As your SaaS startup grows, you'll find people eager to share advice. Some of it will be insightful, while some may be misleading or irrelevant to your specific situation. People naturally want to help solve problems, and experienced entrepreneurs and investors will often feel compelled to share their perspectives.
But here’s the key takeaway: advice is just that—a perspective, not a roadmap. You are the only one who fully understands your business, your challenges, and your vision. Even well-intended advice can be completely wrong for your unique journey.
The best way to treat advice? As a data point. Consider it thoughtfully, weigh it against your own knowledge, and never follow it blindly. The most successful founders know how to gather insights without letting outside opinions steer them off course.
Building a company is a team effort. You don’t have to go at it alone, and great advisors can help you make better decisions.
Advisors are not full-time employees. They don’t replace a strong leadership team. Instead, they are experienced professionals who provide guidance in specific areas where you need expertise. Some examples of valuable advisors for a SaaS startup include:
Important: If someone insists on being paid for advice, they are a consultant, not an advisor. That’s a different relationship and should be treated as such.
Finding the right advisors takes effort. You don’t want to limit yourself to people you already know. Instead, actively seek out those who:
Here’s where to find them:
Remember, this is a two-way street. Just as you would with an executive hire, assess whether the advisor is a good cultural and strategic fit for your business.
Once you’ve gathered insights from advisors, the real challenge begins: deciding what to do with that information.
The tricky part? Even the best advisors may give conflicting advice. One expert may say, “Scale your sales team aggressively,” while another warns, “Keep it lean and focus on organic growth.”
Here’s why this happens:
So how do you process all of this?
No one will ever have a better understanding of your business than you do. That means you’re the one who ultimately has to make the call.
Not all advice is useful. Some of it will be flat-out wrong for your situation. So how do you filter out the bad?
🚩 Red Flag #1: “You should pivot completely.”
If an advisor suggests a dramatic change in your business model, be cautious. Big moves come with big risks, and advice is easy to give but hard to execute.
🚩 Red Flag #2: “This worked for me, so it will work for you.”
Every startup is different. Just because an approach succeeded for someone else doesn’t mean it’s right for your SaaS company.
🚩 Red Flag #3: Overconfidence without questions.
Great advisors ask questions before giving advice. If someone is giving blanket recommendations without understanding your context, take their words with a grain of salt.
If you decide not to follow an advisor’s recommendation, communicate it thoughtfully. Thank them for their insights, explain your reasoning, and let them know you value their perspective. Most good advisors will respect that you are making the best decision for your business.
Having advisors is incredibly valuable, but at the end of the day, you are the one responsible for your company’s success.
Surround yourself with smart people. Seek diverse perspectives. Ask questions. But trust yourself to make the final call.
If building a successful SaaS business were as simple as following advice, everyone would be doing it. The real challenge is sorting through insights, making tough decisions, and executing relentlessly.
So go ahead—listen, learn, and lead. That’s what great founders do.