Assuming you at least have some customers now … yes, it’s a tough position … but my best response is:
How badly do you want it?
If you have no product market fit — I’d probably quit. You had your shot. You tilted. And it still didn’t work.
But if you have any unaffiliated customers … then, that’s different. You actually did “the impossible”. You built Yet Another Web App people would actually pay for. In that case — it’s all up to you. You have something. (More on that here: SaaStr | If You Have 10 {Unaffiliated} Customers in SaaS — You Have Something.)
If you have 10 customers, you can get 20. If you have 20, you can get 40. And so on. So … if you have 10 customers, given enough time, grit and determination … you can get 100.
You may lose some of the team. It may take way too long. You may have to (continue) to work for nothing.
But if you have something, if you have customers … you probably can get to the next level with enough time.
I had to go over an extra, unplanned year without a hire, without pay, without anything to drag the company to $1m+ ARR. It was hard. But we had customers.
Once you get to $500k in ARR, you can make it. That’s enough to pay for enough heads to get to $1m, $1.5m ARR, and beyond. To somehow get to Initial Traction.
