The SaaS Playbook: building a SaaS without venture capital
The SaaS Playbook is the second book from Rob Walling on this list. It came out in 2023, more than ten years after Start Small, Stay Small. In between he founded and sold the email tool Drip, started the MicroConf conference and the TinySeed accelerator. So this book comes from a lot of real experience.
If Start Small, Stay Small is about getting started, the SaaS Playbook is about what comes after: you have a product, you have first customers, how do you build a real business out of it, without venture capital?
What the book is about
Walling describes a path between "solo side project" and "VC-funded startup". Bootstrapped or with very little funding, profitable, and still big enough to be life-changing. He shows that you dont need to raise millions to build a SaaS that makes millions.
The book is very practical. Less theory, more "this is what I see work again and again with the founders I work with".
The key ideas
- ▸The founder matters. Your skills, your risk tolerance and your goals decide which kind of SaaS makes sense for you, not the other way around.
- ▸Market before product, again. A good market with a so-so product beats a great product in a bad market.
- ▸Marketing is not one thing. You need to find the few channels that work for your product and go deep on them, instead of trying everything a little bit.
- ▸Know your numbers. MRR, churn, customer acquisition cost and lifetime value tell you if the business works, long before your gut does.
- ▸Mindset is a big part. Walling is very honest about the stress, the doubts and the long phases where nothing seems to move.
How it connects to the course
Lessons 4 and 5 of the course are about exactly the questions Walling asks: which motion fits your market, which channels belong to it, what price can carry it, and can you as a founder actually run it. The reality check in lesson 5 ("are you a seller?") is the same honest look at the founder that runs through the whole book.
Also the idea that the price comes out of the motion, and that a sales-led SaaS needs a few thousand per account to pay for a rep, fits very good to how Walling thinks about SaaS economics.
Who should read it
Founders who have a SaaS with first paying customers, or who are very close to it, and who want to grow it without giving away the company. If you are still at the idea stage, start with Start Small, Stay Small and The Right It first.