The SaaS Idea Filter: 7 Questions That Separate Winners from Time-Wasters

You've got a list of potential SaaS ideas. Maybe ten, maybe fifty. Some came from Reddit threads, others from your own frustrations, and a few from late-night brainstorming sessions. But here's the problem: most of them will waste your time.

The average developer spends 3-6 months building a SaaS product before discovering there's no market. That's not a validation problem—it's a filtering problem. Before you validate, you need to filter ruthlessly.

This article introduces a seven-question filter that successful founders use to eliminate 80% of bad SaaS ideas in under 30 minutes. These aren't the typical validation questions you've seen before. They're designed to expose fatal flaws early, before you write a single line of code.

Why Most SaaS Ideas Fail the Filter Test

The indie maker community celebrates idea generation. We have frameworks for multiplying ideas, methods for mining communities, and databases of opportunities. But we rarely talk about systematic elimination.

Here's what happens without a filter:

The enthusiasm trap: Every new idea feels exciting. You imagine the product, the customers, the revenue. This emotional response clouds judgment. By the time reality sets in, you've invested weeks or months.

The validation theater: You ask friends if they'd use it. You post on Twitter. You create a landing page. People say "interesting" or "I'd try it." You mistake polite interest for market demand.

The sunk cost spiral: Three months in, you realize the market is too small or the problem isn't urgent. But you've already built half the product. You convince yourself to push forward. Six months later, you're at $200 MRR with no growth.

The filter prevents all three. It forces you to confront uncomfortable truths about your idea before emotional investment makes objectivity impossible.

The Seven-Question SaaS Idea Filter

These questions aren't about whether your idea is good. They're about whether it's worth your time. Each question eliminates a specific category of time-wasting ideas.

Question 1: Can You Reach Your First 100 Customers Without Paid Ads?

This question eliminates ideas with distribution problems.

Most failed SaaS products die from distribution, not product quality. If you can't identify three specific, accessible channels where your target customers congregate, stop here.

What this looks like in practice:

• You're building a tool for podcast editors. You can list 10 Facebook groups, 5 subreddits, and 3 Discord servers where podcast editors actively discuss their workflow problems.
• You're building analytics for Shopify stores. You know exactly which Shopify forums, YouTube channels, and Twitter communities store owners follow.
• You're building a tool for real estate agents. You've identified specific local associations, online communities, and LinkedIn groups where agents seek solutions.

Red flags:

• "I'll figure out distribution later"
• "There are millions of potential customers, I just need 0.01%"
• Your only distribution idea is "SEO" or "content marketing"
• You can't name specific communities where customers discuss this exact problem

Why this matters: Solo developers who succeed always have distribution advantages. They're members of the communities they serve, or they have direct access through existing networks.

If you're building a solution for a group you're not part of and can't easily access, you're adding a massive distribution challenge on top of product development.

Action step: Open a document and list 15 specific places where your target customers are actively discussing problems related to your idea. Include URLs. If you can't complete this in 20 minutes, your idea fails the filter.

Question 2: Are People Currently Paying Money to Solve This Problem (Even Badly)?

This question eliminates "nice to have" ideas.

The best SaaS ideas don't create new markets—they capture existing spend. Someone is already paying to solve this problem, just inefficiently.

Evidence of existing spend:

• Competitors exist and have paying customers (even if they're not great products)
• People are paying for adjacent solutions and hacking them together
• Companies are hiring people to do this manually
• There's an active marketplace for freelancers solving this problem
• Consultants are charging for this service

Real examples:

A developer noticed real estate photographers were paying $50-100 per property for manual photo editing. He built an automated solution for $20/month. Customers were already spending money—he just offered a better price and faster turnaround.

Another founder saw companies paying VAs $15/hour to monitor competitor pricing. She built a scraping tool for $99/month. The budget already existed; she just automated the solution.

