Has the SaaS Industry Stopped Thinking Deeply?

The SaaS (Software as a Service) industry has grown at a breakneck pace, with developers and entrepreneurs racing to bring solutions to market. But in this rush, the industry is facing an unintended consequence: a drift from meaningful, well-thought-out innovation to shallow, quickly developed products. Once, SaaS was defined by problem-solving and value, but today, many platforms feel more like collections of features than thoughtfully crafted solutions. This shift affects the industry and its customers and a return to intentional, deep thinking is crucial for creating truly impactful SaaS products.

How the Rush to Market Sacrifices Thoughtful Development

The MVP (Minimum 'Viable' Product) concept once guided companies to build and iterate, refining based on real feedback. But today, the MVP has morphed into a shortcut. The focus on quick deployment often leads to products that lack core substance or thoughtful planning. Developers release just enough versions with the hope of scaling later, leaving critical considerations—user experience, scalability, or even the true utility of the product—to be afterthoughts.

With the rush to replicate successful ideas, we’re seeing more “clones” than ever—features and designs borrowed from other popular tools instead of innovating unique solutions. This lack of originality results in similar products crowding the market and diminishes developers’ motivation to solve real problems deeply. As more SaaS companies focus on copying, the industry loses depth, as products are made to look like competitors rather than address the unique needs of their users.

When deadlines are prioritized over thoughtful design, products become clunky, confusing, and detached from user needs. The result is feature-heavy platforms without a coherent, intuitive user journey. Instead of deeply considering what users need and how they interact with the software, developers prioritize adding features they believe will attract attention, regardless of their true value.

How the Shallow Development Culture Impacts SaaS Products

In the rush to release new tools and add features, many SaaS products lack a clear purpose. For users, this translates to a confusing experience: Is this software supposed to be a CRM, a project management tool, or a data analytics platform? This identity crisis often makes the product difficult to market effectively and challenging for users to understand and adopt meaningfully.

When a product is developed in haste, its design lacks cohesiveness. Features and functions feel stitched together rather than intuitively aligned, resulting in interface bloat and decreased usability. Shallow development overlooks the nuances of user behavior, leading to disjointed interfaces that can frustrate users rather than engage them.

Rushed SaaS development impacts brand perception. Users notice when products feel incomplete or overloaded with irrelevant features. Each superficial feature or poorly integrated update undermines the brand’s credibility, resulting in skepticism and an unwillingness to invest long-term. Customers increasingly look for brands that demonstrate commitment to a purposeful, thoughtful product journey—values that get lost when “speed” is prioritized over “substance.”

The Call for Purposeful Innovation

Thoughtful, deeply considered products are the ones that solve meaningful problems, and customers recognize this. Creating software that is intentionally designed to address specific pain points can offer a genuine value that users will pay for and stay with over time. Slow, deliberate planning results in innovations that users remember and appreciate, helping companies build lasting relationships with their customers.

Depth in design means anticipating user needs, not merely offering features. It’s about building a product that users don’t just use but grow with. Deep thinking in design involves predicting how users will interact with each feature, integrating functions in a way that feels seamless, and focusing on the quality of each interaction over the sheer quantity of options.

True innovation requires deep engagement with the problem at hand rather than a desire to “keep up” with competitors. Companies that invest time in understanding unique user needs are more likely to create original solutions rather than redundant ones. By nurturing an environment of thoughtful innovation, the SaaS industry can produce genuinely impactful software rather than clutter.

A Few Practical Steps for Purpose-Driven Development

1. Shift the MVP Mindset: Redefining the MVP as a Minimum ‘Valuable’ Product rather than ‘Viable’ can shift focus toward quality over speed. Developers can slow down and ask, is this feature necessary? Does it add value to the user? before pushing it out. An MVP should reflect the essence of a problem-solver, not just a placeholder in the market.
2. Encourage Original Thinking and Authentic Solutions: Companies should promote original thinking within teams, encouraging developers to propose unique solutions rather than imitations. Bringing the user’s voice into brainstorming sessions can help refocus the development process on real, meaningful problems. Creating space for research and experimentation is key to cultivating an authentic development culture.
3. Promote Slow Marketing: Marketing in the SaaS space can also benefit from the depth-over-speed approach. Rather than emphasizing the number of features, marketing teams can highlight the quality, intention, and care that went into product design. Educational content, user success stories, and product use cases help customers understand the deep value of the product rather than the superficial appeal of its feature list.
4. Adopt a Purpose-Driven Product Roadmap: A purposeful roadmap allows for flexibility and refinement, letting developers adjust based on genuine feedback rather than arbitrary deadlines. It can also prevent feature bloat by focusing on quality over quantity and keeping the product’s purpose clear to both developers and users. Such a roadmap ensures that every update or feature serves the product’s core mission.

To me, it looks like the SaaS industry is at a crossroads. With the marketplace saturated with features and rushed releases, customers are increasingly demanding something better: purposeful, intentional software that reflects a deep understanding of their needs.

It is difficult for customers to articulate these demands, but their procurement decisions seem aligned with these principles. This calls for developers and companies to slow down, think critically, and invest in the deep, meaningful work that creates an evolving impact.