How does co-funding work for a SaaS replacement build?
Co-funding turns a €20,000–€60,000 bespoke build into a ~€5,000–€12,000 investment per company. Around five firms with the same core use case form a cohort: they collectively fund one build, each get their own isolated instance to run, and each get founding-member pricing locked for 10 years. Payment is 50% at kick-off, 50% at go-live. The founding members take the real risk (they fund upfront) and get the real reward: a fraction of a bespoke build's cost, influence over the roadmap, and a 5% revenue share on new customers until half their build contribution is returned. Later joiners pay a separate entry and licence fee: the founding cohort's early risk is not given away for free.
Side-by-side comparison
| Founding member (co-funder) | Late joiner (after launch) | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay | One-off build share (~€5,000–€12,000) + flat ~€2,500/yr running fee | Entry fee + annual licence fee: no build contribution |
| When you pay | Upfront, before the build starts: split across the cohort | After launch: when the system is already live and proven |
| Influence on the product | Yes: you shape the v1 feature set; your workflows built in first | No: you use what the founding cohort built |
| Pricing lock | 10 years from day one: no annual hikes, locked in your contract | Standard annual licence: pricing terms at time of joining |
| Revenue share | 5% of each new customer's combined fees (entry fee + first-year licence) returned to each founding member until half your build contribution is recovered | No revenue share |
| Own isolated instance | Yes: separate servers, separate database, separate backups | Yes: same isolated-instance model; your data is yours |
| Risk | Higher: you fund before the system exists; protected by contract and escrow | Lower: you join a live, proven system |
Related questions
Around five is the target: enough to make the shared cost meaningful (each paying a fraction of a bespoke build), but small enough that the feature set stays focused and coherent. If the right cohort has three or four firms, we adjust the economics accordingly; the goal is a sensible per-firm cost and a buildable, coherent scope.
Sources
- Rollout IT founding-five commercial model (2025)
- Retool 2026 State of Internal Tools: ~35% of organisations have already replaced a SaaS with custom software
- Rollout IT build and running-cost estimates
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