Red flags:

• "This is a problem but nobody's solving it yet" (maybe it's not worth solving)
• "People will pay once they see how great it is" (you're betting on behavior change)
• "It's free now but people will pay for premium features" (freemium is extremely hard)

Why this matters: Convincing someone to start spending money is 10x harder than convincing them to spend existing budget differently. When evaluating B2B opportunities, always look for budget reallocation, not budget creation.

Action step: Find three examples of people or companies currently paying money to solve this problem. Include screenshots of invoices, competitor pricing pages, or job postings. If you can't find evidence of existing spend, your idea fails the filter.

Question 3: Can You Build an MVP That Solves the Core Problem in Under 40 Hours?

This question eliminates scope-creep ideas.

The longer your MVP takes, the more assumptions you're making. Every week of development is another week of building without customer feedback.

What qualifies as "solving the core problem":

• The MVP must deliver the primary value proposition
• It doesn't need to be pretty, but it must be functional
• Users can complete the main workflow end-to-end
• You can charge money for it (even if it's manual behind the scenes)

40-hour MVP examples:

• A tool that scrapes competitor pricing and emails you daily reports (even if you're running the scraper manually at first)
• A form builder that generates embeddable widgets (using existing libraries and basic styling)
• A scheduling tool that syncs with Google Calendar (using their API and a simple booking interface)

Ideas that fail this test:

• "I need to build a Chrome extension, mobile app, and web dashboard"
• "Users need SSO, advanced permissions, and API access from day one"
• "I have to integrate with 10 different platforms for it to be useful"

Why this matters: The fastest path to validation is getting something in users' hands. If your MVP requires months of development, you're making massive bets on untested assumptions.

With modern AI development tools like Cursor, Claude, and Bolt, 40 hours should be enough to build a functional prototype of almost any single-feature SaaS.

Action step: Write out the absolute minimum feature set needed to solve the core problem. Estimate development time for each feature. If the total exceeds 40 hours, cut features until it doesn't. If you can't get below 40 hours, your idea is too complex for a solo founder.

Question 4: Is the Problem Frequent Enough to Stay Top-of-Mind?

This question eliminates infrequent-use ideas.

People forget about tools they use once a quarter. They churn from subscriptions that don't provide regular value. Frequency drives retention, and retention drives SaaS economics.

Frequency benchmarks:

• Daily use: Ideal. Users build habits. Examples: project management, communication tools, analytics dashboards.
• Weekly use: Good. Stays top-of-mind. Examples: invoice generation, report builders, scheduling tools.
• Monthly use: Risky. Requires strong value prop. Examples: tax preparation, annual planning tools.
• Quarterly or less: Avoid. Retention will kill you.

The retention math:

If users only need your tool twice a year, you need to:

• Charge enough per use to justify the CAC
• Remind them you exist when they need you
• Compete with "I'll just do this manually" every single time

Annual contracts can help, but only if the value is clear and the budget exists.

Real example:

A developer built a tool for creating annual performance reviews. Managers loved it—once a year. Retention was terrible. He pivoted to ongoing 1-on-1 meeting notes and feedback tracking. Same market, but daily use. Retention jumped from 20% to 85%.

Red flags:

• "People will use this when they need it" (when is that?)
• "It's a big pain point when it happens" (but how often does it happen?)
• Your own usage pattern: you built it, used it once, and haven't opened it since

Action step: Map out a typical user's month. How many times would they naturally use your product? If the answer is less than 4 times per month, you need to either increase frequency (add features that create daily value) or charge enough per use to support acquisition costs.

Question 5: Can You Explain the Value Proposition in One Sentence Without Jargon?

This question eliminates confusing ideas.

If you can't explain what your SaaS does in simple terms, your customers won't be able to either. Word-of-mouth dies. Sales cycles extend. Conversion rates plummet.

Good one-sentence value propositions:

• "We automatically backup your Notion workspace every day"
• "We turn your Google Sheets into embeddable charts for your website"
• "We send you an email when your competitor changes their pricing"
• "We transcribe your Zoom calls and send action items to Slack"

Notice the pattern: [subject] + [action] + [specific outcome]. No buzzwords. No "leveraging" or "empowering" or "revolutionizing."

