Totally agree but the hard part is making sure users feel that value every time they open it. What's your take on how to make that obvious from day one?
Take OpenAI as an extreme example. The UI was basically a POS and it was difficult to even navigate to ChatGPT when they launched. It was just such an awesome service that people paid for it and used it. Focus on the business you are creating not the software you are using to deliver the service. Honing a UI can come later.
In a world where code is a disposable commodity, it is the business that matters. What specific problem/service are you trying to provide?
Some things I have paid for: -ChatGPT -Amazon Prime -Genscape/Wood Mckenzie crude oil tracking -Netflix -Bloomberg Terminal -LSEG -Disney+ -a finance substack -Cell phone data
Many of these have atrocious interfaces. I pay because they solve real problems in the real world for me.
A common issue among (particularly young entrepreneurs) is thinking, "I want to get into SAAS.", then focusing on some website or UI first.
In a modern world, that is the last thing that matters. What matters is solving a real problem for people.
What is the business you want to create? What is the market? What is the problem you are solving for them. What are you providing people to save them time or money or entertainment etc? That is what matters.
Looking at your examples - ChatGPT, you need some way to get an otherworldly sized dataset before you can train a model, and the fact that you also happen to have to write a web interface for the chat looks like a footnote in comparison - Amazon Prime, have to create a distribution empire - Crude Oil Tracking, have to get raw data from somewhere, I don’t know the space well but I’d be shocked if they didn’t have some moat around the data source, or they even have a hand in collecting it - Netflix, you can solve all the hard problems of video streaming and still have nothing people want to watch - Bloomberg Terminal, this one is maybe the closest to being replicable with just good software? I’m sure building the data sourcing for it would still be the “hard part”
If you broaden your scope from SaaS to “software that makes money” the most obvious are social networks, but then your problem becomes how to actually monetize it, since you more than likely can’t charge the users for it.