SaaStr · 2020-11-17
· 2025d
10 Unaffiliated Customers is Your First Pre-Success Milestone in SaaS
Jason Lemkin argues that acquiring 10 paying, unaffiliated customers organically is a critical pre-success milestone for SaaS founders, indicating product-market fit and the beginning of sustainable growth. This milestone proves customers will find you without awareness or relationships, validates your core product value proposition, and predictably scales to 20, 100, and beyond if founders remain committed.
Metrics in this report
Customer Consistency Across Scale
80%
at least
of later customers match core use case of first customer (EchoSign example)
Early Revenue (EchoSign case)
200$
monthly
from 10 unaffiliated customers
Initial Customer Acquisition Timeline
10customers
within first
90 days in market for SaaS startups