This sounds like a tough situation. I wonder how well you'll fare if you're looking for capital now, when all you've got is an alpha product, no customers, no

This sounds like a tough situation. I wonder how well you'll fare if you're looking for capital now, when all you've got is an alpha product, no customers, no growth, no 'functioning business' to speak of. B2B SaaS products are often only 'pseudo saas', i.e. bigger customers pay for a customised version and personal service. Smaller customers buy the no-frills whitelabel. Does it make sense for you to target some of the bigger customers with a great deal / customised version offering? It's possible that if sold right, the first customer(s) could effectively pay for you to take it from alpha to live product. Maybe. The other option that springs to mind is to go do some really slick saleswork off the back of the alpha product demo, and get prospective customers to sign contracts with a really compelling introductory rate. Once they've signed the contract and committed with you (e.g. for a year) then they're off the market and your competitor will have to wait in the wings for a year. Perhaps this is a bit of a fantasy, it depends on your sales skills and the details of the offer you'd be making. TLDR: you're in the business of selling software, not just writing it. Maybe you can catch a break by really pushing yourselves on the sales work right now rather than coding like crazy.