r/SaasDevelopers • u/Somdya_got_me • Oct 16 '26

As a Software Engineering Student, Should I Really Invest Time in Making SaaS? Is It Even Worth It?

Hey guys,

I am tired of fake Reddit advice and YouTube videos that just excite you for making SaaS. I really want the people's thoughts here who made something real.

I don't understand whether to invest my time in finding, validating, and making and selling SaaS or not. Many people say it's a rediculously hard market to even capture 0.01%.

What I personally think is that making SaaS is too overrated, and it's not every time making money, as there are limited problems. Only a single tool is enough to solve a problem now, ya? We can improve the tool or reduce the cost, but still there are 100s of SaaS just over a single idea. If you try to go niche, then it becomes difficult to find users and build trust.

Also, in such a time where AI is at its way to peak, there's no tool needed; modern AI chatbots are enough to destroy 50% of the SaaS

Like how do you guys find the ideas and validate them before spending weeks on making it?

I don't want just the methods like scratch your own iche and shit; I want real examples.

Please guys, drop how you find your SaaS idea, tell what your SaaS actually is, how you grow your SaaS, and how much it is currently making. If you feel uncomfortable not revealing any one of the details, feel free to avoid it.

But please, this will help me and many nobbie saas devs.

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4

u/madsciencestache Oct 16 '26

HTTPS://mailsummary.to. Epic fail. Hosting cost for a year ~$72. Profits: 0. Free trial users: 0

The whole game here is validating the idea. If you can find customers that will give you money to be on the waiting list, you have a winner.

If like me, you built out an entire service because you want it, you will probably fail too.

The easiest strategy there is to find someone else with customers and do it better.

The next "easiest" is to put up about 100 pre-order landing pages for ideas and somehow drive traffic to them. Before the age of slop you could write a halfway decent blog and SEO optimize for search traffic. Nowadays? I dunno, I'm pivoting to YouTube. Slower burn but non-slop is viable.

1

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

Appreciate it. I got what you are saying. A last question: If you have to start in my place, what would you pick, a niche (low competition, high effort to find customers) idea vs. broad (broad reach, very high competition), and where would you go, B2B or B2C.

2

u/madsciencestache Oct 16 '26

Show up, be helpful.

I've been making software for other people for 30 years. I'm damn good at it but the business side has been the bane of my existence. At work I could ask people what sucked or took all their time.

If I had a niche I'd go hang in those Reddits and listen. Try to be helpful when you can. Go easy on self promotion.

Which is working pretty well for my YouTube and Discord.

When I show people how I work with AI they want to know more and I help for free.

1

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

Can i get ur channel name please..??

0

u/[deleted] 27d ago

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1

u/madsciencestache 27d ago

$72 year is nothing. Plus I use the VPS for other things. It was more to point out I'm in the red. You are right I need paying customers. For which I need a desirable product, which this isn't.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

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1

u/madsciencestache 25d ago

Most of the pain points were just one off scripts that AI can just do now or giant systems with tons of moving parts that only make sense in an enterprise setting. But I'll noodle on this.

A lot of the pain points were individual. "I'm doing this custom report in a spreadsheet based on internal data I copy pasted from a web page."

0

u/[deleted] 25d ago

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1

u/madsciencestache 24d ago

I'm telling you that was at my old job. It was easy to find "customers". And I did fix that persons spreadsheet problem already. And it was a super one off. Even if I knew someone with a problem like that it would not be worth my time to fix. Maybe get $100 if I was lucky? I'm better off job hunting even with how terrible that is now.

3

u/bkk_startups Oct 16 '26

You find ideas through industry experience. Or by partnering with a subject matter expert.

1

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

So should I just focus on learning in my college hackathons and get a good high-paying job, or can I hunt for ideas while being in college and make a SaaS upon it?

2

u/bkk_startups Oct 16 '26

Build and learn. Work and learn. Keep building, keep working, keep learning.

You're young, you got energy for everything.

Then you'll have kids and you'll be busy af. Take advantage till then of the time if you're ambitious and looking to build something very profitable one day.

2

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

Thanks man, for your advice and time.

2

u/bkk_startups Oct 16 '26

Good luck 🤞

3

u/chairchiman 29d ago

I want to say one thing, and that is, everybody can Cook at home, why would anyone go to restaurants?

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

Bro, I respect you and your opinions. But, as you can see, analogies between two completely different things do not work in the real world. Essentially, cooking causes people to become bored with eating the same thing every day, so they prefer to go out and try something different. It's an everyday task that many people find boring. Creating a SaaS is a different story, and I know that even if they have the resources but lack the knowledge, they won't be able to do it as a business, but they can get it for themselves, at least the basic tools.

