SaaS Academy is gone.
Not "pivoting". Gone. Precision acquired it in 2026, the program stopped taking new members, and Dan Martell moved on to coaching under his own name. Which leaves a lot of founders who were saving up for that famous sales call suddenly shopping for SaaS Academy alternatives.
I've spent years building next to other founders. I scaled my previous business to seven figures, and today I'm growing Distribb toward $100K MRR in public. So no, I don't think high-ticket founder support is a scam. The question is where that money goes furthest in 2026.
Here are the 7 options I'd look at, with real prices and the entry bar for each.
What Happened to SaaS Academy?
Quick version: Dan Martell started SaaS Academy in 2017, coached 3,000+ founders, and the program clocked 52 exits and 350+ growth playbooks along the way. In 2026 it was acquired by Precision and closed to new members.
I wrote the full breakdown in is SaaS Academy worth it, including the 3.7/5 Trustpilot score and the complaints about pricing you could only learn on a sales call.
The lesson for your next pick: favor programs with public pricing and a clear entry bar. You'll notice most of this list passes that test. SaaS Academy never did.
1. Profitable Founder Club
Full disclosure: this one's mine. I built it because nothing like it existed for bootstrapped SaaS founders at my stage.
The Club is a mastermind at scale for bootstrapped SaaS founders.
How it works:
- → A batch of 7 to 10 founders at your stage
- → One call a week for 12 weeks
- → A monthly live Q&A with Florian, and the Club on Discord
- → $97 a year, price locked. Paying customers required
SaaS Academy sold you a coach and a curriculum. The Club bets on the other thing that worked about it: a small room of operators at your stage, looking at your actual numbers, every week. No $20K sales call required to find out what it costs.
Join Profitable Founder Club →
Best for: bootstrapped SaaS founders, from pre-revenue to $50K MRR, who want peer pressure that shows up in revenue.
2. TinySeed SaaS Institute
The closest like-for-like replacement for SaaS Academy's coaching model, run by the TinySeed team (the people behind the accelerator that's backed nearly 200 SaaS startups).
It's built for founders past $1M ARR scaling toward $10M. You get 1:1 coaching with experienced SaaS operators, subject-matter mentors across growth, sales, product and finance, plus a curated peer circle and in-person retreats. No equity, just a monthly fee.
One of their coaches has driven $2B+ in revenue through marketing. That's the caliber of operator SaaS Academy charged five figures to put you near.
Best for: $1M+ ARR founders who specifically wanted the coaching side of SaaS Academy, not just community.
3. SaaS Club Accelerate
Omer Khan has interviewed 497+ B2B SaaS founders on The SaaS Podcast since 2014. Accelerate is where he coaches directly.
It's a 12-month program for six-figure SaaS founders scaling toward $1M ARR. The first 90 days run as a sprint: a 1:1 kickoff on your baseline metrics, a 90-day roadmap in week one, then bi-weekly group calls with Omer plus direct DM access between them.
One caveat: pricing is only shared on an application call, which is exactly what people complained about with SaaS Academy. The difference is scale. This is one coach with a small group, not a sales floor.
Best for: six-figure founders who want one experienced coach on their business for a full year.
4. MicroConf Masterminds
Rob Walling's matching service pairs you with bootstrapped founders at your exact stage. Over 1,000 matches made so far, across 50+ countries, with $150M+ in collective ARR among the groups.
Pricing scales with your revenue, and it's public:
- → $250 if you're at $500-$5K ARR
- → $450 at $5K-$25K ARR
- → $750 at $25K-$100K ARR
- → $1,500 at $100K-$500K ARR
- → $2,500 past $500K ARR
You get matched, run a structured 8-week momentum phase with two mentor sessions, then most groups just keep meeting on their own. It's a one-time fee for a peer group that can last years.
Best for: founders at any stage who want a long-term peer group and the lowest price on this list relative to value.
5. Vistage
The biggest CEO peer advisory organization in the world: 45,000+ members across 35 countries, running since 1957.
The format is a monthly peer group of 12-16 local CEOs led by a trained Chair, plus 1:1 executive coaching sessions and speaker workshops. Budget $10K-$22K a year depending on the program.
