Item — HN Reader

we'll be better off - assuming we'll generate revenue on our own. LLMs have opened up an enormous new frontier of micro-SaaS opportunities. One person can now build what used to require a small team.

The real problem is zero-sum work, especially when the only moat was knowledge asymmetry that is now public knowledge.

3 comments

Why would anyone use your micro SaaS when they can build their own?

Have you seen a different perspective? Cause in my informational bubble SaaS ain't doing too well since vibecoding became more common.

There's still a cost/benefit to building and maintaining a service. LLMs make it easier to build, but the cost does not scale to zero.

I'm in agreement with your claim, though if you recall some of these micro SaaSes went hyperfocused on niches. The value proposition is then smaller, with larger data liability than with some behemoth's of SaaS.

Though for the later ones, one might also ask themselves if they are worth their cost when using 20-30% of provided functionality.

Soon it doesn't require even that one person

And the saas won't be required either because people can just get these problems solved directly.

This will also make it harder to compete because it holds true for everyone, not just you. I am already, this year, seeing vibe coders put out some decent stuff on App Stores but the problem is marketing it. You no longer automatically stand out just because you have a cool app. You may not even do so with reasonable early traction via social media. And then what? Throw venture capital onto the problem? In an AI saturated world? Really?

Also the drive to innovate goes down. It took weeks for the creator of 2048 to make a low quality clone of Threes. Now people can make relatively high quality ripoffs in days, even hours.