The Secret to Finding Profitable Software Ideas

Thinking of quitting the tech industry grind to start a profitable software business yourself? Before you take the plunge, don't make the same mistakes I did!

The secret to finding a profitable software idea, is that it must come from your customers. Unless you know a real pain that people who would use your software are experiencing, you can easily fool yourself into thinking it's good enough to build a software product business on.

In this episode, I share what I've learned about finding real software product ideas. I use a combination of IBISWorld, ChatGPT, and a book by Dane Maxwell to help my software development coaching clients discover software startup ideas.

IBISWorld Businesses

Start from Zero by Dane Maxwell

CHAPTER MARKERS

0:00 Introduction
1:42 Finding a Profitable Software Idea
1:54 1. Select a Customer Market
2:50 2. Determine How to Contact Customers
4:37 3. Ask Customers for Their Biggest Problem
6:05 4. Ask People Who Responded To Meet
7:03 5. Ask Them 5 Questions
7:15 Make Sure You're On The Same Page
7:29 How Are You Solving It Today?
8:15 What Happens When You Don't Solve This Problem?
8:50 If You Could Wave a Magic Wand, How Would You Solve It?
9:36 Would You Pay for That Solution? How Much?
10:48 Identify Consistent Profitable Problems

#entrepreneurship #softwarebusiness #productideas

[HealthyDev]

Are you trying to find a profitable software product idea to start a solo tech company? Have you validated the idea is a true pain point for your customer? What's holding you back from talking to real customers?

[bobbycrosby]

I think the 1 thing that's missing here is looking at what solutions to the problem already exists.

Most of my company's ideas aren't unique. We see existing solutions out there that are just not very good. We streamline them and compete directly with them. The nice thing about this is someone else has already validated that the market exists.

[abdallahayyad]

I watched tens of YouTube videos discussing how to find profitable software ideas. I can guarantee that your video is one of the best. Your ideas and questions are organized in an amazing way. Thank you for this video!

[LeoPlaw]

Yes, you have to be careful that you don't lead yourself down the wrong path with your product or service idea, but many times I've also been led down the garden path by those businesses I've asked for input. As negotiator Chris Voss puts it, you always have to ask who else has input, as there are often others in the decision making process that can sink what looks like a sure thing. You might be talking to people who have a real problem or need that requires a solution, but higher ups, have other requirements or motivations and the final say on whether money would ever be spent on just such a thing. So perhaps a smart question to ask first up is, why has no money or resources already been allocated to solving it.

[purdysanchez]

These problems are easy to identify when talking to other startups or efficient businesses, they're harder when you're talking to large companies with completely disconnected employees.

[remek]

I’m in a situation at work where I’ve been working as a Java Developer for about 7 years across various corporations. In each company, I’ve worked in the Scrum methodology with sprints. I’ve noticed a recurring pattern, and in my current job, it’s the same: managers use sprints as a tool for excessive control and apply pressure to deliver everything within the sprint. They often talk about deadlines and due dates. The atmosphere is such that I always feel behind and like I’m not doing enough. I struggle with working under pressure in sprints, and because of this, I’m considering changing to a position where I wouldn’t have to work in sprints.

[camgere]

It has to pass "The Mom Test" "How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you."

[julioherrera]

One of the problems in reaching out to people in organizations is understanding the position in the corporate hierarchy that they hold. If you end up talking to someone too high in the organization they may only have a high level understanding of the problem and may not have a good grasp of the details. They are however usually in a good position to provide a good indication of how much the company might be willing to pay for the solution based on the pain the problem presents to the bottom line.

If on the other hand if you speak to someone who is too low in the organization you can get better details on the actual problem but might not get much information on what the company might be willing to pay to solve that problem.

So there probably might the need to have multiple conversations within a single organization. Aim high and ask for a recommendation to whom one can have further conversations for further details.

[iamacoder]

Great content. This is exactly the situation I'm in - speaking and chatting with people before I write a single line of code.

[SimGunther]

The secret: let the guitar tell you whether your ideas are profitable. If a sour note occurs, it's not a profitable idea.

[JohnMcclaned]

4:50 - don't do that. Read the book "the moms test" and learn how to ask proper questions. Don't put the responsibility on them to know what their problems are, they probably don't even realize they have them.

[d.g]

This is one of the best videos I’ve ever watched on turning an idea into a real IT product / brand that generates revenue while addressing user pain points. Absolute gold content. Amazing episode! Cheers! - Dale

[dreamdrifter]

I got the idea for my current project in a meeting with a colleague, he told my team he'd tried 5+ different software solutions and none of quite fit. So I'm building it myself (I didn't tell him or anyone about it yet though, waiting until I have something worth showing)

For now it's just a uni project so I'm just building it for an AWS assignment. Before spending more time trying to build it into a real SaaS, I'll definitely come back to this video and review these techniques. I believe I succeeded in identifying a solution for my colleagues pain points, the question is whether anyone else is suffering with the same problem.

[danielclaire]

That was one of the best videos we'll see on Youtube.

[chrvberg]

Seemingly simple but often overlooked basics. Thank you for sharing! Reminds a bit of "Start with Why" by Simon Sinek - plus some actionable points.

[Fierydice]

Henry Ford: if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse.

[jasonsimpson]

This is exactly what I needed to hear, exactly when I needed to hear it, from exactly the person I needed to hear it from. Thanks Jayme!

[jerrid]

I'm working on a simplified RPA solution for the non-tech to be able to use as a side hustle opportunity. Designing is not an issue but Marketing ugh! I am excited to get all the required pieces in place.

[tobeqz]

Wow this is incredibly valuable information, thank you for making this!

[juan_salvador_gaviota]

The software I’m building will solve my own problem, hopefully others will benefit from it as well 🤞🏻thoughts on this approach?