I’ve started building a small micro SaaS: turning long-form podcasts or videos into short clips for Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, etc.
But here’s the important part: I’m starting completely manual. No AI. No automation. No backend.
And this post is about why.
The idea
The core problem is simple:
Creators post long videos, but:
- they don’t have time to clip them
- they don’t know which moments will work as short-form
- or they just procrastinate on it
My idea is straightforward:
- a creator sends a YouTube link (or video)
- I clip 2–5 short vertical videos
- add basic captions
- send them back
That’s it.
Why I’m not building AI or automation (yet)
As a developer, the instinct is always:
“Let me automate this.”
But I’m deliberately not doing that at the start.
Reasons:
- I want to validate real demand, not assumptions
- I want to understand what creators actually want
- I want feedback before writing serious code
- I don’t want to overbuild something nobody uses
Right now, the product is:
- me (yes, just me)
- simple tools
- a lot of learning
And that’s okay.
*The MVP approach
*
The MVP is intentionally boring:
- No login
- No dashboard
- No payments
- No storage
- No fancy UI
Just:
- a simple landing page
- an intake form
- manual delivery
If people don’t want this when it’s simple, adding AI won’t magically fix it.
*Building in public
*
I’ve decided to document this journey openly:
- decisions
- doubts
- progress
- mistakes
Not as a “success story”, but as a real build-in-public experiment.
I recorded a short YouTube video explaining the idea and my approach:
👉 Watch the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2trQxOtVoU&t=4s
If you have any suggestions for me, or would like to try out the tool and provide me some early feedback, please reach out!
Top comments (0)