New market or new segment? Choosing where a small SaaS grows

Alex Tutor

Vinnytsia alone gives GarageDesk about 47 shops. There are two ideas on the table.

Oscar

Khmelnytskyi: 120 kilometers away, about 150 fitting shops by the same count, and the same parts distributors deliver there.

Nina

Or tire shops right here in Vinnytsia. About 230 of them, and no travel.

You

230 is more than 150. Isn't that the answer?

Alex Tutor

The count is only the first factor. Look at what each shop would pay, what share you can win, and what the product has to become.

Nina

Tire shops see their customers twice a year, in spring and autumn. So two reminders a year. Oscar asked around: they would pay about 300 a month, not 600.

Alex Tutor

And Khmelnytskyi pays the same 600 as Vinnytsia: 150 × 600 = 90,000 a month at the ceiling. Now the tire shops.

Alex Tutor

Question 1

Vinnytsia has about 230 tire shops that could use GarageDesk at about 300 UAH a month. What is their monthly revenue ceiling in UAH?

Your answer

Units: UAH a month

Alex Tutor

Khmelnytskyi needs no new product: the same niche sentence, the same price, the same reminders. The work is reaching owners who have never heard of you.

Oscar

The parts counters there belong to the same distributors. And Dennis has a cousin with a shop in Khmelnytskyi.

Alex Tutor

That's the niche talking to itself across cities. A new kind of shop starts from zero: new words, new problems, new places where they meet.

Nina

True. Tire shops buy from tire wholesalers. They never come to our parts counters.

You

And would Khmelnytskyi be enough for the goal?

Alex Tutor

Question 2

Vinnytsia has 190 fitting shops and Khmelnytskyi about 150. If GarageDesk wins one in four fitting shops in both cities, how many paying shops is that?

Your answer

Units: shops

Alex Tutor

Now list what Nina would have to build for tire shops.

Nina

Seasonal reminders instead of mileage. A second, cheaper plan. And in the peak weeks they work with a live queue, so "come back for your service" means something else.

Alex Tutor

Every item is time taken from the 22 shops that pay now. And the tire shops still wouldn't close the gap.

Oscar

Khmelnytskyi costs my Saturdays and some fuel, not a second product.

Alex Tutor

Question 3

What would GarageDesk need to add or change to serve tire shops? Choose all that apply.

Choose all that applySeasonal reminders twice a year instead of date and mileageA second, cheaper price planNew places to reach owners, such as tire wholesalersTravel to another cityA new niche sentence and new words in every message

Oscar

I can't knock on 150 doors. I'm still at my job.

Alex Tutor

Go where they already gather: the distributors' counters, the Khmelnytskyi mechanics' group, Dennis's cousin. One local shop that brings cars back is worth more than any ad.

Oscar

I found that group. Same rule as ours: no ads.

Alex Tutor

Then write something useful: what happened in Vinnytsia, with numbers, and an offer to show it to anyone who asks.

Alex Tutor

Question 4

True or false: tire shops are the better direction because Vinnytsia has more of them (about 230) than Khmelnytskyi has fitting shops (about 150).

TrueFalse

You

Can I draft that post for the Khmelnytskyi group?

Oscar

Please. Short, no sales talk, and real numbers from Vinnytsia.

Nina

And don't promise things we don't do, like booking.

Alex Tutor

Write it as a mechanic would want to read it on a phone between two cars.

Alex Tutor

Question 5Short answer · AI-checked task

Write a 3–5 sentence post for a Telegram group of Khmelnytskyi mechanics that introduces GarageDesk without reading like an ad.

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Alex Tutor

Now decide, as if you were in their place. Use the whole module: the niche, the count, the share and where owners gather.

Nina

Remember my June checkpoint too. The rule was written in advance.

Oscar

And my time: about 12 hours a week until I hit 30 paying shops.

You

Numbers first, then the choice.

Alex Tutor

Question 6Case · AI-checked task

Choose where GarageDesk grows next and justify the choice.

June. GarageDesk has grown every month: 5 paying shops in March, 14 at the end of April, 22 at the end of May, all in Vinnytsia, at 600 UAH a month. Niche: independent car repair shops with 2 to 8 bays that do repeat service work. Both founders need 84 paying shops for ramen profitability. Vinnytsia has about 190 fitting shops; a realistic share is one in four within two years.

Option A, Khmelnytskyi: 120 km away, about 150 fitting shops, the same parts distributors, a mechanics' group on Telegram, and Dennis's cousin runs a shop there. Same product and price.

Option B, tire shops in Vinnytsia: about 230, seasonal (reminders twice a year, spring and autumn), would pay about 300 UAH a month, buy from tire wholesalers, and need seasonal reminders and a second price plan.

Nina works full time on GarageDesk. At the end of June she has 130,000 UAH of usable savings left (her 90,000 reserve untouched) and a net burn of 20,000 a month. Oscar still has his job and gives GarageDesk about 12 hours a week until 30 shops pay.

Write your recommendation: (1) compare both options with numbers (ceiling and a realistic share), (2) compare the effort and who carries it, (3) say how GarageDesk would reach the first customers of the chosen option, (4) say what Nina's June checkpoint shows and name a signal that would make you revisit the choice.

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Oscar

We chose Khmelnytskyi, from July. Tire shops stay on the "later" list.

Nina

And my checkpoint said continue: shops grew every month, and six and a half months of runway are left with the reserve untouched.

Alex Tutor

Next module: GarageDesk grows past 30 shops. Which numbers do the founders check every month?

Alex Tutor

That’s the lesson. You answered every task — nicely done.

Next lesson: MRR and churn