How I Never Run Out of SaaS Ideas

Summary

This video script explores three methods for generating SaaS application ideas, tailored for different stages of the SaaS journey. The first method involves identifying personal inefficiencies for a hands-on project, the second suggests engaging with niche business owners on platforms like Reddit to uncover specific pain points, and the third leverages Partner Stack to discover and validate business solutions. The speaker emphasizes the importance of idea validation and provides insights on how to differentiate and create unique SaaS products.

Takeaways

• 🤔 The challenge of choosing what to build in a SaaS application can vary based on personal goals and experience level.
• 🛠️ Starting with personal inefficiencies or processes that could be improved in one's daily life is a practical way to find SaaS ideas, especially for beginners.
• 💡 Keeping a running list of ideas, such as on a phone, can help in constantly growing one's idea bank for potential SaaS applications.
• 🏗️ The importance of not only being an ideas person but also an execution person, which involves seeing projects through to completion.
• 🔍 Looking within niche communities online, such as specific subreddits, can uncover specific business problems that software could solve.
• 📊 The value of understanding the competition and market landscape by researching what other SaaS founders are building for targeted business owners.
• 🔑 Utilizing platforms like Partner Stack to discover and validate SaaS business ideas by exploring various software products and their features.
• 🛍️ The potential of affiliate marketing not just for earning commissions but also as a means to validate the demand for certain SaaS products.
• 💼 The significance of targeting B2B products which solve real business problems and potentially have a higher value for business owners.
• 🔄 The process of iterating and improving on existing SaaS products by adding unique features or spins to differentiate from the competition.
• 🚀 The encouragement for viewers to share their own methods for finding SaaS ideas, fostering a community of idea sharing and support.

Q & A

What is the main challenge when considering building a SaaS application?

The main challenge is determining what to build, as it can vary depending on one's goals and where they are in their SaaS journey.

Why is it important to understand your goals before building a SaaS application?

Understanding your goals helps shape the type of product you end up creating and can influence whether the application is for personal use, to make money, or to gain experience.

What does the speaker suggest as the first method for coming up with SaaS ideas?

The first method involves looking within your own life to identify inefficiencies or processes that could be improved, which can be a great starting point for beginners.

How can personal inefficiencies be a source of SaaS ideas?

Personal inefficiencies can inspire SaaS ideas because they represent real-world problems that a software solution could address, even if it's not a high-revenue idea initially.

What is the advantage of building a SaaS application based on personal needs?

The advantage is that even if the application doesn't attract many users or sales, it still provides value to your own life and can motivate you to complete the project.

Why is it suggested to try new hobbies when looking for SaaS ideas?

Trying new hobbies can expose you to new activities and challenges, potentially revealing inefficiencies or needs that could be addressed by a SaaS application.

What is the second method for finding SaaS ideas mentioned in the script?

The second method involves finding business owners online, particularly in specific niches, and identifying the problems they discuss as potential areas for SaaS solutions.

How can engaging with business owners on platforms like Reddit help in finding SaaS ideas?

Engaging with business owners on platforms like Reddit allows you to understand their specific problems and needs, which can lead to highly targeted and valuable SaaS ideas.

What is the significance of looking at competitors' products when using the second method?

Examining competitors' products helps you understand the landscape, their features, and any missed opportunities or unique twists you could offer to differentiate your own SaaS product.

What is the third method introduced for generating SaaS ideas, and how does it work?

The third method involves using Partner Stack, a platform where you can discover different SaaS businesses and validate ideas by promoting them as an affiliate and observing sales responses.

How can Partner Stack help in validating SaaS ideas?

By promoting products on Partner Stack as an affiliate, you can test whether people are willing to pay for a product, thus validating its market potential before investing in creating a similar or improved version.

What is the importance of being creative when finding inspiration from existing SaaS products?

Being creative with existing ideas allows you to offer a unique spin or additional features that can make your SaaS product stand out and be more appealing to potential users.

Why is it recommended to look at smaller or newer SaaS businesses on Partner Stack?

Smaller or newer SaaS businesses may have fewer features, making them more feasible to replicate or improve upon, and they represent opportunities that larger competitors may have overlooked.

What can be learned from a SaaS product's website in terms of marketing and customer acquisition?

By visiting a SaaS product's website, you can gain insights into their marketing strategies, customer acquisition methods, and how they present their product, which can inform your own approach.

