Critique my SAAs idea

[mindeswx]

An interesting idea came up a couple days ago, and so far it seems like it could work.
Maybe something like this already exists, or you can see some major flaws? Let me know!

So my 'itch' was paying for a lot of random services like elevenlabs, spinrewriter, audio transcriptions etc.
And some of these are not usage based like openAI, but you get a monthly credit limit, so it does not matter if one month you barely use 10% - you still pay for the whole plan

'the service' - what if you could pay a monthly fee, say 20-30$ and access a bundle of tools (no it's not groupbuy) , groupbuys major flaw is someone can use up all the credits,
we would set up an API in the middle, so instead of requesting elevenlabs you make a request to mindeswxlabs.com/elevenlabs , we check your monthly usage and forward requests to elevenlabs with our api keys.
Obviously your monthly limits for each tool would not be as high, but you could add whatever apis you need to your 'bundle', and get some credits for each every month

Would you use something like that? Thanks!

 

[DonKong]

I would, but only if the interface was smooth. People don't like delays. I wonder how the forwarding through the API would affect this.

The most important thing would to see if these companies would take action against you for doing this. If they allow this it would be better. If you do it without their permission you could potentially invite a lawsuit. From how you describe this, charging more for the service is part of their business model.

 

[Alpha1404]

I don't think it's a bad idea, but you'll need to make a substantial initial investment.
Groupbuys are a good idea, but for me there are two limits: I can't pass them on as actual costs and I don't like others to be able to see what I'm doing/how I'm using the tools.
I don't know if what you're proposing will make it possible to separate departments. Because, if you manage to build an offer that preserves confidentiality, you have an interesting card to play.

 

[mindeswx]

Thanks you both, just to clarify, this would NOT include the interface, it's purely for API requests
So instead of using 10 services with 10 different api keys, and 10 monthly plans, you get to use 1 API just with lower limits, hope that clarifies things a bit haha

 

[Alpha1404]

Thanks you both, just to clarify, this would NOT include the interface, it's purely for API requests
So instead of using 10 services with 10 different api keys, and 10 monthly plans, you get to use 1 API just with lower limits, hope that clarifies things a bit haha

You need to take account of the digital divide in your business plan: people don't know how to use an API. That's what happened to me: a service provider offered to use his API, I didn't know how, he said "read the doc" (thanks man, very useful), so I cancelled the service.

 

[IM Dude]

Good idea, You.com is already doing it, check it out.

 

[DonKong]

Good idea, You.com is already doing it, check it out.

This is a very good point. What is your competition in the area? I think there is a market for this, you just need to protect yourself from legal liability and figure out how to market and sell to the kind of people who use APIs, who are generally companies/developers. I mean, since this is fundamentally about costs, a big company would not likely care about the sub cost, but the consumer does not know how to use APIs, so you are left with a specialized market of small-scale developers and specialists. It seems like something you could market on BHW or some other specialized marketplace, however.

 

[OccultKingdoms]

If you can do it without too much effort and blend into your current business, why not.

If you have to diversify and split your focus, learn a lot new stuff, I'd pass. It could hurt your priority.

I don't think you need critique of your idea.

If it's executed well, it will work.

If it's not, you'll stress and burn.

Well, someone can afford you.com (3 letter domain) with this. So it's a valid one.

The thing is can you afford it mentally and financially.

Maybe start with something really small. Don't do any big plan.

 

[OccultKingdoms]

You need to take account of the digital divide in your business plan: people don't know how to use an API. That's what happened to me: a service provider offered to use his API, I didn't know how, he said "read the doc" (thanks man, very useful), so I cancelled the service.

If you can Come to my house. I teach coding for spending time with me.

----

I checked you.com and I don't get how it's similar.

I'd rather go to make.com and see this as inspiration.

 

[mindeswx]

If you can Come to my house. I teach coding for spending time with me.

----

I checked you.com and I don't get how it's similar.

