Eight software business ideas backed by $100M in AppSumo sales data

Executive overview

Nine of the ten richest people built software products. The challenge is choosing where to start. AppSumo's $100M+ sales data reveals which software categories are consistently in demand.

Pick a category, find a customer before you build anything, then solve their problem manually first.

Build the service before the software — customers validate the idea, the product scales it.

Remote team management tools

• Remote work is growing; existing tools (Slack, Drive, Dropbox) leave gaps
• Niche opportunity: management software for remote content creator teams
• HR and payroll for globally distributed teams remains under-served

AI chatbots for customer support

• Automate answers to the majority of support questions
• Identify companies hiring heavily for support — offer to do it at half the cost manually first
• Use the manual service to learn what can be automated vs. what needs humans
• Build the software once you know what actually works

Video marketing tools

• Online video will be 82% of all internet traffic by 2022
• Niche opportunity: video editor built specifically for LinkedIn B2B content
• Find companies doing email or Facebook ads but no video — offer to make videos for them first
• Companies like Streamyard sold for hundreds of millions; the category is proven

Virtual events platforms

• COVID normalised virtual meetings; the bar for "interesting" virtual events rose
• Hopin (promoted early on AppSumo) reached $5B valuation
• Opportunity: virtual social experiences (e.g. virtual dating, virtual bars)
• Build an event you'd pay to attend yourself — easiest way to validate demand

SEO tools

• SEO industry worth over $80B
• Search ranking tools extend beyond Google: YouTube, Shopify App Store, AppSumo marketplace
• White-label SEO dashboards let agencies resell without exposing the underlying tool
• Pick a platform, build ranking and optimisation tooling for it

Sales funnel tools

• Sales is the most important skill in business; funnel tools directly help companies make money
• Opportunity: funnel builders for specific content creators (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram)
• MutinyHQ raised $5M doing personalised product pages for large companies — the small-company gap is open
• Pick one slice of the funnel or go full vertical integration

Third-party plugins for popular website builders

• WordPress powers 39% of all websites; Shopify and Webflow are growing fast
• Each platform has an app marketplace — built-in distribution
• Image compression (ShortPixel) is a simple example of high-demand utility tooling
• Deeper play: take a generic builder and customise it for a specific vertical (e.g. WordPress for auto-body shops)

Competitor tracking tools

• Founders don't need to innovate — copying what works is a valid strategy
• Monitor competitors' web changes, ad creative, email campaigns, or hiring activity
• HexoWatch (AppSumo) tracks visual and technology changes on any webpage
• Pre-sell the idea first: ask small business owners if they'd pay to track competitor hiring before building anything