Why Focus on SaaS?

You might wonder why this book focuses specifically on SaaS and not just tech startups, such as two-sided marketplaces, biotech, direct-to-consumer applications, and games.

Focusing on SaaS allows me to give extremely specific advice that doesn’t apply to other types of companies. For example, I could spend pages discussing churn, onboarding, and lifetime value (LTV), topics that don’t apply to some companies.

If this book were not focused on a single type of company, I’d have to take the typical approach and water down my advice, providing you with less actionable information and far less value.

SaaS may seem boring to people outside of it. Instead of the next sexy direct-to-consumer viral game, ride-sharing app, or social network, SaaS focuses on solving pain points for businesses. Thus, the ideas seem pretty dry if you can’t see past them and look at the exciting part: you are solving someone’s problem in a real way and creating a valuable business while doing it.

Through my years of starting companies and hosting events for startup founders through MicroConf, I’ve been exposed to thousands of founders and their journeys, both successful and unsuccessful.

Several years ago, I began to pull out success patterns, turning them into SaaS-specific rules of thumb, best practices, and frameworks. Those have coalesced into a repeatable playbook that I’ve seen tested and improved in my own startups and in those I’ve invested in or advised.

This book is the culmination of those years of trial and error.