If you were looking for some secret sauce to starting a SaaS with no money, I hate to break it to you, but that doesn’t exist. If you aren’t ready to hustle, put in the time and work, make sacrifices, and be fully dedicated, than you should probably take the conventional route and seek funding right away.

We started and grew our SaaS with $0. No angel money, no seed rounds, no money from parents/family, no bank loans. Nothing. Just a few bucks in savings, and good old fashioned revenue financing. Seven years later, thousands of clients attained, dozens of employees hired, and we still haven’t taken a penny from anyone.

How did we pull it off?

Discipline and Frugality

Going in, we knew we weren’t going to cut ourselves a paycheck for a little while. Putting yourself in that mindset requires a lot of discipline, both on a personal level, and on the business side. We thought it would be wiser to sacrifice paying ourselves, and keeping anything earned in the business. A lot of personal lifestyle choices had to change, including being extremely frugal in what you spend and how you live.

Confidence (No Plan B’s)

To be so disciplined and frugal requires a lot of confidence in yourself and the product you’re building. You have to be so confident to the point where you have no backup plan. You have to be fully invested and go all in. No plan B’s. If you create a backup plan, you’ve basically instilled a grain of doubt in your mind that things won’t succeed. That does nothing but increase your chances of failure, even if it’s slightly.

Focus on Sales and Only Sales

Most people are taught that they have to create a business plan, setup internal infrastructure and processes, and seek some seed money in order to start a business. When you have no money to burn, you have to completely scratch this conventional wisdom. Your sole focus should be on sales and nothing else. Calling and meeting potential clients, and closing deals has to be your full-time job. Revenue is your only source of funding to grow the business. Putting your focus and time into anything else will slow down your growth and harm your chances of success.

Keeping Costs Low, and Going Freemium

Starting an online business nowadays is super cheap, and virtually requires no huge upfront costs. Of course, any SaaS business requires the basics such as CRM, accounting software, payment processing help desk, and email marketing. Luckily, you can easily find all of these necessities in the form of freemium models or totally free. If you can get away with using a free product (which you certainly can), than do it. Only upgrade your tools when you’re revenue can support it, and it will immediately add value to further your growth. As a SaaS, you have no borders, and also have the luxury of seeking cost-effective talent from all over the world.

Selling Your Story

As important it is to be good at selling your product/service to potential clients, it’s equally as important to sell your story to potential employees. Convincing talent to make the sacrifice to join your team as a startup, requires a compelling story. In order to get someone to commit to your business, you need to have a unique story and be amazing at communicating the vision. In this stage, you’re selling yourself as much as the company itself. That shouldn’t be difficult if you truly have that “No Plan B” mindset.