A year ago, I was just a guy with a notebook, a flicker of curiosity, and a nagging question: What if the stories we tell about startups—the ones dripping with genius and overnight success—are wrong? I knew next to nothing about building a software business, but I was determined to find out. What unfolded wasn’t a lightning strike of inspiration but a slow, quiet revolution in how I see SaaS—a journey that transformed my assumptions into a practical plan to build a business worth $5 million. Here’s how it happened, and where it’s taking me.

The Cracks in My Assumptions

I started with podcasts—My First Million, B2B SaaS Podcast, Startup Acquisition Stories—binge-listening like a detective hunting clues. Episode by episode, the world I thought I knew split open. There were companies selling Excel templates for six figures, SaaS tools automating roofing inspections, and startups thriving in corners I’d never bothered to look at. These weren’t the Silicon Valley unicorns of legend; they were gritty, unsexy businesses solving real problems. It was like peeling back a curtain to reveal a hidden economy, one pulsing with opportunity if you knew where to squint. The shift wasn’t just in what I heard—it was in how I began to see. Passing a construction site, I’d wonder: What software do they hate using? Hearing a friend vent about work, I’d think: Could that frustration be a product? Expertise, I realized, isn’t about having all the answers locked in your skull. It’s about borrowing someone else’s lens—standing on their shoulders to spot what you’d otherwise miss. That alone felt like a key turning in a rusty lock.

Why B2B Became My North Star

The more I listened, the more consumer apps—those headline-grabbing darlings—started to feel like a distraction. B2B SaaS, though, clicked into focus. It’s not just that businesses have deeper pockets; it’s the math. To hit $20,000 a month, I’d need 10 companies paying $2,000 each. Ten. Not a million downloads or a viral TikTok campaign—just 10 decision-makers I could reach with a cold email or a LinkedIn message. It’s a target I can wrap my head around, a problem I can solve with a spreadsheet instead of a prayer. Businesses don’t buy software for fun—they buy it because it saves time, cuts costs, or juices revenue. It’s not a “nice to have”; it’s a necessity with a budget line. Convincing 10 companies to say “yes” isn’t marketing sorcery—it’s a series of conversations. No chasing trends or A/B testing into exhaustion. Just a clear value proposition, repeated until it sticks.

The Permission to Borrow Brilliance

For years, I’d been shackled by a myth: that success meant inventing something wholly new. Then I dove into Crunchbase and Acquire.com, studying startups that didn’t reinvent the wheel—they refined it. A CRM here, a dashboard there, each a twist on something that already worked. Cloning, I realized, isn’t theft—it’s observation with intent. It’s asking, “What’s missing here?” and building the answer. Suddenly, creating a SaaS product didn’t feel like conjuring fire from thin air—it felt like snapping together LEGO blocks someone else had already tested.

Sales: From Mystery to Muscle

Cold outreach was another reluctant epiphany. Scrolling through founders’ “build in public” tweets, I noticed a pattern: the ones who grew weren’t waiting for the universe to notice them—they were emailing strangers. Tools like Apollo and Instantly turned it from a dark art into a process. Books like Founding Sales and $100M Offers sealed the deal: sales isn’t charisma—it’s templates, scripts, follow-ups. I’m no natural, but I can learn a system. And that’s what it became—a skill I could sharpen, not a gift I lacked.

Tools as My Shortcut

The toolkit of today’s SaaS world hit me like a cheat code. Clerk for authentication, PlanetScale for databases, Cloudflare Workers for serverless logic—these aren’t just conveniences; they’re training wheels that let me ride before I’m steady. I used to think scaling was the mountain to climb, but most startups don’t die from growth—they die because no one wants their product. These tools let me build fast, test faster, and figure out what people need before I’m too deep to pivot.

From Insights to Action: The Plan Takes Shape

All these threads—observation, B2B focus, cloning, outreach, tools—wove together into something concrete: a plan. Not to dream up the next big thing, but to borrow what’s already working, tweak it, and make it mine. My target? A $5 million valuation, built on a system I can repeat. Here’s how it breaks down.

1. Digging Up the Gold

I’m not guessing what works—I’m letting AI do the digging. Using GPT-4 and market analysis APIs, I’ll scan 5,000 to 10,000 B2B SaaS startups, hunting for UI-centric products—CRMs, analytics dashboards, project management tools—already pulling in $1 million or more in revenue. Why UI-driven? They’re approachable. No healthcare regulations or engineering PhDs required—just a sharp interface I can build without losing my mind. I’ll narrow it to three ideas with promise.

2. Kicking the Tires

Before writing a line of code, I’ll test these ideas. Landing pages with a “Book a Demo” button, paired with clickable Figma prototypes—nothing fancy, just enough to feel real. Then, I’ll fire off 10,000 cold emails via Instantly, offering personalized video demos tailored to each recipient’s pain points. If they bite, I’ll show the prototype live or send a Loom video, watching for flickers of excitement—or boredom.

3. Making It Real

Talk is cheap, so I won’t settle for “maybes.” Discovery calls—20 or 30 minutes each—will let me dig into what prospects actually need. I’ll float a price—$2,000 a month to start, sliding to $1,500 or up to $2,500 based on their vibe—and ask for a refundable deposit, $500 to $5,000. It’s not about cash upfront; it’s about commitment. A deposit says they’re serious, not just polite.

4. Getting It Done

With deposits in hand, I’ll build fast. Tools like Cursor and AI will churn out APIs and boilerplate code; shadcn will handle the UI. The goal? Deliver a working product to those early customers quickly, then tweak it based on what they say. Speed keeps them hooked and me learning.

5. Eyeing the Prize

For each idea, I’m targeting 10 customers at $2,000 a month—$240,000 a year per product. Three products? That’s $720,000 annually. But the $5 million valuation isn’t just revenue—it’s the story of a repeatable system. I’ll reinvest profits to clone more ideas, stacking wins until it’s a machine.

6. Rolling the Dice Again

This isn’t a one-shot gamble. Each success funds the next round—three more clones, sharper emails, faster builds. Every cycle levels me up, bringing that $5 million closer to reality.

The Quiet Truth

The biggest shift wasn’t in a single “aha” moment—it was in dismantling the myths I’d clung to. Building a SaaS business isn’t about being the most original or the most brilliant. It’s about watching closely, borrowing wisely, and iterating relentlessly. I’m still at the starting line, but for the first time, it’s a path I can walk—one step, one email, one deposit at a time. And maybe, just maybe, that’s the real revolution: not a bang, but a steady hum of progress.