Chapter 2 Do the Time Later, there will be fat — once you get to $5 Even great founders million ARR or so. It’ll get easier in many ways as that can see the you grow, though harder in others. But in SaaS, future sometimes it takes a long time until then. Getting recurring need help. revenue engines going is tough business. 3. Will you take the leap? This is, perhaps, most important. If you keep a mindset that you’re “just trying it out” but you maintain other options, it never works. “I’ll try for a while and go back to Salesforce if it doesn’t work,” or, “I’ll do a lot of consulting while I see if it works,” or, “I’ll raise $500,000 and see how it goes.” This just never works. At least not for high-growth startups. Great founders take the leap. Not because they are crazy risk-takers, but because they see the risk and decide to go for it anyway. They know there will be many challenges — with funds, customers, family — but they decide to figure them out along the way. They have doubts. They have fears. They have money troubles. But they see the future and believe in their own eventual success. If you aren’t ready to take the leap, you aren’t ready to lead a startup. What If You’re Close? Okay, what if you aren’t quite there. You can’t pass tests 1, 2, and 3 above, but you’re close. Then take a pause — don’t say no just yet. Instead, go do some more homework. Do 20 customer interviews. Find a great co-founder who can pass the three tests, commit to 7–10 years, and commit to the overall 24+ months to initial traction. You almost certainly can’t do it alone — try it and then see how it feels. Even great founders that can see the future sometimes need help. I did, in both of my startups. Twenty interviews and an amazing co-founder can be the missing pieces that really show you how to do your own SaaS startup. A Double Check: Are You Really Sure? There’s been one huge change in entrepreneurship over the past 10 years. No, it’s not that it’s cheaper than ever to do an Internet startup. That’s not true. When software came on a disk or a CD-ROM in the old days, it was even cheaper. You didn’t even need a single server to start Microsoft, or Intuit, or Borland, or Lotus. Although distribution today is far broader, if not cheaper.