A recent trend I have noticed in the product and maker community is building products and solutions that are very specific to a purpose. I like to call them hyper-niche (not sure if that term exist yet)
If you are building for everyone, you are building for no one.
And it makes perfect sense. Now is the time for super personalization. We have seen so many product solutions designed and built just for you. Starting from Google displaying the search results personalized to you to products like Prose making shampoo and lotion just for you based on your preferences and needs. Companies like Target are taking this to the extreme by observing your buying patterns and mailing you hyper-personalized ads just for you.
The makers here aren’t doing anything groundbreaking. They are taking the existing problems, zeroing in on specific problems, and finding the best solution for them. They are able to do that well because they are thinking deeply about the problem, designing a solution from the first principle perspective and most importantly they are obsessive about the user need and experience.
I call this falling in love with the problem.
This is the same trend I am noticing in the SAAS world. Gone are the days of big conglomerates. I am seeing the rise of micro-SAAS where builders are making hyper-niche SAAS solutions for their users. And this is the same trend across most of the industries. Notably, FinTech is finally catching the trend and I am excited to see what amazing solutions we will see in the next few years that are truly designed to delight the users. This is how you recognize them:
- Does one thing really well
- Can be run by an individual
- Simple to get started
- Doesn’t need a large support
- Customer obsessive and already have paying customers
- Can be easily integrated into other businesses and solutions
A few companies that fit into this mold are:
- Carrd — Simple, free, fully responsive one-page sites for pretty much anything.
- Snappa — Create online graphics in a snap. Whip up graphics for social media, ads, blogs, and more without Photoshop or graphic designers.
- Avail — Find tenants, view credit history, sign leases, and collect rent — on any device, with tools built specifically for DIY landlords.
- Copy.AI — Copywriting simplified
- Commando — Manage servers easily online. A distributed web-based SSH platform for managing servers.
- Alloy — The complete identity operating system
Most interestingly, there are already marketplace companies like Microacquire for these hyper-niche companies.
With this trend, I am also seeing the rise of hyper-networked solutions. More on that later.
