Opportunities in Deprecated Software Products

I follow Indie Hackers, an online community built around founders of profitable online businesses, and others who are starting and growing their own companies.

Today, Indie Hackers shared an interview with Francois-Guillaume Ribreau. Ribreau is the Head of Digital Development and Architect at Ouest-France, a leading regional newspaper in France,

In the interview, Ribreau talks about creating Image-Charts. Image-Charts is a tool that simplifies the sending generated charts. He talks about how the idea came about in part because Google made the only tool that generated good-looking charts at the time. That tool was Google Image Charts, and it was deprecated as of 2012.

It's cool that Ribreau found opportunity in a deprecated software product. There are a few reasons why you should consider making an alternative of something that you like, if it's on it's way out.

For example, the most compelling reason that I see is the potential for inheriting a product idea that's already validated. If the deprecated product has traction with users, that's validation. Just because someone is killing a product doesn't mean that it's not a good or useful product. There are many other reasons for killing a product or feature.

Another reason is that deprecation can be a pain point for users. Solving a pain point for people is key for launching a lot of projects, including software products. If the creator of the deprecated product will no longer support the product, it can create a gap that people want to see filled. (RIP Google Inbox, we miss you.)

In addition to the opportunity presented by software deprecation, Indie Hackers' interview with Ribreau is full of good info for launching a product. Read the full interview here.