Markets and ideas matter when starting a SaaS business. If you don't pick the right market, you won’t sell much. While it's important to take action and embed yourself in communities to find out what their problems are, it helps to map out which industries are rising and of interest to you [1].

If you don't pick the right idea, you might solve a problem few have. It's not as straightforward as asking someone if they'll buy something because often, people say "I'd buy that!" but when it comes down to it, they'd put other priorities ahead or your offering.

It is best to avoid copying someone else's idea directly. Instead, create something that uniquely solves an existing problem.

How do you find such a problem?

Listen to what others around you saying. What are people complaining about? When someone says "I don't like this" or "This sucks" or "This is so annoying", those are indicators of a problem.

If you can solve that problem by pursuing an interest you already have, that's even more valuable because you'll stick to it. It will be like getting paid to entertain yourself.

Sometimes people are so used to seeing an old problem getting solved in the same way that they don't think about new and better ways to solve that problem. Each new advancement in technology offers a better way to solve some problem.

Rise Above the Noise

One of the best ways to find a profitable idea for a software product is to take a rising industry—like healthcare—and find a niche within that industry. Study that niche to find out what problems people encounter within it and what software solutions you can provide.

Niching down has become a better strategy over the years because of the growth of internet access and the population. Whatever niche you choose, a decent number of people out there will probably be interested in it. With augmented reality, for example, 15 years ago, it wasn't a very popular thing. Few people had heard of it and few companies were building products to support it.

That's changed. Today, not only can you try on glasses virtually so you can see what you look like with a pair of glasses without having the physical product in your hands, but companies like Warby Parker can use AI to help you find glasses that best fit the shape of your face.

With more people hearing about augmented reality and more companies finding uses for its application, it will be much easier for you to create content around keywords related to augmented reality and have people find you organically through search engines, social media, and other channels.

When hunting for a good business idea, besides avoiding the crowded markets, look at what's likely to persist into the future. See what problems people will have five to ten years from now and build a solution that will solve their burning need. That's how you avoid fads that might be lucrative for a couple of years, but fall by the wayside shortly after.

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[1] Eric Barker observes that "some industries are over 600 times more likely to be successful than others."

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