Is my product too niche?

[phillihoch]

Hey folks,

I just joined the Fastlane Forum and are very happy to announce that this is my very first post.

I am mid through "The Millionaire Fastlane " audiobook. I am very involved in the book and I am thinking about starting a business for at least 2 years.
I thought "The right idea will eventually come". That idea never came.

Background
I am a software developer with about 3 years of experience. I had a few side hustle projects in web and mobile development. The only things I ever released were a mobile app to practice steel dart checkouts and also a mobile app to play real time buzzer games for like people who want to organize quiz shows.
I knew that if I ever want someone to pay for my apps I need to increase the value the app provides. I never did. Maybe because these projects started as a fun project and I never intended to push them further or even to sell them.

Now
Now I am developing a new app which I plan to bring to market and sell it. Classic SaaS product. It is a tournament management system, initially just for beerpong tournaments, but I think later I want expand the app to support many kind of sports.
I know there are many apps like this already on the market. None of them is a perfect fit just for beerpong. And every app I looked at is overwhelming the user with too many settings and high complexity of the interface. And further on, most of them look quite ok, but not very stunning to the eye.

My goal is to provide an application which is simple, beautiful and simultaneously easy to interact with.

My actual question/problem
I am worried that my idea/application is too niche. I am worried that too few people will actually buy that software to make a difference in my current life.
I think the market is too small for that kind of product.
Do you have similar experiences? What would you recommend me to do? Just keep going or move on to some other idea?

 

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[Kevin88660]

Didn’t know the game exists. Thanks for the education.

 

[ALL$NTMC]

Hey welcome to the forum! I definitely feel you are on the right track and are taking a good mental approach, which is trying to add value or improve a problem. I wouldn’t say it’s to “nichy” you could be the one that fulfills a need within the alcohol/sports niches. The best test will be to try out some marketing strategies and gain some feedback.

 

[MT MAINA]

Hey folks,

I just joined the Fastlane Forum and are very happy to announce that this is my very first post.

I am mid through "The Millionaire Fastlane " audiobook. I am very involved in the book and I am thinking about starting a business for at least 2 years.
I thought "The right idea will eventually come". That idea never came.

Background
I am a software developer with about 3 years of experience. I had a few side hustle projects in web and mobile development. The only things I ever released were a mobile app to practice steel dart checkouts and also a mobile app to play real time buzzer games for like people who want to organize quiz shows.
I knew that if I ever want someone to pay for my apps I need to increase the value the app provides. I never did. Maybe because these projects started as a fun project and I never intended to push them further or even to sell them.

Now
Now I am developing a new app which I plan to bring to market and sell it. Classic SaaS product. It is a tournament management system, initially just for beerpong tournaments, but I think later I want expand the app to support many kind of sports.
I know there are many apps like this already on the market. None of them is a perfect fit just for beerpong. And every app I looked at is overwhelming the user with too many settings and high complexity of the interface. And further on, most of them look quite ok, but not very stunning to the eye.

My goal is to provide an application which is simple, beautiful and simultaneously easy to interact with.

My actual question/problem
I am worried that my idea/application is too niche. I am worried that too few people will actually buy that software to make a difference in my current life.
I think the market is too small for that kind of product.
Do you have similar experiences? What would you recommend me to do? Just keep going or move on to some other idea?

I think you should test it out as a demo for the particular market... it's a good idea...try it out before you move on

 

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[kr8nt]

Hey folks,

I just joined the Fastlane Forum and are very happy to announce that this is my very first post.

I am mid through "The Millionaire Fastlane " audiobook. I am very involved in the book and I am thinking about starting a business for at least 2 years.
I thought "The right idea will eventually come". That idea never came.

Background
I am a software developer with about 3 years of experience. I had a few side hustle projects in web and mobile development. The only things I ever released were a mobile app to practice steel dart checkouts and also a mobile app to play real time buzzer games for like people who want to organize quiz shows.
I knew that if I ever want someone to pay for my apps I need to increase the value the app provides. I never did. Maybe because these projects started as a fun project and I never intended to push them further or even to sell them.

Now
Now I am developing a new app which I plan to bring to market and sell it. Classic SaaS product. It is a tournament management system, initially just for beerpong tournaments, but I think later I want expand the app to support many kind of sports.
I know there are many apps like this already on the market. None of them is a perfect fit just for beerpong. And every app I looked at is overwhelming the user with too many settings and high complexity of the interface. And further on, most of them look quite ok, but not very stunning to the eye.

My goal is to provide an application which is simple, beautiful and simultaneously easy to interact with.

My actual question/problem
I am worried that my idea/application is too niche. I am worried that too few people will actually buy that software to make a difference in my current life.
I think the market is too small for that kind of product.
Do you have similar experiences? What would you recommend me to do? Just keep going or move on to some other idea?

