Need a SaaS idea to work on next year? 5 myths to help get you unstuck over Christmas 🎅

Between eating mince pies, quaffing red wine and watching re-runs of The Office, I used to spend the holidays thinking “What am I going to work on next year?”.

So if you’re thinking over that question during the winter break, I hope this post inspires you :)

✨ Myth 1: You have to create something new and exciting

“It’s like uber, but for meat delivery”.
“It’s financial compliance, but delivered via tiktok style videos”
“It’s a wedding planning service, but it’s all done via the gig economy”

Wh… what?!

Do you want to bill $10k+ in MRR running a SaaS company, or do you want to be the next Zuck?

If you’re after millions of dollars in investment, a feature length film about your antics and a soundtrack by Trent Reznor & Attiticus Ross, you're in the wrong place.

But if you “just” want to earn $10k a month in MRR and have the freedom to work on something cool, you do not have to - and should not try to create something novel.

In fact, if you have to explain your idea as “Uber but for cats”, you are at putting yourself at a massive disadvantage.

Instead of aiming for a sexy idea, you should aim to compete in a space that already exists and do it faster, cheaper or better.

And if you decide to do it better, you don't even have to do it better for everyone - just a particular segment of users.

Competing in a pre-existing space means:

• You don’t have to spend the first 5 mins of every conversation explaining your idea
• There are already customers out there paying real money for something like your product
• There are already companies out there underserving certain niches.

🙄 Myth 2: "But that space is so over-saturated"

I run a form builder - probably the most over-saturated market there is.

How has it got any traction? Because it serves a particular niche better than the incumbents do.

People choose Growform as their form builder of choice if they're spending money throwing traffic at a landing page and want to get more leads.

People choose Typeform because it has a tonne of friendly widgets and question formats. That's cool, it's a big enough market.

There is ALWAYS room for one more competitor - just pick a niche segment of people being underserved by an existing product/category.

Here are some more examples:

• Savvycal created a calendar tool for people who wanted to be considerate to their invitees
• Better Uptime created “one more” status page tool. I love it because it phones me if stuff goes wrong.
• Sendinblue hit $100k MRR in 2 years. But ESPs have been “done”, right?

All of these tools are operating in “crowded spaces”, but they all solve problems better than the incumbents.

🤡 Myth 3: "I'm not even going to bother, [Competitor X] have done it so well"

Intercom have already nailed online chat, right? Wrong, it’s expensive as f*** and I cry every time their invoice arrives.

And Loom have this whole async video thing covered, correct? Nope, I follow people on twitter who would jump at a tool that doesn’t ruin their days by crashing.

Your product might never be as good as AwesomeWellFundedCo, but you can sure as hell make a better experience for a particular segment.

Don't bin your ideas just because they've been executed well already.

💸 Myth 4: Your idea needs to be capable of making money straight away

There's a lot of self-congratulatory fuss around the idea that money is the only form of real validation, and if you don't have paying customers, your idea is unvalidated. And to be fair, this is all true.

But here's another perspective: If you’re making $0 but you’re speaking to real people frustrated by a real problem… you’re probably further than 90% of the indie hackers I’ve met.

If you're coming up against a wall asking "How do I make my first $$$", try reframing the question as "How can I talk to a real person experiencing a real problem, who may eventually be willing to pay me?".

👨‍🚀 Myth 5: You should only create products related to [your job title / industry]

I’ve seen product managers despair because they can’t think of startup ideas to do with product management.

But you don’t HAVE to solve problems that only you personally face. Ask Arvid Kahl - he created a tool for teachers, based on the frustrations of his partner was experiencing.

My fianceé is an email marketer. I have friends who are CTOs, support technicians, frontend engineers and delivery people.

Use your networks, people!

For bonus points, you’ll be treated as even more of a wizard once you’re solving problems outside of the tech bubble 😉.

Hope this post gets somebody unstuck :)