NICHE SAAS PLAYBOOK

Find a reachable buyer before you build the product.

Interview a narrow group about a recent, repeated workflow, test demand with a manual version, and define a first release that earns its next feature.

START WITH REACHABILITY

Find the buyer before the feature.

A useful niche is one where you can identify operators, reach them directly, and hear about the same workflow without pitching software first.
  • A reachable buyer is a specific role in a narrow niche you can name and contact through a real channel this week.
  • Start with a recent, repeated workflow rather than a broad market-size persona or a proposed product.
  • Look for decision ownership, existing workarounds, cost or urgency, and what a useful outcome would change.

BUYER INTERVIEWS

Ask about the last real instance.

These prompts are designed to uncover behavior, workarounds, urgency, and ownership before you describe the product you might build.
  1. Walk me through the last time you handled this workflow.
  2. How often does it happen, and what do you do today when it comes up?
  3. What does the workaround cost in time, money, risk, or missed opportunity?
  4. Who owns the decision to change it, and who else would need to agree?
  5. If this workflow became easier, what would be different for you?

TEST DEMAND BEFORE EXPANDING

Earn the next feature.

Start with a small learning loop. A manual or concierge version can reveal whether the problem is repeated and valuable before automation adds scope.
  • Interview about 10 reachable operators about the same recent workflow.
  • Offer a manual or concierge version to one or two willing operators.
  • Record concrete follow-up, pilot, payment, or repeated-problem signals—not likes alone.
FIRST-VERSION SCOPE

Make the hypothesis narrow enough to test.

Write one reachable buyer, one repeated workflow, one outcome, and one must-have path. The worksheet stays in your browser and saves nothing.

Name a role and niche you can contact through a real channel this week.

What narrow job do these buyers repeat often enough to discuss from memory?

Describe a recent instance, including the workaround, cost, or urgency.

What useful change would make the workflow meaningfully better?

Name the shortest path from input to outcome that must work in version one.

What can you do by hand while learning whether the workflow is worth automating?

List adjacent features, customers, integrations, or edge cases you will not build yet.

The result is a hypothesis for learning. It does not promise demand, revenue, or profitability.

EXAMPLE / ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY

A narrow close-status tool

This example shows the level of specificity to aim for. It is not customer evidence or a claim that this product should be built.
Reachable buyer
Independent bookkeepers serving local trades businesses
Niche and repeated workflow
Monthly close checklists repeated across small contractor clients
Recent problem
They chase missing documents across email and spreadsheets every month-end and manually track what is still blocked.
Promised outcome
A clear close status for each client with the next missing item visible
Must-have first-version path
Create one client workspace, collect a fixed checklist, flag missing items, and show a simple ready-to-close status.
Manual fallback
Run the checklist from a shared document and send the status summary yourself for one or two operators.
Explicitly out of scope
Payroll, tax filing, accounting-system sync, custom workflows, multi-team permissions, and every other service niche.