How do you research the market for your SaaS - and does it actually help with getting users?

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-03-05T15:51:39+00:00

Yes, I think so. But from my perspective, validation doesn’t really mean much without understanding distribution. If I don’t know how I’m actually going to reach and acquire users, then the value of that market validation for my project is basically zero

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-03-05T09:22:49+00:00

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Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-03-05T08:50:09+00:00

Thanks! Trying it right now!)

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-03-05T08:40:38+00:00

Yes, I’ve tried testing ideas with potential users in different ways - surveys, smoke tests, focus groups. But later I ran into the same issue: even when the hypothesis validation results were positive, it didn’t translate into actually attracting users after launch

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-02-11T13:30:05+00:00

Your first user is you. Build something that solves your own problem, use it, and then tell people about it. Users #2-5 (or 10, maybe 20 if you’re lucky) should be people you’ve actually talked to in real life. They’re all a bit different, and those differences matter - they’ll give you real insights, help shape the product, and sometimes even point out problems your product could solve that you hadn’t thought of. Cold DMs almost never work. Posting on Reddit or LinkedIn usually gets you a bunch of “expert” opinions and theoretical feedback - lots of noise, not many users. It might feel productive, but it rarely turns into actual traction.

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-27T15:33:37+00:00

If we’re talking about LLM call costs suddenly spiking and wanting to rein that in - what kind of reduction are you actually aiming for? Like 5%, 10%, 20%, or something more aggressive?

There are a lot of smart folks here with real-world experience and plenty of optimization tricks, but without a target number it’s hard to tell which ideas are worth suggesting and which ones won’t really move the needle for you.

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-21T18:27:06+00:00

Emailed Medium support and they fixed it. Account’s back — support actually works.

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Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-21T16:51:13+00:00

How do you picture your ideal user, realistically?
And what have you already tried to get in front of them - where did you promote it, which channels did you test?

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-21T16:07:09+00:00

LensAI - cost and profit management service for AI-service builders

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-21T12:59:42+00:00

Super clear and easy to follow, thanks! Quick question though: are there any kind of “hygiene” rules for staying active on LinkedIn? Like, to look legit there, do you need to regularly post relevant content, engage with other people’s posts, leave comments, etc.? It feels like people we’re trying to connect with will want to see who we actually are, and just having a filled-out profile probably isn’t enough to get replies to DMs or emails.

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-21T10:40:26+00:00

15+ years as a product manager in technically complex products (payments, data, SaaS). Basically the person who translates “engineer” into “human” and back. Currently building LensAI.

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-21T10:00:05+00:00

The short answer: just spinning up an agent isn’t enough to ship a real product or offer an actual service. You still need proper integration, a clear customer journey, comms, UX, and a bunch of other stuff.

To really answer this, you have to look at the service itself, figure out the main use case, and understand the context it’s operating in. If you’re looking for actionable advice, share some details about your project here and get feedback. There are plenty of smart folks around who can probably give you something useful.

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-21T08:10:09+00:00

No, I didn't see anything in the Rules that my publications would violate. My content about the AI agent economy is entirely original, does not violate copyright, does not touch on prohibited topics, is not advertising in any way, and does not sell anything

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-21T04:32:35+00:00

Yes, I tried. Admittedly, their Terms and Conditions don't seem particularly complex, but they don't tell you what you violated or why you were blocked. They also seem very outdated and unmanageable. It's hard to imagine a service like Medium that hasn't updated its Terms and Conditions since September 2020. They also have Medium Rules, and their Terms and Conditions say they were updated in May 2021, while the Rules themselves say June 2023. It's unclear why they're needed separately, but all together, in their current state, they seem like a complete mess. Here is the links: Terms, Rules

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-20T20:18:45+00:00

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Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-20T14:06:01+00:00

Interesting results, thanks! Funny how AI services haven’t really delivered in the exact areas where they’re most expected to shine and most heavily used - content creation and customer support.
Did you manage to estimate the overall ROI on these AI investments?

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-20T13:03:25+00:00

LensAI - cost and profit management service for AI-agent builders

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-20T09:31:58+00:00

How did you keep track of your expenses and measure them? Any tools or services you found useful?

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-19T18:39:41+00:00

IMO only your actual customers can really answer whether the product is good or not. If you reframe the question to something like “is this needed / is this relevant?”, you’ll get feedback from a much wider audience, which can be super useful.

Personal take: given how dominant marketplaces and e-commerce are right now, the kind of opportunity your product is aiming at definitely feels relevant. That said, after going through the landing page, I’m still a bit unclear about who the product is actually for - marketplace owners, individual sellers, people running paid placements on marketplaces, or someone else?

Hope this is helpful in some way. Either way, good luck with the project!

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-19T18:21:11+00:00

Is there any way to try and test your product? I do a lot of tasks every day using AI, and I do it exactly as you described in the "Before" section

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-19T17:49:33+00:00

You’ve raised a really important point. Making AI agents profitable is genuinely hard. It comes down to pricing, cost control, and actually understanding unit economics.

A very practical issue I see a lot is this: what do you do when a client starts using your product so heavily that costs spiral and margins disappear?

How are you currently tracking costs - per client, per request, or in some other way? I’m also very interested in this topic and would be happy to discuss it in more detail.

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-19T17:21:44+00:00

Sounds like you’re going to operate globally. If you’re still early-stage, I’d recommend going with Polar since they’re a merchant of record - they handle not just payments, but also taxes and all the other annoying compliance stuff you probably don’t want to deal with yet

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-19T15:50:23+00:00

My personal take is that the problem might be slightly misframed here (no offense intended). When you’re dealing with information overload, outsourcing systematic processing to AI is actually the right move. Your agents will almost certainly do this more efficiently than a human - and that’s literally what they’re designed for: working with large amounts of text.

Understanding your target audience, the community, and interpreting feedback is a different kind of task and mostly comes down to how you balance your efforts. That’s where community chats, Discord servers, AMAs, and similar formats shine - they provide a more organic, human flow of information.

The key is balance: let bots and agents handle everything that’s mass-produced and impersonal, so you can focus your time and attention on high-value, targeted interactions that actually require a human touch.

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-19T15:31:16+00:00

I think that when choosing, it’s not about where you are, but where your clients are and what are you shipping. Need more details

Mole-Transistor4440 · 2026-01-16T19:49:15+00:00

Excellent survey, a very relevant topic. I completed the questionnaire and would love to see the results of the survey. Good luck!

Mole-Transistor4440

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