Ask HN: I have an idea for a SaaS and need opinions

14 points by dkneeland 6 years ago | 11 comments

I've been nursing an idea recently for a SaaS. The general idea is it is a REST API builder, created in a way that allows each user to buy a subdomain managed through VPS and built to auto-scale. Within this subdomain the user can create as many RESTful endpoints as they wish as well as write or upload the function that handles the request.

I think for this to be really useful I would have to create tight integration with some form of DB hosting so that the endpoints would be able to easily interact with the users data. Let me know what any of you think.

I post this in the hopes that nobody will snipe my idea but if you do at least invite me to help haha.

brianwawok 6 years ago |

My random thoughts as a dev and SaaS runner.

This seems both too hard and too complex to use for a non-programmer, and not worth enough to a programmer.

As a programmer, It's a lot of work to learn a new API. So learning something to rapid prototype that I have no control over? Why? I can throw up a Django prototype in a day that is going to cover my growing for a lot longer than an endpoint builder.

Just things to keep in mind, not to poop on your plan. It might be a really good plan. If you are serious about it throw up a marketing page and get signups to see if you can get traction.

dkneeland 6 years ago | |

Thanks for the feedback! I'm taking notes on everything people are saying and your comment gives me a lot to think about.

jonahbenton 6 years ago |

Re prior art, there are some solutions like this in the Clojure world, given the data-centricity of the language.

See Hyperfiddle:

http://www.hyperfiddle.net/

And also Vase:

https://github.com/cognitect-labs/vase

This is also similar to API mocking services.

Agree with other comments, it is important to find a customer.

Good luck!

dkneeland 6 years ago | |

I'm definitely taking a look at those for some inspiration. Thanks for the links and for the feedback!

mattbrewsbytes 6 years ago |

A REST API typically does the mundane CRUD operations on data so you would definitely need a database.

More importantly, who is the customer? Companies w/o developers wouldn't probably be building an API, they would be looking at full services they can just pay for with a CC. Companies with developers can scaffold a REST API with some web development frameworks out of the box.

Who is the customer and what value does this SaaS bring?

How will you handle API authentication, rate-limits, scaling, analytics, etc.?

dkneeland 6 years ago | |

This is something I was thinking about. I think I would marketing it at people who need fast time-to-market solutions or prototypes so they don't have to go through the original hassle of setting up a server and scaffolding the infrastructure before even getting to start development of the interface. Thanks for the comment by the way!

edit: I think maybe marketing it as a non permanent solution could work. As well as giving customers the flexibility to make it a permanent solution if they are happy with it.

saluki 6 years ago |

Build it for yourself first, see if you can get yourself using it and maybe a few clients. If it provides value to your clients you have a potential viable SaaS.

Sounds like you would have to do something unique, maybe focus on a certain niche. Maybe offer integrations to other services.

Good luck.

dkneeland 6 years ago | |

That was kind of my plan to start with. I would like to bootstrap the service with the service itself to provide a proof of concept to potential clients. In terms of targeting a niche I was thinking of building multiple languages into the endpoints so developers can choose the language they are most familiar with. Thank you for the comment!

amirathi 6 years ago |

API Gateway + Lambda + RDS?

dkneeland 6 years ago | |

That's the idea yeah haha

dmlittle 6 years ago | | |

I think what amirathi is saying is why would someone use your SaaS vs using AWS. Using AWS on it's own is painful so I get your value prop but there are also some solution in this space already such as Serverless[1] or Apex[2] that make this process very easy. I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea and the fact that there are products out there shows there is a business for it. There is some competition and pricing is going to be tough (since Serverless is free)

[1] https://serverless.com/

[2] https://apex.run/