How we took 2 micro SaaS from Idea to Live tools in a weekend
The Team:
We are a team of 2. Business + dev.
I handle the marketing/business side. With my background in SEO, I am constantly looking out for opportunities where the market is big but very few people are serving them. Keyword/market research.
I found a very simple tool that had a HUGE volume(Close to 100k/month) and only 1 guy serving all this demand.
That too not in a very user-friendly way!
The Idea:
We can create better value by providing a greater user experience and the whole service for FREE.
We had the background and expertise in the domain + I had already done SEO for similar products in the past and knew the ins and outs.
The execution
I completed my research and pitched the idea with my co-founder. He was ready!
We sat down, he started building the backend, and I started building the landing pages and offerings.
We completed it in 5-6 hours. I combined the 2, bought a domain, did SEO and it was live!
The next day, I found another service that was built on the same backend just a different approach.
This time, we had the domain, backend, and everything already.
We shipped it in 2 hours.
The product
It's a small service that lets you create custom chat links for WhatsApp so people can connect with you in 1 click without saving your number.
Best part?
We are offering branded links for FREE.
This means you can create a link like this:
watext.me/IH
and this will open your WhatsApp inbox with a custom message you choose.
No need for users to save your WA number and send messages. (No one is going to do that anyway!)
Why this works?
NOTE: WhatsApp is not THAT popular in the USA/Europe but Asia, Latin America, and Africa runs on WhatsApp.
- No one opens Emails anymore. It's full of promotion and spam. Too much effort.
- SMS is just outdated.
- Businesses, especially startups need a way to instantly connect and engage with their audience. What better way to do that than the most popular platform on the planet?
We launched it 3 days ago and have around 4 organic users so far.
The value
The competitors are charging $6 for branded links. We are giving it away for free.
At least in the beginning.
Plan forward
Promote it on relevant platforms and get the first 100 Free users.
Get their feedback and see how it goes.
PS: It took us less than $40 to do all this.
What do you think? Any feedback on the platform, offering or just the idea in general is appreciated!
Does it make sense for your project to allow users to reach out to you on WhatsApp?
Google Whisk - Generate images using images as prompts, not text prompts
After 19,314 lines of code, i'm shutting down my project
Need feedback for my product.
40 open-source gems to replace your SaaS subscriptions 🔥 🚀
We are live on Product Hunt
I liked this approach a lot! Find an underserved niche, create a simple product, and go from there. Doesn't need to be huge, just big enough and underserved enough. Kudos!
thank you!
@akashgyl Nice congrats! How is it going now? Any growth already? Whatsapp is pretty popular in some parts of the EU as well. The Netherlands is >70% whatsapp I believe.
I Tried it out! Couple feedback points:
Best of luck! 🙌
hey nick, we are slowly building on it and got about 20 free users.
also, i just checked but couldn't replicate the issue you are facing, i know its a bit to ask but can you please share a quick loom or screen recording of this?
It would be VERY helpful for us.
thank you!!
Hey! Both issues seem to be fixed now 🚀! Good luck!
Kinda crazy, I've met people in Asia who have the latest iPhone, but have never used iMessage or FaceTime. Also there's people I've met in the US who barely know what WhatsApp is. I bet there is some demand for this.
yeah, volume is there.
A nice little side-side hustle would be to create a course on how to find opportunities like this (cause, personally, I'd be all over that).
would you go for it if it was paid?
If this venture is successful, i will definitely make a long form post here only explaining everything.
keep in touch!
Sorry, I missed this! But I absolutely would :) Just gave you a follow!
Would love an update when you start charging for the service
for sure! will update here, hopefully in next 3 months.
It's a pain in the a$$ to save a contact and then find them in WhatsApp.
IMO, it is way ahead, but I liked your idea. I might give it a try.
Can the WhatsApp channel be branded link like this?
we can look into it if it fits your use case.
lets chat. drop me hi on watext.me/a
Great idea - start small/free and go from there
yes, exactly. initial free users will also help us fit the use case and iterate on the product.
when we go premium, we will have enough market experience to deliver what works
Absolutely, it is a great idea for businesses in places where WhatsApp is super popular. It helps people connect easily without saving numbers. Getting feedback from users will help make it even better. It's a handy way for your project to connect with people on WhatsApp!
Yes, you're right
I'm active user of your competitor. I use the platform to generate links we place on blog, LinkedIn for job posting, Facebook ads - as in Africa, Whatsapp is the 88% best way to get close to your customers, and that's what we use in the tech school i work with.
So you're in on just one big fish.
As for the user experience, I as a user I will prefer the generator be in the hero section for faster action, and make it easier to add emojis.
Then use image to illustration sample of the custom link, qr code, etc. below the generator section.
hey,
yes, we are planning on doing exactly that!
Also, you can use our branded links for Free. lol!
Analytics are coming soon. + QR codes + Chat button widget.
Hi, it looks nice, landing page is professional, but what is Your idea for monetize this service?
Maybe adding some analytical dashboard? Or some simple product page generator, where people can generate "buy link" and sell they products?
We might monetize with ad, branded link will be freemium and yeah analytics are on the way!
Hi Akashgyl. If you don't mind would like to give you some free customer analysis report. From this customer analysis, you could understand what you potential customer are doing online and change your marketing strategy accordingly.
Here is the customer analysis : WHATSAPP LINK GENERATOR CUSTOMER ANALYSIS
From the customer analysis "connect on whatsapp" subject are one of the most frequent things your potential customer are searching and interreacting online ( google traffic 5.40K and on average around 78 up vote and 42 comments on reddit on this subject ) . You can adjust you blog and reddit posts accordingly to get more right customer and readers.
Going deep on the subject here are top things that your customer are interested about the subject :
whatsapp connection link
1-click whatsapp link
whatsapp contact link generator
Catering your marketing effort to these topics will get you the right customers.
Hopefully it will help you gain more customer and eventually buyers. You can also do the analysis your self using decentool.com
hey, this analysis is not correct.
"Whatsapp link generator" and "create whatsapp link" are main subjects/KWs. With volume of over 100k
The intent of KW, "Connect on WhatsApp" is very broad and does not make for an ideal audience.
We should always look for targeted KWs that have only 1 very specific intent. Hope this helps.
Cool! Nice work shipping it that fast. Curious to see how this will turn out revenue wise.
Me too🤣
Even if this doesn't lead to anything, it's super fun just doing it.
Will update for sure of it ever turn profitable, money-wise
So I tried it, but how can I edit my message attached to my brand name ? Is there a way ?
We don't have an interface for this right now but you can reach out to watext.me/a and we would be happy to help!
Also, you can always create a new link if you are open to having a different URL.
Branded link to WhatsApp is awesome! Congrats, guys! Sure I will use it!
thanks! chat widget and QR code is also coming soon
So your custom link just redirects to the original whatsapp api link of the registered phone number?
yes. WhatsApp api link is too ugly to put in places like Instagram bio. With our service, you can create short links that are memorable with brand name and looks good.
Man, I'm old, don't understand this need at all :)
same here
But that's similar to what bit.ly does, right?
yes, its a very basic idea. lets see what we can build from here