talked about early adopters and how to find them ( I believe, but I admit I don't reread this forum post front to back daily ).

The main idea is if you are an authority you already know where "your people" or "your tribe" hangs out. Saturated or not.

The problem is, if I told you "ads on Newsbreak" is good and unsaturated. That might be me telling you that from my experience and viewpoint as someone that runs an Insurance SaaS and got good traffic from it.

But if you are building a Roofing SaaS, Newsbreak ads might be horrible for you and saturated.

See why being an authority is so important? You're gonna know details about your industry I don't, and that makes all the difference in the world.

For a lot of people, you can't beat PPC and the algo's that FB and Google have.

Past that, you really are going to have to know your niche.

For example, in my Internet Marketing SaaS's, that comes down to:

1. Reddit
2. Medium
3. Slack groups ( paid and free )
4. Email newsletters
5. PPC
6. specific forums and news outlets like SearchEngineLand

But for your SaaS in the Real Estate industry.... that could be a whole 180 degree turn.


One thing I do though when evaluating SaaS or ANY opportunity:

I always look to see where I can advertise first before I jump into it.

A product or service without marketing, will lead you to bankruptcy.

So when I am looking at new ideas, I might jump on Facebook or Google and look through the "interest targeting" option or "audiences lists" on those platforms and make sure I have a match.

Or I might go on Reddit and see if there is a community already around it.

Or I might see if there are big newsletters serving that community or idea.

If I don't find good matches, I might pass on it depending on a few factors.

However, unless you are an authority.. you really don't know if this interests or audiences line up and match to you and your product, right?

For example, I run a TON of political ads for political campaigns.

I know certain audiences and interests that appeal to my political market that a normal person would never realize or know about and would pass up on and skip over.

 

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[becks22]

This thread has turned into a goldmine of info and I think it should be marked as such @MJ DeMarco

 

[Jr.khan]

Hi there I'm currently trying to build a website that offers instant quotes for parcel deliveries. The layout I have in mind for the website is it will have a form for customers to enter all package and shipment details. Hit obtain quote and then they will receive a list of quotes from multiple couriers. How would you suggest I go about doing that?

Are there any resources you could point me towards?

Thank you!