Dear Founder: Stop building sirs without audience and distribution

It’s 2025, and SaaS has become a modern gold rush for tech-savvy builders. Everywhere you see, someone is launching a subscription product. And why? The appeal is clear. High margins, recurring revenues, and the possibility of expanding money without trading.

Now with no code platforms like Bubble and Webflow, as well as AI-assisted coding tools like Github Copilot and ChatGpt, you no longer need co-founders, veteran developers, or large budgets to make your SaaS ideas come true. There’s zero coding experience and you can ship something over the weekend.

But just because you can build it doesn’t mean people actually pay for it. The days of “Build It and They Will Come” are over.

We are owned in supply and the SaaS market is oversaturated. Every day, new tools flood product hunting, X, and Reddit. But what about the demand? It’s flat. Most people don’t need another 50 AI writing assistants or yet another dashboard.

Saas is not the first step. That’s the reward for gaining trust, attention, and real demand

The Internet is full of SaaS tools. Most of them go quietly. Not because they didn’t solve the problem, but because no one knew they existed.

A painful truth? Most SaaS fail because of lack of attention and distribution, not due to lack of effort.

Everyone’s building. Few people have gained traction.

Dreams are strong. Build it once. Let’s scale it. I wake up to the striped mail.

But it is rarely played that way. Founders chase the subscription gold rush, but only realize they don’t have a great product and users. No one has heard it. No one buys it.

SaaS is in hard mode.

And that’s really. You need:

Deep Trust – Users provide you with data and pay you monthly.

A real pain problem – people don’t subscribe to “likes.”

Ongoing development – new features, bug fixes, better UX.

Always support and infrastructure – users expect reliability, and churn is brutal.

From there, you can be punished to try and start from there, especially as a solo founder or the first timer.

Building and expanding multiple Micro-SaaS products, Marc Lou is perfect for X’s posting in February.

“SaaS is the worst business that will start entrepreneurship.

You need to provide so much value + build crazy trust and solve painful problems. It’s like playing a new game in hardcore mode.

Instead, start:

Blog a book a Agency Free Tools Directory Newsletter Community Market One-Time Payment Products

You discover real problems while building trust in your market.

Next, build the SaaS. ”

He’s right. Diving into SaaS without a clear audience or channel is like building a burger joint in the desert. Your product may be great, but if no one is willing to pay for it, it’s probably not worth the effort.

“Yeah, this is how to step the stairs. Be small, skilled, confident and profitable, then head down the path to SaaS,” replied Rob Walling, author of Saasplaybook.

Why the best indie hackers don’t start with SaaS

Look at Peter Level. He is behind Remote OK, Interior AI and several other profitable tools, generating a total of $317,000 in monthly regular revenue (MRR) across six SaaS products. However, he didn’t start with the product. He started with people.

What’s hardly seen is that he launched over 70 projects. Only four people made money.

“Over 95% of the 4 of the 70+ projects I’ve grown to make money so far have failed. My hit rate is only about 5%.”

What made the difference? He wasn’t building in a vacuum. He was building publicly. Share. test. listening. That has grown a follower who trusted him.

By the time he launched the successful Saas, he hadn’t screamed into the blank. He had a distribution.

Everyone has access to the same tool, but not the same trust

Anyone can clone the feature or spin up the UI. What they can’t copy is:

trust. audience. distribution.

“AI has commoditized software buildings. But what’s not commoditized? Distribution. Trust. Caution.”

They take time. And they are the ones that most people skip.

You can have a product that solves real pain. But if there’s no one listening, that doesn’t matter.

First build something light

As Lou suggested, start smaller before you go all in with SaaS. Building what attracts attention:

I’m starting a blog.

Launch the free tool.

Curate the newsletter.

Create a directory.

Raising a community.

These are not side projects. They are magnets. They attract people, uncover the points of the problem, and build trust over time. That’s usually when an idea for the right product is displayed.

Each will help you:

Build trust before you sell anything

Solve the actual problem manually

Spot patterns of what people actually need

Start generating income faster

Peter Level’ACP Funnel: Audience, Community, Products

Lou is not alone. Levels also shared ACP funnels (directors, community, products). That’s how he thinks about building a permanent business.

First, build your audience. That’s your group that trusts your voice. Then build a community. That’s where they feel involved and they belong. Then, and only then – tell your product.

Here’s how to think about each step:

audience

Start small and clear. Who are you talking to? Why should they care?

Tell the story. Share the issue. Build a consistent story around your niche.

community

People want to connect. If you give them a reason, they will stick.

Ask yourself: How does this product fit in your daily life? Does it help them? Does it bring them closer to others like them?

product

Now that you have trust and attention, build something useful.

Something that people come back weekly or daily, not just once. It should naturally fit into the ecosystem you created.

If it works, your community will turn to customers.

Saas is not step 1

SaaS should be the outcome, not the starting point.

In your case:

Know that your audience knows they have their attention and trust

… Then you’re ready.

Now, SaaS is not a bet. It’s a response to demand.

Today’s winner Saas often comes from relationships:

“I’m following this guy.”

“I read their newsletter.”

“They built a simple tool that I use every day.”

And when they ship out the Thirds, people already trust them.

Final Thoughts

Start with people. Start with trust.

Build your audience. Learn from your market. Grow your trust over time. When that moment is right, the product will come – and when it does, they are already listening.

SaaS should be the result of trust, not hope for it.

Take the long path. It may seem slow, but it leads to something real.

That’s the beginning of the true SaaS story.

Do you feel this? Share it with the founders who need to hear it and take part in the X conversation.