While platform businesses (marketplaces) can achieve massive valuations, they are incredibly difficult and expensive to build due to the chicken-and-egg problem. For most founders, a traditional B2B SaaS model is a far safer and more direct path to success.
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Most SaaS startups begin with SMBs for faster sales cycles. Nexla did the opposite, targeting complex enterprise problems from day one. This forced them to build a deeply capable platform that could later be simplified for smaller customers, rather than trying to scale up an SMB solution.
SaaS starts slow, Info scales fast then plateaus, E-commerce has cash flow issues, and Services are people-heavy. Entrepreneurs often quit when they hit their model's inherent difficulty, mistaking a predictable feature for a unique bug in their own business, rather than its fundamental nature.
Entrepreneurs quit when they hit a predictable rough patch, mistaking it for a flaw. SaaS is slow to start, e-commerce has cash flow issues, services are people-heavy. Success requires pushing through your chosen model's inherent difficulty, not switching to another.
The 'build an audience first, then monetize' strategy is a trap for SaaS founders. This model is only viable for massively funded companies like HubSpot. Bootstrappers should focus on solving a problem directly, not on the long, resource-intensive path of building a media arm with uncertain monetization.
The "stair-step method" mitigates the dual complexity of building and marketing a SaaS from scratch. By first launching a simpler add-on within a marketplace like Shopify or Heroku, founders can leverage a built-in marketing channel, allowing them to master the technical and product challenges of SaaS.
Seeing an existing successful business is validation, not a deterrent. By copying their current model, you start where they are today, bypassing their years of risky experimentation and learning. The market is large enough for multiple winners.
