Things I wish I knew before launching SaaS projects
No matter how many founder guides or podcasts you’ve watched, there are things you only realize once you actually start.
1. Just because you like the idea doesn’t mean it will sell.
I used to have this startup where I built an email-based daily reporting tool just because I liked the idea. I thought it was cool, so I assumed other people would too. Nobody was interested or even would have paid. Even I myself have now replaced this tool with a regular text file on my desktop lol.
2. B2B is a better bet than B2C
There’s very little chance of success with consumer apps. Even when I got many users, there’s the monetization issue. I changed my strategy and built a tool focused on providing value for B2B clients, and it worked better for me.
3. Do simple SEO
Even just simple keywords added to your landing page are fine. Think of a topic and set up at least 5 blogs around it with simple keyword research + optimization. There are free tools online (https://ahrefs.com/free-seo-tools) that can help you with that.
4. Ideally, have a dev on your team that you can actually vibe with
Have at least one full-stack dev who can help you build the product. I added the vibe aspect because no one talks about how “lonely” launching a startup is. Not even my friends or my family actually understand what I was doing when I was starting. So I had to deal with all the pre-launch anxiety and stress. With a dev I can vibe with, we can both be stressed, but not alone :D
5. No need for managers pre-PMF
Only hire when the business is getting bigger. In the starting phase, hire people who can manage themselves and don’t need much guidance. If something needs to be in sync, we can just do that via chat.
6. Invest money in yourself
Startups have much higher growth potential than stocks. If you truly believe in your product and have done your research, have some faith and bet your bank account on your own company instead of someone else’s.
7. Learn sales and how to negotiate
A good product is useless if you don’t know how to sell it. It will not sell itself, so you have to bear all the talking and learn more about your ICP, how your product solves their issues, and how to actually communicate your solution well enough that they’re willing to pay.
8. Be strong enough to accept defeat, and be even stronger to start again
Some projects really just won’t take off no matter how much time and investment you put into them. I learned it the hard way. Now, I start a project and test it for max 1 year, and if it doesn’t work out, I pivot or scrap it entirely. Then I do it all over again until I succeed. I believe it was that strategy and dedication that made my current project take off.
Good luck to you! May the PMF gods bless you!
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PS: If you need high-intent leads interested in what you have to offer, have a look at IbexAI (www.getibex.com) and book a discovery call.
Number 7 is the one technical founders skip, and it's the one that pays. I've watched better products lose to worse ones because the weaker team just knew how to sell. On number 8, I'd swap the calendar for a revenue trigger: kill it when you've asked people to pay and they won't, not because a year passed.
I completely agree. Technical founders often treat sales as something to figure out later, when it's usually the fastest path to learning. That's one of the reasons we're building Trackly to help founders stay on top of revenue-critical conversations. Great products don't always lose because of the product itself; they lose because follow-ups slip, buying signals get buried, and opportunities quietly go cold.
This is solid and feels earned, not نظری advice.
Only thing I’d push back on a bit is the “B2B is a better bet than B2C.” It’s true for monetization, but B2B has its own pain: longer cycles, harder distribution early on, and way more dependency on actually solving a real problem. B2C is brutal, but when it works, it moves faster.
Also on “bet your bank account” — I get the mindset, but that can go sideways fast for a lot of people. I’d say conviction matters, but staying alive matters more. You need enough runway to take multiple shots, not just one big bet.
Everything else hits though, especially the part about vague interest vs real demand and how lonely it is early on. The “vibe with your dev” point is underrated — people ignore that and end up burning out faster than they expect.
Feels like this came from actually going through it, not just consuming content.
Great insights.
I'm in the middle of my own SaaS journey, and one thing I've realized is that launching is just the beginning.
You spend months thinking the hard part is building the product. Then you launch and realize marketing, positioning, and getting feedback become your full-time job.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hi Matt, I'm very new here but I'm glad you are finally kicking and crushing it. You couldn't have said it better:
"Some projects really just won’t take off no matter how much time and investment you put into them. I learned it the hard way. Now, I start a project and test it for max 1 year, and if it doesn’t work out, I pivot or scrap it entirely. Then I do it all over again until I succeed. I believe it was that strategy and dedication that made my current project take off."
I suffered through that until recently I had all my projects go through 1 year fermentation period I'd say, and started then I started seeing the deeper reality. What happened next was amazing. I started noticing mathematical relationships everywhere and the need for real algebra. Thats when I started writing a new blog. I wish I can post the link but you can search for "The Ideal Laws of Startup" on Substack, and I think you (and everyone who cares about their success) should check it out:
ideallawsofstartup (dot) substack (dot) com
fair enough
Great list, and number 1 hit close to home since I’ve also built things only I found cool. But the real insight is how 6 and 8 work together. Alone, “bet your bank account” sounds reckless and “kill it after a year” sounds defeatist. Combined, they’re a system: full conviction inside a hard time box. You can go all in precisely because you’ve pre-decided when to stop. Most founders get this backwards, hedging their investment while letting the timeline run forever.
Strong information - I am curious how you feel some of these aspects would apply to a 1 or 2 person team, rather than maybe a small-ish startup team.
I understand startups generally take this route of a small congregation of people all wearing many hats, but when it comes to trying to build something by yourself, what would you find the 3 most important pieces of this puzzle to figure out first?
Since you mention SaaS, i feel as if many are popping up with very minimal teams.
Curious, as I feel like I am in this boat, trying to navigate by myself...
Great read though!
This is really informative and I even currently in the same situation so I am able to relate this
Yeah you're right about this. I've just launched my app in the past 10 weeks and I spent my first month working on B2B relationships because those sales have such a long lead time. One interesting thing I found is a lot of B2B clients I spoke with were telling me they wanted to break into the B2C space. Is this a grass is always greener situation?
I recently posted about my product Orrin. It connects to Slack and answers questions about your team using AI, so you don't have to dig through channels yourself.
But its been 24 hours but got no users its genuinely disheartening. How do you get those initial users.
Cold outreach to your ICP (typically on LinkedIn, but email can also work)
I guess you are doing something wrong behind. Have to know in details.
Security is another underrated one. People often think users only care about features, but for B2B products, trust is often what closes the deal.
Nice list Matt! Agree with most. Unbelievable how often people say (2) and yet it gets ignored! Don't quite agree with (6).
Really helpful, I'm planning on starting my own business still in the planning phase.