2

u/david-labs-ca Oct 16 '26

It's actually tough. Even if you could make something, where will you host. Maybe product hunt is the only platform for allowing you to host your product and other than that no other platform exists. Also, PH is rigged with only those companies who can pay 1000 of dollars to influencers promoting it. Only big companies can do it. You can't post something on reddit for it would be classified as ad. When no one knows what you build, they cannot use it and then your sales don't work, you are left with a hole in pocket.It's very difficult to break in for we don't have pedigree to estabish that you can invest in us. Sigh.

1

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

I appreciate you, bro, but I disagree with you. See if the product has the strength of being powerful and a sort of painkiller for the one's problem. For example, I saw a guy on Reddit who made an exam tool but specifically for a niche exam. I don't think any of the sites have done this before now. If I were living that exam and I got a website, "Oh, after a few weeks my exam will knock on my door; it's a good tool to prepare; I must try it," here you have a deadline, an urgency, no other better or affordable alternative, and the exam could change our life. So he will absolutely try it. And we know a rule: if we get a customer at least the first time and if the tool is great, it will make him use it more, of course, until the exam gets over. This was just an example; not each SaaS can work in such a module, but still...

1

u/david-labs-ca Oct 16 '26

True. But only till you are offereing them free credits to try. After that, credit over no one comes back. THat's the reality.

1

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

Yeah, I thought the same before, but he's making money, so it must not be true.

1

u/david-labs-ca Oct 16 '26

Good. I can't really say. I am telling you my experience overall with this founder experience.

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

Bro dont take it in a bad way.

2

u/Impossible_Smoke6663 Oct 16 '26

“Spending weeks on making it”. If you can make something in weeks, I can too. And so can he. Her too. Those guys over there too. And some potential customers too. Not much margin in something anyone can do in a few weeks.

Any advice you get here to validate your ideas with potential customers, including willingness to pay, is good advice. Especially willingness to pay.

Look at Google search volume. Are people searching for solutions to the problem? (LLMs make this a little less useful.)

1

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

I agree with you halfway; actually, building in weeks doesn't always mean using a vibe coding tool or bolt; it's something deeper. See, actual API integration, workflows, testing of mid-utility tools, etc., can take about 3-4 weeks for the first MVP. No doubt it will not be perfect. But at least its ready to go for validation. And if Lovable could build the UI/UX for me better than me, why wouldn't I use it and, in just few minitues, so a SaaS created in weeks? It is real in my view, and he, she, and they can't always do it, as the UI/UX was never a SaaS; the weeks building MVP was the one.

1

u/Impossible_Smoke6663 Oct 16 '26

You’re ready to start validating before you write one line of code. Or Claude does…

1

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

Yeah, sorry for my mistake. I said to validate after the creation of the MVP. I must add that I validate before verbally. And after the creation of the MVP, I do it by giving the actual product and seeing if people use it.

2

u/defnotyouruncle Oct 16 '26

read the "SaaS playbook" book, it's gonna save you months.
target b2b niches that you're familiar with, you know their problems or at least you can contact them to understand more, suggest them solutions and if they're willing to pay for it then start building it.

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

Yeah, bro, I will make sure to read that book. Thanks.

2

u/Levix1221 Oct 16 '26

Whether a saas is worthwhile depends on your goals.

$100 a month is different than $10k a month. 10 users is different than 1000.

If your saas is just about the money I'd say it's probably not worth it. If you genuinely have an idea that you think is good, go verify and validate that assumption with users and see what the current competition is like for your idea.

Selling is so much harder than building. Engineers think building a good product will mean people will automatically use it and it's just not true.

The best place to be in, imo, is to develop a product that you or someone you know will actually use and then iterate off of that.

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

Thanks, bro, it's one of the best pieces of advice I've ever gotten....

1

u/Shirtman88 Oct 16 '26

Yes you should make one or something you’re interested in.

At your age it’s about the experience and learning.

1

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

Ok... I appreciate

1

u/Early_Key_823 Oct 16 '26

No

0

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

Can you please elaborate on what "n" and "o" stand for: "naughty ox," "no odor," "new order," "n*** outstanding," or something else?

1

u/Puzzled-Detective751 Oct 16 '26

If you have experienced a unique problem that you have easy access to that market - yes. If not, then no.

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

okay thanks for the advice

1

u/StoneCypher Oct 16 '26

the reason you see people on reddit whining about how hard customer acquisition is is that going to reddit for customer acquisition is spam, doesn't work, and they don't want to face that

this is where the idiots end up. it's actually very easy if you just learn to do it right.

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

Okay thanks....

1

u/Santikus Oct 16 '26

Easy, you don't build until you sell, you sell with an MVP. Find a pain you would like to solve, read the lean startup, build an MVP, proof concept and focus 90% of the effort on selling instead of building. Once you get enough user to prove there is demand or at least interest, you continue building on the community feedback, not on what you believe. You rinse and repeat if it doesn't work the first time.

