A while ago I asked: Why is there no Shopify for SaaS?
Travis Fischer commented that he'd tried to build just that but it never really took off. I wanted to understand why and we scheduled a call.
Here's what I learned 👇
Spoiler: still convinced this is a huge opportunity.
Travis Fischer commented that he'd tried to build just that but it never really took off. I wanted to understand why and we scheduled a call.
Here's what I learned 👇
Spoiler: still convinced this is a huge opportunity.
First of all, what does Shopify for SaaS even mean?
When you want to sell a digital product you can focus solely on the product and marketing since platforms like Gumroad handle all the rest.
It all works right out of the box and takes less than 5 minutes to set up.
When you want to sell a digital product you can focus solely on the product and marketing since platforms like Gumroad handle all the rest.
It all works right out of the box and takes less than 5 minutes to set up.
The same is true for physical products.
Of course you have to find a way to source the products and market them, but Shopify handles everything else.
Of course you have to find a way to source the products and market them, but Shopify handles everything else.
But when you're trying to sell a SaaS product, the situation is still very different.
You can't just focus on the functionality and marketing. Nope. You have to go through the painful process of setting up a payments and authentication infrastructure, etc.
You can't just focus on the functionality and marketing. Nope. You have to go through the painful process of setting up a payments and authentication infrastructure, etc.
There are of course great services that deal with individual components.
Stripe, Quaderno, Paddle, Auth0, Magic Links, Mailgun, Firebase.
But everyone still spends a lot of time duct-taping them together. All of this is a complete distraction from your unique value proposition.
Stripe, Quaderno, Paddle, Auth0, Magic Links, Mailgun, Firebase.
But everyone still spends a lot of time duct-taping them together. All of this is a complete distraction from your unique value proposition.
Given that Shopify is a billion-dollar company and software is eating the world, a service like Shopify for SaaS seems like a billion-dollar opportunity.
At the same time, Shopify for SaaS would do a lot of good.
Productivity from indie developers would skyrocket and it would become much easier for open source creators to finally capture some of the value they create.
Productivity from indie developers would skyrocket and it would become much easier for open source creators to finally capture some of the value they create.
Just as Shopify is arming the e-commerce rebels, a similar service for SaaS would be a weapon for software developers against increasingly monopolistic structures.
Travis' project has the perfect name: Saasify. It's still running, there are happy customers.
saasify.sh
So what went wrong? What exactly were the problems Travis encountered?
saasify.sh
So what went wrong? What exactly were the problems Travis encountered?
1.) He started with a strong focus on monetizing open source projects. People got confused.
In people's mind, SaaS and open source live at the opposite ends of the software spectrum.
In people's mind, SaaS and open source live at the opposite ends of the software spectrum.
2.) Developers want flexibility. Travis' first idea was a service that would turn any NPM module or encapsulated piece of functionality into a SaaS business.
Turns out that this approach isn't particularly attractive to most developers.
Turns out that this approach isn't particularly attractive to most developers.
The idea that they could just use serverless functions for everything was too restrictive.
If developers have to rewrite their whole project to make it work with Saasify it probably would be easier to just figure out all the infrastructure stuff yourself.
If developers have to rewrite their whole project to make it work with Saasify it probably would be easier to just figure out all the infrastructure stuff yourself.
So the next pivot was from serverless functions to "we help you monetize your API".
This sounds like the perfect way to think about the problem. The core functionality of many SaaS products can be wrapped in an API.
This sounds like the perfect way to think about the problem. The core functionality of many SaaS products can be wrapped in an API.
Also note that there are of course SaaS products where a lot of the unique value actually comes from the UX, e.g. Superhuman.
Now back to Travis' pivot.
There is already RapidAPI - a marketplace that makes it easy to monetize an API.
However, you can only sell direct access to your API endpoints. Since only developers know how to use APIs, this is the only customer group you can reach on RapidAPI.
There is already RapidAPI - a marketplace that makes it easy to monetize an API.
However, you can only sell direct access to your API endpoints. Since only developers know how to use APIs, this is the only customer group you can reach on RapidAPI.
So a service that makes it easy to sell your API to regular users would be a huge upgrade.
So why then didn't Saasify become this platform?
So why then didn't Saasify become this platform?
A key problem Travis encountered is that most customers were indie hackers, folks who are really good at creating that unique value, but who are not well-suited for marketing and growth and sales and support.
These are all things you need to build a successful SaaS business.
These are all things you need to build a successful SaaS business.
Most developers just wanted to say, here's my unique functionality, I want to press a button and I want to make money.
That's not how SaaS works.
That's not how SaaS works.
This is especially problematic since Saasify didn't charge a flat fee, only a 20% revenue cut.
So unless a project made money, Saasify didn't earn a cent.
So unless a project made money, Saasify didn't earn a cent.
And once a project really starts to take off, they'll leave the platform to save the 20% cut.
This is the exact problem that currently, for example, Substack is encountering.
This is the exact problem that currently, for example, Substack is encountering.
Two potential solutions:
• You could charge a flat fee like Shopify does. Their entry plan starts at $29/month, so they make money regardless of the store's revenue.
•Alternatively, you could choose a marketplace model like RapidAPI to help SaaS products get discovered.
• You could charge a flat fee like Shopify does. Their entry plan starts at $29/month, so they make money regardless of the store's revenue.
•Alternatively, you could choose a marketplace model like RapidAPI to help SaaS products get discovered.
However, Travis eventually ran out of steam.
He had been bootstrapping the whole time and was running out of money. Also the feedback he got from VCs was not particularly encouraging.
transitivebullsh.it/saasify-vc-fee…
He had been bootstrapping the whole time and was running out of money. Also the feedback he got from VCs was not particularly encouraging.
transitivebullsh.it/saasify-vc-fee…
So he took a break. After some time off, he decided that it's time to try something new.
Even though Saasify didn't become what Travis imagined it to be, he's still bullish on the opportunity.
Even though Saasify didn't become what Travis imagined it to be, he's still bullish on the opportunity.
And of course, give Travis a follow @transitive_bs.
He's now building Senpai.so, an asynchronous video platform that allows creators to monetize their expertise.
He's now building Senpai.so, an asynchronous video platform that allows creators to monetize their expertise.
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