Don't spend time on trying to develop something before you are even sure that someone will need what you are developing. Contact your friends/ask your friends to contact their friends, and say that you are developing an X app that would help them with Y, ask if they would want to use it. If someone says yes, make them a special offer (lifetime license for example) and ask them to pay immediately and say that they will get all early bird bonuses and etc., also mention that at any point if they won't like the way your app turns out, you will refund them.

If you can't get anyone to pay for it now, not much will change later on when you will finish developing the app. Try to get at least 3-5 people to pay for it now and only then proceed with developing it.

 

[amp0193]

I am worried that my idea/application is too niche

It's not too niche. IMO beer pong is just niche enough of a place to start. And like you said, if it goes well, you can expand to other sports.

However, I think there are some problems.

1. you're targeting poor college kids who don't have disposable income. Would they pay money for a phone app?
2. You said it's SAAS. Is it really SAAS though? Are people really going to subscribe to this on an on-going basis? Aren't tournaments kind of irregular when they happen? You need the app for a weekend, and then not again for a few months. I would be very surprised if anyone would pay for this on a monthly on-going basis. Maybe some would pay $1.99 or $3.99 something for a one-off purchase, if it's a truly exceptional product.

Feel free to prove me wrong on both though, these are just my hot takes.

 

[phillihoch]

Don't spend time on trying to develop something before you are even sure that someone will need what you are developing. Contact your friends/ask your friends to contact their friends, and say that you are developing an X app that would help them with Y, ask if they would want to use it. If someone says yes, make them a special offer (lifetime license for example) and ask them to pay immediately and say that they will get all early bird bonuses and etc., also mention that at any point if they won't like the way your app turns out, you will refund them.

If you can't get anyone to pay for it now, not much will change later on when you will finish developing the app. Try to get at least 3-5 people to pay for it now and only then proceed with developing it.

Thank you for your insights.

Makes sense I think. Getting feedback as early as possible. I will try to call some bars or beerpong tournament operators. Maybe they are not 100% satisfied with their solutions. Do you think thats a good point to start with?

The app is not primarily for private individuals like friends who want to make a tournament once a year. My main targets are bars/places which organize beerpong tournaments.

 

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[phillihoch]

It's not too niche. IMO beer pong is just niche enough of a place to start. And like you said, if it goes well, you can expand to other sports.

However, I think there are some problems.

1. you're targeting poor college kids who don't have disposable income. Would they pay money for a phone app?
2. You said it's SAAS. Is it really SAAS though? Are people really going to subscribe to this on an on-going basis? Aren't tournaments kind of irregular when they happen? You need the app for a weekend, and then not again for a few months. I would be very surprised if anyone would pay for this on a monthly on-going basis. Maybe some would pay $1.99 or $3.99 something for a one-off purchase, if it's a truly exceptional product.

Feel free to prove me wrong on both though, these are just my hot takes.

Thank you for your answer.

I would like to address the problems you mentioned.
1. My targets are not poor college kids. I want to target people who organize such tournaments regularly (like bars, event managers, maybe beerpong sports clubs, etc.)
2. On this account it is indeed a SAAS. It makes sense if you do tournaments on a regular basis to subscribe to to this.
Maybe it makes sense to sell also one time usage for as you mentioned for $2-4 to these college kids who do a tournament once every year.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[amp0193]

What are your thoughts on this?

I think you’ve got a decent hypothesis here and it’s ready to be subjected to market validation.

The market will now tell you if it’s a good idea or not.

 

[kr8nt]

Thank you for your insights.

Makes sense I think. Getting feedback as early as possible. I will try to call some bars or beerpong tournament operators. Maybe they are not 100% satisfied with their solutions. Do you think thats a good point to start with?

The app is not primarily for private individuals like friends who want to make a tournament once a year. My main targets are bars/places which organize beerpong tournaments.

Yes, that would be a great way to start, just remember not to stop trying to get a "Yes" after first couple "No's".

If some will say no, don't just say okay and hang up, find out why they said no. Is your offer too expensive? Is there already an app they are using? Maybe they don't see a need for such app?

After you have found out why they said no, try to ask them what they would want the app to have, so that they would be unable to decline the offer, what would make it irresistible for them?

Also, don't forget to write down everything they said on the call, or even better, audio record the call, because you might miss something important they said during the call, so better to have a recording to re-listen a couple times.

 

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[Visida]

It is important to realize that even a niche product can be successful if it solves real problems for the target audience. Keep working on your app, but don't forget to analyze the market and user feedback. It may be worth starting with a narrow niche and gradually scaling your product.

 

[wade1mil]

Do people who play beer pong care about the score? I've never been a drinker.

You could also pivot to pickle ball. I know that is trending upwards.