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Don't Start a SaaS in 2026 Until You Watch This

2026-01-04 Education
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Rob Walling
Rob Walling
120.0k subscribers

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Description

SaaS is an incredible business model, with recurring revenue, high margins, and big exits. But there’s a dark side most founders don’t see until it’s too late. In this video, I break down the uncomfortable truths every founder should know before they dive in. Links in the video: Join the Mastermind Matching Program: https://microconf.com/masterminds Watch more videos like this 👇 If I Had To Start Over, Here's 3 Steps I'd Take to $1M+ Revenue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qUJnFyRlyQ NEVER Make These 6 Mistakes (Lessons from 20 Years in Business): https://youtu.be/b56OA6yGT5A STOP Building Your Audience (Do THIS Instead): https://youtu.be/n_CEYs1TUiE About Me: I’m Rob Walling. I’ve been building, growing, and acquiring SaaS companies for nearly two decades. I’ve started six companies (five of them bootstrapped) and exited multiple times, most notably selling Drip in 2016. I’ve invested in over 200 startups, and my focus is on helping founders build multimillion-dollar companies without the pressure of the traditional "unicorn or bust" venture capital model. 🚀 Scale Your SaaS with TinySeed If you are a B2B SaaS founder looking for funding, mentorship, and community, check out the accelerator I co-founded. We designed it specifically for bootstrappers. Apply to TinySeed: https://tinyseed.com 🤝 Join the Community at MicroConf I co-founded MicroConf to create a space for non-venture-backed startups. Connect with thousands of other founders, watch world-class talks, and find the support you need to grow your business. Explore MicroConf: https://microconf.com 🎙️ Listen to Startups for the Rest of Us Check out my podcast, where I’ve shared insights on bootstrapping and growing startups for over a decade. With over 800 episodes and 15 million downloads, it’s the longest-running podcast for software entrepreneurs. Listen here: https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com 📚 My Books on Startups & SaaS I’ve written several books to provide tactical advice on launching, growing, and selling your software company: The SaaS Playbook- My guide to building a multimillion-dollar startup without venture capital. https://saasplaybook.com Exit Strategy: The entrepreneur's guide to selling your business without regret (co-authored with Dr. Sherry Walling): https://exitstrategybook.com Start Small, Stay Small: A developer's guide to launching a startup: https://startsmall.com/ The Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Sh*t Together: How to handle the psychological pressure of being a founder (co-authored with Dr. Sherry Walling): https://saasplaybook.com/order/p/entrepreneursguide-ebook 👋 Connect with Me Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/robwalling LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robwalling Website: https://robwalling.com

Top Comments (10)

@ironhorsegod3729 2026-01-04

This guy is the real deal. Don't believe Starter Story lol. I have my own SaaS and in month 4 I only have 25 customers lol

56 9 replies
@santiagofep 2026-01-11

I'm 6 years in, and I think I have burned out like 20 times. But I still think that having a normal job is worse.

21
@AlexisKingsbury 2026-01-05

I’ve been building SaaS businesses for 15 years. This advice is 100% spot on. 😅 We’ve done it bootstrapped which helps reduce the stress and risk of hoping for a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, but has other challenges.

17
@Matt-SarcasMo 2026-01-05

This video can save lives ( from burnout ) ! thank you for reminding people that building a SaaS is worth it but not at the cost of their health, their time, or their entire life...

10
@ewliang 2026-01-04

#3 and #4 are my main struggle. Trying to figure/find out a problem that's solvable by me such that the cost required to build/maintain the platform is low enough for me to see net profit before I run out of money (based on the small amount I've saved over the years to set aside for this venture). So far, most of the things I find are already built or part of someone else's free tier offering. 😢

8 2 replies
@KirkBennett-x1f 2026-01-05

"delusional" is a perfect word for so many things

5 1 replies
@CelsodeSá 2026-01-04

At the company I work for - besides the founder, which is an American coder - was built by Brazilian devs with Ruby on Rails. Great deal for both sides.

5
@theRedBarron-s9z 2026-01-06

All these challenges are still somehow manageable if the product is a right market fit. But that happens to be the biggest of all challenges. That is true forte of a founder.

3
@jeremyroche2138 2026-01-11

You’re missing the most important brutal fact that undermines your point: knowledge is not experience. Thinking “I know it’s hard” is better than not knowing is a mistake. A big one. Whether you have this information or not, you’ll make the same mistakes — or even worse ones. Real learning doesn’t come from watching, reading, or waiting. It comes from experience, pain, and cost. So stop trying to accumulate knowledge. Go to the field. Start doing. That’s where actual learning happens. If you overthink this, you’ll probably never start. And at your stage, the number one risk isn’t being too naïve or insufficiently informed. The real risk is not starting at all — or worse, believing you’ve started while you’re actually spending all your energy “getting informed” instead of acting.

2
@JK-pb3gv 2026-03-20

i remember you from the DC years ago, you were a mad lad. Good to see you in my feed!

0 1 replies

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