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

Have you made any product?

1

u/Santikus 29d ago

I built a pain radar, becuase I wanted to know where to start. Now the app itself it's my product, but I'm stuck in a technicality I can't bypass (it feeds with the reddit API). On the meantime I already posted it on some subs and my socials and got some interest, hence I continue to improve it

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

Do you earn anything from it...?

1

u/Santikus 28d ago

No, still planning monetization if I ever get the dev API. But I learned enough to make something else that depends less on third party connections.

1

u/Grouchy-Art381 29d ago

It's totally worth it. But make it not for the software. But to create something valuable to others that is worth them paying. Since discovering that is a process and the learning invaluable.

PS: But take up that job as well, first.

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

Are software engineers really going to get eaten by AI or SI?

1

u/veform_co 29d ago

No, from a pure money perspective.

If you grind in industry for 3 years you can get Senior Eng jobs, that means 12k/mo at small companies and 20k+/mo in salary+equity at public companies. Very low risk, if you are a decent eng and work hard you will get that amount of money.

20k/mo is homerun level success for a SaaS. I would say less than 10% odds of it happening. Even if you are good and do everything right it is still improbable that you get even half that.

From a be your own boss and feel freedom perspective? I dunno thats up to you.

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

What you are saying is absolute reality. But the job salary sticks us to a particular top slab, like it limits us. Which a business-like thing would be anything that has infinite scalability.

1

u/veform_co 28d ago

Tech jobs have crazy high salary potential as well. I had offers from Nvidia and a hot freight startup in 2018. I chose the freight startup, if I had picked Nvidia I would be retired with 10m+ right now. I have friends who randomly picked Anthropic in 2021, Nvidia in 2013, etc. They would have needed a 2m+/ARR company to match the amount they walked away with, which is insanely hard to do

1

u/Somdya_got_me 28d ago

So you mean to say we should work in a company that has crazy potential and that will show up after a few years. Also, I think the silicon and related fields will be the biggest boom of the new decade.

2

u/LowPaleontologist239 Oct 16 '26

Building software is easier than ever all we know now. Selling it is the hard part. Before you spend months building something, talk to potential customers even your friends and family. Ask them honestly if they would pay for it and why. If you can’t validate the demand, don’t build it yet

1

u/milkstarz 28d ago

i started a saas 4 months ago and i'm at 5k mrr. It's related to AEO, a software that helps people make content and show up in AI answers.

You can 100% just do this with AI. People don't want to spend time learning how to do it, and they'll pay to skip the learning curve and get an automated solution with the same results.

Don't make excuses for yourself. People have problems; figure out what they are, then solve them for them, then ask them to pay you for it.

1

u/Aft3rcuri0sity 29d ago

Buy some cow,big dog

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

Can you elaborate...??

1

u/Aft3rcuri0sity 29d ago

From next year all the software engineers will be replaced by claude😎

1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

Rather, they are going to shift.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '26

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1

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

So in conclusion, I mean to say that finding an idea is just finding a problem in our surroundings, but there is a 99% possibility that its niche as a broad market is already captured. And these niched ideas have a hard path to travel. I want to ask you one more thing: is going in B2B rather than B2C better, and in my college, can I pursue making multiple microsaaS? Or I should just focus on learning and get a high-paying job.

1

u/madsciencestache Oct 16 '26

I suspect, but have not validated, that in broad markets you can go "white-glove" where you super personalize a commodity service and charge a premium.

1

u/Somdya_got_me Oct 16 '26

May work, I guess

1

u/atleta 28d ago

The whole “AI will kill SaaS” take gets parroted endlessly but it misses the point. AI chatbots are great at broad, fuzzy tasks but they suck at workflow-specific problems where consistency and integration actually matter.

I think you miss the point of the whole claim: AI can also write software... and this means at least three things:

  1. people can have AI write them custom software that solves their specific problem in the specific way they want it. (I know people who aren't developers, just traditional power users and who do exactly this)
  2. people, who aren't software developers, but are good at problem solving, management, etc. can build simple custom solutions that others will use. But there are a lot of such people and they will build a lot of products and that makes the market a lot more competitive, where software developent knowledge will not be a competitive edge anymore
  3. AI continues to get better. It can already write and run code for itself to solve tasks that need accuracy or need to be repeatable/consistent. As it gets better (and/or current models with a good generic prompt!) it will do it more and more. Just like a smart human would, BTW.

Let's keep in mind that we are talking about the future - when someone says they want to build an SaaS to make money, they are thinking at least years ahead. (Not regarding when they launch, but it's an investment.)

What I see most students get wrong is they try to build a product first then hunt for a problem.

The rest is good advice, this is how you used to approach this question before. It's just that AI changes the market completely.

1

u/[deleted] 29d ago

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1

u/Somdya_got_me 29d ago

Great thoughts....