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Micro SaaS ideas to explore in 2022

SaaS (Software as a Service) has been around for about two decades, but it's only recently that we've seen a huge surge in the adoption of SaaS solutions.

8 February, 2022
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SaaS (Software as a Service) has been around for about two decades, but it's only recently that we've seen a huge surge in the adoption of SaaS solutions. The demand for these cost-effective business tools has risen markedly over the last few years, now with 99% of companies using a SaaS platform in some way.

The boom in the SaaS industry cannot be denied by anyone, given the volumes of enterprises, startups, investors, and developers flocking into this space and actively contributing towards its success.

This rise in demand has brought more attention to micro-SaaS solutions, aiming to provide precise, cost-effective functionality to businesses.

What Is Micro SaaS and Why You Should Want It

Micro SaaS takes full-fledged SaaS and shrinks it down to fit a very specific function. If It's SaaS designed for a startup, entrepreneur, or small-teamed office that's cost-effective and focuses on particular operations. The idea of micro-SaaS is to keep things simple and manageable. The conception behind Micro SaaS is that there are many solutions for companies to use in their day-to-day operations, but they don't have the time or resources to develop them themselves.

In SaaS software development, you go big or go home. You need to build one comprehensive product that aims at solving many problems for many users. With micro-SaaS, you focus on one problem and solve it with a minimalistic approach.

How Micro SaaS Products Are the Perfect Fit for Startups

Micro SaaS businesses share several characteristics that make them appealing to entrepreneurs:

You don't need to hire a team. The two or three-person team is the perfect size for a micro-SaaS startup. A generalist like me can do product, marketing, and customer support without getting completely overloaded.

You don't need to raise venture capital. Micro SaaS businesses are bootstrappable and profitable from day one. You can launch with no capital and scale up slowly on your terms.

You don't need to worry about competition. There's room in the micro-SaaS market for everyone — even if you're creating an exact copy of an existing business, you'll still have plenty of customers who will prefer your version because they want to support the little guy instead of giving their money to big corporations.

The first thing you should do when trying to decide on a micro SaaS idea is to think about what industry would work best with it. You may want to consider whether there is a niche that needs filling in the market, or if there is an opportunity for a new product.

Micro SaaS business ideas to Get You Started

Micro SaaS business ideas to get started
Micro SaaS business ideas

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful tool for any business, regardless of its size. Email marketing is one of the most effective and cost-effective ways to reach customers and prospects, and it's a must for any company that wants to compete in today's saturated marketplace. Develop an email marketing tool that helps startups focus on the most effective ways to reach their customers in their inboxes.

Marketing Automation

With so many social platforms to utilize, promotions to organize, and customers to follow up on, startups are desperate for a system that helps them better manage it all. Create a marketing automation platform that helps organize social content posting and automatic follow-ups to increase customer retention.

Virtual Assistant Services

Startups benefit significantly from an assistant to manage day-to-day tasks like scheduling, managing tasks, to-do lists, and other menial duties that can easily take focus away from growth. Design a virtual assistant as a micro-SaaS service to help ease the burden.

Accounting Services

Most startups don't have an accounting department and likely don't need one until their business expands. But that doesn't mean they don't need accounting services. Develop a micro-SaaS for accounting services to handle all startup accounting needs from the get-go.

Invoicing & Billing

Invoicing is one of the most painful parts of running a startup — it takes time away from the business and is often an annoying interruption. Restore that time by offering a service that takes care of invoicing specifically for startups.

CRM

Startups often need a CRM to keep track of their leads, but they don't have time to learn how to use a new piece of software. They also don't need all the advanced features found in more enterprise-focused CRMs like Salesforce. You can develop a simple, easy-to-use that comes with just enough features to get the job done.

Workforce Management

Startups often have issues with making sure that their team stays productive and on task when they don't have the resources to track and monitor their employees. Software that tracks things like project progress, time tracking, and payroll would be incredibly useful to them. You can develop and market a workforce manager for startups.

Learning Management

Sites like Udemy, Domestika, and Skillshare are great services that appeal to the masses. Instead of taking the same approach, develop one that seeks to train a specific audience or business niche. Yours could cover affiliate marketing, graphic design, copywriting, and essentially any other singular-focused skill.

Analytics

Analytics is greatly important for all businesses, regardless of age or size. You could develop a micro-analytics solution that focuses on tracking competitors or other brands within a specific industry. This type of application would be useful for new startups looking to disrupt an existing market or for those looking to understand their competition better.

KPI Tracker

If a business provides services for clients, some type of KPI (Key Performance Indicator) needs to be tracked. This could be sales numbers, marketing metrics, or something else entirely. You can easily build a micro-SaaS tool that tracks this information and provides the ability to sort it by date, customer, or any other variable.

Personal Goal Tracker

Many people set goals at the beginning of each year. They want to exercise more, eat healthier, or save more money. But they often give up on these goals after a few months. A personal goal tracker would help people reach their goals by asking them simple questions each day to keep them on track. Just a couple of questions can get people thinking about their goals again and motivate them to achieve them.

Start Building Your Micro SaaS Application for 2022

Even if it feels overly saturated, there are many niche opportunities for you to home in on in the micro-SaaS development world. Micro SaaS is a new trend in the world of software development, and also a new way of doing business. Use our list above as the inspiration for your great idea, get developing, and launch your product to the world.

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author

CEO and Founder of Merge

My mission is to help startups build software, experiment with new features, and bring their product vision to life.

My mission is to help startups build software, experiment with new features, and bring their product vision to life.

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