Finally, a Business Idea Worth Pursuing!

[Young Money]

No more chasing the next "shiny object", I've found my next business idea that is innovative, and most importantly, it solves a problem.

I was in a bit of a slump this Fall as the ecommerce store I had launched in the summer had failed, and even after getting feedback and tweaking the store, I still wasn't generating sales. I was losing so much money on facebook ads and the shopify subscription, I had to throw in the towel for that venture. And honestly, I'm not super surprised it failed, because even though the quality of my product was good (eyeglasses), and I put a lot of effort into my branding (vintage Hollywood aesthetic), there wasn't a huge NEED I was solving, considering there are already hundreds, if not thousands of established eyewear companies selling glasses online.

Still, I sunk a lot of time into that business, and a good chunk of money, so it was pretty painful to have to give up on it. I suppose I can always revisit it in the future if I find a new approach or can innovate it more in some way. But that's for another time.

My next idea came to me pretty recently but I've already been laying the groundwork on how to implement it, specific features, marketing ideas, and everything else. I'm so excited by it, I pretty much am thinking about it 24/7!

I won't reveal specifically what it is, but I can still discuss aspects of it.

First of all, it is a SAAS (software as a service), which is so nice due to being able to easily scale it, and not have to worry about inventory, shipping, duties, MOQs, and all the other headaches that come with physical products! I'm sure this business model will have plenty of its own headaches haha but whatever, I'm ready to swap some old problems for some new ones!

The software solves a problem specific to my industry (not eyewear), and I know the process it would be implemented for inside and out so it will be very easy for me to know exactly what features need to be in it, and various issues that could come up that the software will have to address. Basically, it will streamline a process that everyone in my industry has to deal with on a regular basis.

Additionally, it will use AI as a core function in the software. I am going to have it integrated into the software and it will provide an innovative user experience that is not currently being offered in my industry.

Lastly, the SAAS will be offered as a subscription service, and I expect to charge $20/month for it. I love the subscription based business model and the idea of having a steady flow of monthly income to rely on, as opposed to having to constantly kill your next meal aka constantly having to get new sales. I figure that if I deliver a quality app, with a good user experience and support, it should not be too difficult for me to acquire 100 paying customers within a few months of operation, which would bring in $2,000/month for me. Certainly not a lot of money, but hey, I would be overjoyed by that, and of course continually work to drive sales up from there. Imagine 1000 monthly customers... no, 10,000!!! Where is the heart eye emoji? Lol.

I don't know that I have a specific question for you all at this point, I was more so just excited and wanted to share.

My next step, and possibly the most crucial one, is finding a technical developer to build the software. I don't know if I should try to find a technical co-founder that will become my partner for the app, or if I should pay a developer by the hour or by the job to just develop it. I've been perusing Upwork and found quite a few developers with the skillset I would need, and it looks like they charge between $35-60hr, but I have no idea how many hours it would take to actually build this software. And if I do hire a developer to build it, what happens after? I'll need someone to be able to provide technical support if there is an issue, or be able to add new features in the future. Hmmm.

If anyone has experience working with a software developer, please let me know and if there is anything I should look out for, things I need to consider, etc.

I look forward to sharing my progress with you guys!

 

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[Jobless]

Based on your username, profile picture and going from e-com eyeglasses to an AI SaaS -- you are absolutely chasing 'the next shiny object'. You think we're idiots? I think we all like shiny objects though so I understand. Subscription income is great.

Ideas for qualities to ascertain in candidate before hiring (I posted this in another thread): 1. integrity, 2. competency, 3. industriousness. Observing/deducing these three traits in them is more important than their education, experience or what story they tell you. If you're hiring software people -- these people do not tend to be charismatic. They appreciate logic and clarity.

If its not creative-type work, you must be very clear in what results are excepted. Do they have a blueprint / prototype to follow or are you just making them wing it? Will there be continual feedback? If they complain or want to do things differently, do you trust them?

Verify that your marketing will work, and that the main selling point of your service is technically possible to create. Do not hire or take on a partner unless you are fairly certain it is required. What prevents you from using AI to code a prototype of the SaaS yourself, and doing some paid marketing?

 

[Aidan04]

No more chasing the next "shiny object", I've found my next business idea that is innovative, and most importantly, it solves a problem.

