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3 Comments

Self-funded SaaS ideas for local markets in small developing countries?

Hi fellow indie hackers!

I live in eastern europe and was wondering if any of you want to share some advice/tips/resources/ideas/stories/experiences about local tech startups in smaller developing countries that could generate 2-3-5-10000$/month.

I always see advice that I should think globally, that my country is a dumpster with no opportunities, but in reality more and more people are becoming "techliterate" and the market looks ripe both for B2C and B2B for the scale I'm looking for.

What kind of ideas from the west/developed countries would you consider viable for this ecosystem now, but still niche enough to fly under big businesses radar? Since we are a couple of years behind here, existing/vanilla/boring/schlep ideas are welcome, too :)

My motivation:
-global startups have global, faster than me competition. you can change my mind, I'm open
-eastern europe right now is a low hanging fruit that I understand
-I want to get away from my 9-5 corporate outsourcing job

inb4: "don't quit your wellpaying stable job", I own my apartment and have living expenses saved up for 5 years. (don't want to sound arrogant)

I'm reading through all of indiehackers in the mean time, thanks for all the good posts, everyone!
any comment is highly appreciated, thanks!

on June 22, 2019
  1. 2

    I live in a similar situation, some projects I've seen gain some traction are:

    -Local jobs board/biz directory/classifieds
    -events/gig guide
    -restaurant discovery/food delivery (my country doesn't have yelp or really anything similar)
    -local tourism activities/guides
    -public transport booking/mapping
    -local language specific stuff

    None of those are groundbreaking ideas, pretty mundane really, but I've seen some gain some surprising success, mostly because the global big boys haven't bothered with my country/language.

  2. 2

    Can you do payroll software like Gusto.com? What's the state of your banking system in terms of openness?

  3. 1

    Am kinda in the same position as you, am trying to do online marketplace www.zimexapp.co.zw for small businesses in my country. the market is not yet over crowded, still hv a great chance of making it succeed.

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