https://trends.vc/trends-0032-micro-saas/
This makes a distinction between “big” SaaS companies that addresses a very wide market, and thus has to have quite a wide feature set, as the bar is very high for expected features.
This is in contrast to Micro Saas (I am only ever going to spell it micro saas from now on…) which “solves a specific problem for a specific group”.
Three types are defined:
- Dependent Micro-SaaS: built on a platform, has high platform risk, i.e. feature vs business, that platform then clones (aka being Sherlocked)
- Integrated Micro-SaaS: works across platforms, so lower platform risk through diversification
- Independent Micro-SaaS: not connected to a platform
Not spelled out, but a platform is a way to get distribution faster. You have a ready made audience of existing users, some of whom will want your extra feature or integration the core platform doesn’t provide. This can be faster to get users than not having a platform.
This fits into Fission’s “app abundance” hypothesis. Just as native mobile apps and desktop apps see a very long tail of apps, as web apps – and micro saas – become simpler to build, launch, and scale, there will be many more apps.
Also: micro saas is only one business model. One time purchase, paid upgrades, and purchase for support period or version are alternatives. We also see open source apps using donations / sponsorships (a type of paid upgrade in some cases) as a way to support further development.
Interested in this? We’d love to ask you some questions about launching an app with Fission.