Bad value propositions:

• "We leverage AI to optimize your workflow" (what does this actually do?)
• "An all-in-one platform for modern teams" (what problem does it solve?)
• "We help businesses scale their operations" (how? which operations?)

The coffee shop test: Imagine explaining your SaaS to a friend at a coffee shop. They have 10 seconds of attention before they check their phone. Can you make them understand the value in that time?

If your explanation requires a demo, a diagram, or a follow-up question, it's too complex.

Why this matters: Psychology research shows that purchase decisions happen in seconds. If the value isn't immediately clear, potential customers move on. You never get a chance to explain the nuance.

Action step: Write your one-sentence value proposition. Show it to three people outside your industry. Ask them to explain back to you what your product does. If they can't, rewrite until they can. If it takes more than three rewrites, your idea might be too complex.

Question 6: Do You Have Unfair Advantages in This Space?

This question eliminates commodity ideas.

Unfair advantages aren't about being smarter or working harder. They're structural advantages that make you more likely to succeed than someone else building the same thing.

Types of unfair advantages:

Domain expertise: You've worked in this industry for years. You understand the problems deeply. You know the language, the workflows, the budget cycles. When solving your own problems, you have this advantage automatically.

Audience access: You have an email list, a Twitter following, a YouTube channel, or a community in your target market. You can reach your first 100 customers without cold outreach.

Technical moat: You have specialized skills that make this easier for you than for others. Maybe you're an expert in a specific API, or you've built similar systems before.

Network effects: Your product becomes more valuable as more people use it. Hard to build, but powerful when achieved.

Data advantages: You have access to proprietary data that makes your solution better than competitors.

Real examples:

A developer who worked at a law firm for 5 years built case management software. He knew exactly what lawyers needed because he'd watched them struggle daily. Competitors were building features lawyers didn't care about.

A designer with 50,000 Twitter followers launched a Figma plugin. He had instant distribution to his exact target market.

Red flags:

• "Anyone could build this" (then why would you win?)
• You're entering a market you know nothing about
• You have no distribution advantages
• Your only advantage is "I'll execute better"

Action step: List your specific advantages for this idea. Be honest. "I'm passionate about it" is not an advantage. "I have 10 years of experience in this industry" is. If you can't list at least two real advantages, consider whether you're the right person to build this.

Question 7: Would You Use This Product Weekly for the Next Year?

This question eliminates passion-mismatch ideas.

You're going to spend 6-12 months building, marketing, and supporting this product. If you don't care about the problem space, you'll burn out before you reach profitability.

The sustained interest test:

• Will you still find this problem interesting after building the same feature three different ways?
• Can you imagine spending hours on customer support calls about this topic?
• Would you read industry blogs and follow competitors in this space voluntarily?
• Could you create content about this problem for the next year without getting bored?

Why this matters more than you think:

SaaS success requires persistence. You'll face technical challenges, customer complaints, competitor pressure, and slow growth periods. The only thing that carries you through is genuine interest in the problem.

Founders who chase "profitable niches" they don't care about usually quit before reaching profitability. The market might be great, but if you hate working on it, you won't last.

Real example:

A developer built a tool for insurance agents because the market looked profitable. He hated every customer call. Insurance terminology bored him. He dreaded feature requests. After 8 months, he shut it down despite having paying customers.

His next product was for game developers (his hobby). Customer calls were fun. He read game dev forums for enjoyment anyway. He stuck with it through slow growth and hit $10K MRR in year two.

Red flags:

• "I don't care about the space but the money looks good"
• You've never personally experienced this problem
• The thought of customer support in this niche makes you uncomfortable
• You can't name three things you find genuinely interesting about this market

Action step: Imagine it's one year from now. You're answering your 500th customer support email about this product. How do you feel? Engaged or exhausted? If it's exhausted, pick a different idea.

Applying the Filter to Real SaaS Ideas

Let's run three actual ideas through this filter to see how it works in practice.

