Not every idea deserves to become a SaaS

The default mistake

Every promising idea gets the same treatment: landing page, auth, billing stub, and a roadmap that assumes recurring revenue. That works when the problem is narrow, repeatable, and buyers can onboard without you in the room. It fails when the real value is judgment, context, or a one-off integration that will never repeat.

I have watched founders—including past versions of myself—burn quarters on a “platform” that should have been a playbook, a workshop, or a small tool for one team.

Three shapes that are not all “SaaS”

Products solve a recurring job for a defined buyer. The fix can be encoded. Support load is predictable.

Consulting offers sell expertise where scope shifts, politics matter, or the buyer needs you present. Revenue is lumpy but honest.

Internal tools remove your own headache or your studio’s. They may never need a marketing site. LynCareer, Lynfolio, and DevSnap started as answers to real problems; not every experiment earns a public SKU.

How I decide

I productize when I hear the same diagnosis three times, the workflow is narrow enough to own, and I can say no to work that forks the core. I stay in consulting when every deal rewrites the assumptions. I build internal tools when the pain is mine and the learning compounds either way.

How to apply it

• Name what you are optimizing for this year: cash, learning, or a repeatable offer.
• Before you add auth and pricing, ask who pays and whether they need you or software.
• Use paid work to fund discovery, but write down constraints as if they were product requirements.
• Ship something small that engagements or users can dogfood—then decide if it deserves a brand.