SaaS is minting millionaires again (here's how)

25:35

SaaS is minting millionaires again (here's how)

Greg Isenberg 04.03.2026 66 775 просмотров 2 068 лайков

Machine-readable: Markdown · JSON API · Site index

Смотреть на YouTube

Поделиться Telegram VK Бот

Транскрипт Скачать .md

Анализ с AI

Описание видео

I walk through a complete 30-step playbook for building a modern SaaS company using AI agents, media, and sub-niche positioning. The core argument is that SaaS is evolving rather than dying, and the builders who win are the ones who combine a focused workflow product with a media flywheel and agent-powered execution. Drawing on my experience advising TikTok, Reddit, and building three venture-backed companies, I lay out a step-by-step framework any solo builder or small team can follow from niche selection through to becoming the default execution layer in their market. I'm hosting a free workshop so you can build your business in the age of AI. Sign up here: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/build-with-ai-2026 Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 01:18 – Step 1: Start with a sub-niche inside a big market 02:21 – Step 2-5: Map Workflow end to end 06:37 – Step 6-7: Create scroll-stopping content 10:15 – Steps 8–9: Double down on organic and run paid ads on winners 11:11 – Step 10: Capture emails from day one 11:47 – Steps 11–13: Manually perform the workflow and document every step 13:40 – Steps 14–16: Turn mechanical tasks into agent workflows and connect to real tools 14:47 – Step 17: Add orchestration, retries, and verifications 16:32 – Steps 18–19: Store user preferences and launch with high-touch onboarding 18:20 – Steps 20–21: Publish measurable proof and move to per-task pricing 21:21 – Steps 22–23: Outcome pricing and compounding value 22:07 – Steps 24–27: Expand workflows, build switching costs, create case studies 23:25 – Steps 28–30: Hire from the niche, reinvest profits, become the default layer 24:08 – Closing thoughts Key Points * Start in a specific sub-niche, not a broad market — that is where sustainable cash flow lives, not VC competition. * The future of SaaS starts as a service business: manually performing the workflow is how I learn what to automate. * Media is a core business function, not an afterthought — content creation runs in parallel with product development from day one. * Mechanical tasks are AI's strongest suit; separating judgment tasks from mechanical tasks is the key architectural decision. * Per-task and outcome-based pricing is replacing per-seat models, and indie builders have a structural advantage in making that shift. * Orchestration — coordinating agents, validating outputs, and resolving issues — is the new interface layer and the highest-value position to own. Numbered Section Summaries 1. Sub-Niche: This the best moment in history to build SaaS because the cost to build, distribute, and sell is at an all-time low. The first move is picking a sub-niche inside a large market. Going narrow keeps indie builders out of direct competition with venture-backed players and makes cash flow achievable. 2. Workflow Mapping and Money Identification: Mapping a niche operator's full daily workflow end to end, then highlighting exactly where money changes hands. Using a local roofing company as the example, I walk through how to do this manually, through operator interviews, or with AI tools like Manus and Claude Code. This becomes the product roadmap. 3. Content and Audience Building: Building media in parallel with product is the unfair advantage. I describe using AI to generate content ideas, scripts, and scheduling — while personally tracking Instagram insights to develop content intuition. Organic content that earns saves and DMs becomes the creative brief for paid ads. The email list is the foundation that outlasts any algorithm. 4. From Manual Service to Agent Automation: The operational core of the playbook. Starting by manually performing the workflow builds the understanding needed to automate it precisely. I emphasize separating mechanical tasks (where AI excels) from judgment tasks, then converting the mechanical ones into agent workflows connected to real tools — email, Slack, CRM, Stripe — using MCP integrations. 5. Compounding Into the Default Execution Layer: The compounding value through deeper workflows and more data, expanding into adjacent workflows, building switching costs through memory and user preferences, turning power users into filmed case studies with paid distribution, hiring operators from inside the niche, and reinvesting in content and product depth until the product becomes the default execution layer for the sub-niche. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com/ LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

Оглавление (15 сегментов)

Intro

I don't know what to tell you. This is the greatest time ever to building SAS. I mean, no other time in history has it been this cheap to be able to build SAS, build audiences around it, get it to people who have billions of dollars of spending power, who want to buy your product. Now, I have a playbook, 30-step playbook for where the future of SAS is going. And you know, why are you going to trust me if you're new here? Well, I've been an adviser to some of the biggest software companies in the planet as an adviser to Tik Tok, adviser to Reddit. I've built and sold three ventureback companies. I've been in the arena as Chimath says, um, and today I'm going to actually just tell you here's 30 steps for how you could be thinking about building a software as a service company. Now, — I'm not going to give you the silver platter. here's the one idea that you should do so that you can actually uh you know build it. But what I am going to do is here's the framework for it all. I'm going to walk you through in this episode. each of the frameworks and the steps of the frameworks for how you can go and build with AI a software as a service startup. So, let's get right into it.