How does the speaker suggest validating the market interest for a SaaS product idea?

The speaker suggests using affiliate marketing to drive traffic to a product and observing if sales are generated. If sales occur, it indicates that there is market interest in the product.

What is brand bidding in the context of affiliate marketing on Partner Stack?

Brand bidding is an affiliate marketing strategy where you run targeted search campaigns for the name of a company or product. If someone clicks on your ad and makes a purchase, you earn a commission and validate market interest.

Why is it important to check the terms and conditions before promoting products on Partner Stack?

It is important to ensure that the product allows for brand bidding and complies with Partner Stack's terms and conditions to avoid any issues and to understand the promotional boundaries set by the platform.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 Discovering SAS Ideas Through Personal Experience

The speaker introduces the challenge of finding ideas for a SAS (Software as a Service) application and suggests that the type of product one chooses to build depends on their goals and experience. They emphasize the importance of understanding one's SAS journey and whether the goal is to make money or simply to gain experience. The speaker shares their own approach to idea generation, which includes maintaining a running list of app ideas on their phone. They propose three methods for coming up with SAS ideas and promise to reveal a unique third method with bonus tips at the end of the video. The first method involves identifying inefficiencies or processes in one's own life that could be improved with a SAS application, which can serve as a starting point for beginners and validate the ability to see a project through to completion.

05:01

🔎 Researching Business Problems on Online Platforms

The second method focuses on finding business owners online, particularly on platforms like Reddit, to identify specific problems they face. The speaker uses the example of Airbnb business owners to illustrate how one can manually browse through threads to find 'golden nuggets' of potential software solutions. This method is described as time-consuming but valuable because it uncovers specific business problems that, if solved with a software product, could be easier to sell. Additionally, this approach allows for the discovery of competition and the opportunity to understand the market landscape, including the features offered by existing products and potential areas for differentiation.

10:01

🛍️ Leveraging Partner Stack for Idea Validation and Discovery

The third method involves using Partner Stack, a platform where business owners seek partners to promote their products. The speaker explains how to join as a partner and filter by category to discover different SAS businesses and their offerings. The goal is to find smaller, newer businesses with fewer features that could potentially be replicated or improved upon. The speaker also discusses the possibility of validating ideas by promoting these products as an affiliate, earning a commission, and using this as a means to confirm that there is a market for the product. They highlight the importance of being creative and adding a unique twist to differentiate from existing offerings. The method concludes with a discussion on how to use this information for marketing and customer acquisition strategies.

Keywords

💡SaaS

SaaS stands for Software as a Service, which is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are centrally hosted on the cloud. In the video, the creator discusses building SaaS applications, which is the main theme of the content. The script mentions different methods for coming up with SaaS ideas, indicating the importance of this concept in the video's narrative.

💡Ideas

The term 'ideas' is central to the video as the creator talks about methods for generating SaaS ideas. The script emphasizes the importance of having a constant flow of ideas and maintaining a list, which is a key part of the creator's process for developing new applications.

💡Efficiency

Efficiency refers to the ability to do things in the best possible way with the least waste of time and effort. In the context of the video, the creator suggests looking for inefficiencies in one's own life or in the lives of others as a source of inspiration for SaaS ideas, which can lead to creating applications that solve real-world problems.

💡Hobbies

Hobbies are activities done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure. The script mentions thinking about one's hobbies as a potential area to find inefficiencies or processes that could be improved upon, which can lead to the development of a SaaS application that addresses a specific need or interest.

💡B2C vs B2B

B2C stands for Business-to-Consumer, while B2B stands for Business-to-Business. The video discusses the difference between these two markets in the context of SaaS applications, with B2C applications often being more personal and B2B applications targeting specific business needs and potentially offering higher value.

💡Reddit

Reddit is a social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. In the script, the creator uses Reddit as an example of a platform where one can find business owners discussing their problems, which can be a source of inspiration for SaaS ideas that cater to specific business niches.

💡Subreddits

Subreddits are individual communities within Reddit, each dedicated to a specific topic or interest. The video mentions using specific subreddits to find business owners in targeted niches, which can help in identifying problems that could be solved by a SaaS application.

💡Partner Stack

Partner Stack is a website mentioned in the video that allows business owners to connect with partners for promotional purposes. The creator suggests using Partner Stack to discover different SaaS businesses and to validate ideas by observing which products are being promoted and how they are marketed.

