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Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

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Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#1

Post by nicdc »

I have an idea and want to move it forward. Details below. Any advice?

(Given HN's technical inclination, I am aware that most will frown on this from the start. Yet another "ideas man".. ;-))

Background: I have never developed an app or website. I come from a non-tech project management and statistics background. I've dabbled in Python and R for statistics and academic-type research. So nothing really useful for app/web development. I also don't have any entrepreneurial credentials.

Current inclination: learn the necessary tools myself to code/develop my own product. My rationale is that the more I know the ins-and-outs of my product, the better I can sell it. Plus, this path may even help me attract technical talent, or a technical co-founder. But truth be told, part of this inclination is also to ease (at least partially) my imposter syndrome. I know outsourcing the product would save me time in the short-run, but I would feel like a total poser doing so. Also, worst case, the project fails but the technical skills I acquired make me more marketable for tech-type jobs.

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#3

Post by bcx »

I have no idea what stage you are at for your idea, but I'd recommend trying to line up customers who love the product based on something you sketch out on a notebook (piece of paper) as a step one.

I'd also validate that the problem you are trying to solve is a really strong pain point for whoever is running into it. Having someone offer to pay you lots of money to solve it as a consultant is a good sign.

You can actually get pretty far with validating an idea before writing a line of code. You can even get potential customers to commit to paying you once it's built (some will renege later)

TLDR: - there is a ton you can do before writing a line of code. In many cases since you are new on this journey, and your background is technical (stats, dabbling in code) the EASIEST part of the journey will be learning to build saas apps and/or finding a technical cofounder.

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#4

Post by Alex3917 »

> Also, worst case, the project fails but the technical skills I acquired make me more marketable for tech-type jobs.

This. The chances of hiring folks to build an MVP and getting enough paying users off that to bring them on full time or getting enough traction to raise money are absurdly small. If you're already both very wealthy and are the single most famous person in your industry then maybe there's like a 10% chance of it working, if neither of those things apply then the chances are much closer to 0%. What will happen is that you'll spend a ton of money to build something, not really validate any assumptions or de-risk anything, and then be stuck with this poorly constructed prototype that's too complicated for you to modify yourself.

Spend six months learning to code, then try to build your product. If you're not making progress at a reasonable pace then just get a job as a full stack developer and spend a couple years learning from the best people in the industry while getting paid for it, and then finish your prototype on nights and weekends. After a couple years of working professionally as a developer, things that would have taken you a month you'll now be able to do in a day.

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#6

Post by pg_bot »

Some questions to flush out some more details.

1.) Are you planning on making this your full time job?

2.) Who is your target customer?

3.) Do you know anyone who will be a customer the day it will launch?

4.) How much money are you willing to devote to the project?

5.) Will it do one thing well, or does it need have to have a lot of features?

6.) Is there already competition/is there already a piece of software that handles this problem?

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#7

Post by nicholas73 »

Alex3917 wrote: post #4

> Also, worst case, the project fails but the technical skills I acquired make me more marketable for tech-type jobs. This. The chances of hiring folks to build an MVP and getting enough paying users off that to bring them on full time or getting enough traction to raise money are absurdly small. If you're already both very wealthy and are the single most famous person in your industry then maybe there's like a 10% c…

"The chances of hiring folks to build an MVP and getting enough paying users off that to bring them on full time or getting enough traction to raise money are absurdly small."

What about the chances if you build yourself? Any better?

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#8

Post by joeyspn »

Learning to program will give you resilience. As a founder you are "the last resort" of the project. You will find yourself in this scenario many times and it's better to not depend on anyone.

When it comes to starting up, resilience and determination are much more important skills than outstanding programming skills. Or at least that's what experience has taught many of us.

Nowadays you can do a lot with few resources thanks to no-code tools [0], try to keep it simple and reduce LoC as much as possible. If you need a backend, tools like Firebase/Netlify/Saasify [1] are enough to build an MVP and get the ball rolling. And of course, do not try to build something that has 0 demand, just try to build the MVP that meets the demand you have identified and then take it from there.

[0] https://nocodelist.co/

[1] https://saasify.sh/

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#9

Post by lefstathiou »

Hello - exciting times. I would reconsider learning to do it all from scratch. The economic law of comparative advantage, I believe, also applies to people allocating their time. Pair up with 1-2 people who have complimentary skill sets so you can each bring your best to the table, motivate each other and drive toward your final outcome faster. Time is your enemy.

I’m a non technical cofounder and CEO of a 70-person SAAS company (that’s bootstrapped). We could not have gotten where we are with without the other cofounders (there were three) and me pretending I could do everything and doing nothing well. We each were responsible for doing a job the others hated.

Anyway just food for thought. Email me if you want to hop on a call.

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#10

Post by dragonwriter »

nicholas73 wrote: post #7
Alex3917 wrote: post #4

> Also, worst case, the project fails but the technical skills I acquired make me more marketable for tech-type jobs. This. The chances of hiring folks to build an MVP and getting enough paying users off that to bring them on full time or getting enough traction to raise money are absurdly small. If you're already both very wealthy and are the single most famous person in your industry then maybe there's like a 10% c…

"The chances of hiring folks to build an MVP and getting enough paying users off that to bring them on full time or getting enough traction to raise money are absurdly small." What about the chances if you build yourself? Any better?

> What about the chances if you build yourself? Any better?

If you have the skill to build yourself you avoid (really, reduce by some amount) the portion of the risk attached to getting people to build it (skill and counterparty and other risks) but you still have the market risk.

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