It’s 2025, and SaaS has turn into the modern-day gold rush for tech-savvy builders. In all places you look, somebody is launching a subscription product. And why not? The attraction is apparent: excessive margins, recurring income, and the potential to scale with out buying and selling time for cash.
Now, with no-code platforms like Bubble and Webflow, and AI-assisted coding instruments like GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT, you not want a co-founder, a seasoned developer, or an enormous funds, to convey a SaaS thought to life. You’ll be able to ship one thing on a weekend with zero coding expertise.
However simply because you possibly can construct it doesn’t imply folks will truly pay for it. The period of “construct it and they’re going to come” is over.
We’re drowning in provide and the SaaS market is getting oversaturated. Every single day, new instruments flood Product Hunt, X, and Reddit. However demand? It’s flat. Most individuals don’t want one other 50 AI writing assistants or yet one more dashboard.
SaaS Isn’t The First Step—It’s The Reward for Incomes Belief, Consideration, and Actual Demand
The web is flooded with SaaS instruments. Most of them quietly disappear. Not as a result of they didn’t resolve an issue—however as a result of nobody knew they existed.
The painful fact? Most SaaS fails, not from lack of effort, however from lack of consideration and distribution.
Everybody’s Constructing. Few Are Getting Traction.
The dream is robust. Construct it as soon as. Let it scale. Get up to Stripe emails.
But it surely hardly ever performs out that means. Founders chase that subscription gold rush, solely to understand they’re caught with an ideal product and no customers. Nobody’s listening. Nobody’s shopping for.
SaaS is tough mode.
And it truly is. You want:
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Deep belief — customers are supplying you with their information and paying you month-to-month.
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An actual, painful downside — folks don’t subscribe to “nice-to-haves.”
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Ongoing improvement — new options, bug fixes, higher UX.
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All the time-on assist and infrastructure — customers count on reliability, and churn is brutal.
Attempting to begin there—particularly as a solo founder or first-timer—could be punishing.
Marc Lou, who’s constructed and scaled a number of micro-SaaS merchandise, put it finest in a post on X again in February:
“SaaS is the worst enterprise to begin entrepreneurship.
It’s essential to ship a lot worth + construct insane belief + resolve a painful downside—it’s like taking part in a brand new recreation in hardcore mode.
As an alternative, begin with:
- A weblog
- A e-book
- An company
- A free device
- A listing
- A e-newsletter
- A neighborhood
- A market
- A one-time fee product
You’ll uncover actual issues whereas constructing belief together with your market.
Then, construct the SaaS.“
He’s proper. Leaping into SaaS with no clear viewers or channel is like constructing a burger joint within the desert. Your product is likely to be nice, but when nobody is keen to pay for it, it’s most likely not definitely worth the effort.
“Yep, that is the stair step methodology. Begin small, construct abilities, confidence, and income. Then stage your means as much as SaaS,” Rob Walling, the writer of SaaSPlaybook, responded.
Why the Finest Indie Hackers Don’t Begin With SaaS
Take a look at Pieter Ranges. He’s behind Distant OK, Inside AI, and several other different worthwhile instruments, producing a mixed $317,000 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) throughout six SaaS merchandise. However he didn’t begin with merchandise. He began with folks.
What most don’t see is that he launched over 70 initiatives. Simply 4 made cash.
“Solely 4 out of 70+ initiatives I ever did made cash and grew. >95% of every little thing I ever did failed. My hit price is just about ~5%,” Peiter said on X.
What made the distinction? He wasn’t constructing in a vacuum. He was constructing in public. Sharing. Testing. Listening. Rising a following that trusted him.
By the point he launched a profitable SaaS, he wasn’t shouting into the void. He had distribution.
Everybody Has Entry to the Similar Instruments—However Not the Similar Belief
Anybody can clone options or spin up a UI. What they’ll’t copy is:
Belief. Viewers. Distribution.
“AI has commoditized software program constructing. However what hasn’t been commoditized? Distribution. Belief. Consideration.”
These take time. And so they’re what most individuals skip.
You’ll be able to have a product that solves actual ache. However in case you don’t have folks listening, it doesn’t matter.
Construct One thing Lighter First
As Lou urged, earlier than going all-in on SaaS, begin smaller. Construct one thing that earns consideration:
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Begin a weblog.
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Launch a free device.
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Curate a e-newsletter.
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Construct a listing.
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Develop a neighborhood.
These aren’t facet initiatives. They’re magnets. They appeal to folks, reveal their ache factors, and construct belief over time. That’s normally when the suitable product thought reveals up.
Every one helps you:
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Construct belief earlier than you promote something
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Clear up actual issues manually
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Spot patterns in what folks really want
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Begin producing earnings sooner
Pieter Ranges’ ACP Funnel: Viewers, Neighborhood, Product
Lou will not be alone. Ranges additionally shared his ACP Funnel—Viewers, Neighborhood, and Product. It’s how he thinks about constructing lasting companies.
First, construct your viewers. That’s your group of people that belief your voice. Then construct your neighborhood. That’s the place they have interaction and really feel like they belong. Then—and solely then—launch your product.
Right here’s how to consider every step:
Viewers
Begin small and clear. Who’re you chatting with? Why ought to they care?
Inform tales. Share issues. Construct a constant narrative round your area of interest.
Neighborhood
Folks wish to join. When you give them a purpose, they’ll stick round.
Ask your self: how does this product match into their on a regular basis life? Does it assist them? Does it convey them nearer to others like them?
Product
Now that you simply’ve bought belief and a spotlight, construct one thing helpful.
Not simply as soon as, however one thing folks come again to weekly—or day by day. It ought to naturally match into the ecosystem you’ve created.
If it really works, your neighborhood will flip into prospects.
SaaS Isn’t Step One
SaaS must be the end result—not the start line.
When you:
- Know your viewers
- Perceive what they care about
- Have their consideration and belief
…then you definitely’re prepared.
Now SaaS isn’t a guess. It’s a response to demand.
The profitable SaaS as we speak usually comes from a relationship:
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“I comply with this particular person.”
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“I’ve learn their e-newsletter.”
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“They constructed a easy device I exploit day by day.”
And when they ship a SaaS, folks already belief them.
Ultimate Thought
Begin with folks. Begin with belief.
Construct your viewers. Be taught out of your market. Let belief develop over time. When the second is correct, the product will come—and when it does, they’ll already be listening.
SaaS must be the results of belief, not the hope for it.
Take the lengthy highway. It might look slower, but it surely’s the one which results in one thing actual.
That’s how actual SaaS tales start.
Really feel this? Share it with a founder who wants to listen to it and join the conversation on X.
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