💡Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where businesses reward affiliates for each customer brought by the affiliate's marketing efforts. In the video, the creator discusses using affiliate marketing on Partner Stack to validate SaaS ideas by promoting products and seeing if they generate sales.

💡Validation

Validation in the context of the video refers to the process of confirming the viability or potential success of a SaaS idea. The creator talks about using different methods, such as observing discussions on Reddit and promoting products on Partner Stack, to validate whether a SaaS idea is worth pursuing.

💡Execution

Execution refers to the act of carrying out a plan or strategy. The script mentions the creator's transition from being an 'ideas guy' to also being an 'execution guy,' emphasizing the importance of not only generating ideas but also effectively bringing them to fruition.

Highlights

The challenge of deciding what to build in a SaaS application and how personal goals can influence the choice.

The importance of being both an ideas person and an execution person in the SaaS journey.

Three methods for generating SaaS ideas from personal inefficiencies, online business owners, and partnership platforms.

The value of identifying inefficiencies in one's own life as a starting point for a SaaS application.

How personal projects can validate the ability to see a project through and mitigate risks in SaaS development.

The process of looking outward to friends and family for potential SaaS ideas.

Engaging with online communities like Reddit to identify specific business owner's problems.

The manual process of sifting through online forums to find 'golden nuggets' of SaaS ideas.

The advantage of targeting B2B SaaS products that solve specific business problems.

Using Partner Stack to discover and validate SaaS business ideas by promoting existing products.

The potential of affiliate marketing to test the market for SaaS ideas before development.

The importance of understanding the competition and market landscape in SaaS idea generation.

The strategy of finding smaller, newer SaaS businesses to draw inspiration and identify gaps.

The creative process of taking a feature from an existing SaaS and enhancing it for a new product.

The practical steps of using Google Ads for validating SaaS ideas through brand bidding.

The necessity of due diligence when using Partner Stack to ensure compliance with terms and conditions.

Encouraging viewers to share their own methods for finding SaaS ideas and to engage with the content.

