Most SaaS founders fail because they validated interest, not payment.
This playbook analyzes 50+ real startup shutdowns... from founder communities, post-mortems, and firsthand conversations. Founders who had users, feedback, even waitlists. They still failed. The pattern was always the same: they confused engagement with willingness to pay.
What's inside:
Chapter 1 (Free): Why Interest ≠ Revenue — the vanity metrics trap
Chapter 2: The $1 Filter — separate tire-kickers from buyers before building
Chapter 3: The Pain Hierarchy — problems worth solving vs problems that just sound good
Chapter 4: Distribution Before Product — build an audience of buyers, not followers
Real numbers. Real failures. No generic advice.
Comments (1)
Built this after reading 50+ "I'm shutting down" posts. The pattern was brutal: 2,600 users, $0 revenue. 20,000 signups, dead anyway. Chapter 1 is free... see if you're making the same mistake.