I was in a bit of a slump this Fall as the ecommerce store I had launched in the summer had failed, and even after getting feedback and tweaking the store, I still wasn't generating sales. I was losing so much money on facebook ads and the shopify subscription, I had to throw in the towel for that venture. And honestly, I'm not super surprised it failed, because even though the quality of my product was good (eyeglasses), and I put a lot of effort into my branding (vintage Hollywood aesthetic), there wasn't a huge NEED I was solving, considering there are already hundreds, if not thousands of established eyewear companies selling glasses online.

Still, I sunk a lot of time into that business, and a good chunk of money, so it was pretty painful to have to give up on it. I suppose I can always revisit it in the future if I find a new approach or can innovate it more in some way. But that's for another time.

My next idea came to me pretty recently but I've already been laying the groundwork on how to implement it, specific features, marketing ideas, and everything else. I'm so excited by it, I pretty much am thinking about it 24/7!

I won't reveal specifically what it is, but I can still discuss aspects of it.

First of all, it is a SAAS (software as a service), which is so nice due to being able to easily scale it, and not have to worry about inventory, shipping, duties, MOQs, and all the other headaches that come with physical products! I'm sure this business model will have plenty of its own headaches haha but whatever, I'm ready to swap some old problems for some new ones!

The software solves a problem specific to my industry (not eyewear), and I know the process it would be implemented for inside and out so it will be very easy for me to know exactly what features need to be in it, and various issues that could come up that the software will have to address. Basically, it will streamline a process that everyone in my industry has to deal with on a regular basis.

Additionally, it will use AI as a core function in the software. I am going to have it integrated into the software and it will provide an innovative user experience that is not currently being offered in my industry.

Lastly, the SAAS will be offered as a subscription service, and I expect to charge $20/month for it. I love the subscription based business model and the idea of having a steady flow of monthly income to rely on, as opposed to having to constantly kill your next meal aka constantly having to get new sales. I figure that if I deliver a quality app, with a good user experience and support, it should not be too difficult for me to acquire 100 paying customers within a few months of operation, which would bring in $2,000/month for me. Certainly not a lot of money, but hey, I would be overjoyed by that, and of course continually work to drive sales up from there. Imagine 1000 monthly customers... no, 10,000!!! Where is the heart eye emoji? Lol.

I don't know that I have a specific question for you all at this point, I was more so just excited and wanted to share.

My next step, and possibly the most crucial one, is finding a technical developer to build the software. I don't know if I should try to find a technical co-founder that will become my partner for the app, or if I should pay a developer by the hour or by the job to just develop it. I've been perusing Upwork and found quite a few developers with the skillset I would need, and it looks like they charge between $35-60hr, but I have no idea how many hours it would take to actually build this software. And if I do hire a developer to build it, what happens after? I'll need someone to be able to provide technical support if there is an issue, or be able to add new features in the future. Hmmm.

If anyone has experience working with a software developer, please let me know and if there is anything I should look out for, things I need to consider, etc.

I look forward to sharing my progress with you guys!

An idea is just an idea until you make it happen. Post about how you have a working demo ready to show everyone any how it can help people, not this.

You have no idea if the market wants this.

Don't chase shiny objects, don't chase trends, and don't get excited until you have paying customers.

Also, don't dismiss non-SaaS ideas, there are people on this forum making millions cleaning houses, as well as very talented people building physical products like my man @Spenny who is making a killing selling something very small.

Build an MVP, don't switch to an easier idea, and show your target market this when it's done.

 

[Young Money]

Based on your username, profile picture and going from e-com eyeglasses to an AI SaaS -- you are absolutely chasing 'the next shiny object'. You think we're idiots? I think we all like shiny objects though so I understand. Subscription income is great.

Ideas for qualities to ascertain in candidate before hiring (I posted this in another thread): 1. integrity, 2. competency, 3. industriousness. Observing/deducing these three traits in them is more important than their education, experience or what story they tell you. If you're hiring software people -- these people do not tend to be charismatic. They appreciate logic and clarity.

If its not creative-type work, you must be very clear in what results are excepted. Do they have a blueprint / prototype to follow or are you just making them wing it? Will there be continual feedback? If they complain or want to do things differently, do you trust them?

