Dear SaaStr: What Are The Top 5 Things I Should Know Before Starting a SaaS Startup?
My Top 5:
- It will take you at least 24 months to really get anywhere. Everyone mentally budgets 10–12 months. It’s never enough. At least, not to get enough paying customers from Code Zero. an AI and vibe coding pull this forward? Yes — sort of. But it almost always still takes 18-24 months from the time you say “go”. A little more here: https://www.saastr.com/if-youre-…
- A co-founder not equally committed will blow up on you, and best case, is a disaster you will have to clean up later. Almost always. Wait and find a co-founder just as committed as you are.
- Someone else great already has the same idea. Like, always. It’s OK. That’s the way it should be. So ask yourself — why will you win? Answer that instead of worrying about being first. Too many founders aren’t honest about why they will win.
- If you’re a “business” founder, know it’s really, really hard to win without a truly great CTO. If you aren’t sure if your technical co-founder is good enough, ask the top engineering leader you know what she thinks.
- Make 100% sure the market will actually pay for your product. Not just like it. This is a top mistake so many founders make. They build a useful product, but not one the market values so much they will pay for it. At least do 30+ customer interviews and really listen on if they’d paid for real, and then go validate that some more.
A bit more here:
