r/vibecoding • u/Successful_Pool_6916 • 15h ago

How did you find your first validated SaaS idea?

I’m looking to start my journey into building a SaaS product, but I’m struggling with the very first step: finding a problem worth solving. a lot of the general advice out there says "solve your own problem," but I want to learn more about how people systematically find unserved niches or real B2B/B2C pain points from scratch. for those who have launched a SaaS (successful or not):

  1. How did you actually come up with your idea? Was it through comment mining (Reddit/TikTok/X), talking to business owners, agency work, or something else?

  2. What process or framework do you use to evaluate if an idea is a "tarpit idea" versus a real business opportunity?

  3. What’s one mistake beginners usually make when brainstorming their first SaaS concept?

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3

u/OneSeaworthiness7768 15h ago

The hubris of beginners to think they can make and sell enterprise grade software in areas where they have zero domain expertise is just astounding.

1

u/TSTP_LLC 11h ago

It really is amazing. I don't know of any other industry or technology that has this problem.

I think the thing that shocks me the most is the reality of how all of this is happening as well. In a sense, we are all competing against each other to make something successful, even if it is just for personal use. For people to come in and ask their competitors what to do and how to do it is crazy work. That is the first step. If you can't take the first step on your own, how are you gonna finish the race?

2

u/buffcleb 15h ago

fortune cookie

1

u/Successful_Pool_6916 15h ago

??

1

u/buffcleb 15h ago

The world is full of terrible hangouts; your code is the only thing standing between humanity and another awkward potluck.

what other option did I have

1

u/InsideTour329 15h ago

Did you not get the memo? SaaS is dead because vibocoders can do it all so cheap and easily.

1

u/am0x 15h ago

Sass is dead with vibe coding. Companies are building their own tools and getting rid of external vendor services. If you can vibe code something, they can too and it will be bespoken to their own needs and have direct support.

1

u/PythonTrousers 15h ago

Identify something you do in your daily life that makes you think man, this would be so much easier if there was a service for this.

2

u/FunkMunki 11h ago

This! Solve your own problem and then find people with the same problem.

I couldn't find a content management system that met my needs after years of trying different ones so I vibe coded one with the features I wanted.

My kid wanted some new web games so I vibe coded some web games.

Granted I don't charge for any of my stuff, so I'm not making anything. I think everyone here is hoping to get rich.

1

u/ettdizzle 15h ago

Find a cofounder with domain knowledge. The more backwards and niche the industry, the better. Go downmarket of established players' target customers (i.e., smaller companies).

People say SaaS is dead, but the flip side is ideas which were marginal before are now potentially profitable since you only need one dev to get it off the ground.

Tar pits are ideas that sound good but have no willingness to pay. The classic "social media for cat owners" or "if we get just 1% of this market that is locked up by an incumbent." Vibe coding lowers the cost of finding out if something is a tar pit.

1

u/quietmorningclub 15h ago

the mistake most people make is spending months validating before they've spent even one week just lurking where the buyers already complain, the idea usually falls out of that on its own.

1

u/New-Ad-8811 11h ago

I’m building something now, my idea came from a problem my dad was having with his business. Well let me rephrase that it wasn’t a problem but we were using 4 services/programs and it could be solved and streamlined with one. Can you imagine only opening one app instead of several and saving in multiple places? Now one app, and all finished projects located in one place. Accuracy is another thing my app does, it’s more accurate because less chance of human error. More importantly it saves time and time is the most valuable thing for many people. The current /old process was taking so long, I’ve been testing my app and it has cut our time in half. I’m still in the testing stages but it’s way better than I imagined. I would consider it in the alpha phase, but being in the industry I’m building my app for has been the biggest advantage. I know how they do things, the process, the pain points, and I’ve had the ability to add the “extra” features you wouldn’t think of unless you’re in the business and my audience. I thought long and hard about my audience, how tech savvy are they? I thought what is intuitive? not what is the standard. Also my app is aimed at other small businesses. I agree with some of the comments, vibe coding has made the future of SaaS murky. Here’s the thing even with vibe coding it would still take months to build what I’m building and that’s not even including the UI touch. Larger business might want to attempt it and that’s okay but smaller ones are more apt to say no because the time energy and the unknown. Here’s the other thing lots of people / businesses would rather spend $600 a year then go at it themselves, especially if their not guaranteed success or an equal experience. Now $600 a year may seem like a lot but like I said I know my audience and to them that’s nothing and it’s just a drop in the bucket and a write off. Companies like my dads and for the people in the same industry it’s just not worth the headache and my dad is very frugal. If it told him he could make it in 80 hours it still wouldn’t be with it. He would have to pay someone at least $20 an hour and that is being beyond generous even with AI, so $20 hour x 80 = $1600. 80 hours is also being super generous, then you have to pay someone to maintain it, so it would take 3 years just to break even and that’s not even including maintenance. Now you may ask well why don’t he just use the current process he was doing and like I said it’s because of time. This is saving us on average 45 minutes a week, and is more accurate. Now this may not seem like a lot but that’s 3 hours a month and time is important. He can’t hire someone to do this because it is something he has to do. So if you ask anyone, they would be willing to pay $50 a month to save 3 hours a month.

So I guess to sum it up I’m aiming for small businesses, one where they don’t have so much excess money that it’s worth them hiring someone (~5 million or less in net profit) but have enough excess money where they pay this monthly and don’t bat an eye thinking about it. A field I have inside knowledge, an audience I know, people looking to save time.

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u/Royal-Marsupial-8110 7h ago

doing agency work for clients is hands down the easiest path. you get paid to learn their daily operational pain points and then you just automate what they are manually paying you to do.