#4: Launch a SaaS like Typeform or Tally next week with Open Source
Dive into the evergreen form builder market, and learn how to build your own with these resources!
Most successful SaaS products, like Slack, Shopify, Zoom, Dropbox, and HubSpot, weren’t first of their kind; They didn’t invent their fields - they just made existing ones better.
Author’s note: I usually stick to trending deep-tech products (so, AI 😅) but some of you suggested I mix in low-tech stuff, so I’ll be covering broader products like this every now and then!
We’ve all used form builders…
They help you create (and share) custom forms for collecting data, feedback, event registrations, customer inquiries, or employee surveys. You drag and drop elements like text fields, checkboxes, and buttons to design your form; and many come with automations for managing submissions, notifications, and 3rd party integrations.
Isn’t this market saturated as f***?
It’s no secret that the form builder market is vast, yet arguably just as saturated, with options for any budget or scale. However, anyone who dares to find a niche problem, and is lucky enough to achieve product-market fit, has the opportunity to take a slice of the billions spent in this market.
New form builders are popping up all the time, focusing on specific needs like payments, channels and other 3rd party integrations, branding and design, API-first forms, AI support, alternative submission mediums like chat and pulse, industry-specific features, and more.
While older players like Jotform and Typeform have crossed the $100M ARR mark over the last decade, newer players are able to enjoy the market demand they attracted. Some recent examples are Tally.so at >$1M ARR and Youform grossing $35K in their first quarter; and in terms of uniqueness, I loved TheySaid’s conversational experience, and Router.so’s developer-first design.
Alright, so how do we build this quickly?
Most form builders are built using the same core principles. A drag-and-drop or Notion-like interface (via JS frameworks such as React/Vue) allows users to design the form and set up any dynamic rules. Once the form and rules are ready, their structure and state are stored in a database (e.g., PostgreSQL/MongoDB), so it can be cached and read over a shareable or embeddable link.
On the other end, when a user fills and submits the form, the data is validated (think required fields, email formats) and then sent to a dashboard-accessible database. This data can also be integrated with APIs from CRMs (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce) or automation services (e.g., Zapier). Most form builders will also store engagement metrics to provide insights, such as form completion and drop-off rates.
Here are some of the best open-source projects to build a similar product:
HeyForm by HeyForm
FormBricks by FormBricks
OpnForm by Julien Nahum
Worried about building signups, user management, payments, etc.? Here are my go-to open-source SaaS boilerplates that include everything you need out of the box:
SaaS Boilerplate by Remi Wg
Open SaaS by wasp-lang
How will my SaaS stand out in the noise?
Here are a few strategies that could help you differentiate and achieve product market fit (I recommend reading the pivot principles from The Lean Startup by Eric Ries):
Tailor your UX for a specific audience: Identify a unique use case to design for, such as API-first design for developers (for flexible integration), feedback/checkout forms in e-commerce, onboarding forms in SaaS, cheatproof quizzes in education, job applications in recruitment, and industry-specific analytics or integrations.
Focus on sticky features and compliance: This could mean privacy first features, accessibility features for inclusivity, compliance with standards like HIPAA and GDPR, and experimenting with high completion-rate mediums such as conversational AI.
TMI?
I’m an ex-AI engineer and product lead, so don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!
P.S. I started this free weekly newsletter to share open-source / turnkey resources for recreating popular products (like this one). If you’re a founder looking to launch your next product without reinventing the wheel, please subscribe :)