Check out Dev Resources, a free collection of over 1000+ developer tools and tutorials.
💡 What If You're Not Supposed to Start a Startup?
Every dev today thinks the same:
“I should build a SaaS.”
“I need auth, subscriptions, dashboard, docs…”
“Wait, I need a full marketing site too?”
“...Maybe I’ll launch it next year.”
🚨 But here’s a secret: You don’t need a startup.
You need a tool. A useful tool. One that people want.
🧠 The Tool Creator Mindset
Tools are smaller. Simpler. Faster.
You can:
- Build in 3 days, not 3 months
- Sell via Gumroad, not Stripe + Webhooks
- Skip dashboards, teams, auth, SEO
Just build the thing that solves the pain.
Package it. Launch it. Repeat.
🧰 Great Tools Don't Need a Dashboard
Think about these:
| Tool Type | Real-World Example |
|---|---|
| CLI Generator |
create-t3-app, vite, next, astro
|
| GUI Wrapper | Postwoman (now Hoppscotch), Draw.io |
| API Toolkit | Swagger UI, json-server, Mailtrap |
| Web Tool | Regex101, JSONLint, Docusaurus |
| File Utility | Image compressor, favicon generator, SVG min |
None of these started as “startups.”
They just solved one thing, well.
🎯 How to Find Your Tool Idea (in 15 Minutes)
Ask:
- What annoys you every week?
- Too many clicks to do X?
- Always rewriting the same code?
- What do you copy-paste too much?
- Regex?
- JSON templates?
- Meta tags?
- What do you Google every time you start a project?
How to scaffold XBest linter config for React
- What tools do you use — but feel could be better?
🪄 Turn That Into a Simple, Sellable Tool
💭 Example: You hate writing Open Graph meta tags
✅ Build: OGTag.dev – A free tool that generates meta tags for blogs
Later...
💰 Add premium:
- Save your tags
- Custom themes
- AI-generated descriptions
Market it as:
- "OG tag generator for indie bloggers"
- \$7 lifetime via Gumroad
- Post it on Reddit, Twitter, Dev.to
Boom. You just built & sold a micro-tool.
⚒️ 5 Tool Ideas You Can Build This Weekend
- Markdown Email Previewer
- Input: Markdown + CSS
- Output: Gmail-style email preview (mobile & desktop)
- API Rate Limit Tester
- Tool that stress-tests APIs with timed requests
- Helps devs understand when throttling kicks in
- JSON-to-TypeScript Types Generator
- Paste JSON → Get fully typed TS interfaces
- Bonus: Add Zod or Yup schema output
- GitHub Repo Insights
- Input: GitHub URL
- Output: Stars growth, commit frequency, active contributors
- Great for investors or open-source scouts
- Color Palette Diff Tool
- Input: Two sets of hex codes
- Output: Visual + WCAG contrast analysis
💸 How to Sell Simple Dev Tools
| Platform | Good For |
|---|---|
| Gumroad | One-off downloads, licenses |
| Ko-fi | Donations + mini-products |
| Lemonsqueezy | Licensing + app sales |
| GitHub | Offer open source with Pro tier |
| Dev.to | Write tutorial + link product |
You don't need to raise funding.
You just need \$20 products that solve \$100 problems.
💡 Real Dev Tools That Print Money
| Tool | Format | Income |
|---|---|---|
| Mailbrew | Email tool | Acquired |
| Cronitor CLI | DevOps utility | \$10K+/mo |
| JSON Crack | Visual web tool | \$30K+/mo |
| Refine.dev | React framework | Funded |
| SVG Repo Downloader | Free CLI | Built audience |
These didn’t start as SaaS dashboards.
They started as tools.
✅ Your Action Plan
- Pick your pain point
- Something annoying that devs face
- Build the tool
- CLI, GUI, or web utility
- No signup, no nonsense
- Launch with proof
- Tweet your before/after
- Write a Dev.to post
- Share to r/webdev, Indie Hackers, HN
- Monetize Later
- Add Pro tier, license key, or bundles
- Repeat
- 3 tools = 3 income streams
🤯 Tool > Startup (for Now)
Every great startup once looked like “just a tool.”
But tools don’t ask for funding.
They ask for focus.
They reward shipping, not pitching.
So stop building startups in your head.
Start building tools with your hands. 🛠️
😆 Dev Tool Creator Starter Pack
🧠 “Why does this API not return consistent keys?”
🛠 “Let me build a JSON fixer for that.”
💾 Ships it to Gumroad
🤑 Makes \$340 the first week
📦 Gets 3 DMs saying “THANK YOU”
🗣️ Your Turn
What’s the simplest tool you wish someone else built?
Or better yet — what tool did you build that others found useful?
Drop it in the comments 👇
Let’s build more tools. Not just startups.
💬 Tired of Building for Likes Instead of Income?
I was too. So I started creating simple digital tools and kits that actually make money — without needing a big audience, fancy code, or endless hustle.
🔓 Premium Bundles for Devs. Who Want to Break Free
These are shortcuts to doing your own thing and making it pay:
🌍 I built a simple website for a local biz and got $500+ — No design skills. Just solved a real problem.
🚀 Launched a SaaS in 7 days — no code, no audience — It’s messy but it works.
🔌 Used public APIs to build tiny tools people paid $997 for — Took what was already out there and made it useful.
📦 $300 in 3 days from a simple resource vault — Just organized links + tools. That’s it.
📈 Ranked a local site without writing a single blog post — SEO doesn’t have to be hard if you do it differently.
🔧 Quick Kits (Take 1 Product That Actually Works for You)
These are personal wins turned into plug-and-play kits — short instruction guides:
⚡ $1K in a week using APIs I didn’t even build — Copy-paste logic, add polish, publish.
🔥 My $0 dev setup now earns $97+ daily — Took years to build. Now it runs quietly in the background.
💼 This SaaS starter kit sells itself for $499 — Turns out, people love skipping setup pain.
📚 I turned academic papers into real products — It’s all just buried gold if you know where to look.
💡 My dev portfolio became a $297 product — I just told my story and sold the assets I made along the way.
👉 Browse all tools and micro-business kits here
👉 Browse all blueprints here
Top comments (1)
give you feedbacks here