Why You Should Build A WordPress Plugin

Ever since Marc Andreessen declared that software is eating the world, we have seen an explosion in the SaaS market. It is now an absolute behemoth:

Where there is money, entrepreneurs will follow. This was definitely the case for software, as ambitious entrepreneurs figured out that software is cheaper to start and easier to scale than any other business on Earth. Basically, anybody with a laptop, some coding skills, and a good idea could now become a millionaire.

This gold rush has led to an extremely saturated market. For example, just take a look at the landscape for marketing technologies:

Couple this congestion with the continued complexification of software with the development of AI and blockchain, and you now have many people proclaiming that all of the low hanging fruit in SaaS has been picked. That making a pretty penny in software now requires extreme business savvy, cutting-edge technical skills, a genius idea, or a combination of all three.

There is definitely a kernel of truth in that belief. Much of the low hanging fruit in SaaS has indeed been picked.

Except for in WordPress.

WordPress is where we are betting the growth of Raffle Leader on, and we think any aspiring SaaS founder should consider doing the same for four reasons:

1. Huge Market Size

It’s easy to think you are giving up potential market size by focusing on WordPress, but this really isn’t the case.

WordPress powers 42.7% of the internet.

That’s more than enough to build a sizable business.

2. Ease of Discovery

WordPress plugins have a dedicated directory and search bar.

Obviously, you still have to put a lot of work into marketing.

But at least there’s a chance that people will be able to find you organically.

Think of it as basically free and easy SEO.

3. B2B Sales

WordPress is a favorite among business owners, especially small business owners.

These business owners require software just like any other business owner, but general SaaS tools literally do not work on WordPress.

That means 42.7% of the internet has dedicated software needs, and most entrepreneurs are completely ignoring them.

Basically, WordPress makes it easy to find and sell to potential customers.

4. Less Competition

This is the big one.

How many techies do you see talking about WordPress today?

Personally, we don’t see a whole lot.

That’s because a lot of people have forgotten about WordPress.

Frankly, it’s not on the cutting edge anymore.

And you see this when you look at the top plugins.

Many of them are still the plugins from yesteryear. It looks like we teleported back to 2011.

There’s no AI, the branding is boring, the copy is stale, and so on and so forth.

It’s a massive market where the top players are asleep at the wheel.

That’s a market we like.

Conclusion

Are you more likely to get rich with a boring HVAC company or a pre-seed venture-backed startup?

The answer, by a long shot, is the boring HVAC company.

We see WordPress as analogous to the HVAC company, and SaaS as the pre-seed venture-backed startup.

One is a market where most people will be able to make money with enough work, while the other is a market that is undeniably shiny but extremely saturated.

Don’t overcomplicate things.

There’s still low hanging fruit to be picked with WordPress.

Go pick it.