Step 1: Start with a sub-niche inside a big market

The first thing is you're going to want to go ahead and start with a subniche inside a big market. You're going to have to find a big market. Um, and a big market could be something like I mean we're talking huge here, you know, finance. So, what's a subniche? Well, you know, FIRE, financial independence, retire early, which is a movement within the finance uh movement for Gen Z's might be the uh subniche in it. So, you know, you can use AI, you can use tools like ideabrowser. com to find some of these niches. Um, but you want to go uh and and into these subniches like don't make the don't make a mistake of trying to build something for a huge market because that's where the venture boys are playing. This is for the people who want to uh build a cash flowing startup that you know maybe they want it could raise venture later but you know right now it's about building cash flowing startup you know $100,000 a month a million dollar a month type thing. So that's what you're going to want to do first. Uh second

Step 2-5: Map Workflow end to end

you're map uh this subnich's workflow end to end. So I'll give you an example of, you know, just a local roofing company. So the owner's daily workflow end to end. And by the way, you can use AI to go and uh help you figure out these roofing uh sorry the this these workflows. So uh step one, check new leads, website form, Google ads, Facebook messages. Step two, respond to homeowner and qualify the job. Step three, schedule a site visit. Step four, drive to the house. Step five, take photos. Step six, estimate materials. Step six, write and send a quote, follow up, negotiate. It doesn't matter what the exact steps are, right? The the thing here that matters is you have to map the workflow end to end. Um, you can either do this manually, i. e. uh you're, you know, calling up in this example, you're calling up owners. You're trying to ask them, you know, how do I, you know, what do you do in your day-to-day uh basis? Or you might be an owner of a local roofing company or you might work in a local roofing company. So, you might be that person yourself. So, you know the workflow. So, in your head, trapped in your head, you have the insights in order to actually go and do it. So, uh and then the third option obviously is you can use AI. You can go to, you know, Manis and ask it to, uh, you know, figure it out for you. You can go to claude code. You can go to, um, you know, uh, you if you're using openclaw, uh, you can use chat GBT. So figure that out. Those are the three ways of doing it. Super important to to have a dialed uh, workflow end to end. Then you're going to want to identify where money changes hands. Um, because where money changes hands, i. e. you know, in this example, negotiate scope or price, collect deposit, order materials for suppliers. That's where you're going to be able to create some like wedge in software, uh, and sort of take a piece of that pie. So, that's an important piece here. You can highlight that. Um, you could be doing this on like a Fig Jam, you can be doing this on an Excalibraw, pen and paper where you're writing out these workflows, Google Docs, it doesn't matter. But highlighting where money changed hands is really important. Step four is spotting repetitive mechanical steps. Why do you want to do that? Well, that because that's where uh there's an opportunity to do some sort of, you know, agent or automation. Uh so, you're going to want to spot those uh and then, you know, again, take note of of what that is. So, for example, checking new leads, uh website, form, Google ads, Facebook messages, phone calls, that might take five minutes uh every day or 10 minutes every day. And if you can save people in this owner 10 minutes every day, what's that worth to him? Well, if that person is making $250,000 a year, $500,000 a year, a million a year, you can literally quantify that and it becomes thousands of dollars. And then so if you can say, "Hey, I'm going to save you 50 hours of time this year, 100 150 hours of time this year. What's that worth it to you? " And if your, you know, chart, uh, if that person's time is worth $400 an hour, then you can go and just be like, well, I'm going to go ahead and save you all that time and you're going to be able to make more money. So, that's step four. Step five is you're going to quantify the cost of those steps. So, I kind of just talked a little bit uh about that. Um, quick break to invite you to something. Now, this isn't an ad. I just want to invite you to a free event because I think that you're going to get a lot out of it. I wanted to take one hour of time where we just talk about building businesses in the age of AI. People say SAS is dying. I actually believe the quite opposite. I think that SAS is just evolving. I think right now is an incredible time to be building software startups that help you craft your dream life. And for all those reasons, I'm said I said, let's just book 1 hour of time. It's going to be 11 a. m. March 12th. That's a Thursday where we can go and lock in and just talk about building businesses in the AJI. I'll include a link in the description in the show notes to join and I can't wait to see you there. Step six is