I'd rather go to make.com and see this as inspiration.

It would actually be more similar to you.com than zapier type of tools, or zapier you must connect your own services, want to generate some voices?
Sure, just buy a subscription on elevenlabs, want to generate some images? - Sure, just buy a subscription on midjourney

That is quite the opposite of what I have in mind, one subscription - access to multiple tools

 

[OccultKingdoms]

It would actually be more similar to you.com than zapier type of tools, or zapier you must connect your own services, want to generate some voices?
Sure, just buy a subscription on elevenlabs, want to generate some images? - Sure, just buy a subscription on midjourney

That is quite the opposite of what I have in mind, one subscription - access to multiple tools

Sorry. I opened you.com and it looks like gpt wrapper or something. Or it doesn't explicitly say that it does use multiple apis. You are right.

Edit: if you go to pricing page you understand what's going on. Their copy on front page on mobile device doesn't exist. Which is their marketing mistake.

So what? Next gpt 4 wrapper?

Or maybe something more complex like multi model combined.

I need to understand USP. You need to make the USP clear.

I'd make a landing page and present it here. Okay. Maybe just above the fold part...

It needs to be really simple. This product solves the problem of having to connect to multiple apis. I want to see that being clear as the sky.

You can create categories of apis on your product like

"For SEO"
"For social media"
"For businees"
"For daily stuff"

And I don't know what to prioritize. It seems to require finding most lucrative audience. I think social media / editing is large enough and people get results really quickly with proper tools on social media.

It needs to do something so these videos are more quality without having to pay large bucks for editing.

Sorry for being all over the place. Saas isn't my thing. I get too many ideas branching left and right.. impossible shit for me.

Edit: wow, this you.com seems very attractive. It looks to cost like $3 per model / tool. So I'm sold already.

So you see, your idea is valid. Even me - a persimony crackhead would buy it.

Because why pay $20 for a single model if you can pay the same Amount for 10 models + extras.

 

[reuse]

An interesting idea came up a couple days ago, and so far it seems like it could work.
Maybe something like this already exists, or you can see some major flaws? Let me know!

So my 'itch' was paying for a lot of random services like elevenlabs, spinrewriter, audio transcriptions etc.
And some of these are not usage based like openAI, but you get a monthly credit limit, so it does not matter if one month you barely use 10% - you still pay for the whole plan

'the service' - what if you could pay a monthly fee, say 20-30$ and access a bundle of tools (no it's not groupbuy) , groupbuys major flaw is someone can use up all the credits,
we would set up an API in the middle, so instead of requesting elevenlabs you make a request to mindeswxlabs.com/elevenlabs , we check your monthly usage and forward requests to elevenlabs with our api keys.
Obviously your monthly limits for each tool would not be as high, but you could add whatever apis you need to your 'bundle', and get some credits for each every month

Would you use something like that? Thanks!

You need to take account of the digital divide in your business plan: people don't know how to use an API. That's what happened to me: a service provider offered to use his API, I didn't know how, he said "read the doc" (thanks man, very useful), so I cancelled the service.

OP, you can make this work with a unified API. The people who are using multiple APIs will like working with one API. So you can make it work with that demographic. This should be step 1.

Get that working and refine it.

Then, as step 2, think about what @Alpha1404 said. There are people who don't want to work with an API. While you didn't have them in mind, why not expand your prospective customer list substantially by providing an easier-to-use interface?

 

[afu666]

What a great idea and methods

 

[haxel]

So it would be an API to access other APIs? Where's the added value?

I'm very skeptical of any SaaS, so correct me if I'm wrong... But it seems like you just want to be a middle man for other APIs? Where's the added value other than bundled pricing of a bunch of API tokens?

I imagine other programmers (the only people that really utilize APIs) would rather hit the source, rather than a middle man... Y'know? Why would I have to ping you to ping elevenlabs who then sends data back through you, when I can just go to elevenlabs and create my own API key for cheaper?

