Looking for new micro-saas ideas? I’ve created a framework for you.
I’ve created a 4 step process on how to go about coming up with new ideas for your next SaaS.
https://upendravarma.com/micro-saas-ideas/
If you liked the above approach, check me on twitter where I help SaaS founders succeed.
A thousand thanks!
Simple and on point! 🎯
Thanks Upendra!
I have a question for you about pre-selling and validating your micro-saas ideas. How do you do it? I noticed that in your article you talk about cold-emailing and google ads. But people may not respond to cold emails because they don't like cold emails, and an ad is a small space to describe your idea. Do you always pre-validate, or should you just build and launch?
This explanation is only relevant to B2B SaaS.
To be honest, as I mention in the article, it always helps if you have some understanding of the market you sell to.
Having said that, the framework I talked about fundamentally is all about literally inspiring ( bluntly put - copying) from proven SaaS categories. What this means is that there are already a bunch of companies who have worked hard on iterating, finding a PMF & selling their product. They have done all the pre validation for you. The market exists & the product will get sold. They have proven that already.
Now it’s your turn to smartly choose a version of this proven product, figure a niche you want to sell it, come up with some unique positioning & start selling it. You might have to experiment with such niches in the beginning , but you don’t have to “pre-validate” the idea/product. Someone had already done it for you.
Again, this works only in the context of B2B SaaS, where there is a potential for 1000s of companies to build a sustainable business while selling the same product ( mostly).
I do B2B SaaS.
Can you expand a bit on paragraphs 2 and 3? So it a business already exists around a product (say, resource planning software for cafe), you can take that as proof that demand exists. You then find a smaller niche of that (say, upscale cafe with training and freshness requirements as opposed to a Starbucks). What's next: testing further that the niche works by contacting operators in that sphere (I have found it hard to get responses) or building it? How do you start selling it?
Testing is not required once you zeroed in on a niche. It’s only about selling.
Because whatever niche you choose there is a very good chance that few of those customers might already be using a competitive product. In your example there is a good chance that few of the upscale cafes must already be using a similar product ( the extent of which depends on how evolved the market is). You will now focus on either capturing newer upscale cafes (or) getting existing ones to switch.
But how to get those first 10 customers. What growth channels will work for you? Will cold emailing work for you ? Are Ads are worth the ROI ?
If you are looking to find answers to these questions, I’ll give you a perspective.
You either,
You can’t afford to do 1, because it might need lots of resources & time. 2 sounds more optimal. I have started a podcast to help you take the second approach ( collect real data points from real B2B SaaS founders). Just go through the titles to get a sense.
https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/12-minute-saas-podcast/id1621014530
What do you mean by selling in this instance? Do you mean like actually selling copies of software, or getting people to put down payment details for a future product (pre-selling)?
I mean selling actual SaaS product. An initial version atleast, if not a full fledged one. One shouldn’t spend more than few months to get that first version ready. From there onwards, you can parallelly add more features & sell more deals.