Step 6-7: Create scroll-stopping content

create scroll stopping content around that workflow. You're going to not just want to create a product, my friends. No, no, no. You're going to want to create media. You're going to go on ahead and, you know, create an Instagram, create a Tik Tok, create an X. pick one channel that you're going to focus on and build an audience around that. Uh it's easier said than done, create scroll stopping content. Like I know what you're thinking like easy, you know, that easy for you to say or that sounds easy, you know, easy, but it really isn't. And you're right. But the truth is you can use AI to go and research um ask it, you know, in this niche, how are people going viral, right? Um give it you can even ask you know a manis a claude code uh and a chat GPT like you know what just like content ideas what are some content ideas that would go viral in this niche and ask it to do uh create a calendar for you. So you can use it as you know an AI CMO. Um and you know the best thing you can do is in my opinion use something like Manis or use something like uh Claude Code um and create some automations around making uh making a repetitive task around you know getting content ideas giving script ideas and and creating content. You can use AI to create some of that content. You know, I saw um, you know, I'm starting to see AI videos uh, that are actually like you can barely tell that they're AI videos. Uh, you can use AI videos. You can either do it yourself, you can record it yourself. Um, you can do faceless content. But the point here is uh, and oh, and you can also use something like an open claw that actually just does this all repetitive for you. Claude co-work. I could do a whole episode on this. Number six, people. Let me know if that's interesting. But the point here is that you're going to use some AI automation to come up with ideas for you, research for you, scripts for you, um, ideas, and you're going to push it to the limit. You're not just going to be like, "Give me content ideas. " No, you're going to push it to the limit and ask it to give you non-obvious ideas, consistently providing a context, um, and then doing schedule tasks. So, you're getting this on a daily basis. You're going to want to study. Step seven, study posts that get saves, replies, DMs. Um, sounds obvious, but a lot of people don't do it. You know, I recently uh have been posting on Instagram over the last 6, seven, eight months. Um, and I look at uh I can like pull it up here. Like I look at uh pull it up here like the insights uh view insights and I could see right here um my latest video it's got 2700 likes, 5,000 bookmarks, and I could just see uh basically ho how it compares to other videos. And you develop this intuition around your content. You develop your intuition content. And by the way, why do we care about content? The we care about content because yes, you're going to build an audience and then hopefully you can sell this tool that you're building. We don't want to forget we're building a SAS tool. Um but the other piece of it is when you create content that could be used as ads, right? So, you're going to want to

Steps 8–9: Double down on organic and run paid ads on winners

double down on organic angles that convert, but you're also going to want to run step nine, paid ads on the proven organic winners. Um, because it once you've shown that you can prove organically that you're getting some traction, there's a good chance that those organic pieces of content will be able to uh work as standalone ads with some good ROI. Now, I'm not saying every single organic piece of content that goes viral or when I say viral by I mean viral within your niche. So, that could even be 60 likes, 80 likes, 120 likes. Depends how big your niche is or small your niche is. Point here is that uh there's a good chance that if it works on organic, it will work on paid. Um, and that's going to be huge for

Step 10: Capture emails from day one

you. Mistake a lot of people make. Uh, step 10, capture emails from day one. Your email list is your it's like your foundation. You know, when sales are down, you can just go and email that that list and be like, you know, we're doing a discount or we're doing an event or uh you know, because you can't rely on social either ads or even your organic that it's going to work, right? So having that list of people who are interested in your brand, in what you're doing is going to be key. Step 11

Steps 11–13: Manually perform the workflow and document every step

manually perform the workflow. So you know, now that we we've mapped out this workflow, you're going to want to manually do it. Now, why do you it? manually is going to help you uh you know basically learn about how to actually perform this piece of work. So when I say man manually what I mean is a lot of these future of SAS businesses are actually going to start off as service businesses with human beings at the core of it. It's actually going to start as being you the person to actually go and fulfill the task. And I know that might not be sexy. might, you know, people look at that and and be like, well, that's not what I signed up for. I signed up to create this software that software business that is going to work 24/7, is going to have high enterprise value, that allow me to quit my job, is going to, you know, hopefully sell for a lot of money, you know, one day. Well, yes, that could be one reason, you know, why you want to do this. But the point here is that uh you need to really be dialed around h how to actually perform the outcome right so you know maybe you've done this in a past life like you know for example in the owner of the roofing company maybe you've you were that owner in the past so you know how to do it but you're going to want to manually perform it probably from the start. You're going to want to step 12 document every step precisely. And step 13, you're going to want to separate judgment from mechanical tasks. Um, this is a really important step. AI is incredible, incredible at mechanical tasks. And in judgment, sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad. So, you're going to want to start with mechanical tasks, which leads me to step 14, which