 

[OccultKingdoms]

Why would I have to ping you to ping elevenlabs who then sends data back through you, when I can just go to elevenlabs and create my own API key for cheaper?

Because you aren't tech savvy.

And he can do something with combining apis, bundling them together to produce unique output that user wouldn't be able to produce.

And you have to think deeper about it.

It's a very well known business model.

Look up logistics. You are literally packaging other items into bigger packages/ bundles and make money off that.

Internet is a new thing relatively compared to other things and this business model is quite new as before affiliate programs were easier. Now it's better to run on your own.

You don't need to invent anything new to do well in business. Most businesses like McDonald's just put things together... With insane amount of branding and marketing.

I'd be glad to have 6 models for $20 rather than 1 model for $20.

I had this "impossible" mindset too but then I realized I was just trying to be right the first time. In reality you need to correct your mistakes plenty of times until you get the proper version. Microsoft wasn't what they are today when they started. You just build and build and build until you get desired shape and result. It's not like a painting but a system that requires constant improvements. Failure is about stopping and not trying to improve your version. Failure is only how you perceive your current state of things. You can transform perceived failure into success.

I would say it's a valid idea simply because it's in AI industry which can be scaled and improved forever. First tool might not be success but once your company has 20 of them it may get bigger traction.

 

[mindeswx]

So it would be an API to access other APIs? Where's the added value?

I'm very skeptical of any SaaS, so correct me if I'm wrong... But it seems like you just want to be a middle man for other APIs? Where's the added value other than bundled pricing of a bunch of API tokens?

I imagine other programmers (the only people that really utilize APIs) would rather hit the source, rather than a middle man... Y'know? Why would I have to ping you to ping elevenlabs who then sends data back through you, when I can just go to elevenlabs and create my own API key for cheaper?

You would actually get it for way cheaper
Let's say normally you have a subscription for-
- elevenlabs that's 20$/month ( for 10k credits)
- midjourney - 10$/m ( for 10k credits)
- some audio transcription - 10$/m ( 10k credits)
- some indexing api 10$/m (10k credits)
- some video generation api - 10$/m (10k credits)
- some GIF generation api - 10$/m (10k credits)
- some email verification api - 10$/m (10k credits)

and the list goes on, I just used '10k credits' as example for simplicity
This idea would only work for those services that give you X amount of credits per month, instead of charging for each request, and most of the time you don't reach that limit, maybe you use only 10% of it one month, or 80% the other month.

So instead of paying all those services 10$/m you could choose the bundle of services that you need for 30$, just instead of getting 10k credits for each, you would get like 2k.

It would also dramatically simplify using different services, for one project you want to use openAI model, for other you might need larger context windows that other models might offer, and instead of signing up for other project - you would just call a different endpoint on our API

 

[Hunter Marlowe]

Yea sounds like a good wholesaling idea. It would be cool to choose which ones I need and price reflects

 

[Abyssinica]

Yea sounds like a good wholesaling idea. It would be cool to choose which ones I need and price reflects

I second this idea, what do you think about choosing specific services and specific credits?

 

[mindeswx]

I second this idea, what do you think about choosing specific services and specific credits?

Yes, that would be the business model, if we have say 50 APIs to pick from - we couldn't even offer them all for you use use, because it would become pretty expensive for you, or negative profit for us.

So you would create your own bundle, of 3 or 5 tools that you need to use, if you pick only 3 tools - you get more credit for each, if you pick 5 tools - you get a bit less credits for each. Something along those lines

 

[Abyssinica]

Yes, that would be the business model, if we have say 50 APIs to pick from - we couldn't even offer them all for you use use, because it would become pretty expensive for you, or negative profit for us.

So you would create your own bundle, of 3 or 5 tools that you need to use, if you pick only 3 tools - you get more credit for each, if you pick 5 tools - you get a bit less credits for each. Something along those lines

Nice, but why give less credits for more services. If they are willing to pay you can give them more.