Steal SaaS ideas!!!
Alexander Isora 🦄
7 replies
It's okay to steal ideas. Everyone does it. Artists, engineers, scientists. They all "borrow" ideas. Here's a good way to do it: after you steal an idea, make it better for a specific group of people. This is called "niching down." It's how small startups beat big tech
Examples:
• Stripe: Payments for developers (stolen from PayPal)
• Intercom: Customer support for tech companies (stolen from Zendesk)
• Zoom: Video calls for remote teams (stolen from Skype)
• NotionHQ: Team tools for startups (stolen from Evernote)
• ConvertKit: Email for bloggers (stolen from Aweber)
• Canva: Photoshop, but for non-designers.
• Figma: Browser design for teams (also from Adobe Photoshop)
• Gumroad: Digital sales for creators (stolen from Shopify)
• Shopify: Magento but for SMB. Why niche down? It's easier to sell. You know exactly who needs your product and how to make it better for them. Don't worry about copying. It is ethically OK. If you focus on a specific group, not just copy-cat, you are doing a good thing. I stole the idea for my first SaaS (unicorn platform) from existing landing page builders. I just made it easier for busy SaaS founders. I'm doing the same thing for paracast.io — I'm stealing Canva's idea and niching it down to startups only. Want to steal a SaaS idea? Do this: • Find a SaaS you like.
• Pick a group of people it's not perfect for (hint: read testimonials on g2 or trustpilot to find it).
• Make it perfect for them.
• Intercom: Customer support for tech companies (stolen from Zendesk)
• Zoom: Video calls for remote teams (stolen from Skype)
• NotionHQ: Team tools for startups (stolen from Evernote)
• ConvertKit: Email for bloggers (stolen from Aweber)
• Canva: Photoshop, but for non-designers.
• Figma: Browser design for teams (also from Adobe Photoshop)
• Gumroad: Digital sales for creators (stolen from Shopify)
• Shopify: Magento but for SMB. Why niche down? It's easier to sell. You know exactly who needs your product and how to make it better for them. Don't worry about copying. It is ethically OK. If you focus on a specific group, not just copy-cat, you are doing a good thing. I stole the idea for my first SaaS (unicorn platform) from existing landing page builders. I just made it easier for busy SaaS founders. I'm doing the same thing for paracast.io — I'm stealing Canva's idea and niching it down to startups only. Want to steal a SaaS idea? Do this: • Find a SaaS you like.
• Pick a group of people it's not perfect for (hint: read testimonials on g2 or trustpilot to find it).
• Make it perfect for them.
Replies
Ali Anjamparuthi@alianjamparuthi
Repurposing or adding features to create a new product is not stealing; it's innovation. By improving and tailoring ideas, startups can address specific needs more effectively.
Here are some more similar example;
Slack: Team communication for businesses (inspired by HipChat)
Airtable: Flexible database for non-developers (inspired by Excel)
Squarespace: Website building for creatives (inspired by WordPress)
Asana: Project management for teams (inspired by Microsoft Project)
Robinhood: Commission-free trading for retail investors (inspired by E*TRADE)
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@alianjamparuthi Good additions
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Originally posted on my 𝕏: https://x.com/alexanderisorax/st...
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on stealing SaaS ideas! It's definitely interesting to see how innovation can come from building upon existing ideas and making them better for a specific niche. It's all about finding ways to serve a particular group of people in a more efficient and effective way. Keep up the creative thinking!
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minimalist phone: creating folders
Everything is repurposed. I noticed it predominantly in the music industry but as I am stepping into every area, there are still "inspired" businesses :D
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@busmark_w_nika Yes in music artists steal a lot. Many artists are proud when their samples are used.