Steps 14–16: Turn mechanical tasks into agent workflows and connect to real tools

is you're going to want to turn your mechanical tasks into agent workflows. That's the opportunity here. If you can create those agent workflows, automate a lot of that stuff, that's where a lot of the value is going to be. Step 15, you're going to want to design agents to complete the full tasks. Step 16, connect agents to real tools. So, uh, this is using things like MCP. Um, but the idea here is your agents are going to need skills and tools to actually go and uh perform uh these tasks. So that's why you might need to have it hook up to email, Slack, have it hook up to CRM, have it hook up to Stripe. You can obviously imagine in the example I gave with the uh roofing company where you'd have things like, you know, email integration like over here, um you know, Facebook integration, you know, Stripe, uh etc. It's going to need access to that. Uh in the beginning, you're going to do this manually, but eventually the agents will have access to these tools. Uh, step 17, add uh

Step 17: Add orchestration, retries, and verifications

orchestration, retries, and verifications. I actually saw a really good tweet by my good friend Scott Bellski uh on orchestration. Let me see if I can pull it up. First of all, Scott, legend, used to run product at Adobe. One of the best, you know, seed investors I know. uh invested in some of the biggest you know consumer companies that you know you've you probably use. Um and he says the orchestration layer is the new interface layer as we spend our day coordinating agent workflows in a model agnostic fashion local and cloud and validating outputs human in the loop and resolving issues. The ultimate layer to own is where coordination takes place. Um so uh I think he's absolutely right. I see some replies here. We've entered the conductors area era. Um so a lot of talk right now on this orchestration layer. Uh orchestrating agents. And that's kind of what you're going to be doing when you're building your new software. you're going to be orchestrating uh a uh the agents um the outcomes and the resolutions are the end goal. Um and I think this is just yeah a new paradigm, a new way of thinking around building software. Um and yeah, here's another good reply. If coordination becomes the choke point, whoever owns that layer owns the flow. Um so I cannot agree more. I think this is like where it's going. Um, so yeah, going back to here, you're going to step 17, you're going to want to add that orchestration retries and verifications layer. Step

Steps 18–19: Store user preferences and launch with high-touch onboarding

18, uh, you're going to want to store user preferences. So, as people are using, uh, using the product, uh, that's going to be a little bit of your moat, the user preferences, how they're using it. And then the memory, uh, long-term memory into your, you know, agent SAS is going to be an important piece as well. uh you're going to want to step 19 launch narrow with hightouch onboarding. So uh you know it's very tempting to do onboarding like a signup flow and stuff like that that's very short sweet uh but you want to really get to know the customers get as much data as possible as you as you know when obviously you're not going to be able to like ask them a thousand questions. So you have to basically figure out like what is the right amount of uh asking uh in terms of onboarding to make the experience good but also to create a moat um for you um because what I don't want you to do is create something that has basically a very like you're not getting the right data into the product um or you you're expecting it later and that also you know doesn't make the experience good for the customer could be better. Um, and or competitors come and just knock you out of your stocks. By the way, while we're building the product, we're creating just so we're on the same page. We're creating content uh like what we talked about before, we're trying we're creating new, you know, putting out one piece of content minimum every single day. Uh we're trying ads on the ones that work. And we're trying to really understand and build that uh foundation of a media company at the core of this. Step 20, publish

