Anyone building a business that isn't a 'buy my app' operation?

★★ signal-medium r/entrepreneur · ↑ 141 · 💬 222 · 2026-03-14 · kw: buy box price · open on reddit ↗

Tool

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Issue

App-based businesses face high customer switching costs with no retention moat; when a competitor launches a better version the next month, users abandon with no relationship or trust to retain them, unlike physical product and service businesses that build real switching costs through shelf space, route density, and personal relationships.

Cost

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Recommendation

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anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 · 2026-05-08

Body

Is it just me or is the go-to business idea for every entrepreneur now some app that solves a random pain point? The world is saturated with apps. There is an app for literal everything you can think of. Yeah I know the idea of building something in your bedroom and then sitting back while users happily buy your subscriptions is highly alluring, (especially the driving a porsche bit) but what do you think the real chances of genuine success is in this current market? If everyone is rushing for the ai app, what opportunities does that create for the rest of us? Humans need more than convenience. They want experiences, connection, to feel something. This is not going to change. There is money to be made in thinking outside the box. I've learnt people don't care about the price so much when it's a product that really meets their desires and aspirations. My example is the Tourism industry. I started a business from scratch 13 months ago. It started with no bookings and products I learnt weren't so attractive. I pivoted, created new products, and am now busy and turning a decent profit. I don't have a porsche but momentum is quickly building in an industry where people are willing to spend good money chasing authentic experiences. Yesterday for instance was exhausting but I cleared $1500 for 6 hours work. (Not bragging - making a point). Apps are great. I use them every day. Im also an AI freak who could not have built my business without it. But right now would I want to stake everything on making an app go viral? That would be a hard no. Hope this gets a couple of you thinking! Or not.

Top comments (9)

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[score=76] Alvintergeise

I make skincare. I go into stores and ask if they'd like to stock my skincare. Some say yes, most say no, and I grow my business as I can

[score=71] GrowYourOwnOmaha

I got into gardening. Learned immediately I didn’t have enough compost so I made a TON of my own compost. Now I sell compost, worm shit, worms, plant starts, soil amendments and offer grow consultation. I agree, too many people focused on tech/apps. Real world still exists.

[score=27] BarnBuiltBeaters

I am building a mobile tire services business. Rather than going to the shop for new tires/tire needs, I come directly to you. Just got my van back from a wrap job and testing our processes on a few friends/family vehicles.

[score=23] Ok_Economist8055

Physical product businesses and professional services still make up the majority of successful small businesses, even if they don't get as much attention on social media as the latest SaaS startup. I do have a digital consultancy business but my small local bike shop still rakes in more net profit for me and is actually more fulfilling (it is my personal hobby!)

[score=22] RestaurantHefty322

The thing that gets missed in the app gold rush is that software businesses have almost no switching cost for the customer. Someone launches a better version of your thing next month and your users are gone. There's no relationship, no trust built up, nothing sticky beyond the convenience. Service businesses and physical product businesses have real retention built in. Your tourism customers tell their friends. The skincare person in this thread builds shelf space in stores that competitors can't just copy overnight. The mobile tire guy builds route density that makes him faster and cheaper over time. None of that compounds in an app business the same way. I run a software company and honestly the hardest part of the business isn't building - it's the fact that you're always one feature away from being commoditized. The businesses in this thread that involve showing up and doing real work for people have a moat that no amount of vibe coding can replicate.

[score=18] boomerbmr

I do construction on one hand, marketing on the other. I use lots of apps though, glad those guys are doing their thing too.

[score=15] Next-Accountant-3537

Running a service business for the last few years, this post resonates a lot. The appeal of recurring SaaS revenue is real, but so is the saturation and the abandonment rate. Most people underestimate how hard distribution is when you're one of ten thousand apps doing roughly the same thing. Service businesses have a real moat that software often cannot replicate quickly. The trust you build, the local reputation, the referral network, the fact that you actually show up and solve a problem in person. That's genuinely hard to commoditise. And as you've found, people pay well for it. The other thing I've noticed is that AI is making service businesses far more scalable than they used to be. Enquiry handling, follow-ups, scheduling, admin - a lot of the friction that made services hard to scale is being automated away. So you can keep the human experience at the core and still have the operational leverage that used to only come from building software. Tourism and hospitality are particularly interesting because the product is literally the experience, which is almost impossible to fully digitise. There's no app that replaces actually being somewhere special with a great guide. The experience economy isn't a trend, it's a permanent shift in how people value their time and money. The app gold rush has created real opportunities for anyone willing to work directly with customers and build something you can actually touch. Good on you for seeing it and acting on it.

[score=14] YuluvSnacks

Currently building two businesses.One a Frozen desserts business and the other a refillery business.