Allow to mark some Products as private/hidden
Currently, we display all products available in the customer portal, so customers may upgrade/downgrade to any of those products.In some circumstances, this is not desirable: we might want to have a "private" product that's only available through a checkout link or the checkout API.I suggest we have a "State" for product: * Draft — Product is not yet available to purchase * Public — Product is available to purchase and displayed in the customer portal * Private — Product is available to purchase only from a dedicated Checkout Link or Checkout Session * Archived — Product is no longer available to purchase
FL score
out of 100
Verdict
high confidence
Competition
5
competitors found, emerging market, funded players
Trend
8 community mentions
A niche feature to manage private product visibility in customer portals for subscription businesses, particularly relevant for open-source AI companies.
The pain
The gap
Build angle
Strengths
- Highly specific and clear problem statement.
- Solves a real operational pain for certain business models.
- Feasible for a solo builder to create an MVP.
- Clear value proposition for businesses that need this functionality.
- Low direct competition from dedicated tools, though features exist within larger platforms.
Risks
- Lack of strong direct market validation (few online complaints/discussions).
- Niche market size, potentially limiting scalability.
- Incumbent billing platforms could easily build this feature, limiting long-term moat.
- Reliance on integration with third-party billing APIs.
- The competitive data provided is irrelevant, pointing to a potential misunderstanding of the true market.
Next steps
- Conduct direct interviews with SaaS founders and product managers using subscription billing systems to validate the severity and frequency of this problem.
- Gauge willingness to pay for a dedicated solution versus relying on existing platform workarounds or custom code.
- Research existing customer portal customization options in popular billing platforms (Stripe, Chargebee, Recurly) to understand current limitations in depth.
- Explore potential partner integrations with platforms like PolarSource/Polar directly.
Fly Labs Method
Is the pain real, is there a gap, is it the right time, can one person build it.
- Problem clarity
- 19
- Solution gap
- 14
- Willingness to pay
- 15
- Buildability
- 11
A highly specific billing feature for controlling product visibility in customer portals, with moderate pain and willingness to pay, but limited by its niche scope and the lack of direct market validation.
Value Equation
Dream outcome and how likely it feels, against the time and effort it costs.
A viable niche feature with clear value for specific businesses, but lacks strong market growth potential and differentiation as a standalone product.
One-Person Business
Curiosity pull, identity fit, and a path from free value to paid for a solo creator.
A clear, simple niche feature that addresses a specific operational need, but with a potentially limited audience and requiring specific creator fit.
Viral Frameworks
Hook strength, shareability, and how cheaply it can be tested.
A clear value proposition for a specific audience, but distribution and market validation are key risks.
Builder Lens
Evidence the problem exists, timing, defensibility, and a model that fits on a napkin.
Addresses a specific, growing operational pain for subscription businesses, with a clear narrow wedge and future relevance.
Why this verdict
Five lenses, one composite. How scoring works
The angle
This weekend
- Conduct direct interviews with SaaS founders and product managers using subscription billing systems to validate the severity and frequency of this problem.
- Gauge willingness to pay for a dedicated solution versus relying on existing platform workarounds or custom code.
- Research existing customer portal customization options in popular billing platforms (Stripe, Chargebee, Recurly) to understand current limitations in depth.
- Explore potential partner integrations with platforms like PolarSource/Polar directly.
Who is already there, emerging market
An enterprise-ready AI governance toolkit designed to direct, manage, and monitor AI activities across the entire lifecycle, ensuring transparency and compliance.
Pricing: Custom plans, not publicly available.
Provides data security, privacy, governance, and compliance solutions for cloud applications, data, and AI models.
Pricing: Custom plans, not publicly available.
A nimble and collaborative GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) solution that allows adaptation of processes, workflows, and content.
Pricing: Custom plans, not publicly available.
Offers an agentic access management platform to control access for AI agents and other non-human identities across enterprise systems.
Pricing: Custom plans, not publicly available.
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Pricing: Custom plans, not publicly available.
What they charge
What people say, 8 mentions
Have you had issues with scammers using your product and how did you deal with them?
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Is my Warehouse Management System worth $350/m? Is this a good business model to focus my time on?
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GUIDELINES FOR MY SMALL BUT SOON TO BE GLOBALLY ENORMOUS BUSINESS
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Recent news
Manifold Announces $8 Million Seed Funding Round to Secure Autonomous Endpoint AI Agents at Runtime
GlobeNewswire, March 18 2026
Oasis Security raises $120M Series B to secure rise of enterprise AI agents
ynet Global, March 21 2026
New California AI Laws Are Here: Is Your Business Ready?
JD Supra, March 18 2026
NVIDIA Ignites the Next Industrial Revolution in Knowledge Work With Open Agent Development Platform
NVIDIA, March 17 2026
AI-Driven Consumer Portal: Transform Your Customer Experience
Logic20/20, March 16 2026
Market signals
The broader 'Private AI' market, which focuses on data confidentiality, user privacy, and secure model deployment, is experiencing rapid growth, projected to reach USD 113.7 billion by 2034 with a CAGR of 29.5%. This growth is fueled by increasing regulatory compliance needs and data protection laws. While direct competitors for 'private/hidden products' are not explicit, the market for controlling access to AI and data is significant and expanding.
What frustrates people
- AI providing wrong information about pricing or features, leading to loss of credibility and deals.
- Difficulty in detecting AI hallucinations and inaccurate brand mentions.
- The need to export data from AI visibility tools to separate automation platforms, creating extra steps and slower execution.
- Challenges in tracking and optimizing brand visibility across a multitude of AI platforms and models.
- Concerns about data privacy and security when AI analyzes private messages and sensitive information.
Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep
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