How Much It Actually Costs To Build A SaaS In 2026

Watch this next: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvkldfWDCuM "Anyone can build a tool. Not anyone can build a company." Darren Lee opens the spreadsheet on his software company and reads a full year of costs line by line. No revenue, no MRR, just where $565,000 actually went: $280K on engineers, $71K on ads, $100K on sales commissions, $50K on events, all self-funded, no VC. He splits it into building the thing and selling the thing, shows why 95% of the build is people, why the founder ha...