Verify that your marketing will work, and that the main selling point of your service is technically possible to create. Do not hire or take on a partner unless you are fairly certain it is required. What prevents you from using AI to code a prototype of the SaaS yourself, and doing some paid marketing?

Well then, you are making a lot of assumptions about me based off of some silly things.

Young Money - I've been a member here for 6 years, and I was a lot younger when I chose it. I chose it because I was a huge Drake fan back then (Young Money was his label back then). Also, nothing wrong with wanting to have money young anyway.

My profile pic - yes the infamous Jordan Belfort, as played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Judge me all you want, I think it is a fantastic movie, one of Scorsese's best, and Leo deserved the oscar for it in my opinion. Does not mean I am an advocate for what he did - though with that being said there are some traits of his I admire, such as his incredible sales skills.

Ecomm eyewear - as I've mentioned previously, it is the industry my girlfriend has a ton of experience in, having worked as an optician in many different clinics over a period of 10+ years. With her eyeglasses expertise, I thought I could build a successful online store with her. That doesn't mean I expected to be the next Luxottica, but I thought maybe I could still generate a modest income with it. I took action on it, it was failing, I tried to make adjustments, it still failed, so I moved on...

So me pivoting to a SAAS model in my own industry because I recognized a problem that needs solving, means I am chasing the next "shiny object?" Okay dude, if you say so...

But in reality no. If I was chasing the next shiny object I would be watching youtube videos on "HOW TO MAKE $2000/DAY EASY IN JUST 7 DAYS WITH AFFILIATE MARKETING!" and then buy some useless course.

So no, I don't think the forum members are idiots but I appreciate you thinking that based off your assumptions despite knowing nothing about me.

 

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[Young Money]

An idea is just an idea until you make it happen. Post about how you have a working demo ready to show everyone any how it can help people, not this.

You have no idea if the market wants this.

Don't chase shiny objects, don't chase trends, and don't get excited until you have paying customers.

Also, don't dismiss non-SaaS ideas, there are people on this forum making millions cleaning houses, as well as very talented people building physical products like my man @Spenny who is making a killing selling something very small.

Build an MVP, don't switch to an easier idea, and show your target market this when it's done.

I am very aware an idea is just an idea. I am actively working on making that idea a reality. Do people not post progress threads anymore?

I do in fact know the market wants this because there is a similar service out there, but it lacks some key features that I plan to offer in my software.

Not chasing objects or trends. AI is creating possibilities that were beyond our imagination just a couple years ago. I aim to utilize that technology to build something useful.

Not once did I dismiss non-SaaS ideas, not sure where you came up with that? I said I want to trade the headaches from the ecomm business model to the headaches from the saaS business model... Obviously there are a million different ways to succeed in business.

This isn't an easier idea, building a software app is in no ways easy. But I think it will be worth it in the end.

 

[Paul David]

Best of luck!

Before spending a single penny on building the software go out and find people who’d use it. Get validation.

You don’t need a finished product for that. Im actually in a similar position. My software will cost around £10k to build, but for now I can manage the service manually and get the software built later once the market tells me the problem needs solving and they’re willing to pay for it.

Don’t even pitch the software. Just go out to the potential market and ask people. I’m in the process of building this, it does this and that would it be helpful before I waste my time building it?

That’s all you need to do at the moment.

 

[biophase]

No more chasing the next "shiny object", I've found my next business idea that is innovative, and most importantly, it solves a problem.

I was in a bit of a slump this Fall as the ecommerce store I had launched in the summer had failed, and even after getting feedback and tweaking the store, I still wasn't generating sales. I was losing so much money on facebook ads and the shopify subscription, I had to throw in the towel for that venture. And honestly, I'm not super surprised it failed, because even though the quality of my product was good (eyeglasses), and I put a lot of effort into my branding (vintage Hollywood aesthetic), there wasn't a huge NEED I was solving, considering there are already hundreds, if not thousands of established eyewear companies selling glasses online.

Still, I sunk a lot of time into that business, and a good chunk of money, so it was pretty painful to have to give up on it. I suppose I can always revisit it in the future if I find a new approach or can innovate it more in some way. But that's for another time.

