Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Do the Time By Jason Lemkin and Aaron Ross The following is an abridged chapter from Jason Lemkin and Aaron Ross’ forthcoming book: From Impossible to Inevitable. In this excerpt, Jason talks about what it really takes to build a business based on a recurring revenue model. As Jason points out, you need to be prepared to do the time in order to build a healthy and sustainable SaaS business. Use this chapter as a gut-check to determine if you have the resolve needed to be a successful SaaS founder. x Y The painful truth: It’ll take years longer than you want. Any expectations you have about how long it will take, or how hard it will be, are pretty much guaranteed to be wildly off base. But, it’s worth it. Are You Sure You’re Ready? One night I had dinner with the founder of a pretty successful Web company and he asked me how long I’d worked on EchoSign. I told him and he nodded his head, “Yeah, same for me. It takes about seven years to get to exit.” That’s true in the SaaS business, and it’s true for many businesses and even career paths. You have to be ready for it to take years longer than you hope or want before you hit your big goals.