Build Your SaaS Before Your Runway Ends: A Founder's Playbook

You just checked your bank account. $135k left. Your monthly burn is $45k. That's exactly 3 months of runway.

You've spent 5 months on customer discovery, competitive research, and building your pitch deck. All important work. But now reality hits: You need a product in users' hands before the money runs out.

Here's the emergency playbook that's saved dozens of startups from the runway cliff.

The Runway Reality Check

First, let's do the math brutally honestly:

Calculate Your Real Runway

Step 1: Current situation

• Cash in bank: $__________
• Monthly burn rate: $__________
• Simple math: Cash ÷ Burn = ________ months

Step 2: Adjust for reality

• Subtract 1 month for "oh shit" buffer: ________ months
• Subtract time for fundraising (if planning to raise): ________ months
• Real runway to launch: ________ months

Example calculation:

• Cash: $135k
• Burn: $45k/month
• Math runway: 3 months
• Minus buffer: 2 months
• Minus fundraising time (2 months): 0 months
• Translation: You need revenue NOW or you're dead.

The Brutal Truth About Running Out of Runway

Here's what happens when you run out of cash with no product:

• Month 1 before zero: Team morale tanks. People start looking for jobs.
• Week 2 before zero: Co-founder conversations get tense. "Should we keep going?"
• Week 1 before zero: Panic fundraising (never works — investors smell desperation)
• Day zero: Company dies. Years of work evaporate.

The only way out: Launch a product that generates revenue or traction BEFORE you hit zero.

The 8-Week Emergency MVP Sprint

If you have 3 months of runway, here's how to use 8 weeks to build and launch your SaaS:

Week 1-2: Ruthless Scoping (10 Days)

Day 1-2: Emergency product definition

• What's the ONE problem you're solving?
• Who will pay for it TODAY (not "eventually")?
• What's the absolute minimum feature set?

Day 3-4: Feature prioritization (kill 80% of your ideas)

• List every feature you want
• Mark which are MUST-HAVE vs NICE-TO-HAVE
• Delete every nice-to-have (you'll add them later if you survive)
• Cut must-haves in half (you're still overbuilding)

Day 5-10: Lock in technical partner and start building

• Don't spend 3 weeks vetting agencies
• Find one that can start THIS WEEK
• Sign contract, wire deposit, kick off immediately
• Foundation building starts (auth, database, hosting)

Milestone: Scope locked, development started, you have login working.

Week 3-5: Core Product Build (15 Days)

Focus: Build the ONE thing users will pay for

• Week 3: Core workflow (the main user flow)
• Week 4: Payments integration (Stripe) + essential features
• Week 5: Polish, bug fixes, mobile responsive

Daily standups with dev team:

• What shipped yesterday?
• What's shipping today?
• Any blockers?

Important: Start selling BEFORE it's done

• Week 4: Create landing page, start pre-selling
• Offer: "Beta access + 50% lifetime discount if you pay now"
• Goal: 10 paying early adopters before launch
• Why: Validates demand AND generates cash

Milestone: Working product. You can sign up, use core feature, and pay.

Week 6: Beta Launch (5 Days)

Day 1-2: Internal testing

• You and team test every flow
• Fix critical bugs
• Write simple help docs

Day 3-4: Beta user launch

• Invite 10-20 early users (friends, network, pre-orders)
• Watch them use it (screenshare sessions)
• Fix biggest pain points immediately

Day 5: Polish based on feedback

• 24-hour sprint to fix top 5 issues
• Prepare for public launch

Milestone: 10-20 users actively using your product. Feedback is coming in.

Week 7-8: Public Launch + Early Traction (10 Days)

Week 7: Public launch

• Post on Product Hunt (Tuesday-Thursday)
• Share on Twitter, LinkedIn, relevant communities
• Email your entire network
• Goal: 100 signups in first week

Week 8: Get your first 10 paying customers

• Personally reach out to every signup
• Offer onboarding calls
• Ask for feedback constantly
• Convert free users to paid
• Target: $2k-$5k MRR by end of week 8

Milestone: You're live. You have paying customers. You have revenue.

Ruthless Feature Prioritization: What to Cut

This is the hardest part. Here's what you can CUT from your MVP and add later:

Cut These (Add Post-Launch):

• ❌ Advanced admin dashboard (manually manage users in database)
• ❌ Team collaboration features (single-user first)
• ❌ Complex integrations (Zapier can bridge gaps temporarily)
• ❌ Sophisticated analytics (use Google Analytics for now)
• ❌ Multiple user roles/permissions (everyone is admin)
• ❌ Advanced reporting (export to CSV, users do their own)
• ❌ Mobile app (mobile-responsive web is enough)
• ❌ Onboarding tutorial (do personal onboarding calls instead)
• ❌ Custom design for every page (use component library)

Must-Haves (Cannot Launch Without):

• ✅ User auth (signup, login, password reset)
• ✅ Core workflow (the ONE thing your product does)
• ✅ Payment processing (Stripe checkout)
• ✅ Basic dashboard/home screen
• ✅ Mobile responsive (60% of traffic is mobile)
• ✅ Essential notifications (email confirmations)

The rule: If you can do it manually for the first 50 users, don't build it yet.