My next idea came to me pretty recently but I've already been laying the groundwork on how to implement it, specific features, marketing ideas, and everything else. I'm so excited by it, I pretty much am thinking about it 24/7!

I won't reveal specifically what it is, but I can still discuss aspects of it.

First of all, it is a SAAS (software as a service), which is so nice due to being able to easily scale it, and not have to worry about inventory, shipping, duties, MOQs, and all the other headaches that come with physical products! I'm sure this business model will have plenty of its own headaches haha but whatever, I'm ready to swap some old problems for some new ones!

The software solves a problem specific to my industry (not eyewear), and I know the process it would be implemented for inside and out so it will be very easy for me to know exactly what features need to be in it, and various issues that could come up that the software will have to address. Basically, it will streamline a process that everyone in my industry has to deal with on a regular basis.

Additionally, it will use AI as a core function in the software. I am going to have it integrated into the software and it will provide an innovative user experience that is not currently being offered in my industry.

Lastly, the SAAS will be offered as a subscription service, and I expect to charge $20/month for it. I love the subscription based business model and the idea of having a steady flow of monthly income to rely on, as opposed to having to constantly kill your next meal aka constantly having to get new sales. I figure that if I deliver a quality app, with a good user experience and support, it should not be too difficult for me to acquire 100 paying customers within a few months of operation, which would bring in $2,000/month for me. Certainly not a lot of money, but hey, I would be overjoyed by that, and of course continually work to drive sales up from there. Imagine 1000 monthly customers... no, 10,000!!! Where is the heart eye emoji? Lol.

I don't know that I have a specific question for you all at this point, I was more so just excited and wanted to share.

My next step, and possibly the most crucial one, is finding a technical developer to build the software. I don't know if I should try to find a technical co-founder that will become my partner for the app, or if I should pay a developer by the hour or by the job to just develop it. I've been perusing Upwork and found quite a few developers with the skillset I would need, and it looks like they charge between $35-60hr, but I have no idea how many hours it would take to actually build this software. And if I do hire a developer to build it, what happens after? I'll need someone to be able to provide technical support if there is an issue, or be able to add new features in the future. Hmmm.

If anyone has experience working with a software developer, please let me know and if there is anything I should look out for, things I need to consider, etc.

I look forward to sharing my progress with you guys!

I’m guessing it’s at least $10k these days to build a super simple app. And then you’d need a developer on call or retainer to check and recode for updates every time Apple and Samsung does an IOS update.

 

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[biophase]

Ecomm eyewear - as I've mentioned previously, it is the industry my girlfriend has a ton of experience in, having worked as an optician in many different clinics over a period of 10+ years. With her eyeglasses expertise, I thought I could build a successful online store with her. That doesn't mean I expected to be the next Luxottica, but I thought maybe I could still generate a modest income with it. I took action on it, it was failing, I tried to make adjustments, it still failed, so I moved on...

Let me ask you. How did you leverage your girlfriend’s knowledge of the eyeglass industry? 10 years of knowledge and you came up with a regular e-commerce store that I could have done with no optician knowledge.

You have to think differently. What was your advantage with that store? You didn’t leverage any pain points that only she would have known about her customers.

For example it could have been something like, “most of my customers cannot find eyeglasses that are chrome”.

 

[Bence Ur]

My next step, and possibly the most crucial one, is finding a technical developer to build the software. I don't know if I should try to find a technical co-founder that will become my partner for the app, or if I should pay a developer by the hour or by the job to just develop it. I've been perusing Upwork and found quite a few developers with the skillset I would need, and it looks like they charge between $35-60hr, but I have no idea how many hours it would take to actually build this software.

That would be a mistake. Most business ideas, including SaaS business ideas don't work because of the lack of market demand. See here: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/cbi-content/research-reports/The-20-Reasons-Startups-Fail.pdf

According to this linked report, the #1 reason startups fail is because of "no market need" (42%). So don't spend a ton of money on your app upfront.

There are other options. Have you heard about no-code? You can learn a no-code tool yourself like Bubble.io. Or hire a no-code developer for much cheaper than a traditional "code" developer. So build your first MVP using a no-code tool yourself or hire a no-code developer.

Then if your idea works you can still rewrite the whole app in code or you can even scale a no-code SaaS. It doesn't violate control (from the CENTS framework), because it is just an MVP.