Idea 1: Automated Meeting Notes for Sales Teams

Q1 - Distribution: ✅ Pass. Sales teams congregate in specific LinkedIn groups, Reddit communities like r/sales, and platforms like Revenue.io's community. Easy to reach.

Q2 - Existing spend: ✅ Pass. Companies already pay for tools like Gong ($1,200+/year) and hire people to take notes manually.

Q3 - 40-hour MVP: ✅ Pass. Integrate with Zoom API, use speech-to-text API, format output, send to email. Doable in 40 hours.

Q4 - Frequency: ✅ Pass. Sales teams have multiple meetings daily. High frequency drives retention.

Q5 - One sentence: ✅ Pass. "We automatically transcribe your sales calls and email you the key points."

Q6 - Unfair advantage: ⚠️ Depends. If you've worked in sales, yes. If not, you're competing with founders who have domain expertise.

Q7 - Personal interest: ⚠️ Depends. Would you enjoy supporting sales teams long-term?

Verdict: Strong idea if you have sales background. Risky if you don't.

Idea 2: Annual Report Generator for Nonprofits

Q1 - Distribution: ✅ Pass. Nonprofit directors are active in specific Facebook groups, forums, and associations.

Q2 - Existing spend: ✅ Pass. Nonprofits pay designers $500-2,000 for annual reports or use expensive tools.

Q3 - 40-hour MVP: ✅ Pass. Template system with data input forms. Achievable.

Q4 - Frequency: ❌ Fail. Used once per year. Terrible retention. Users will forget you exist.

Verdict: Fails the filter. Frequency kills this idea.

Idea 3: Price Monitoring for E-commerce Stores

Q1 - Distribution: ✅ Pass. E-commerce owners are everywhere: Shopify forums, r/ecommerce, Facebook groups, YouTube channels.

Q2 - Existing spend: ✅ Pass. Stores pay for competitor research tools and hire VAs to track pricing.

Q3 - 40-hour MVP: ✅ Pass. Scraper + email alerts. Manual scraping at first if needed.

Q4 - Frequency: ✅ Pass. Store owners check competitor prices constantly, especially during promotions.

Q5 - One sentence: ✅ Pass. "We monitor your competitors' prices and alert you when they change."

Q6 - Unfair advantage: ⚠️ Depends. E-commerce experience helps but isn't required.

Q7 - Personal interest: ⚠️ Depends. Do you find e-commerce interesting?

Verdict: Strong idea. Passes most filters. Worth deeper validation.

Common Filter Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Even with a good filter, founders make predictable mistakes.

Mistake 1: Lowering Standards to Save Your Favorite Idea

You love an idea. It fails three filter questions. So you rationalize:

• "Distribution will be easier once I build it"
• "People will pay once they see the value"
• "I can probably build it in 40 hours if I really push"

This defeats the purpose of the filter. The filter exists to protect you from your own optimism.

Solution: If an idea fails two or more filter questions, kill it. No exceptions. Save it in a "maybe later" list if you must, but move on.

Mistake 2: Applying the Filter After You've Started Building

The filter works best before emotional investment. Once you've spent 20 hours on an MVP, you'll find ways to justify continuing.

Solution: Run every idea through the filter before writing code. Make it a non-negotiable first step. Your validation process should always start with filtering, not building.

Mistake 3: Skipping the Action Steps

The questions are easy to answer in your head. "Yeah, I could probably reach customers." But the action steps force specificity.

Solution: Actually complete the action steps. Open a document. Write the lists. Take screenshots. If you can't complete an action step in 30 minutes, that's your answer—the idea fails that filter question.

What to Do After Filtering

You've run 10 ideas through the filter. Two passed all seven questions. Now what?

Step 1: Rank Your Passing Ideas

Not all passing ideas are equal. Rank them by:

1. Strength of your unfair advantages
2. Size of existing market spend
3. Ease of reaching first customers
4. Your personal interest level

The idea that ranks highest across all four dimensions is your starting point.

