How much of a SaaS needs to be built before fundraising?

Question

I'm an aspiring founder and developer. I've worked on a few toy projects over the years, but have recently started on something that I believe has real potential.I know next to nothing about the business side of things. I've been researching and learning, but its left me with questions. One such, at what stage in development should I begin fundraising?Part of me feels like I should continue working on it during weekends and evenings until complete, and then start worrying about the "business" stuff. All the conventional wisdom however seems to argue against that and encourages swift market entry. How do I enter the market appropriately without funds? And how do I obtain funds without a fleshed out product or prior founding experience?I have virtually 0 presence on professional social media outlets. No twitter, no IG, inactive linkedin, etc. My only viable options for marketing really is going to be paid ads. I'd also, ideally, like to be in a position to focus on this fulltime rather than worrying about it after my day job.Now, it'd certainly be possible for me to just launch it one weekend and spend a few hour in the evenings managing things, but it'd seriously hamper growth and adoption.Suggestion? Advice? Wisdom? I'm open to it all. Thanks in advance.

hitsurume · Accepted Answer

Consensus from YC is that you launch an MVP ASAP. Right now all you have is a theory that people would like your product, and until you actually launch it, you will never actually know if people want it. If you weren't a developer, usually you'd be asked to gain traction a different way, such as getting pre-signups or even pre-paid customers without an MVP. This way you demonstrate that you have waiting people with money to show potential investors that your idea may have some market fit.

ponyous · Answer

Disclaimer: I didn't actually raise money this way.
Non working demo. With it you can get plenty of validation even get people to put the money down. With really solid validation and demo I think you should have a fairly easy time fundraising the first round.
For example, I recently worked on a SaaS. Built few features that looked like it works, but it really didn't. It was enough to demo to potential customers and it helped us figure out what MVP really needs to be and that people will pay for it.
Having a main job simply doesn't give you enough time to execute both marketing and development really well, so in my opinion you really need a second person. Non working demo was enough to convince one of my peers to help me.

throw03172019 · Answer

While it&rsquo;s not mandatory, have a product with real paying customers goes a long way. Even if it is only a few people/companies. That feedback loop at the beginning is huge.

jamil7 · Answer

Not an expert but I get the impression that demonstrating some level of MRR is more important than it used to be for securing fundraising and lets you negotiate a better deal. So it would make sense to launch an early version asap and start collecting feedback.

saluki · Answer

Go the bootstrapped route.For inspiration @DHH Startup School Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMYGreat information https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/category/greatest-hit... https://microconf.com/latest/microconf-video-vault (free)Good luck with your SaaS, you probably don't need funding.