
Ask HN: I have an idea for a SaaS and need opinions - dkneeland
I&#x27;ve been nursing an idea recently for a SaaS. The general idea is it is a REST API builder, created in a way that allows each user to buy a subdomain managed through VPS and built to auto-scale. Within this subdomain the user can create as many RESTful endpoints as they wish as well as write or upload the function that handles the request.<p>I think for this to be really useful I would have to create tight integration with some form of DB hosting so that the endpoints would be able to easily interact with the users data. Let me know what any of you think.<p>I post this in the hopes that nobody will snipe my idea but if you do at least invite me to help haha.
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brianwawok
My random thoughts as a dev and SaaS runner.

This seems both too hard and too complex to use for a non-programmer, and not
worth enough to a programmer.

As a programmer, It's a lot of work to learn a new API. So learning something
to rapid prototype that I have no control over? Why? I can throw up a Django
prototype in a day that is going to cover my growing for a lot longer than an
endpoint builder.

Just things to keep in mind, not to poop on your plan. It might be a really
good plan. If you are serious about it throw up a marketing page and get
signups to see if you can get traction.

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dkneeland
Thanks for the feedback! I'm taking notes on everything people are saying and
your comment gives me a lot to think about.

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jonahbenton
Re prior art, there are some solutions like this in the Clojure world, given
the data-centricity of the language.

See Hyperfiddle:

[http://www.hyperfiddle.net/](http://www.hyperfiddle.net/)

And also Vase:

[https://github.com/cognitect-labs/vase](https://github.com/cognitect-
labs/vase)

This is also similar to API mocking services.

Agree with other comments, it is important to find a customer.

Good luck!

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dkneeland
I'm definitely taking a look at those for some inspiration. Thanks for the
links and for the feedback!

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matt_s
A REST API typically does the mundane CRUD operations on data so you would
definitely need a database.

More importantly, who is the customer? Companies w/o developers wouldn't
probably be building an API, they would be looking at full services they can
just pay for with a CC. Companies with developers can scaffold a REST API with
some web development frameworks out of the box.

Who is the customer and what value does this SaaS bring?

How will you handle API authentication, rate-limits, scaling, analytics, etc.?

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dkneeland
This is something I was thinking about. I think I would marketing it at people
who need fast time-to-market solutions or prototypes so they don't have to go
through the original hassle of setting up a server and scaffolding the
infrastructure before even getting to start development of the interface.
Thanks for the comment by the way!

edit: I think maybe marketing it as a non permanent solution could work. As
well as giving customers the flexibility to make it a permanent solution if
they are happy with it.

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saluki
Build it for yourself first, see if you can get yourself using it and maybe a
few clients. If it provides value to your clients you have a potential viable
SaaS.

Sounds like you would have to do something unique, maybe focus on a certain
niche. Maybe offer integrations to other services.

Good luck.

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dkneeland
That was kind of my plan to start with. I would like to bootstrap the service
with the service itself to provide a proof of concept to potential clients. In
terms of targeting a niche I was thinking of building multiple languages into
the endpoints so developers can choose the language they are most familiar
with. Thank you for the comment!

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amirathi
API Gateway + Lambda + RDS?

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dkneeland
That's the idea yeah haha

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dmlittle
I think what amirathi is saying is why would someone use your SaaS vs using
AWS. Using AWS on it's own is painful so I get your value prop but there are
also some solution in this space already such as Serverless[1] or Apex[2] that
make this process very easy. I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea and the
fact that there are products out there shows there is a business for it. There
is some competition and pricing is going to be tough (since Serverless is
free)

[1] [https://serverless.com/](https://serverless.com/)

[2] [https://apex.run/](https://apex.run/)

