I got tired of paying for Bitly, so I built my own link platform.
Founder here.
Over the last few months, I built a link management SaaS called Frenzo. While building it, I realized something interesting about the URL shortening market.
I initially assumed people wanted a shorter URL.
After talking to potential users, almost nobody cared about the length of the link.
The conversations instead revolved around questions like:
- Can I stop this link after my campaign ends?
- Can I limit it to the first 500 visitors?
- Can I password protect it?
- Can I use my own domain?
- Can I see where clicks are coming from?
That completely changed how I thought about the product.
Instead of building "another Bitly clone," I started thinking of it as programmable link infrastructure.
I'm curious how other SaaS founders validate assumptions like this.
Have you ever built a feature you thought customers wanted, only to discover they actually cared about something completely different?
I'd love to hear examples from your own products.