I've been building a SaaS in the startup discovery space, and one question keeps coming up in my mind.
There are thousands of startups being built every month, many of them operating quietly before they get media coverage, funding announcements, or any meaningful traction.
For someone working in venture capital or angel investing, discovering these companies early could be valuable. But there's a catch.
More sources don't necessarily mean better opportunities. You could monitor hundreds of websites and still end up with an overwhelming amount of noise.
That's the problem I've been exploring with Alpha Scout, a platform focused on discovering early-stage startups across different countries and sources.
I'm trying to think beyond the obvious feature of aggregating data. The real question is whether a tool like this can meaningfully improve discovery, save research time, or surface opportunities that investors would otherwise miss.
For those of you building B2B SaaS products, how do you validate a problem when your target customers are a relatively small, specialised audience?
And if you were building for investors, what would convince you that startup discovery software provides real value rather than just another dashboard full of data?
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts, especially from founders who've built niche B2B products.