A few years ago, the market was saturated by emerging startups inventing the next “Uber for X” or “Airbnb for Y”.
The implementation was often flawed, but the concept remains legitimate.
Once a market grows to $50B, $100B, $500B, a segmented space still represents a significant chunk worth fighting for.
ConvertKit is a wonderful email marketing solution that launched as a “bloggers-only” tool and expanded after.
As generic, enterprise-grade applications lack personalization and tailored features for different verticals or industries, building a platform for a broad ecosystem can be a lucrative opportunity.
Some ideas on top of my head:
- Dropbox or lawyers (with refined contract management and self-signing)
- Trello for bands (embedding playlists and predefined templates for recording a song or music tours)
- Salesforce for lifestyle business owners – relying on virtual assistants as a concept
- Applicant tracking app for SEO agencies – with predefined surveys around content or on-site/off-site work or simple challenges for interviewees
I have recently published a massive guide on bootstrapping a product internally – from ideation through validation to resource allocation, business planning, and what goes into a product.
If you have been looking into ways to productize a service you offer – or have some time to work out an idea and pitch a more affordable solution to your clients, this is the go-to guide you need to start with.
It might also be worth sharing the different reasons a startup or a new product could fail.
This is why the most important thing you need to do before starting any company or product is to validate your business idea. This is when you should create a business plan.
