Published: November 2025
Author: Chris Beaver
Category: Business, SaaS, Entrepreneurship
After 12 years of client work, I’m increasingly convinced that the best software businesses aren’t trying to be unicorns. They’re solving specific problems for specific people and making good money doing it.
This is the MicroSaaS model: small, focused software products that generate meaningful revenue without requiring venture capital or massive teams.
Why MicroSaaS Makes Sense for Developers
Most developers know how to build software. We’re less comfortable with the business side: sales, marketing, customer acquisition, support.
MicroSaaS plays to developer strengths:
You Can Build It Yourself
No need to hire a team or raise funding. One or two experienced developers can build, launch, and maintain a MicroSaaS product.
Technical Skills Transfer
You’re already writing code for clients. Use those same skills for your own products.
Low Operational Overhead
Modern infrastructure (cloud hosting, payment processors, email services) means you can run a SaaS business without significant operational burden.
Focus on Product
You’re not managing people or dealing with office politics. You’re building software that solves problems.
The Numbers Game
Here’s what makes MicroSaaS economically viable:
If you can get 100 customers paying $50/month, that’s $5,000 monthly recurring revenue (MRR). Annually that’s $60,000.
If you can get to 300 customers at $80/month, you’re at $24,000 MRR or $288,000 annually.
These aren’t venture scale numbers, but they’re life-changing for individual developers or small teams. And they’re achievable without massive marketing budgets.
Finding Your Niche
The key is picking a problem that’s specific enough to be solvable but big enough to be profitable.
Industry-Specific Solutions
Accounting software for lawyers is a better business than “accounting software for everyone.” Landscaping business management beats generic CRM.
Workflow Automation
Many businesses have repeated manual processes that could be automated. Find these workflows and build tools to handle them.
Integration Solutions
When two popular tools don’t talk to each other well, there’s opportunity to build the bridge.
Better UX for Complex Tools
Sometimes existing solutions are too complicated. Build the simpler, focused version.
Questions to Ask
Before committing to a MicroSaaS idea, validate it:
Is someone already paying for a solution?
If people are currently paying for spreadsheets, consultants, or manual labor to solve this problem, they’ll pay for software.
Can you reach the customers?
Do these people congregate somewhere? Industry forums? Professional associations? LinkedIn groups? If you can’t find them, you can’t sell to them.
Is the problem painful enough?
Nice-to-have features don’t generate revenue. Pain points do. Your product should solve a problem that costs time, money, or stress.
Can you build an MVP in 3-6 months?
If it takes years to build version one, the opportunity might be too complex. Start with something achievable.
Will 100-500 customers make it worthwhile?
You’re not building for millions of users. Can this be profitable at smaller scale?
The Build Trap
As developers, we love building features. But MicroSaaS success isn’t about having the most features—it’s about solving the right problem well.
Start With Minimum Viable Product
Build the smallest version that solves the core problem. Get it in front of users. Learn what they actually need.
Talk to Users Before Writing Code
Your assumptions about what users want are probably wrong. Find potential customers and talk to them. A lot.
Validate Before You Build
Can you get people to sign up for a waitlist? Can you pre-sell the product? If you can’t get people interested before you build it, building it won’t help.
Marketing for Developers
Marketing doesn’t have to mean sleazy sales tactics. For MicroSaaS, effective marketing often looks like:
Content Marketing
Write about the problem you’re solving. Help people for free. Build trust. Some will become customers.
SEO
People searching for solutions to the specific problem you solve are your ideal customers. Show up in those searches.
Direct Outreach
If you know who your customers are, reach out directly. Email, LinkedIn, industry forums. Be helpful first, pitch second.
Word of Mouth
Build something people want to recommend. The best marketing is customers who tell their colleagues.
Pricing
Most developers underprice their products. Don’t charge $9/month unless you want to need thousands of customers to make decent revenue.
Better: $50-200/month. This means you need fewer customers and can provide better support. B2B customers have budgets for tools that save them time or make them money.
If your product saves a business 5 hours a month and their employee costs $40/hour, that’s $200/month in value. Charging $79/month is reasonable.
Technical Considerations
Choose Boring Technology
Use proven, stable tools. Now is not the time to experiment with the hot new framework. Laravel, Rails, Node.js—pick something mature that you know well.
Build for Maintainability
You’re going to run this for years. Write tests. Document things. Future you will thank present you.
Start with a Monolith
Microservices are for Google scale. You’re not Google scale. A well-structured monolith is simpler to deploy, debug, and maintain.
Automate Everything
Deployments, backups, monitoring, billing. Automation reduces operational burden and prevents mistakes.
Monitor Proactively
Know when things break before customers tell you. Use error tracking (Sentry), uptime monitoring, and performance tools.
The Support Reality
With MicroSaaS, you’re also doing customer support. Budget time for:
- Answering questions
- Fixing bugs
- Adding requested features
- Handling billing issues
- Writing documentation
Good documentation prevents many support requests. Clear error messages help users self-service. But you’ll still need to be responsive.
When to Quit Your Day Job
Don’t quit immediately. Build your product while doing client work. Once it’s generating meaningful revenue—enough to cover basic living expenses—then consider going full time.
The transition point varies, but I’d suggest:
- Product is live and customers are paying
- MRR is growing month over month
- You have 3-6 months of expenses saved
- Customer feedback is positive
Timing matters. Quit too early and you’re stressed about money instead of focused on growth. Quit too late and your product suffers from lack of attention.
Multiple Products
Once you have one successful product, building a second becomes easier. You understand the patterns. You have existing customers who might need related tools. You have credibility.
A portfolio of 3-4 modest products can be more stable than one large one. If one has a down month, others compensate.
The Long Game
MicroSaaS isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a long-term play:
- Months to build and launch
- More months to get your first customers
- Years to reach meaningful revenue
But the upside is substantial: recurring revenue, flexibility, ownership of your time, and satisfaction from building something that people value.
Wrapping Up
The MicroSaaS opportunity is real. You don’t need to raise millions or build a huge team. You need to:
- Find a specific problem
- Build a focused solution
- Find customers who have that problem
- Charge appropriately
- Provide good support
- Keep improving
It’s hard work, but it’s achievable work. And for developers tired of trading time for money, it’s a path worth exploring.
At cbCodeStudio, we’re building our own MicroSaaS products while helping clients with their software development needs. Want to discuss your product idea or need help getting started? Let’s talk.