In episode 735, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where he categorizes the different levels of SaaS platform risk. He introduces a framework with three key factors: Replacement, Customer Concentration, and Lead Flow. Rob then defines eight levels of risk according to these factors and other vulnerabilities such as relying on open source – a hot topic with recent news about WordPress, WP Engine, and Automattic.

Hiring senior developers can really move the needle in your business, but if you bring on the wrong person, you can quickly burn through your runway. If you need help finding a vetted, senior, results-oriented developer, you should reach out to today’s sponsor, Lemon.io.

For years, they’ve been helping our audience find high quality, global talent at competitive rates, and they can help you too.

Longtime listener Chaz Yoon, hired a senior developer from Lemon.io and said his hire ”definitely knew his stuff, provided appropriate feedback and pushback, and had great communication, including very fluent English. He really exceeded my expectations.”

Chaz said he’d definitely use Lemon.io again when he’s looking for a senior level engineer.

To learn more and get a 15% discount on your first four weeks of working with a developer at lemon.io/startups.

• 2:32 – Are replacements available for this platform?
• 4:56 – How concentrated are your customers on this platform?
• 5:31 – What is your lead or customer flow?
• 8:54 – Level 1: almost no platform risk
• 10:04 – Level 2: reliant on a commoditized platform
• 11:49 – Level 3: using large cloud providers like AWS
• 15:33 – Level 4: deeply tied to open source software like WordPress
• 18:11 – Level 5: high switching costs, but replacements exist like in no-code
• 20:00 – Level 6: 100% lead flow risk
• 21:44 – Level 7: a friendly app ecosystem
• 23:24 – Level 8: aggressive platforms, few replacements, customer concentration

• Get Tickets for MicroConf US 2025, New Orleans
• TinySeed
• Rob Walling (@robwalling) | X
• Ask a Question on SFTROU
• How to find and validate business ideas from 75+ SaaS Marketplaces

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify