Grow your money while you grow independent SaaS companies.
Unicorns aren’t the only animals in the zoo.
If you’re here, you already know the current VC model is broken for the vast majority of both B2B SaaS founders and investors.
Investors infuse huge amounts of cash into promising startups. Founders feel pressure to grow at unsustainable rates. The stakes are insanely high for everyone. Why do we define success this way?
“IPO or bust” can’t be the only way to succeed. 80+ thriving TinySeed companies prove it isn’t.
TinySeed invests broadly in a unique niche: early-stage, mostly bootstrapped B2B SaaS companies. These are companies that don’t need a ton of funding, because they’re already capital-efficient when they join TinySeed.
Dilution is minimal. And once you get past about $1m ARR, there’s a very liquid exit market.
Unlike in traditional VC funding, success in indie SaaS doesn’t require founders to raise a ton of money to target an IPO (or die trying). It’s possible to get venture-like returns without the venture risk.
130+
investments made to date
>$40M
combined assets under management
40+
world-class experts as mentors
TinySeed provides the supportive community founders need to keep going
What’s the difference between a founder who gives up, and one who keeps going? Often, it’s community. When founders can lean on their peers, they get valuable insight, strategic advice, and support.
That’s why TinySeed isn’t just money. Our founders enter a structured, year-long accelerator program in “batches” of their peers. This tight-knit structure offers an antidote to the loneliness of startup life, and can even promote friendly competition among founders in the same niche.
With regular online and in-person events, useful subject matter training, a lively Slack group, and on-demand access to 100+ experts, more than 50% of TinySeed founders say the money matters less than the community.
“TinySeed emboldened me as an entrepreneur. TinySeed empowered me to make the key hires needed in order to handle the spike in growth that was only made possible by the fact that I had made those hires. I know, it’s a little bit of a paradox. The community is probably the greatest gain, as it not only provided me access to a ton of knowledge, but it also instilled a great sense of self-confidence knowing I could be counted with so many amazing founders (but I still feel flattered to be a part of this group).”
Why invest with us?
We focus on winning venture-like returns without the draining "IPO or bust" mentality. Here’s how we do it:
Capital-efficient B2B SaaS
If a founder is already earning revenue, there’s room to grow
Horizontal (20%) and vertical (80%) SaaS
Most often, the riches are in the niches (cliché but true)
Here, a 9-figure exit to a private equity firm or a strategic partner is a home run. And far fewer companies outright fail and return $0.
Who should invest in TinySeed?
Our ideal investors
TinySeed investors are a helpful bunch. Our LPs bring cash, yes — but they also offer networking opportunities, mentorship, and guidance to founders. So it makes sense that our investment pool includes many exited B2B SaaS entrepreneurs looking to support and advise earlier-stage founders.
We also invite investors who might normally seek later-stage B2B SaaS PE growth funds to become part of the process earlier. You might be surprised at the returns available! Through the TinySeed Syndicate, we also offer follow-on, later-stage, and larger investment opportunities.
If you’re interested in shepherding the next generation of SaaS into success while building a stronger personal network, please reach out for a chat.
Larry Cobrin, MSPCFO
“I found I was missing the advice of mentors and a community. TinySeed has not applied any ‘get big or fail’ mandates, but has opened the door to great mentors. The feedback from the community has helped me address over a dozen problems I have faced as I grew my business.”
Jane Portman, Userlist
“With TinySeed, we extended our runway and focused on growing Userlist for a whole year, guilt-free and worry-free.
It's amazing to walk hand-in-hand with other companies from your batch, and get super-qualified advice whenever you need it.”
Keith Perhac, Segmetrics
“In just a few short months, TinySeed has helped SegMetrics grow more than I thought was possible in such a short time.
The help of not only the mentors, but also the other founders, has given us expert advice on every part of our business and marketing.”
TinySeed vs. angel investing
“I’m interested in supporting early-stage SaaS. Why shouldn’t I just pick one I like and write an angel check?”
