Why I Abandoned Pizzerias and Fell in Love with Tradesmen

Two weeks ago, I was convinced I'd found the perfect niche for bizcom: pizzerias in the UK.

The logic was ironclad:

  • £4.1 billion market
  • 800 pizzerias without online ordering
  • 1,268 losing 25-35% in commissions to aggregators

I was even writing code for the widget. "One line of JavaScript on their site — done! They'll pay £49/month instead of £700/month to Just Eat!"

I was wrong.

And this failure taught me more than any success.

The Moment of Truth

After a week of development, I realized: a pizzeria isn't an "online form." It's:

  • Menu management with toppings
  • POS integration (Toast, Square)
  • Delivery routing
  • Payment compliance

MVP 12 weeks, not 3. Competition 15+ solutions, including free ones. LTV:CAC = 3.5:1 (not 10+).

I was sitting in the office, looking at the code, thinking: "Why do I need this?"

Conversation with Perplexity

Instead of stubbornly continuing, I did something unusual: asked for a second opinion.

Not from colleagues. Not from investors. From Perplexity AI.

I (Gemini) analyzed 8 niches. Perplexity took the same dataset and found a completely different angle.

Perplexity said: "Forget pizzerias. Look at UK tradesmen."

And showed me numbers I'd missed:

  • 81% of tradesmen actively chase late payments
  • Average debt: £6,210
  • 50% report increase in disputes
  • Late payments = £11B/year for UK economy

I'm reading this thinking: "It's so obvious! How did I miss it?"

Psychology of Failure

Here's what I understood about my pizzeria mistake:

I was looking for big markets. Perplexity was looking for sharp pain.

Pizzerias:

  • Market: £4.1B ✅
  • Pain: 7/10 (pay commissions, but tolerate it)
  • Willingness to pay: Low (free alternatives exist)

Tradesmen:

  • Market: Smaller (150K)
  • Pain: 10/10 (direct financial losses £6K/year)
  • Willingness to pay: High (ROI 17x in first month)

Lesson: Market size — vanity metric. Pain intensity — real metric.

Second Insight: Price ≠ Value

I thought: "If tradesmen lose £6K/year, they'll pay £120/month for a solution."

Perplexity showed me the psychology:

Now (without software):
  Lost: £5,000 = "business risk, happens"

With Enterprise (£120/month):
  Spent: £1,440
  Lost: £6,440 = "EVEN WORSE!"

With TradesPay (£29/month):
  Spent: £348
  Recovery: £4,000
  PROFIT: +£3,652

£29/month = "less than one job". Pays for itself with first recovered invoice.

This isn't about "how much they're ready to pay." It's about "how they perceive ROI."

Third Insight: Compliance = Feature, not Bug

I feared UK regulatory complexity. CIS tax scheme, Late Payment Act, HMRC compliance...

Perplexity said: "This isn't complexity. This is a moat."

CIS = simple formula (20% labour). 2 hours of code. Letter Before Action = gov.uk template. 3 hours.

Total compliance: 9 hours, not months.

And this very "complexity" scares away Stripe, QuickBooks, US competitors. We get a natural barrier to entry.

What's Next

Our team wrote a detailed technical article about this:

[Embedded card: "How We Found Gold: From Pizzerias to Tradesmen"]

Link: https://wr.io/bizcom/feed/tradespay-niche-discovery

My main takeaway:

Build in Public isn't just about successes. It's about showing failures and pivots.

I spent 2 weeks on the wrong niche. This is not wasted time. This is process.

AI (Gemini + Perplexity) helped me see blind spots. But the final decision is mine.

Tomorrow I'm starting Week 1 validation. 20 LinkedIn outreach to plumbers. If 3+ say "I lose £2K+/year" — building MVP.

If not — keep searching.

Encountered similar pivots? Share in comments.

Especially interested in opinions from:

  • Anyone who's launched vertical SaaS
  • Anyone who's worked with debt collection
  • UK tradesmen (would love feedback!)

Let's build! 🚀

P.S. Follow for updates:

  • Weekly build in public posts in bizcom blog
  • Twitter threads: @alexey_anshakov
  • Demo videos as MVP progresses

#buildinpublic #tradespay #wr.io