The last couple weeks have been absolutely crazy at Dazlab.digital. We've been so busy hiring, building, and shipping that this newsletter hasn't gone out for two weeks. But here's the thing - all that hustle has taught me something important about where SaaS is headed, and why I'm more bullish than ever on niche products.
Why I'm Living in Reddit Forums (And What I'm Learning There)
I've been spending an ungodly amount of time on Reddit, Twitter, Indie Hackers, and various industry forums lately. Not scrolling mindlessly, but actively engaging with our target audience - digital agencies and freelancers.
"They say to build sales, you've gotta go where your audience is and where they're expressing problems."
What I'm hearing in these forums has completely shifted our product priorities. I always thought that code exchange - you know, not releasing assets until you're paid - would be the killer feature for Handle. But guess what? Scope creep is what's actually keeping agency owners up at night. That's the beauty of being in the trenches with your users - you learn what really matters to them, not what you think should matter.
Every day, I'm using Claude with a custom agent that searches the last 24 hours across different sites, finding threads where I can genuinely add value. It's not about dropping links and running. It's about understanding the nuanced problems these agencies face - how they manage commercials, organize payments, sync their work to get paid, and yes, that dreaded scope creep that eats into their margins.
Building a Team That Forces Me Out of My Comfort Zone
We just brought on two key hires that are fundamentally changing how we operate. First, Angela joined as our social media person. Now, before you roll your eyes and think "another founder hiring someone to tweet for them," let me be clear - she's not writing my content. The content still comes from me because authenticity matters.
Here's the real reason I hired her:
"I'm traditionally a fairly introverted person. And so I'm a pretty hard critic about myself. I suppose you'd call it impostor syndrome. I don't like watching myself on a video. I don't feel confident posting it. I second guess myself too much."
Angela helps refine my message in a way that's more palatable without losing my voice. She provides the consistency I desperately lack. More importantly, she pushes me to actually hit "publish" instead of endlessly second-guessing myself.
Our second hire is a digital product manager, and this one's been a game-changer. When you're juggling client projects, building software, and trying to do marketing, some days you wake up paralyzed by choice. Having someone who helps prioritize what needs to be done has been incredible. In just two weeks, we've shipped a tremendous amount of work on Handle - features that had been sitting in limbo for months.
The Reality Check That Lit a Fire Under Us
One of our clients had to pause their services for a couple of weeks. When you're a small company with a limited number of clients, that income drop hits hard.
"It really does put the fire underneath your ass and prioritize getting new clients for these products."
In some ways, it's been terrible. The team is having a couple of weeks off, and cash flow is tight. But it's also been exactly what we needed. It forced us to stop talking about lead generation and actually do it. Cold emails are going out again - not trying to sell, but genuinely trying to find agency owners who want to improve their billing and invoicing processes.
We're on the hunt for meetings with digital agencies struggling with billing, invoices, process management, and scope creep.
If you know any agency owners or freelancers looking for something better than just raising an invoice in Xero, I'd love to talk to them.
Why I Think Everyone Calling SaaS Dead Is Missing the Point
There's so much doom and gloom out there right now. SaaS is dead. AI is going to kill all jobs. Everyone's panicking. But here's my take:
"Fundamentals are people are still gonna need to do work, and they're gonna want to do work."
Yes, AI is going to cause a massive shift. I don't think anyone can predict exactly what that looks like. But the idea that SaaS is dead?
Come on. We still use Jira / zoom./ slack / gmail / lemlist / mber.ai / and many others, I'm not going to rebuild allthese - thats a huge undertaking.
Here's the reality check: building is one thing, maintaining is another. Sure, you can spin up a quick app to solve a problem. But are you going to turn that into a business? Are you going to maintain it consistently over months and years?
"Just because you can grow your own vegetables instead of buying them from the supermarket, do you? Because I would love to, but I just don't have the time to dedicate to look after it every single day."
The Rise of Vertical SaaS
What I do see happening is a shift toward more specialized, vertical solutions. You're not just going to use HubSpot for everything anymore. You'll have a CRM built specifically for your industry, with features that actually make sense for your workflow.
This is fantastic news for bootstrap founders like us. We don't need 100,000 users - we couldn't handle that anyway. But 200 paying customers in a specific niche? That's a great income and a sustainable business. Scale that to 400, 500, 600 users, and you've got something really solid.
The generalist tools will still exist for enterprises with internal dev teams who might spend hundreds of thousands on licenses. But for everyone else? They want tools that speak their language and solve their specific problems. That's where the opportunity lies.
What's Next for Dazlab.digital
We're finishing up another beautiful real estate association website that should be done by Monday. The client just needs to add content, and we'll have another great site to showcase in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, we're doubling down on Handle and our other niche products.
The combination of consistency (thanks to our new hires), direct community engagement, and a laser focus on specific verticals is already showing results. We're not trying to be everything to everyone - we're trying to be the perfect solution for specific problems in specific industries.
If you're building in the SaaS space right now, my advice is this: stop worrying about whether SaaS is dead and start talking to people in niche communities about their actual problems.
The opportunities are there, they're just more specialized than they used to be. And honestly? That's exactly where small teams like ours can thrive.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why did you hire a social media manager if you still write all the content yourself?
A: I hired Angela not to write for me, but to provide consistency and help refine my messages. As an introverted person with impostor syndrome, I tend to second-guess myself and never hit publish. She helps me get over that hurdle while keeping the content authentically mine.
Q: How has community engagement on Reddit and forums changed your product development?
A: It's completely shifted our priorities. For Handle, I thought code/asset exchange would be the killer feature, but forums showed us that scope creep is the real pain point for agencies and freelancers. This direct feedback helps us build what users actually need, not what we think they need.
Q: Why do you think SaaS isn't dead despite all the AI doom and gloom?
A: Because people still need to work and want tools that help them work better. Yes, you could build your own tools, but maintaining them is a whole different story. It's like growing your own vegetables - sure you could, but most people don't have the time. That's where SaaS products add value.
Q: What's your strategy for competing in the SaaS market as a small team?
A: We're focusing on vertical, niche solutions rather than trying to be everything to everyone. We don't need 100,000 users - 200-600 paying customers in a specific niche creates a sustainable business. The future is specialized tools for specific industries, not generalist platforms.
Q: How do you handle the pressure when a client pauses their services?
A: It's both terrible and motivating. Yes, it impacts cash flow and the team, but it also lights a fire under you to prioritize lead generation and marketing. We've restarted our cold email outreach - not to sell, but to genuinely connect with agency owners who might benefit from our solutions.