Step 2: Quick Validation Before Building

The filter eliminates bad ideas, but it doesn't guarantee success. Before building, do lightweight validation:

• Post in 3-5 communities asking if this is a problem
• Interview 5 potential customers
• Create a landing page and drive 100 visitors to it
• Check if competitors exist and whether they have customers

This takes 1-2 weeks maximum. If validation fails, go to your second-ranked idea.

Step 3: Build the 40-Hour MVP

Once validation looks promising, build your MVP. Stick to the 40-hour limit. Launch with minimal features. Get it in users' hands.

The filter's job was to prevent you from wasting months on fundamentally flawed ideas. Now you're building something with real potential.

Advanced Filtering Techniques

Once you're comfortable with the seven-question filter, add these advanced techniques.

The Competitor Feature Gap Analysis

Find 3-5 competitors. List their features. Look for patterns in what they're missing. If multiple competitors avoid a feature, there's usually a reason (technical complexity, low demand, or poor economics).

But occasionally, you'll find gaps that represent real opportunities. Competitor analysis combined with filtering is powerful.

The Budget Source Question

For B2B ideas, ask: "Which existing budget line item will this come from?"

If it's "marketing budget," you're competing with ads and agencies. If it's "software budget," you're competing with established tools. If it requires a new budget line, you're in for a long sales cycle.

The best ideas replace existing spend from a budget that's already approved and recurring.

The Churn Predictor

Before building, predict your likely churn rate:

• Daily use products: 3-5% monthly churn
• Weekly use products: 5-8% monthly churn
• Monthly use products: 8-15% monthly churn
• Quarterly use products: 20%+ monthly churn

If your idea falls into high-churn categories, you need either very low CAC or very high LTV to make the economics work.

Integrating the Filter Into Your Workflow

Make filtering automatic:

1. Create a scoring spreadsheet: Seven columns (one per question), one row per idea. Score each question as pass/fail or 1-10.

2. Set a threshold: Ideas must pass 6/7 questions to proceed to validation. No exceptions.

3. Review monthly: Keep a running list of ideas. Filter new ones as they arise. Review your "passed" list monthly to see if any are ready to build.

4. Share with accountability partners: Other founders can spot your blind spots. Share your filter results with peers who'll be honest about weaknesses.

The goal isn't to filter once. It's to make filtering a habit that prevents you from ever wasting months on fundamentally flawed ideas.

When to Break the Filter Rules

The filter isn't absolute. There are rare cases where breaking the rules makes sense:

You have massive distribution: If you have 100,000 email subscribers or social media followers in a specific niche, distribution problems matter less. You can test ideas that would fail Question 1 for others.

You're building for fun: If this is a side project for learning, not income, ignore the frequency and monetization questions. Build what interests you.

You have insider information: If you know something about a market that others don't (upcoming regulation, technology shift, major player exiting), some filter questions become less relevant.

But these exceptions are rare. For 95% of solo founders building their first or second SaaS, the filter rules apply without exception.

Your Next Steps

You now have a systematic way to eliminate time-wasting SaaS ideas before they waste your time.

Here's your action plan:

1. List your current ideas: Write down every SaaS idea you're considering. Include ones you've been thinking about for months and ones you had yesterday.

2. Run them through the filter: Use the seven questions. Complete the action steps for each question. Be brutally honest.

3. Eliminate failures: Any idea that fails two or more questions gets moved to a "not now" list. Don't try to fix it. Move on.

4. Validate the winners: Ideas that pass 6-7 questions deserve deeper validation. Spend 1-2 weeks testing demand before building.

5. Build one MVP: Choose your highest-ranked passing idea. Build the 40-hour MVP. Launch it. Learn from real users.

The filter's purpose isn't to find the perfect idea. It's to prevent you from spending months on ideas that were never going to work. That's the real value—protecting your time so you can spend it on opportunities with genuine potential.

For more frameworks on finding and validating profitable SaaS opportunities, explore our complete guide to idea sources and weekly validation sprints.

Start filtering today. Your future self will thank you for the months you didn't waste.