The Zero to Saas course is a comprehensive program for aspiring SaaS entrepreneurs. This course is built on Mike Strives’ blueprint for building and scaling two SaaS products to 7-figures. It provides a step-by-step guide to:
- Finding a winning idea
- Building a product
- Scaling your SaaS business
Reviews or testimonials on the Zero to SaaS Course limited to the ProductHunt platform. There are a few case studies published on the Zero to SaaS website but they are from established SaaS entrepreneurs who have successfully built and scaled a product. None of them explicitly attributes their success in taking Mike Strives’ Zero to SaaS course.
In this Zero to SaaS course review, we will discuss the SaaS business model through the lens of Mike Strives’ blueprint. We will also talk about the value that you can get from the Zero to SaaS course, who it is for, and the success rate of building a SaaS business in 2024.
Zero to SaaS Pros and Cons
Pros
Beginner-friendly while also catering to SaaS founders.
Offers lifetime access to course and community.
Cons
Has very few online reviews
Teaches a bootstrapped SaaS model that is costly and has a low success rate.
Price
Zero to SaaS Course and community costs $149.
Refund Policy
Zero to SaaS did not outline a refund policy.
Origin
Zero to SaaS started in January 2023.
Reputation
Zero to SaaS online reviews are scarce. A few reviews from ProductHunt talks positively about Zero to SaaS course and community.
I think the value of the course comes from Mike’s personal experience as a SaaS builder. The whole process of building this kind of business is already outlined in free resources online. What I truly value is Mike’s personal experience and the lessons that I can get out of them
What Is the SaaS Business Model?
The SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) business model involves delivering a software service over the internet. Here are some key-points that differentiate SaaS from traditional software services:
This model allows for flexibility, lower upfront costs, and ease of use and maintenance for both the provider and clients.
The Zero to SaaS Course by Mike Strives teaches a bootstrapped model of building and scaling a SaaS business. With limited funding, the SaaS entrepreneur covers everything from ideation, product development, marketing, and scaling.
Here are some of Mike Strives’ key advice on building a SaaS business:
Max Strives has built multiple SaaS products throughout his career. Only 2 of them have become successful, namely, Vindy and Upvoty. The lessons that he derived from these two successful SaaS products form the foundation of his course.
What Do You Get With Zero to SaaS?
With Zero to SaaS, you will get:
Based on Mike Strives' three basic elements of a successful SaaS business (a winning idea, a winning product, and a winning strategy), Zero to SaaS Course’s curriculum includes the following key components:
Who Is Zero to SaaS For?
Zero to Saas is for:
Mike Strives’ Zero to SaaS teaches a bootstrapped SaaS model, but the course and community are not limited to people with coding skills. The course includes outsourcing tips to help you find quality developers to build your application.
What are the Zero to SaaS Reviews?
There is no wealth of online reviews for Mike Strives’ Zero to SaaS. I found a few reviews from ProductHunt that generally talk positively about the program. The reviews Zero to SaaS reviews talk about how they enjoy the community and how useful and straightforward the course is. ProductHunt is one of the platforms that Mike uses to release his SaaS products. It is also a good platform to gather reviews for MVPs.
Here are the Zero to SaaS reviews from ProductHunt.
Who Is Mike Strives?
Mike Strives is a serial entrepreneur in the SaaS industry and is the founder Upvoty, Vindy, and Feedefy. Mike is also the initiator of the Zero to SaaS Community and creator of the Zero to SaaS Course. He builds multiple projects in public, sharing his journey on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Strives has been building SaaS products and internet businesses since 2010. As his first successful SaaS product, he scaled Vindy to $1M in ARR. Vindy is a home improvement marketplace. Upvoty, his most recent successful SaaS, has scaled into $40K MRR. He later exited Upvoty by selling it for over $1M.
What Is Upvoty?
Upvoty is a customer satisfaction management platform that serves as a tool for businesses to collect feedback. As an analytic tool, it allows product owners to analyze and prioritize future features based on user data. It also includes features like feature voting, product roadmap, and changelog. These features help make better product decisions and inform customers about updates. Mike Strives sold Upvoty for over $1M in 2023.
What Is the SaaS Business Success Rate?
The SaaS business’ success rate is only 10%, according to For Only SaaS Founders. For McKinsey & Company, only 20% of SaaS companies survive in their first five years. The average churn rate of SaaS businesses is also around 5%. These data show how highly competitive and high-risk the SaaS industry is.
There are around 30,000 SaaS companies, so coming up with an original product idea is harder than ever. Also, there is the risk of other SaaS entrepreneurs copying your product idea. This makes the competition fiercer as companies try to check and outdo each other with features, prices, and marketing.
Following Mike Strives’ bootstrapped model is very costly, especially if you need to outsource product development. Although he recommends hiring developers from platforms like Upwork, you still need to spend around $7K-$15K for the development costs (he said so himself).
Clearly, Mike Strives is very passionate about building SaaS businesses. He had many unsuccessful products throughout his career, but they didn’t make him stop. However, the low success rate and enormous costs of building a SaaS business are not advisable for new entrepreneurs.
Zero to SaaS vs Micro SaaS Academy
Mike Strives’ Zero to SaaS Course and Jamie Tam’s Micro SaaS Academy offer different approaches to building a SaaS business:
Both seem to cover the same range of topics in SaaS. Jamie Tam is a developer, so the way he presents “Micro SaaS” as a low entry cost business is based on his ability to code a software himself. On the other hand, Mike Strives is not a coder. So, his course includes outsourcing tips in his SaaS product development lessons.
Another key difference between these courses is the price. Mike Strives’ Zero to SaaS Course is $149, while Jamie Tam’s Micro SaaS Academy is only $29.
My Recommended Low-Risk Passive Income Business
As an alternative to building a SaaS business, I recommend local lead generation as a low-risk business that can create passive income. Unlike SaaS, it doesn’t require technical skills. The entry cost can be as low as $500 to build a single website. Ranking it high on local search engine results may take 2-6 months. Once you successfully rank a website, you can begin to rent it out to local businesses for a consistent monthly price.
Local lead generation capitalizes on the leads that a ranked website is attracting organically. This way, there is no need for you to spend a considerable amount of money on marketing. You also have the freedom to choose the local market and niche service for your site. With this business model, there is absolutely no need for you to face tough competition. This is in huge contrast to a SaaS business where you are basically competing on a global scale.
