Micro-SaaS: Build & Sell Tiny Tools.

Solve one problem. Charge monthly. That's the whole game.

Micro-SaaS is a tiny software tool that solves one specific problem for one specific audience and charges a monthly subscription. No VC funding. No team of 50. Just you, AI coding assistants, and a credit card processor.

Examples that print money: a Chrome extension that summarizes YouTube videos ($9/month, 5,000 users = $45K/month). A Slack bot that tracks team standup responses ($12/month per team). A simple tool that converts PDFs to branded proposals ($19/month for freelancers). None of these required a CS degree to build.

The magic of micro-SaaS is recurring revenue. A freelancer earning $5K/month has to win new projects constantly. A micro-SaaS founder earning $5K/month from 200 users at $25/month just needs to keep those users happy. Revenue compounds, effort flattens.

Your best idea is hiding in someone else's complaint.

Don't brainstorm in isolation. Hunt for problems in the wild. Here are the five best hunting grounds:

1. Reddit & Indie Hackers: Search subreddits like r/smallbusiness, r/freelance, or r/SaaS for posts starting with "I wish there was..." or "Is there a tool that..." Each one is a validated pain point.

2. Upwork & Fiverr: Look for services that are repetitive and rules-based. If someone pays $50/gig for something that could be automated, you've found a micro-SaaS idea. The service price tells you the willingness to pay.

3. Existing tool reviews: Read 1-star and 2-star reviews of popular SaaS tools. "I love Calendly but I wish it could..." is your product roadmap. Build the feature they want as a standalone tool.

4. Your own frustrations: What repetitive task do you do every week that annoys you? If it annoys you, it annoys thousands of others. Scratch your own itch.

5. AI workflow gaps: People using ChatGPT or Claude for work constantly need bridges — tools that connect AI outputs to real workflows. Prompt managers, output formatters, and AI-to-spreadsheet connectors are all wide open.