FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Clear answers about wallet credit, usage, subscriptions, and how Tycoon charges for work.
How much capital do I need to start?
Solo SaaS is one of the cheapest businesses to start: $200-$500 covers Vercel, SkillBoss's built-in database and auth, Stripe, domain, and a boilerplate license. Even at scale most of these founders spend under $500/month on infrastructure. The real cost is time — 3-6 months to build audience, another 2-3 months to ship and iterate on the product. If you're quitting your day job, plan for 12-18 months of personal runway. If you're building nights-and-weekends, plan for longer but safer. Marc Lou's early products failed while he had freelancing income; most successful solo founders used a similar financial cushion.
What's the minimum technical skill required?
In 2026, much less than five years ago. AI coding tools (Cursor, Claude Code, Tycoon's AI CTO) let semi-technical founders ship real software with review rather than from scratch. You need to understand software well enough to spec and debug — that's typically a few months of focused learning if you're starting cold. For truly non-technical founders, the pattern shifts: you either commission the first version from a contractor and then maintain it with AI, or you pick an adjacent business model (newsletter, community, coaching) where code isn't the product. But 'I can't code so I can't do solo SaaS' is no longer true.
Should I raise venture capital for a solo SaaS?
Almost certainly not. Venture-backed SaaS expects 10x+ returns and plays to a different set of incentives — growth at all costs, strong management team, fundraising rounds as milestones. Solo SaaS plays to profit-and-ownership incentives: a $1M/year business you own 100% of is meaningfully better than a $5M/year business where you own 15% and the board gets to overrule you. Marc Lou, Tony Dinh, Danny Postma, and Pieter Levels are all bootstrapped. If you have a genuinely venture-scale idea, you probably need a team anyway — which is a different business to run than solo SaaS.
What if the product category becomes commoditized?
It will — every successful solo SaaS category eventually sees clones. Your defenses are three: (1) SEO authority built up over years that new competitors can't outspend, (2) brand + audience loyalty that makes switching feel weird for existing customers, (3) continuous product evolution that stays one step ahead. Danny Postma's HeadshotPro exists in a category that commoditized in 2023 and is still $3.6M ARR because of these three moats. Plan for commoditization from month one; solo SaaS that assumes durable monopoly gets eaten alive by year two.
When should I hire my first human employee?
Most solo SaaS founders in this pattern delay the first human hire until $15K-$30K MRR minimum, and when they do, it's usually either (a) a senior engineer for product depth (not junior help — seniors compound, juniors need management), or (b) a head of growth to raise the ceiling on distribution. The first hire is almost never support, content, or analytics — those stay AI because the AI does them better than most junior humans. Before hiring, always ask whether a skill from the Tycoon marketplace or a contract specialist can fill the gap — often the answer is yes and the hire can be delayed another 6 months.