the math doesn't work.
here's math that does.
you don't need ideology. you need a spreadsheet.
the saas tax
a typical small business pays for 5–8 software tools. CRM, project management, invoicing, scheduling, email marketing, inventory, support desk. each one charges monthly rent.
that's $5,000–$7,000 a year. over ten years, $50,000–$70,000. with zero equity. zero ownership. zero legal standing.
and that number only goes up. SaaS vendors raise prices 10–20% annually. they get acquired and sunset your plan. they hold your data hostage behind export fees. and your only recourse is to cancel and start over somewhere else.
the destroysaas math
instead of renting from a vendor, 20 businesses who need the same tool pledge $250/month each. that's $5,000/month — enough to retain a cell, cover hosting, and build real software. each business pays $250/month instead of $500/month for Salesforce.
over 3 years, as 30 more businesses join and pay access fees, the original pledgers' effective cost drops further. after 5 years, those 20 founding businesses have paid roughly half what they would have paid in saas rent — and they own the result.
same tool. same features. same uptime. lower cost. actual ownership. and because the source code is collectively owned and the legal entity gives you enforceable contracts, if anything goes wrong — you have standing. you can vote. you can fork the code and walk away with everything.
saas (10 years)
$60,000
you own nothing
destroysaas (10 years)
$6,000
you co-own everything
run your own numbers
enter the SaaS tools your business pays for. see what you're really spending — and what collective ownership looks like.
what you're paying now (saas)
$200
per month
$2,400
per year
$24,000
over 10 years
0 shares. 0 votes. 0 ownership. they can raise prices any time.
with destroysaas
$150
per month
co-own 3
cooperatives
$18,000
over 10 years
equity shares. voting rights. open-source code. legal standing. fork freedom.
10-year savings
$6,000
…and you actually own something at the end.
custom software used to be out of reach
five years ago, if your business needed custom software, the quote was $150,000 and six months. only enterprises could afford it. small businesses were stuck renting generic tools built for someone else's workflow.
ai collapsed the cost of the initial build. but 80% of software cost is maintenance — keeping it running, secure, and evolving. that hasn't changed.
destroysaas solves the last mile: 20 businesses pooling $250/month each is $5,000/month — enough to retain a cell, cover hosting, and build real software. as more businesses join and pay access fees, the per-member cost drops further. custom software is no longer out of reach for small business. you just need enough businesses with the same problem to split the cost.
real examples
landscaping company
Jobber ($70) + QuickBooks ($30) + Mailchimp ($20)
scheduling, invoicing, and client comms in one tool built for landscapers, not generic businesses.
boutique retail
Shopify ($79) + Square ($60) + Mailchimp ($20) + Homebase ($40)
inventory, POS, email, and scheduling built for independent retail — not a platform that takes a cut of every sale.
professional services
Asana ($125) + Harvest ($60) + FreshBooks ($35)
project tracking, time billing, and invoicing designed for consultants and agencies — not enterprise teams of 500.
side by side
you're already spending the money. the only question is whether you own anything at the end.