Transcripts

so if you've ever considered building a

SAS application you've probably come

across the question of what the heck

should I build and honestly it is not

the easiest question to answer and it

might vary depending on what your goals

are for the application that you're

trying to build you know where are you

in your SAS Journey have you built an

application before uh is this your first

one are you trying to make a lot of

money from this or is it just trying to

get your feet wet into this space all of

these factors will shape the type of

product that you end up picking but

throughout my life I've kind of always

been an ideas guy I haven't really had

any trouble coming up with ideas um but

now I'm trying to also be like an

execution guy as well so I want to share

with you three different methods that

I've come up with for coming up with SAS

ideas and I've used all three of these

to come up with a giant list of app

ideas that I have you know I keep a

running list on my phone and it's kind

of constantly growing I don't know if

I'll ever be able to get to all the

ideas that I have but I think these

three methods are very tried and true

they definitely work and they can come

up with a lot of different ideas cuz

really when it comes to SAS there's an

unlimited amount of ideas out there you

just got to kind of put in some work to

figure out what they all are definitely

be sure to stick around until the end of

the video the third method that I'll

share with you is one that I haven't

really seen talked about too much and

there's some special bonus tips in there

so stick around until the end to see all

of those methods but let's begin with

the first method and this really is the

lowest hanging fruit of them all uh if

you have absolutely no idea where to

start and you've never built a SAS

application before this will probably be

your best bet at finding an idea and

what this entails is kind of just

looking within yourself and looking

within your own life and seeing if there

are any inefficiencies or processes that

could be improved on your day-to-day

some more specific areas where this

might be relevant are just think about

your hobbies think about maybe things

that you do during work or just things

that you do every single day and if

there's a process that takes a really

long time or it just isn't very

efficient this could be a great idea for

a sass this doesn't have to be your

million-dollar idea and in all

likelihood it probably won't be an idea

that would bring in a ton of money but

if you've never built a SAS before it's

really important to figure out that you

can do it and these ideas will benefit

you first and that's really powerful

because it'll give you the motivation

that you need to see it all the way

through you know the risk becomes

completely mitigated because you know at

the end of the day hey even if I don't

get any users and I don't get any sales

still have something that I'm able to

use every day and benefits my life and

it also validates that you're able to

see a project through all the way to the

end which is a very important part of

the SAS process if you can't think of

any in your own life you know maybe just

try out some new hobbies uh try out some

new things that uh seem interesting to

you but also you can look outward you

know if you have some friends or family

that are struggling with things on their

day-to-day this can be a great place to

to start as well currently this is how I

came up with the idea for the

application that I'm building and if you

want to see the first Dev log for the

application that I'm building I'll leave

it up in a card above but essentially I

recently moved in with my girlfriend and

every day we were trying to figure out

what we're going to eat for dinner so

this is a way for couples to mitigate

that problem and solve a big

inefficiency in our life and as I was

saying before this is a great test for

me I just want to be able to see a

project all the way through and at the

end of it even if I have no users I have

something that my girlfriend and I will

be able to use every single day and will

be super useful for the both of us all

righty so that's the first method like I

said it's it's really if you were just

getting started or you really can't

think of any ideas a lot of those apps

will be in the B Toc space and they can

be harder to sell because you know in

the B2B space you're solving problems

for real businesses and potentially

making them more money with your product

so those are the types of products that

we'll be trying to find with method 2

method 2 is all about finding business

owners somewhere online and it can be

any type of business owner but it should

really be in a specific category of

business owners and I'm going to use

Reddit for the purpose of this example

but it really it doesn't have to be

Reddit business owners are hanging out

in a variety of different places you

could think about finding information in

Facebook groups or on LinkedIn obviously

Reddit is great or any other kind of

forums that you might think that your

business owners are hanging out in so if

we're specifically talking about Reddit

what we'd want to do is we'd want to

find specific subreddits for a very

targeted niche of business owners before

you start looking you can think of what

kind of business owners are you trying

to Target and recently I was thinking

about people who run Airbnb businesses

and kind of just figuring out you know

what are the products that are in the

space right now what are other SAS

Founders building for these business

owners and I couldn't really find a

whole lot so I went to Reddit to see

what their problems are and there are a

handful of different subreddits within

Reddit that uh Airbnb business owners

are hanging out in and a lot of them are

maybe talking about uh just terrible

guests that they had or other bad

experiences that can't necessarily be

solved with software but you'll find

some golden nuggets every now and again

of someone who just wish that something

was easier with the entire process and I

will admit that this is very manual I

just go in manually look at the titles

of the threads and if that might have to

do with a problem that can be solved by

a software application I'll read through

it see if there's any comments and see

if there are other business owners that

are feeling the same exact way this

definitely takes some time but in my

opinion it's very worth it because these

are incredibly specific problems that

business owners have and if you're able

to put a software product in front of

them that solves that specific problem

you're going to have a lot easier time

selling it than you would on some of

these B Toc products and while you're

doing this research you're also able to

see maybe there are other Founders who

have created products that solve

something similar or something adjacent

to this you're honestly able to find a

lot of your competition through this

method as well you know maybe this isn't

an area that you have a ton of expert in

so you need to just understand the

landscape a little bit who's building

products for these people what kind of

features are they offering them is there

a unique twist that you can add that

will differentiate you and are there any

other missed opportunities that other

Founders aren't tackling it's like I

said you can do this on Reddit but there

are definitely other avenues for you to

take as well people definitely still

hang out in Facebook groups it's kind of

