We know that trying to reach SaaS unicorn status ($1B+ valuation) is foolish because the odds are ridiculously low. Now, I want to share a better strategy with you, but first let’s talk about the real reason these companies actually fail.
They run out of time, money or both.
That’s it. It’s really rather simple. The real reason the vast majority of them fail is the path they are on is unsustainable.
Unfortunately, if I had a nickel for each early-stage company that ran out of money just as they were about to reach product-market fit I’d probably have had enough to invest and keep them going.
As such, these are the bottlenecks we need to solve for. We need to set you up with adequate time and budget to pursue building a successful SaaS product.
One strategy that I recommend all the time is to actively work in the industry for which you intend to build the SaaS product. This way the earnings you need to invest in the project and enable your lifestyle are covered (solve money bottleneck) plus you can work on your SaaS with the balance of time you have to dedicate (solve time bottleneck).
This puts you in control of your source of funding and the time you invest into the project.
So how do I know this works?
Well for one, it’s exactly what I’ve done to build my own product businesses StaffGeek and Podcast Chef with no outside investment needed.