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Founders · Beginner → Advanced

SaaS Founder Roadmap

Problem → discovery → validation → MVP → positioning → launch → growth → retention.

Your progress

0%

0/10 nodes · 114h estimated

Skills

0

Projects

0

Phases

3

1

Phase 1

Problem & customer

Start with a painful problem, not a feature list.

Choose a narrow market

Define ICP, painful workflow and trigger.

Subtopics

  • • Choose a narrow market fundamentals
  • • Choose a narrow market core concepts
  • • Choose a narrow market practical patterns
  • • Choose a narrow market production considerations

Practice

  • • Build a small exercise for Choose a narrow market
  • • Debug or test the implementation
  • • Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~8hOutcome: Write a customer hypothesis.

Customer discovery

Interview users and observe workflows.

Subtopics

  • • Customer discovery fundamentals
  • • Customer discovery core concepts
  • • Customer discovery practical patterns
  • • Customer discovery production considerations

Practice

  • • Build a small exercise for Customer discovery
  • • Debug or test the implementation
  • • Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~10hOutcome: Find evidence of pain.

Validate demand

Landing pages, preorders, waitlists and manual solutions.

Subtopics

  • • Validate demand fundamentals
  • • Validate demand core concepts
  • • Validate demand practical patterns
  • • Validate demand production considerations

Practice

  • • Build a small exercise for Validate demand
  • • Debug or test the implementation
  • • Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~12hOutcome: Get evidence before building.
2

Phase 2

MVP & positioning

Build the smallest product that proves value.

MVP scope

Define outcome, exclusions and success criteria.

Subtopics

  • • MVP scope fundamentals
  • • MVP scope core concepts
  • • MVP scope practical patterns
  • • MVP scope production considerations

Practice

  • • Build a small exercise for MVP scope
  • • Debug or test the implementation
  • • Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~6hOutcome: Avoid feature creep.

Build & ship

Architecture, auth, billing, analytics and deployment.

Subtopics

  • • Build & ship fundamentals
  • • Build & ship core concepts
  • • Build & ship practical patterns
  • • Build & ship production considerations

Practice

  • • Build a small exercise for Build & ship
  • • Debug or test the implementation
  • • Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~20hOutcome: Launch a usable product.

Positioning

Category, promise, proof and objections.

Subtopics

  • • Positioning fundamentals
  • • Positioning core concepts
  • • Positioning practical patterns
  • • Positioning production considerations

Practice

  • • Build a small exercise for Positioning
  • • Debug or test the implementation
  • • Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~8hOutcome: Explain why the product matters.
3

Phase 3

Distribution & economics

Acquire users, retain them and understand the numbers.

Content & SEO

Search intent, editorial systems and distribution.

Subtopics

  • • Content & SEO fundamentals
  • • Content & SEO core concepts
  • • Content & SEO practical patterns
  • • Content & SEO production considerations

Practice

  • • Build a small exercise for Content & SEO
  • • Debug or test the implementation
  • • Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~12hOutcome: Create compounding traffic.

Activation & retention

Onboarding, cohorts and churn analysis.

Subtopics

  • • Activation & retention fundamentals
  • • Activation & retention core concepts
  • • Activation & retention practical patterns
  • • Activation & retention production considerations

Practice

  • • Build a small exercise for Activation & retention
  • • Debug or test the implementation
  • • Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~10hOutcome: Improve retained usage.

SaaS metrics

MRR, ARR, churn, CAC, LTV, payback and runway.

Subtopics

  • • SaaS metrics fundamentals
  • • SaaS metrics core concepts
  • • SaaS metrics practical patterns
  • • SaaS metrics production considerations

Practice

  • • Build a small exercise for SaaS metrics
  • • Debug or test the implementation
  • • Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~8hOutcome: Run the business from evidence.

30-day launch sprint

Project

Run a build, launch and retention experiment.

Subtopics

  • • 30-day launch sprint fundamentals
  • • 30-day launch sprint core concepts
  • • 30-day launch sprint practical patterns
  • • 30-day launch sprint production considerations

Practice

  • • Build a small exercise for 30-day launch sprint
  • • Debug or test the implementation
  • • Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~20hOutcome: Create a repeatable operating system.