insane 2024 that we're still hanging out

in Facebook groups but they do um you

could do there you can find them on

LinkedIn I don't love LinkedIn it always

feels like somebody's trying to sell me

something on there but business owners

are definitely hanging out there you

know they might be on YouTube as well

they might be on Twitter so if you have

a specific type of business owner in

mind you just got to find where they

hang out and then start reading about

their problems all righty so I'm glad

you stuck around to the third method

because like I said I think this is the

one where I've come up with the most

amount of ideas from and it's also

pretty easy to validate ideas uh using

this method as well like I said I don't

really see a whole lot of people talking

about this but uh I wanted to go into it

because it's really powerful tool all

righty so method three is all about

utili ing this website called partner

stack.com and essentially you're able to

join as a partner there are business

owners who will sign up as vendors and

essentially the business owners are just

looking for folks to promote their

products it's kind of like an affiliate

Marketplace so um you know if you join

as a partner you're able to promote

these vendors products and ideally earn

a commission if you if you earn sales

for the vendor we probably won't use it

for that purpose we will use it for the

purpose of finding different SAS

businesses in different verticals

because there are a ton of different

businesses on this website and all of

them are looking to earn more money

which means that they've probably

validated their idea in some way you

know they've gained some kind of user

base but they're looking to grow even

more so in order to see all of these

products you do I believe have to join

the network I forget exactly what the

terms for signing up are but uh once you

are able to join you'll get to a uh

screen that looks like this where you

can discover Partnerships and what's

nice is that you're able to filter by

category so if there is a specific type

of vertical that you're trying to get

into for your SAS you can filter by that

and then obviously find products that

are in your Niche and so from here what

I do is I just go through these they'll

normally have some kind of description

about what the software does and if it's

interesting to me in the sense that um

it might be something that I'm able to

build or if it is just in a vertical

that I'm interested in I'll keep note of

it and then I'll go over to their

website and and check it out there are

some bigger brands on here but what

we're looking for is ones that are a bit

smaller maybe a bit newer those are

going to have less features and they're

going to be more possible for us to

build SAS businesses that are similar

and again we don't want to you know just

completely copy here if we find a SAS

business that is interesting to us we'll

be able to go over to that website see

what their features are and you know

from there it's about being a bit

creative and saying hey how useful is

this feature could I put a unique spin

on it so that it could be more uh

beneficial to a business owner so this

one is interesting to me uh if you know

about 11 Labs L Labs is a they

essentially use AI uh voice synthesis

and you can do text to speech and I

think a whole lot of other things with

them but they are on this website and

you can see that you know you can earn

22% commission for the first 12 months

which is pretty cool but that's not what

we're interested in we're interested in

just the website and the software

product itself so from there I would go

over to the 11 labs we site and I would

just start checking out the solutions

the features and the pricing that they

have and see is this something that I

could build or could I take one feature

of this and make it really powerful and

then I would just do this for a bunch of

products if you do some research for an

hour 2 hours you're going to find a ton

of different products that you could

potentially make and by going over to

their websites and seeing how they

present their product you'll have a

better idea of how they're doing

marketing how they're doing customer

acquisition and these can all really

benefit you when you're trying to build

your own product this method is really

great for binding different ideas um and

new ideas that you hadn't thought of in

a particular Niche but what tends to be

the hardest with this method is

validating is this actually a good idea

or not and what partner stack allows you

to do is sign up as an affiliate so

you're actually able to promote these

products as an affiliate you'll be given

an affiliate link and you can drive

traffic over to that link somebody buys

that product you'll get some kind of

commission and we're not really

concerned about the commission that

we'll get from this what we want to do

is validate that people will actually

buy this product validating ideas tends

to cost money and so we can put you know

$1200 into this and see if we're able to

generate any sales for this company if

we are able to then it means that this

is a validated product people are

willing to pay money for this product so

now we can come up with our own spin on

this idea or this feature and brand it

as our own and then create an entirely

new product that we know people are

interested in so the way that I would do

this is you have to be pretty particular

on Partner stack so they will have some

terms and conditions for how you're able

to promote these products but if a

product allows you to do brand bidding

then you're able to run search campaigns

this could be through Google ads or it

could be through Microsoft ads and you

can do a specific uh targeted brand

search for the name of the company so

essentially what you would do is you

would set up a Google ads campaign

and whenever somebody searches say for

example 11 Labs your ad would come up

and if somebody clicks on your ad and

then purchase something from uh 11 Labs

then you would get the commission but

then you would also validate hey people

are buying this product and that's

really the the data and the information

that we want like I said though not all

products on Partner stack allow you to

do brand bidding so make sure that you

do some uh research beforehand they have

their terms and conditions before you

even sign up to apply for them um so

make sure you just do some due diligence

make make sure that you're able to do

that all righty so that will wrap up the

video those are the three methods that I

have used personally to find different

SAS ideas in different verticals uh B to

C B2B and I will continue to be using

these methods to come up with new

business ideas and that Notes app list

is just going to keep on growing because

I can find ideas faster than I can build

them for sure I really do hope that

helped though and if y'all are using any

other methods to find SAS ideas

definitely share them in the comments

below because like I said at the

beginning of the video it's kind of hard

to find SAS idea sometimes and if you

get into a rut it can demoralize you and

possibly stop you from even starting the

process so yeah leave a comment if this

was helpful definitely subscribe if

you're into this assas content and yeah

I'll have some more Dev Vlogs coming out

soon about the app that I'm building but

thanks to ton for watching until the end

I really appreciate that and I hope you

have a great rest of the day