Fall 2024 TinySeed Applications Q&A

Why It Matters

TinySeed offers an alternative to traditional VC for early-stage B2B SaaS founders by pairing capital with long-term, operational guidance and a growing peer network, which can materially accelerate product-market fit and scaling without forcing founders onto a VC trajectory. For founders seeking non‑dilutive‑mindset funding plus practical growth expertise, this program can shorten critical learning curves and improve fundraising or revenue outcomes.

Summary

TinySeed has opened Fall 2024 applications for its year-long accelerator targeting ambitious B2B SaaS bootstrappers, with a deadline of September 15 and the next cohort starting November 1. The program combines bootstrapper-friendly funding with hands-on mentorship, masterminds, expert-led modules and a peer community (roughly 250–275 alumni/members) rather than the compressed, VC-style 90-day sprint. Regional program directors for the Americas and AMIA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) will begin interviews immediately and plan to fund companies within weeks. Organizers stressed their emphasis on sustainable growth support, a structured application process, and prompt responses to applicants.

Original Description

TinySeed is a year-long, remote accelerator designed for early-stage SaaS founders. Our program is designed to help founders with a revenue-generating SaaS optimize product-market fit and grow faster.

In this livestream, the TinySeed team (Rob Walling, Tracy Osborn, and Alex McQuade) answered questions from the audience about the application process.

Fall 2024 applications are open until from September 2 to September 15th.

For more information about the program and application process, check out https://tinyseed.com/program

Questions Answered:

12:59 - What is the cheat sheet to be selected?

14:27 - Curious if you have ever worked with companies that have raised some angel investment BEFORE approaching Tiny Seed?

16:00 - We are in B2B AI. We currently have one customer that is a mix of SaaS and consulting. All future customers will be pure SaaS, no consulting, but we haven’t closed any of those yet. Are we too early for TinySeed?

18:20 - How does your funding level change for companies with, say, $2K MRR at 2 months old vs a 2 year old business doing $10K MRR? Does the funding remain the same, with your equity changing? What do these funding and equity splits look like on both ends of the spectrum?

19:45 - Is TinySeed strictly for B2B companies? No B2C?

22:00 - What kind of knowledge should I expect to get from TinySeed mentoring regarding sales? I'm a technical founder with no sales experience at all and that has always bothered me a lot.

24:20 - Do you recommend applying if we did not get 1k monthly revenue yet?

25:40 - Does TinySeed consider international opportunities?

30:00 - Who would you say TinySeed is NOT for?

33:50 - ​​I love the ethos behind TinySeed. We are mostly considering applying for mentorship and support, the money is secondary. What's the cadence, the suggested time spent per week over that first year?

35:15 - Are most of your accepted companies repeat applications?

35:30 - Is there a minimum MRR that TinySeed expects from the applicants?

35:45 - Do you have experience with French companies trying the US market for example?

37:00 - If we don't get into TinySeed this fall (due to not having revenue yet), when is the next time to apply?

37:15 - I am building a B2B2C product - would it be a bad idea to apply?

38:00 - Would you consider SaaS with good & growing MRR, huge TAM, growing market but because of some early miscalculation in defining ICP, the churn is pretty bad.

39:50 - ​​Does TinySeed invest in Edtech SaaS?

41:00 - ​​What are the obligations founders get regarding TinySeed? Dividends I guess, but what would be the timing?

44:00 - How much revenue should my startup have to be considered for the accelerator?

44:15 - Is it possible to get funding without having a company setup but with an active subscription business that already has positive cash flow?

45:15 - Do you accept companies from Lebanon?

45:30 -Is there an expected period when TinySeed is looking for an ROI?

47:08 - I currently sell directly to teachers, but the goal is to get enough users at any given school that the administration wants to buy seats for all teachers. How would that model fit with TinySeed?

49:10 - What if the company has an agency that is funding the development of the SaaS and the platform development will be completed and launched this month? Could the monthly revenue of the agency be used?

50:10 - Having less than $500 MRR, would you still recommend applying this time and reapplying back in feb/march? Does seeing the startup growth evolution help, or is it better to do it once?

50:30 - What would you suggest if my startup has no MRR?

51:30 - Have you invested in companies from SEA (South East Asia)?

53:00 - What is your view on the public benefit corporation form of business for a startup applying?

53:45 - If we have 3 founders, are we all getting mentorship?

54:15 - Do you invest in only revenue generating companies or is pre-revenue fine?

56:45 - Do you allow applications from Africa?

57:50 - What company/founder risks would make you avoid investing in a company?