The catch for a SaaS founder: your group will mostly run construction firms, distributors and agencies. Great for becoming a better CEO, useless for a churn question. If SaaS Academy's appeal was SaaS-specific playbooks, Vistage is the opposite trade.
Best for: CEOs past $1M who want serious leadership development and don't need software-specific peers.
6. Hampton
Sam Parr's private network for high-growth founders. $8,500 a year, and the entry bar is steep: $3M+ in revenue, $3M+ raised, or a $10M+ exit. Acceptance hovers around 5-10%.
They place you in a core group of about 8 founders that meets monthly with a trained facilitator. Everyone crossed the same revenue bar and signed the same confidentiality terms, so the money talk gets real fast.
This is where I'd point the SaaS Academy grads who outgrew it. If you're at $3M+ and the coaching-program format started feeling beneath your stage, a vetted room of peers beats another curriculum.
Best for: founders past $3M who want a confidential peer group, not another coach.
7. Dynamite Circle
Running since 2011 for location-independent founders. 1,400+ members in 50+ countries, $697 a year, and you need at least $100K in annual revenue to get in.
You get virtual masterminds in groups of 4-8, monthly 1:1 connect calls, an active forum, and 13+ in-person events a year including DCBKK in Bangkok every October. Not SaaS-only, but heavy on software and productized services.
At $697 it costs less than most coaching programs charge per month. If SaaS Academy's price tag was the dealbreaker, start here or with MicroConf.
Best for: remote founders past $100K a year who want peers plus operational events without a five-figure invoice.
How the 7 Compare
| Option | Price | Stage | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profitable Founder Club | $97/yr | Pre-revenue to $50K MRR | SaaS mastermind |
| TinySeed SaaS Institute | Monthly fee | $1M+ ARR | 1:1 coaching + mentors |
| SaaS Club Accelerate | On application | 6 figures ARR | 12-month coaching |
| MicroConf Masterminds | $250-$2,500 once | Any | Matched peer group |
| Vistage | $10K-$22K/yr | $1M+ revenue | CEO peer advisory |
| Hampton | $8,500/yr | $3M+ revenue | Facilitated core group |
| Dynamite Circle | $697/yr | $100K+/yr | Community + events |
How to Actually Pick
Three questions, in order:
1. Do you want a coach or peers? A coach hands you playbooks. Peers catch the mistake you can't see. I compared the two models in mastermind vs business coach. SaaS Academy was coaching. Most of what's replaced it is peers, and I think that's the market telling you something.
2. What stage are you really at? Be honest. A $1M+ program when you're at $8K MRR buys you advice you can't use yet. Match the room to your numbers.
3. Would 10x the price still be cheap if it works? That's the math that makes the decision easy. If the answer is no, you're buying motivation, not use.
FAQ
Is SaaS Academy still accepting members?
No. After the Precision acquisition in 2026, SaaS Academy stopped accepting new members. The brand's content lives on under Precision, but the coaching program as founders knew it is closed.
Is Dan Martell still coaching founders?
Yes, independently. He coaches under his own name at danmartell.com and backs Precision through Martell Ventures. But it's a personal-brand operation now, not the 3,000-founder program SaaS Academy was.
What is the cheapest SaaS Academy alternative?
MicroConf Masterminds, if you're early: $250-$750 one time for most bootstrapped founders, and the group usually keeps meeting for years. Dynamite Circle at $697 a year is the cheapest full community with in-person events.
Which alternative is best for founders under $50K MRR?
Profitable Founder Club or MicroConf Masterminds. Both are built for bootstrapped SaaS founders before the $1M ARR mark, which is exactly the stage TinySeed Institute, Hampton and Vistage won't take you at.
The Bottom Line
SaaS Academy's exit is a price correction, not a tragedy. The market figured out that most of the value in a $20K coaching program was the other founders in the room, and the room is available for a lot less.
Past $1M ARR, go TinySeed Institute or Hampton. Under it, get into a small group of peers at your stage and let them see your real numbers every week.
That second one is exactly what I built the Club for. If that's your stage, the Join Profitable Founder Club button is up in section 1.
