| I've been in this industry for decades. In summary these are my criteria: * If the solution is software only, then there's probably a 100+ comparable solutions out there. See the point below about competition. I prefer problems that involve real people, real money and tangible solutions. YMMV * First and foremost: Talk to real people who might have the problem you are solving. Emails, forums, etc are a waste of time. If you can't in person contact with 10 people who have the problem you are solving, then how are you going to scale to thousands of millions? * How big is the pain you are solving? Getting people to part with money causes them existential pain. So your solution needs to transcend that. * Check out the competition. If there is none, there probably isn't a market either. If you have competitors seek out how you can deliver 10x value compared to them. If you can't, then move on. * Can you deliver a demonstrable, working MVP within 6 months. If not, then others will probably beat you in that race. |
In particular, I strongly agree with the statement that "Talk to real people who might have the problem you are solving". As a solo founder, I usually rely on online communities or analytics metrics when experimenting with SaaS ideas, but as you said, such a method can give false confidence. In the future, I think we should prioritize meeting potential customers directly from the early stages to identify and verify problems.
Also, the perspective of *"without competition, there is no market" is also impressive. I thought that small SaaS tools had no chance because the competition was too fierce, but after listening to them, I think it would be right to filter based on whether I can provide 10 times the value in the competition.
Additional Questions
Any advice would be appreciated:
Meet people – If I don't have a network at all in a particular industry, how do I find and contact the "first 10" people who have real problems? Which approach do you recommend: cold outreach, industry meetups, or leveraging existing communities?
10x value – How do you define and validate "10x value" in a SaaS tool market where there are already many competitors? There are many ways to differentiate features, price, user experience, and focus on specific segments, but I am curious about what early founders should pay special attention to.