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嗨，HN，我是一个长期的读者，这次第一次发帖。我在2024年辞去工作后正在建立一个SaaS公司。我曾在一家FAANG公司（算是个“血汗工厂”）工作。离开FAANG后，我加入了德克萨斯州的一家中型公司。在看到离开FAANG是多么糟糕的决定后，我是自愿离开的。我在这两家公司都是从工程师转为管理者。我并不反对管理，但我现在已经足够成熟，应该担任L5级别的软件工程师。我逐渐意识到，工作其实比创业要舒适得多。在过去的六个月里，我没有停下工作，持续工作15到16个小时。我需要做很多事情，比如写代码、销售、市场营销、行政工作、合规、跟踪账户、管理客户流失，这些事情似乎永无止境。这段经历真是艰难，但我们（两人团队）甚至连生存资金都没有。我们曾有两个客户，但最近失去了一个，真是可惜！我们从一个不知名的风险投资集团筹集了不到10万美元，但结果完全是一场灾难。他们实际上拖累了我们，误导了我们，并要求我们按照“他们”的方式做事。我真希望当初没有申请或接受这笔资金。这让我对风险投资留下了苦涩的印象。他们没有人脉，实际上还在我们与一些投资者会面时抹黑了我们，导致一些投资者完全对我们失去了兴趣。现在，我们面临一个困境。在关闭公司之前，我们准备最后再拼一次。问题是—— 1. 我们所处的领域并没有专业知识。我们是技术人员和通才（数据、机器学习、人工智能、Python、C++）。实施和技术解决方案对我们来说从来都不是问题。我们能构建。 2. 我已经阅读并意识到，没有人脉就没有生意。要么你有现成的创始人和客户网络，要么通过像YC这样的风险投资建立一个网络。想想看，任何你构建的东西都有买家排队，或者至少能提供很好的建议和早期验证，那是多么美好。我们应该完全转向一个新的领域吗？我们在某个特定领域（会计、税务、供应链等）没有专业知识，但我们对技术软件（比如数据管道、机器学习、人工智能模型）有很好的了解。如果我们做软件对软件（例如Cursor、Lovable），我们担心闭源可能会对我们造成伤害。你认为开源会是更好的赚钱路径吗？我们可以回到就业市场，但根据我的了解，其他地方的情况并不乐观，找工作大约需要六个月。我想再试一次。我们在没有太多指导的情况下陷入了困境。你有什么建议吗？

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Hi HN, Long time reader here. I am posting for the first time. I am building a SaaS after leaving my job in 2024. I was at one of the FAANG (sweat shop one). After FAANG I joined a mid-size company in Texas. I left on my own accord after seeing how terrible decision it was to leave FAANG. I was an engineer turned manager at both companies. I am not against managing but I am old enough now to be in L5 SWE role.I am coming to realization that job was more comfortable than building the startup. I haven't stopped working for last 6 months and consistently worked 15-16 hours. I have to do so many things such as write code to some extent, sales, marketing, administrative work, compliance, keeping track of accounts, managing churn. It just never ends.It's been a hell of experience but we (team of 2) are not even bringing in survival money. We had two customers and lost one recently. What a shame!We raised money from an unknown VC group (sub $100k) but it has been total disaster. They actually pulled us down, misguided us, and demanded things that we do things "their" way. I wish I had never applied or took funding. It has left a bitter taste in my mouth regarding VC. They have no network and in fact they bad mouthed us to a few investors we met with that resulted in some investers ghosting us completely.Now, we are facing a dilemma. We are giving it one last push before we shut things down. Here is the problem - 1. We are in the domain where we have no expertise in. We are technologists and generalists (Data, ML, AI, Python, C++). Implementation and technical solutions are never problem for us. We can build.2. I have read and come to realization that without network there is no business. Either you have existing network of founders, customers or you make one through VCs like YC. How sweet is that anything you build you have buyers lined up or at least providing great advice and early validation.Should we pivot to completely new domain? We dont have expertise in one particular domains area (accounting, tax, supply chain etc.), but we have good knowledge of technology software (think data pipelines, ML, AI models). If we do software for software (e.g. Cursor, Lovable), we worry that closed source might hurt us. Do you think having open source would be a better path for making money?We can back to job market but things are not green on other side and it is taking 6 months or so for people to get jobs based on my reading. I want to try one last time.We are stuck without much guidance. What would be your recommendation?

请问HN：如何在没有网络或风险投资资金的情况下通过SaaS赚钱？