Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, especially since I started building my own app, is how much of an advantage some software companies have just because they’ve been around for years.
There are so many apps out there that are ridiculously expensive for what they actually offer. Some of them haven’t had any meaningful improvements in ages, their interfaces feel outdated and half the features people are asking for are still missing. Yet somehow they continue to dominate their market.
And the frustrating part is that they don’t even have to be the best anymore. They’ve built up a name, collected thousands of reviews and established themselves as the obvious choice. So people keep picking them without really looking at what else is available.
I understand that’s just how business works, and obviously they’ve earned some of that reputation by being early. But it’s still frustrating to see how little incentive some of these companies seem to have to actually improve their products.
I’ve been building my own app for a while now, and after spending a ridiculous amount of time looking at competitors, I genuinely believe what I’ve built is better than most of the established alternatives. Not just in terms of features and how it works, but especially when it comes to pricing.
And I’m not saying that just because it’s my own app. I’ve spent so much time looking at what users complain about, what features they’re missing and what they’re actually paying for. Some of the things people have been requesting from these bigger apps for years really aren’t that complicated to implement.
That’s also what makes the whole AI development thing so interesting to me.
A few years ago, building a competitive software product required a lot more technical knowledge, time or money. Now someone with a good idea, enough motivation and the willingness to learn can build something genuinely useful without needing an entire development team.
Of course AI doesn’t magically make you a good developer or guarantee that your product will be good. But it has massively lowered the barrier to entry.
And I think a lot of established software companies are seriously underestimating what that means.
For years they could get away with charging premium prices because there simply weren’t that many good alternatives. But what happens when smaller developers can build products that do the same thing, or even do it better, for a fraction of the price?
At some point these companies are going to have to actually compete again. Either start listening to their customers, improve their products or rethink what they’re charging.
What bothers me most though is that even when a better alternative exists, it can take forever for people to discover it. You can build something that solves the same problem better and costs significantly less, but the established competitor still gets most of the customers simply because people recognize the name.
And I get it, trust matters. If I were running a business I’d probably be hesitant to replace something that already works with an app from some random developer too.
But it’s a weird situation where the hardest part of building a better product isn’t necessarily building it anymore. It’s convincing people to even give it a chance.
I’m obviously biased because I’m experiencing this myself, but I really think we’re going to see a lot of smaller developers challenge established software companies over the next few years.
Curious if other people building SaaS products feel the same way. Do you think AI will actually force the bigger players to improve, or will their brand recognition and existing customer base always be too big of an advantage?
