HACKER Q&A
📣 spikey_sanju

Is It Worth Building the Next Headless CMS?


I've been diving deep into content management systems lately, and I'm thinking about building something new – a platform that's all about making content work easier, super user-friendly, and smooth as silk.

Imagine a place where writers, bloggers, marketers, and businesses can effortlessly handle their content and subscriptions.

We're talking about a space where a friendly interface, making money from subscriptions, working together on edits, and getting real insights all come together like magic.

Others do this too. But spicing up with fresh ideas or refining the writing journey would boost the process. Think interactive blogs, AI writing help, and unique reading experience etc...

But before I jump into the deep end, I'd love to hear from you. Have you ever run into tough times trying to sort out your content online?

Do you think there's room for some new ideas in how we do content management? Would you be excited about a fresh, next-gen CMS?

Your thoughts really matter here. So, what do you think?

That's all – Sanju

  👤 runningmike Accepted Answer ✓
Short answer :no. A bit longer: no, all your mentioned problems have been solved. In both many COTS solutions as well as many FOSS solutions. Take one and improve the pain points that your potential users struggle with. Why not join a large FOSS cms project that is already working on these issues?
👤 sneek_
Hey Sanju - would love to know what you think about Payload (https://payloadcms.com).

We were in YC S22 and we've done a lot of what you've mentioned. Our ambitions are the same as yours. Maybe we could collaborate?

👤 eternityforest
What does your proposed CMS do that can't be done as a plugin for some existing CMS?
👤 ehnto
Winning over customers in this arena is about familiarity, developer buy in and ecosystem. There have been dozens of "better" CMS built over the last decade but few succesful projects.

You would have to either win over developers so much they evangelize your product to clients, or market to clients with a massive budget in order to get them nagging their team to try it. The reality I have faced for over a decade now, everyone wants wordpress. We all know it has technical and UX faults, so really dive into that phenomenon, why does everyone want wordpress, and how can I convince people to use my product instead?

If you were trying to make it a business I might aim for a niche and go B2B. The CMS for {industry here}.