Finding Micro-SaaS Ideas on GitHub
I want to share with you my favorite way to find micro-SaaS ideas. It’s all about using GitHub, the popular platform where developers share their code. Let me walk you through how I do it and give you some practical examples.
What is GitHub and why is it useful?
GitHub is like a giant library of code. Developers from all over the world upload their projects there, making it a goldmine for entrepreneurs looking for new ideas. The best part? A lot of this code is open-source, meaning you can use it as a starting point for your own projects.
How to search for ideas on GitHub
Here’s my simple process:
- Go to github.com
- Use the search feature
- Look for interesting projects
- Think about how you can turn them into web apps
Let me show you some examples of keywords I like to use:
Keyword: “scrape”
When you search for “scrape”, you’ll find all sorts of projects related to web scraping. Here are a couple of ideas I found:
- A TikTok scraper: You could turn this into an app that generates insights from TikTok data.
- Twitter and OnlyFans scrapers: These could become web apps where users don’t need to run code themselves.
Keyword: “data” or “dataset”
Searching for “data” or “dataset” can lead you to interesting collections of information. For example, I found a dataset of plant disease leaf images. You could turn this into a web app that helps identify plant diseases from photos.
Keyword: “automate”
This search term brings up all sorts of automation projects. Here are a few interesting ones I found:
- Automated crypto trading bot
- YouTube content scraper and uploader
- Instagram interaction bot
Validating your ideas
Once you’ve found an interesting project on GitHub, it’s important to see if there’s a market for it. Here’s how I do that:
- Check the project’s popularity on GitHub (number of stars)
- Look at the license to make sure you can legally use and sell the code
- Use a site like Fiverr to see if people are already paying for similar services
For example, I found that people are paying for services to resize images and remove backgrounds. This validates the idea of turning an image resizing project into a web app.
Things to keep in mind
- Always check the license of the GitHub project before using the code commercially.
- Some code on GitHub might not be the best quality, so be prepared to improve it.
- Think about how you can add value by turning the code into a user-friendly web app.
So yeah, that’s my go-to method for finding micro-SaaS ideas on GitHub. It’s a powerful tool that can jumpstart your entrepreneurial journey by leveraging existing code and market validation. Why reinvent the wheel when you can build upon what’s already out there? Give it a shot and see what exciting opportunities you can uncover!
Product, UX, and growth expert