Steps 20–21: Publish measurable proof and move to per-task pricing

measurable proof. So, you know, going back to like remember we talked about how you're saving time for the owner of the business. Well, what is that in terms of revenue hours saved? Um step 21 um you know this step 20 21 is move pricing for Percy to per task and this is one of the reasons why a lot of SAS companies in the public markets are down 30 40 50% from all-time highs is they're scared that not only are people going to be able to vibe code or you know use AI to create uh competitors to that to whatever product it is Salesforce whatever. Um, but it's also uh the per seat model is sort of losing its allure and people just want per tasks in AI age. Do this thing for me like complete this workflow and this workflow to me is worth $200 every time you do it. And that's where it's going. And you as the person building this future of SAS, you will be able to compete better with the uh against the existing products uh in your space for two reasons. One is well for a few reasons. One is uh we've gone more now we've gone more subniche, right? So you can compete against the big ventureback people because uh you're a bit more uh bespoke. Um you are building media at the core of what you're doing. So you have this unfair advantage around not only an audience but you're building you know email newsletter and you're also doubling down on uh paid ads. So you you're able to basically do better ads than a lot of the competition. Um, and then you're doing, you know, you're using AI and agents to actually fulfill uh the work. And that's e that's better than having humans and you'll be able to compete on it's better because you know if of course AI hallucinates, right? But if you do it right and you do it in a small way and you don't, you know, overload with context and you're doing checks and stuff like that, you will be able to get incredible uh results. So I think uh because of that and also it's going to cost less. Your cost structure is obviously less. You don't need to raise millions of dollars if you don't want to. You don't need huge teams if you want to of people. um you'll be able to be more cost-effective and you'll be able to move from a per seat uh basis to a per task. You don't need to start by per task if you don't want to. You can actually start by per seat if it if it's easier or whatever. But my point here is eventually you're going to want to make your way to a per task basis.

Steps 22–23: Outcome pricing and compounding value

And that's going to shift you step 22 to outcome pricing. That is the goal here. Step 23. As your value compounds, as you go and add more workflows, get do a better job at adding workflows, as you build your brand, so you have more uh trust, you can increase pricing as that value compounds. Once you've finished this workflow, say you've actually gone and just you've done it like this. you've built this really good AI agent software that goes and does this better than anyone and it works and you feel like you probably can't get more uh LTV out of it given the product offering that's when you can

Steps 24–27: Expand workflows, build switching costs, create case studies

go and explore uh basically increasing into uh different adjacent workflows adding different adjacent workflows people here also can think about do I want to buy another company build it myself. You know, a lot of time here it, you know, you might not want to buy something. You might just be like, you know, AI is e it's so easy to create the product. Now, you might just want to build the product yourself. But the, you know, this is going to lead you to step 25, orchestrate multiple agents across the life cycle. Step 26, build switching costs through data and memory. So, we talked a little bit about that before, but you're going to always want to layer on more data, more memory. Uh now you have, you know, multiple agents across the life cycle. You're probably in a few different workflows. Um step 27, turn those power users into public case studies. So by this time, you probably have these power users, hopefully some that are well known in the subniche. And uh turn those into public case studies. And when I say that, you know, don't just uh create like articles, tweets, that sort of thing. I'm talking about like full-on send a camera crew or go yourself and film these people uh and and showcase that and then put paid spend around that as well. Step 28, hire

Steps 28–30: Hire from the niche, reinvest profits, become the default layer

operators from inside the niche. So, at this point, you're probably making money profit. Go and reinvest that and hiring operators. Step 29, reinvest products profits into distribution and product depth. you know, you're now not you're now probably in an adjacent uh an adjacent um workflow. Um but you can also just go like deeper. Um and uh and then also start spending a lot more money on content, paid ads. Um and then but when you get to step 30, the goal here is you've become the default exec execution layer for that subniche. Um, I don't know how

Closing thoughts

this doesn't fire you up. You know, if you've made it to the end of this, I hope are are seeing this and being like, "Yes, SAS is being disrupted right now. " You know, people say SAS is dead. Like, I don't know if SAS is dead. It's not. It's not dead. It's evolving. And this is what it's evolving towards. I've handed you the playbook and the framework on a silver platter. I cannot wait to see what you build. I am totally rooting for you. I'm so excited for what you know what you do with this, what you end up building and how it ends up creating impact in whatever niche you, you know, you create in whatever communities you pick and in your own family and personal lives. Um, my name is Greg Eisenberg. This is the Startup Ideas podcast. If you enjoy this, give it a like, comment, and I'll do, you know, keep doing this, do more. Um, I have so much fun just sharing as much sauce as possible. Uh, and I thank you for being here with me, for spending your time with me. Um, and uh, I won't let you down. I will just continue firing sauce into your ears if you're listening on Spotify and Apple. Um, and into your um, into your corneas, your irises, your eyes if you're on YouTube. This has been awesome. future SAS.

Другие видео автора — Greg Isenberg

Ctrl+V

Экстракт Знаний в Telegram

Экстракты и дистилляты из лучших YouTube-каналов — сразу после публикации.

Подписаться

Лучшие методички за неделю — каждый понедельник