Well, of course you can. But writing individual angel checks doesn’t provide the same access and benefits as investing through TinySeed. Our founders choose us not just for funding, but for the unmatched community support, guidance, and networking opportunities we offer.
TinySeed receives hundreds of applicants for every application round we run. This means we get to be extremely selective about the companies we choose to fund. Our deal flow isn’t limited by waiting for the right company to float along — it’s a river of high-quality opportunities.
I've made around twenty individual angel and venture scout fund investments, and maybe half that many investments in various venture funds.
Investing in TinySeed gives you access to a type of investment that's very hard to get broad access to — SaaS companies that aim to be profitable from the start, which would traditionally have been bootstrapped and run profitably.
You still get access to great growth, but with a type of software startup that's less dependent on venture capital, and less vulnerable to venture capital drying up.”
— Eric DeMenthon, TinySeed Fund 1 and Fund 2 Investor
Our unbeatable advantage:
We’ve built the entire B2B SaaS founder ecosystem
Co-founded by serial entrepreneur, author, and speaker Rob Walling, TinySeed is the only founder accelerator program that comes with an entire ecosystem built in.
Funding is just one part of the TinySeed experience. We’re plugged into every part of the SaaS founder journey, from pre-revenue ideas to 9-figure exits.
How it works:
Founders come to us through MicroConf, the premier B2B SaaS conference and community. Or they find us through our long-running podcast, Startups For The Rest of Us.
They learn from us on Slack, YouTube, and in person. And then they apply to TinySeed.
Once founders are accepted into the TinySeed Accelerator, they grow their businesses alongside each other. With the support of our mentors and investors (that’s you!) they become the next TinySeed success stories.
Founders stay in the TinySeed community to advise and mentor future batches.
Compare this self-supporting ecosystem to many other startup accelerators, which offer no structure or support to their founders past the 6-month mark. (To say nothing of pushing founders to take enormous amounts of money, cede control of the direction of their business, and burn out.)
Jonathan Weinberg, Builder Prime
“After just a couple of months with TinySeed, I have already learned and applied so many new practices in my business and have seen my conversion rate more than double from where it was before. The mentors and other founders have been incredible to work with.”
Andy Hawkes, Loadster
“Joining TinySeed was a great move for Loadster. It's an incredibly supportive group of founders and mentors, and the well-aligned funding terms helped me move faster while staying true to the reasons I started the company to begin with.”
Craig Hewitt, Castos
“Joining TinySeed is one of the best decisions I've made for the future of the company. The community, mentors, and support we got during our year long program was invaluable to us, and the result now is we're on a fast growth trajectory in a competitive market.”
Two ways to invest in TinySeed
Invest in a TinySeed Fund
We believe investing broadly into the earliest stages of the Independent SaaS market — specifically, the set of B2B SaaS companies who are not necessarily reliant on traditional venture capital — can provide venture returns with less than venture risk.
The TinySeed funds are the core of our investment approach. We invest $120-$300k in batches of 10-20 companies, and run a year long remote accelerator for those companies.
Read our full investment thesis, and apply to invest in TinySeed below.
Join the TinySeed Syndicate
We quite often see investment opportunities that fall outside the core thesis of the TinySeed Funds.
These kinds of investment opportunities are B2B SaaS companies that may be at later stage (e.g. > $1m ARR), looking for secondary liquidity (i.e. the founders take some money off the table), acquisition financing or simply larger investments than TinySeed funds make.
The TinySeed Syndicate is for those kinds of investments, and we encourage any accredited investor to apply (though there are some benefits for TinySeed LPs specifically.)
“As an asset class, small B2B SaaS companies with revenue have huge potential. There aren’t many business investments where growing to a medium-sized business constitutes a home-run. TinySeed is the only GP in this category with the extended community, fair terms, and stellar reputation necessary to attract top businesses in this space.”