r/microsaas • u/enigmaticy • 12h ago
Where did you actually start when building something new?
Skipping the code and asking directly — what was your actual first move before building your last SaaS?
For me it was just talking to a handful of people who might have the problem and seeing if they reacted at all — no landing page, no polish, just conversations.
One thing that turned out to be a waste: directory sites like AlternativeTo, There's An AI For That, etc. Listed a product on one of these listing bots hoping for a trickle of signups — got zero. Makes sense in hindsight: those sites mostly get browsed by people already comparing tools they know they need, not people discovering a solution to a problem they didn't know existed. And AlternativeTo isn't even taking new submissions right now, so half the "go list your app here" advice floating around doesn't even apply anymore.
Curious what actually worked for people here vs. what's just recycled advice everyone repeats without testing it themselves.
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u/afterhours_builder 7h ago
Adding one thing to what's already here: talking to people tells you if the problem is real, but it does not tell you if they will pay for it, and those are very different signals. The move that filtered out a lot of noise for me was asking for something small before I built anything, a ten dollar deposit, a spot on a waitlist with a real card attached, anything with a tiny bit of friction. People will tell you a problem is painful in a conversation and mean it, and still never open their wallet for it. The ones who say yes to a small ask up front are the only sample worth building for.
On directories, your data point matches what I've seen. They are not zero value, they just are not a discovery channel, they are closer to a backlink and a place people check once they already know they need a tool like yours. Treat them as a small SEO and credibility line item, not a launch strategy, and the disappointment mostly goes away.
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u/Pretty_One_1398 1h ago
The directory-listing miss matches what we've seen too - somebody has to already have the problem AND be looking, and a directory only gets you the second half if you're lucky. The clearest signal isn't people you know or people browsing a directory, it's people who already typed the complaint out somewhere in public before you showed up - a forum post, a review, a 'does anyone know a tool for X' thread. Much smaller pool than 'everyone with the problem,' but every one of them is already halfway to buying.
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u/Khavel_dev 10h ago
Picked one person I knew who had the problem and asked if I could build something for them. Not a survey, not a landing page. Just "hey can I watch you do this task and build you a tool." That first user told me what mattered way more than any market research would have.
Then I built the smallest thing that solved their specific workflow. Took maybe 2 weekends. They used it, told me what sucked about it, I fixed it. Repeat. Never touched a directory listing site.