01 Aug 2025
SaaS

An operating system for farmers to manage their exports of soybeans ...

...and other commodities.

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.


Your are here

The idea of building an operating system for farmers to manage exports in the commodities market, specifically soybeans and other commodities, lands in a challenging category. The 'Swamp' category suggests that there are existing solutions, but none have truly resonated or captured the market effectively. The presence of 4 similar products indicates some validation that this is a problem worth solving. However, the low engagement (2 comments on average) around these products signals that building traction will be tough. Without any buy or use signals, it's hard to say if this product is something farmers want. Given the competitive landscape and lack of strong positive signals, you should be very cautious moving forward. If similar solutions haven't caught on, you need a fundamentally different approach.

Recommendations

  1. First, deeply investigate why current commodity management solutions haven't been successful. Understand the pain points farmers face with existing options. The similar products and their discussion summaries indicate that users look for direct connections to farmers, simplified trading, and sustainable practices. Analyze if these products delivered and what was missing.
  2. Given the 'Swamp' category and low engagement, pinpoint a specific, underserved niche within the farming community. Instead of a broad solution, focus on a particular commodity, export destination, or farm size. This focused approach can help overcome the limitations observed in similar products' criticism, which is the need for country-specific requirements and integration with various platforms.
  3. Consider developing tools that enhance existing platforms rather than creating a full-fledged operating system. Integrate with established systems to offer specialized functionality for export management, such as tariff calculations or logistics coordination. You can focus on providing value to existing providers, which mitigates the need for full market education.
  4. Explore adjacent problems within the agricultural sector that might present more promising opportunities. Perhaps there's a need for improved supply chain visibility, risk management tools, or financial services tailored to farmers. Look at the Agroxy example where positive feedback included simplified commodity trading with improved margins; could there be a way to provide just that specific value?
  5. Before investing significant resources, consider alternative opportunities that align better with market needs and offer a higher potential for success. Given the metrics and category, pivoting to a more promising market might be the most prudent approach. Save your resources to build a solution to a different problem that has positive buy/use signals.
  6. Begin with an initial, concentrated effort to gauge farmer interest by using a simple landing page or survey that describes the value of the platform, and determine whether or not they would be interested in using it. Be sure to take the farmer's feedback and iterate the idea accordingly.

Questions

  1. What are the specific pain points and unmet needs that farmers experience with current export management processes, and how does your solution offer a demonstrably superior alternative?
  2. Considering the low engagement with similar products, what specific strategies will you implement to drive user adoption and create a vibrant community around your platform?
  3. How will you address the need for customization and integration with diverse platforms, as highlighted in the criticisms of similar products, to ensure broad usability and market appeal?

Your are here

The idea of building an operating system for farmers to manage exports in the commodities market, specifically soybeans and other commodities, lands in a challenging category. The 'Swamp' category suggests that there are existing solutions, but none have truly resonated or captured the market effectively. The presence of 4 similar products indicates some validation that this is a problem worth solving. However, the low engagement (2 comments on average) around these products signals that building traction will be tough. Without any buy or use signals, it's hard to say if this product is something farmers want. Given the competitive landscape and lack of strong positive signals, you should be very cautious moving forward. If similar solutions haven't caught on, you need a fundamentally different approach.

Recommendations

  1. First, deeply investigate why current commodity management solutions haven't been successful. Understand the pain points farmers face with existing options. The similar products and their discussion summaries indicate that users look for direct connections to farmers, simplified trading, and sustainable practices. Analyze if these products delivered and what was missing.
  2. Given the 'Swamp' category and low engagement, pinpoint a specific, underserved niche within the farming community. Instead of a broad solution, focus on a particular commodity, export destination, or farm size. This focused approach can help overcome the limitations observed in similar products' criticism, which is the need for country-specific requirements and integration with various platforms.
  3. Consider developing tools that enhance existing platforms rather than creating a full-fledged operating system. Integrate with established systems to offer specialized functionality for export management, such as tariff calculations or logistics coordination. You can focus on providing value to existing providers, which mitigates the need for full market education.
  4. Explore adjacent problems within the agricultural sector that might present more promising opportunities. Perhaps there's a need for improved supply chain visibility, risk management tools, or financial services tailored to farmers. Look at the Agroxy example where positive feedback included simplified commodity trading with improved margins; could there be a way to provide just that specific value?
  5. Before investing significant resources, consider alternative opportunities that align better with market needs and offer a higher potential for success. Given the metrics and category, pivoting to a more promising market might be the most prudent approach. Save your resources to build a solution to a different problem that has positive buy/use signals.
  6. Begin with an initial, concentrated effort to gauge farmer interest by using a simple landing page or survey that describes the value of the platform, and determine whether or not they would be interested in using it. Be sure to take the farmer's feedback and iterate the idea accordingly.

Questions

  1. What are the specific pain points and unmet needs that farmers experience with current export management processes, and how does your solution offer a demonstrably superior alternative?
  2. Considering the low engagement with similar products, what specific strategies will you implement to drive user adoption and create a vibrant community around your platform?
  3. How will you address the need for customization and integration with diverse platforms, as highlighted in the criticisms of similar products, to ensure broad usability and market appeal?

  • Confidence: Medium
    • Number of similar products: 4
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 2
  • Net use signal: 22.9%
    • Positive use signal: 22.9%
    • Negative use signal: 0.0%
  • Net buy signal: 0.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 0.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

Similar products

Relevance

AGROXY - Agroxy africa

23 Jan 2025 Farming E-Commerce

Agroxy is trading platforms that facilitates domestic and cross-border buying and selling of agricultural commodities. It aims to streamline supply chain management and paperwork processes, save time and decrease risks for trade participants.

Agroxy's Product Hunt launch is met with positive feedback, particularly for its direct connection to farmers, simplified commodity trading, and potential for improved margins by cutting out middlemen. Users appreciate the platform's resources, ease of buying/selling, rental options, and free access. The focus on sustainable growth also resonates positively with commenters.


Avatar
35
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Relevance

Title not found - Subtitle not found

25 Jan 2025

Trade management platform that turns tariff chaos and compliance complexity into predictable operations for e-commerce entrepreneurs with automated document extraction, real-time monitoring, and collaborative workflows.

Incotower is praised for simplifying trade regulation management and saving time, particularly for e-commerce sellers dealing with international shipping and tariff management. A question was raised about how Incotower handles tariff changes.

The primary criticism revolves around the product's limited global functionality. Users emphasize the necessity for customization to meet diverse country-specific requirements and the crucial need for integrations with various platforms to broaden its usability and market appeal.


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0
3
66.7%
3
0
66.7%
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