Based on what I've learnt from my product launches in 2021, for 2022 I've decided these are the following criteria that any ideas I want to develop further must meet:
- The market/need must be proven somewhere else. While I don't want to clone an existing tool like-for-like, I don't want to increase the risk by attempting to establish both a brand new market and my idea. Whether it's a tool for a different SaaS product or targeting a different niche, I want to see other similar attempts that have succeeded.
- Must be distributable via an App Store/marketplace. Distribution and marketing are challenging and can be somewhat time-consuming, and a marketplace can help early on by providing organic growth.
- Payments can be handled by a Merchant of Record, such as Gumroad/Paddle/FastSpring. Or the marketplace/App Store can handle overseas taxes on my behalf. Happy to leave taxation law to the experts wherever possible.
- Ideally targets small to medium businesses, in a SaaS tool that forms a core part of their business. My success in 2021 has mostly come from add-ons that target this market. I'm thinking Google Workspace, Airtable etc.
- Before building, do a content push first to test the waters for interest in the market. I've had great success this year organically seeding YouTube/blog content prior to developing ideas, and it's helped avoid wasting time on ideas that had little interest.
Interesting perspective, here are some other perspectives for you to consider:
Absolutely agree. Can i get your email i wanted to talk about potential co-founder opportunity for my startup