Carving out a Niche in the Saturated AI Market
Ever dreamed of launching multiple SaaS products at lightning speed? I did too. This is the story of creating LogoGeneratorAI, its brother IconGeneratorAI and the many siblings that are (maybe) still to come.
This journey taught me valuable lessons about market saturation, marketing strategies, and the importance of adaptability in the indie hacking world.
But First: Some Context & Accidental Success
Before diving into my recent projects, let me take you back a few months. I had just launched Intellisay, a voice-powered AI productivity tool. The launch went surprisingly well, with the product quickly reaching $100 MRR. I posted on PH, HN, & Reddit, but noticed that I was getting a ton of traffic from a category of site I guess I would call AI tool/directory/aggregators. I figured they must have scraped from HN, but did not give it more thought for a while.
I should mention that I was unsure exactly where my customers were coming from, as a large amount of traffic came from my YouTube channel which may have driven more engaged visitors. But looking at the timing (YT visitors spike on every upload, other sites are more consistent), I would wager that at least 50% of sales came from these sites.
My (Maybe-Not-So) Genius Plan of Building 5 SaaS at Once
After wrapping up my previous project I was excited to get into something brand new. And with the recent successful launch, I wanted something I could build quickly and essentially get as many launches under my belt as possible. I figured that every launch was like a rep in the gym đź’Ş, and with enough of them I would be the equivalent of an Indie Hacking powerlifter.
So I had this idea: what if I built a site that I could essentially CTRL+C, CTRL+V and hit different markets with each one. With an AI image generator site, this would be a matter of swapping out the prompts & landing page.
Enter: IconGeneratorAI 🎨
So I whipped up a Next.js project. And in the interest of speed I did not consider generalising the codebase much. For the first time I hired a designer which sped up the process 5x honestly (I don't exactly suck at design but god it takes me forever).
After getting it live I quickly worked on generalising the codebase. Essentially I take a bunch of ENV variables such as the name of the site, the URL, what it is e.g. icon, logo, hero-image, and so forth. Based on these I could swap out the images on the landing page, some of the copy, as well as the prompts and styles on the /generate page.
Honestly when I launched the second site I couldn't believe just how easy it all worked. The sites shared the same database and OAuth config. Also shoutout to Coolify for making hosting sites an absolute dream ❤️
Let's Launch 🚀
So I should mention, my genius plan for the execution of the launch was to post on the AI tool sites that had brought so much traffic to Intellisay. I was going to get a friend or two to upvote the sites to get them above the noise, and then let the functionality and (I think) nice landing pages do the rest.
But here's what I didn't anticipate:
These AI sites charge for posting. And not just a reasonable small amount to weed out the spam. I think the lowest was $29 USD, with some packages getting up to $300+. The value proposition is absolutely cooked (IMO) which is why I believe they must scrape HN when no one bites (so the site isn't empty). I now believe this is what happened to Intellisay.
Okay this one I did anticipate but: lackluster results from PH/HN. Pretty understandable at this point in the AI hype cycle that an icon generator is not going to stir much excitement. But it hurt nonetheless as it was basically my only marketing channel now.
I tried to lean into the background removal and SVG conversion features (as these are actually useful, and quite novel might I add!) but once again, no bites.
I also posted on various PH alternatives but once again: they charge a bunch of money (much more than reasonable IMO) and do not seem to provide the results to justify that cost.
The Numbers™️ & Lessons Learned
So all up I made 1 sale for $5 USD. I got 1.42k visitors on IconGeneratorAI and 359 visits on LogoGeneratorAI.
So here's what I've learned:
I will say that looking at these numbers now I do see that the conversion rate is pretty terrible. I think this may be partly due to posting largely to audiences who are just 'having a look' i.e. other indie hackers or people browsing different projects. But this does tell me the landing page or idea needs improvement.
Features ≠Differentiation: In a crowded market, having unique features isn't enough. You need a strong unique selling proposition that solves a specific problem for a specific audience.
Don't rely on a single marketing channel: My dependence on AI aggregator sites was a critical mistake. Diversify your marketing strategies from day one.
What's Next?
I'd love to hear from fellow indie hackers:
Where are the best places to post your startup for free?
What strategies have you found effective for standing out in a crowded market?
Any ideas on potential pivots or ways to leverage what I've built?
Thanks for reading my first post on IH :)
Great write-up, Nick. Totally feel you on the aggregator site trap — I burned money listing on a couple of them and realized fast that my audience wasn’t hanging out there anyway. What worked better for me was leaning into channels where people actually want to interact: Reddit communities, LinkedIn, and even roleplay-style demos where you can show off the product in a practical use case.
On the “saturated AI” point, I’ve found that carving out micro-niches and practicing the positioning makes a huge difference. For example, I’ve used SalesRoleplay (we built it originally for sales training) to test different pitches against simulated personas before putting them in front of real customers. It helped me refine the message quickly and figure out which angle resonated.
Hey Nick! Great article.
I've run into the same exact struggle, but I made the perhaps even more brain dead move to try to launch 90 apps in 90 days (got to ~35), which were all pretty unpolished lol.
I recommend * against * running ads, as a former google ads engineer, until you have a clearer idea of your ICP. I decided to make tiktok & reels content, which has been tough.
Would love to connect on this journey! Are you on threads or instagram? Mine is @willthesun
Thank you for sharing your experience. I found that there are many places for launching products. You can find many by searching for "Product Hunt alternatives" or "Hacker News alternatives," etc.
Also, many indie hackers launch on social media platforms like Reddit, Discord, or even Facebook. But all launching alternatives have their pros, cons, and restrictions.
Absolute banger. Saturation niche markets have so much untapped potential. A great example could be senior fitness!
That was a good read. I recently launched my side project as well and was disappointed with the AI tool aggregators. Many of them charge ridiculous amounts for listings buried on their sites, which are unlikely to attract any customers. Some even 'nofollow' their links (or use obscure 302 redirections).
Your target audience probably isn't at these directories anyway, so just go with the ones that are free and don’t require you to go through unnecessary steps to submit.
Keep the money and use it to experiment with ads: you’ll get a better ROI, and even if you don’t make your money back, you’ll still learn something useful in return.
Hey! I've been meaning to look into running ads but it's a little overwhelming. Any free resources/yt channels etc. you'd recommend starting with?
Hey! I’m not an expert either, and I don’t have any specific resources or channels to recommend, as I’m also in the process of “learning by doing.” I’ve been experimenting with small amounts to get a feel for how it works.
The key is figuring out your conversion rate and profit per user so you can calculate whether the ads are actually profitable.
For cheaper products, it can be hard to make a profit with ads.
Also, it’s worth giving some thought to where your audience is likely to be, be it searching on Google, scrolling through Facebook, or elsewhere.
Great post, Nick! You might want to try SEO AI to boost visibility. It helps with keyword optimization and improving search rankings, which could attract a more engaged audience. Good luck with your projects!