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Napoleon Hill, arguably one of the earliest producers of personal success literature and the author of Think and Grow Rich, once said, “First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.” This quote aligns perfectly with the idea and mission of this book and the overarching mission of the SaaS Field Manual project.

Software as a Service (SaaS) has completely changed the way we ideate, build, deploy, and maintain software. Gartner predicts the worldwide public cloud services market will grow to over $287 billion in 2018 and over $332 billion in 2019. Not since the industrial revolution has the opportunity presented itself for anyone, regardless of the money in your bank account, to become a millionaire with a single great idea and access to a software developer. These visionaries sit among us every day going about their business just waiting for the right opportunity to bring their idea to life. In fact, if you’re reading this book, you may be one of those visionaries. If so, you’re exactly the reason it was written.

For nearly twenty years I have been helping businesses bring their ideas to life or helping polish ideas whose edges still needed a bit of sanding. It was only after recognizing that most of my clients tend to make the same mistakes over and over again, that I realized many of those mistakes could have been prevented. How you might ask? Unfortunately, the requirements are high.

Founders could magically gain 20 years of practical experience, they could hire a high-priced consultant, or they could find the time to read and listen to hundreds of blogs, business books and podcasts. All of which come with their own costs. In the end, I found hard-working founder/CEOs collecting and organize all their own information—essentially reinventing the wheel for each new idea. It would be so much easier if that wasn’t a requirement for success.

As I began to recognize the patterns, each founder’s ideas became a destination. It was clear that no one had ever offered an easy-to-follow roadmap for visionaries to take on their journey. Thus was born the SaaS Field Manual (SFM) project. With my vision firmly fixed on a goal to “Share wisdom and best practices for software companies and the humans that build them,” I began documenting the map. A map to help founders stop making the mistakes that so many before them had made; and without self-curating hundreds of blog posts, podcasts, and business books. A map undoubtedly filled with detours, derailments and diversions, but one that can act as a north star to keep you pointed in the right direction.

This framework is not intended to teach you how to build your company (we’re recording podcasts, writing additional content, and providing resources to help with that). But it will tell you what you will need on your journey, why you’ll need it, and when things should happen. This journey will be long, difficult, and often times very lonely. Unlike most books that teach you about building a piece of software or growing your business, the SaaS Field Manual project also places importance on self-care. If you don’t take care of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies during this journey it will make your trip even more arduous and painful. You will lose (or gain) weight, you will lay awake at night wishing you could turn your brain off, your stress levels will be higher than they ever have been before. It will also make your teammates, family members, and friends much less likely to enjoy your company and leadership. The SFM Framework will challenge you to spend one hour in self-care for every four hours you spend working. Rather than trying to achieve some sort of work-life balance, simply abandon the idea of work hard, play hard and replace it with a new construct; one of work gentle, play gentle. You (and everyone around you) will appreciate the result.

If you are a visionary with an idea and you’re ready to start trudging the road of happy destiny then I invite you to keep reading. May your mantra, like ours, be to cultivate joy and reduce suffering; including your own. It’s time to turn a visionary into a founder.