Decisions decisions decisions

Which startup idea would you go for? I asked, and I received:

Idea A – book/novel writing software, a SaaS to help authors write and publish their books

• Validated concept - Novel Factory, Bibisco, Scrivener, Ulysses, Atticus.
• Incumbent competitor software looks dated, like in the 2010s. There’s new kids on the block but nothing too fancy, polished or cutting edge.
• Competitors are mostly small-medium SaaS companies, with annual revenue of $120k - $3M per year.
• No whales, big tech companies, or VCs/VC-funded startups (need to confirm this).
• Potentially less strong competition. That allows me to launch fast without needing it to be too perfect.
• AI can be used and integrated to this as an assistant, but unlikely to fully replace as it’s a deeply creative pursuit.
• Niche industry and vocation of the customers (authors, agencies) makes understanding and focusing on my ideal customer profile easier, but smaller market (less money).
• Not quite B2C, more like B2P (prosumers), or B2B (SMBs). But people are buying already.
• Since existing software is dated, customers might be open to new, modern alternatives. (still need to confirm this and speak to customers)
• Search volume is good enough:
  • “book writing software” - KD 46, 5.4k searches/m
  • “best ai novel writing software” - KD 49 4.4k searches/m
  • “novel writing software” - KD 24, 3.6k searches/m
• Product-founder fit: I’ve never written a book before, but with my daily writing for over 5 years on similar themes, I guess I could count that as tangential experience. I know writers and know where to find them. I run a daily writing community and SaaS (Lifelog) which has many overlaps, though I never was able bring it to profitability. Skills wise, I’m in the right zone. Overall, amongst all the ideas, this has the most product-founder fit… I could be the right person to build it.
• As a solo dev I can iterate faster and offer a better product than the outdated competitors.
• A more traditional SaaS arena, maybe calmer, less crazy highs and lows unlike bleeding edge tech like AI.

Idea B – AI PowerPoint generator:

• Validated concept - Microsoft, Adobe, Canva, Beautiful.ai ($16M funding), Deckbot ($3M funding), SlidesGPT.
• Competitor software is cutting edge AI tech, very polished.
• Massive market (everyone uses ppt), broad customer group, hence potentially more money.
• Big tech to VC-funded minicorn competitors in saturated market. I just need a tiny slice of the huge pie, but high standards (and stress) to live up to.
• More B2E (enterprise). Corporations trust big name tech brands more. Might be a harder ask to adopt an indie one. Sales could be a hard challenge to crack.
• Search volume is high:
  • “ai presentation maker” - KD 65, 12.1k searches/m
  • “ai powerpoint generator” - KD 49, 9.9k searches/m
  • “ai powerpoint” - KD 28, 2.4k searches/m
• Product-founder fit: Not something I built before. It’ll push me yes, skills wise. But never had a problem with self-teaching. I taught myself how to code too. But guess what, I actually do have some experience in powerpoint design. My very first business more than 10 years ago was a productized service for powerpoint design. I’m a wizard on ppt, took courses on it during my corporate days. I was often asked to design slide decks for others. So I know what good looks like.
• Big money potential here but feels like a huge bite to go for at my level…

Reflections

What about fun? Both are fun for me actually. Not “this is my life mission” kind of fun. Just fun enough to be interested. They say, go for the one that’s more exciting and fun. Yes, fun used to be the final vote for me. Every product was my baby, my life mission. But that got nowhere. Fun is no longer fun. Itching to try a different approach this time. But trying to not let passion be the arbiter this time. Want to balance out with more data.

At my life stage and aspiration, it’s about getting to financial freedom first. Going for the biggest market possible isn’t a huge consideration for me. Both are big enough to make a good living from. I don’t need to be in a billion dollar market.

Currently leaning more towards A, the book writing software SaaS. It’s a good fit, nice scope, and decent market.

In any case, it’s not either/or forever and ever more and be at peace. I can always circle back to good ideas in the future if the current choices don’t work out, or if it does when they are stable and I want to build another.