What is Micro SaaS?
Put simply, it is a software as a service (SaaS) in the form of a web, desktop or mobile app or a browser extension, the caveat being micro saas founders know that these products/services will appeal only to a niche audience. The user base is small and the maximum revenue you can make is capped. It tackles a niche problem that users face while using other apps or in general.
What about the $$$?
The goal of micro saas products is to have a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) while not needing to spend days and nights working on it. Hence, it is generally a subscription-based model (as most software is nowadays). A notion among successful micro saas app owners is to be able to build the core app and only provide maintenance fixes and new features every now and then.
It depends on how much money one wants to make off of their micro saas. Getting enough money to be able to quit a day job requires a considerable amount of upfront work from researching the idea to building and marketing the product. Unlike your non-techie friend's idea to “build Amazon but for Gen Z-ers”, micro saas targets a very very niche audience.
Regarding funding micro saas ventures, such apps are typically bootstrapped since it doesn’t require much capital to begin with. The most you are going to lose in terms of cost is cloud costs and advertisement costs. Since the user base will be small and like most micro saas founders, if you are doing this as an extra source of income it shouldn’t be too much of a problem to cover operational expenditures until some profits start coming in.
Have people been successful at quitting their day jobs after building a successful micro saas product? Sure! Is it easy? From my research, it doesn’t look very easy. A lot of online resources and videos sure make it look like if you put in enough upfront work, you can do it, but I think it takes more than that. Then again, who am I to say that? I haven’t tried it personally nor have I managed a business.
Other nuances:
Micro SaaS has a brand of being a source of passive income for developers. Although “passive income” has a lot of connotations to it, it does feel true to an extent.
I think it goes without saying that micro saas startups are built by either a solo developer or a very small team (“micro team”). So if one plans on getting into this venture, one must be able to do everything essential (to a certain extent) which encompasses managing a startup.
Closing thoughts:
I am very curious to see how these micro saas businesses truly affect the tech sphere. The closest I’d seen to a micro saas is when https://tinyprojects.dev/ (great stuff! Highly recommended to check it out) showed up on hacker news. But I can see the teaching micro saas niche itself turning into a money-grab scheme.
Here is a good blog post series I found on Micro Saas written by Tyler Tringas. https://tylertringas.com/micro-saas-ebook/
Indie Hackers is also a great place to learn more about this with a good community.
I’m curious to hear what you think! Feel free to let me know!