For many people, the hardest part about building things is knowing what to build. In other words: coming up with good ideas.[1] Luckily, ideating has been second nature for as long as I can remember. Early on, I generated ideas that were interesting but not feasible. I did a full 180º afterwards, prioritising feasibility over creativity, and ended up mirroring existing products. Thankfully, I’ve since learned the value of covering both aspects; both have helped shape my product taste.
I was on a bit of a SaaS hot streak towards the end of last year and found myself on #BuildInPublic Twitter - before I boycotted and moved to Bluesky. At the time, my goal was to bootstrap a micro-SaaS for an underserved niche, scale it within that community, and land an exit via an online startup marketplace. The idea that I felt most drawn to was Pubbler: the self-learning writing assistant for Substack writers. It was meant to be a browser extension that worked exclusively for Substack to make onboarding and usage as seamless as possible. Here’s how I visualised its potential assuming $10m/mo and 10% of TAM.
As a simple browser extension tool, costs would have been low, and margins would have been quite favorable. Within a month, we had a ton of waitlist signups (largely through Reddit and word-of-mouth), and our v1 was built through a dev agency. I ultimately decided not to go ahead with Pubbler due to a) changing circumstances in my co-founder’s life and b) an unshakeable gut feeling.[2]
Nonetheless, I had another particularly interesting idea based on the same rationale. Fanny was an all-in-one tool for OnlyFans (OF) creators to handle all their admin in one place: multichannel marketing, online storefronts, financials, and so on - even including voice-enabled auto-replies based on ElevenLabs’ API. Here’s how I visualised its potential to nine-figure ARR assuming $25/mo and 20% of TAM.
In no time, I put together a quick demo showing how it could work; I designed this with a focus on product empathy.[3] Yet, I decided not to pursue this. On paper, Fanny has all the elements of a potential unicorn: strong moat, fast-growing market, low friction, and potential for global scalability without geography as a barrier. Should an alternative exist in the future, I wouldn’t be surprised if it hits a $1bn valuation in a year or two.
I decided not to pursue Fanny because I didn’t envisage myself working on this - and enjoying it - within a year. Despite working on multiple projects that didn’t pan out, I don’t count any as a waste simply because each was enjoyable. That being said, I don’t regret printing flyers on Awolowo Road for Banga, speed-pitching Shora at TechCrunch Boston, or salon-hopping in Shoreditch to find users for Brade. It’s extremely important I give my all to anything I’m working on, and I’m simply more likely to stick with what I’ve got a good feeling about.
[1] In simple terms: a good idea is that which is both valuable and feasible.
[2] I’m a big advocate in paying attention to one’s gut feelings - even if one decides to not follow through.
[3] My time spent building for salons taught me the importance of designing products which are both powerful and easy-to-use.