Validation While Building: Don't Wait to Sell

This is critical: Start selling BEFORE your product is done.

Week 2-3: Build Landing Page + Presell

Create simple landing page:

• Problem you solve (in customer's words)
• How you solve it (simple explanation)
• Pricing (with early-bird discount)
• CTA: "Get Beta Access + 50% Lifetime Discount - $49/mo (normally $99)"

Drive traffic:

• Email your network
• Post in relevant communities
• Cold outreach to target customers
• Linkedin posts

Goal: 10 pre-launch customers at $49-99/mo each

Why this works:

• Validates people will actually PAY (not just say "cool idea")
• Generates $500-1,000 before launch (extends runway)
• Creates committed early users who WANT you to succeed
• Gives you leverage to negotiate bridge funding if needed

Week 4-5: Do Customer Development Calls

While product is being built:

• Schedule 20-30 calls with target customers
• Show mockups/early prototype
• Ask: "Would you pay $X/mo for this?"
• If yes: "Great, I'll send you early access next week"
• Collect emails, presell when possible

This serves two purposes:

1. Validates demand (prevents building something nobody wants)
2. Creates launch waitlist (customers ready to go on day 1)

Real Founder Story: 10 Weeks Left, Launched in 6

Founder: Alex K., HR tech SaaS

The crisis:

• Raised $300k pre-seed 6 months ago
• Spent 6 months on customer research and planning
• $48k left in bank
• $18k monthly burn
• 10 weeks of runway remaining
• No product, no revenue, no traction

The emergency plan:

• Week 1: Cut burn to $12k/mo (deferred salaries, cut all non-essentials)
• Week 1: Hired AI-accelerated agency, started development immediately
• Week 2-3: Built core employee onboarding workflow
• Week 3: Created landing page, started preselling at $199/mo
• Week 4-5: Finished MVP, integrated Stripe, polish
• Week 6: Beta launch to 8 pre-sale customers

The results (Week 10 - when runway was supposed to end):

• 14 paying customers at $199/mo = $2,786 MRR
• Reduced burn to $8k/mo (lean team)
• Runway extended from 10 weeks to 6 months with revenue
• Raised $800k seed round 3 months later (had traction to show)

Alex's reflection: "We were 10 weeks from dead. Cutting burn bought us time, but the 6-week MVP sprint saved the company. We would have spent 6 months with a traditional agency and been bankrupt. The emergency mindset forced us to build only what mattered."

What to Do If You Have Even Less Time

If You Have 6 Weeks of Runway:

• Week 1: Extreme scope cut, start building immediately
• Week 2-4: Build absolute core feature only
• Week 5: Beta launch to 5 users
• Week 6: Public launch, get first revenue

If You Have 4 Weeks of Runway:

• Option 1: Emergency bridge funding (founder loans, credit cards, existing investor bridge)
• Option 2: Presell heavily BEFORE building (landing page + Stripe = validate demand first)
• Option 3: Pivot to concierge MVP (manual delivery while you build software)

If You Have 2 Weeks of Runway:

• You're in triage mode
• Focus: Presell, presell, presell
• Build: Landing page + payment processing only
• Deliver: Manually via spreadsheets/existing tools
• Goal: Generate $10k-20k in pre-orders to extend runway
• Then: Build the actual product with that cash

More tactical advice: Launch Your MVP Before Running Out of Runway

Cost Reality: Can You Afford to Build?

You're looking at your bank account thinking: "Can I afford to build this?"

8-week MVP sprint cost: $30k-$40k

If you have $135k in the bank:

• $40k for MVP development
• $90k for 2 months of operations
• $5k buffer
• Timeline: Launch by month 2, generate revenue by month 3

If you have $60k in the bank:

• Option 1: Cut burn to bone ($15k/mo) + build MVP ($35k) = can afford it
• Option 2: Presell $15k-20k first, then fund build from revenue
• Option 3: Bridge round from existing investors ($20k-30k)

Full cost breakdown: How Much Does an MVP Actually Cost in 2025?

Your Emergency Action Plan

If you're running out of runway, here's what to do THIS WEEK:

Monday: Reality Check

• Calculate real runway (cash ÷ burn)
• Decision point: Can you afford 8-week build? If no, consider presell-first approach

Tuesday-Wednesday: Ruthless Scoping

• Define absolute minimum MVP
• Cut everything non-essential
• Write 1-page product spec

Thursday-Friday: Start Building

• Find agency that can start Monday
• Sign contract, wire deposit
• Kick off development

Next Week: Validate + Sell

• Build landing page
• Start preselling
• Do customer development calls
• Get commitments from early users

The key: Start today. Not next week. Not "once we finalize the plan." Today.