Founder stories
Browse Stories
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Key Statistics
Stories
99
Avg Time
3 years
Fastest
0 days
Solo
57%
Top growth channel
SEO / Contenu (99)
Tyler Tringas
How I built a $20K MRR micro-SaaS while traveling
I built Storemapper while traveling as a digital nomad. It started as a simple store locator widget and grew into a stable micro-SaaS business. The...
$480K/an·$1K MRR dans 6 months·Solo
SaaSE-commerce🇺🇸 US
Cory Zue
How I built a $10K+ MRR boilerplate business as a side project
SaaS Pegasus started as a side project while I had a full-time job. It's a Django boilerplate that saves developers weeks of setup time. The Origin...
$105K/an·$10K MRR dans 2 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationOutils Développeur🇿🇦 ZA
Pat Walls
From side project to $100K/month with founder interviews
I started Starter Story as a side project to interview founders about how they started their businesses. It grew into a full-time business doing $100K...
$6M/an·$10K MRR dans 3 years·Solo
SaaSCréation de contenu🇺🇸 US
Ricardo Ghekiere
Acquired at $1,500/mo, scaled to $274K/month with paid ads
We acquired Betterpic when it was doing $1,500/month. Through multi-channel paid advertising, we scaled it to $274K/month. The Acquisition Buyin...
$3.2M/an·$10K MRR dans 7 months·Équipe
SaaSAI / ML🇺🇸 US
Ajay Goel
24-year SaaS veteran bootstraps Gmail tool with $10K investment
After 24 years in SaaS, I built GMass with just $10K initial investment and 11 employees. Bootstrap Forever I've been bootstrapping since the 90...
$10K MRR dans 1 year·Solo
Extension ChromeProductivité🇺🇸 US
EG
Eran Galperin
After failed VC startup, bootstrapped gym software to $3M ARR and 8-figure exit
After a failed VC-backed startup, I bootstrapped Gymdesk while working a day job. 4 years to $12K MRR, then accelerated to $3M ARR. Learning from F...
vendue pour $32.5M·$100K ARR dans 8 years·Solo
SaaSSanté & Bien-être🇺🇸 US
AT
Alex Turnbull
Journey to $100K blog series with radical transparency built $5M ARR
Our "Journey to $100K" blog series with radical transparency got featured in 100+ publications and built Groove to $5M ARR. Radical Transparency...
$5M/an·$100K ARR dans 5 years·Solo
SaaSMarketing🇺🇸 US
LW
Leo Widrich
Wrote around 150 guest posts in 9 months to reach 100K users
I wrote around 150 guest posts in 9 months, close to one every other day. Content drove 70%+ of Buffer's signups and we hit 100K users in 10 months....
$25M/an·$10K MRR dans 10 months·Équipe
SaaSMarketing🇦🇹 AT
Tim Soulo
CMO who led Ahrefs marketing to $100M+ ARR with zero sales team
Tim Soulo joined Ahrefs as CMO (Ahrefs was founded by Dmytro Gerasymenko) and led the marketing strategy that grew the company to $100M+ ARR with no s...
$150M/an·$100K ARR dans 10 years·Solo
SaaSMarketing🇸🇬 SG
Rand Fishkin
Mom and son startup built Whiteboard Friday into multi-million ARR
Moz started as a mom and son startup. Whiteboard Friday was our worst performing content for 2-3 years, then became our 1 growth driver. The White...
$100K ARR dans 8 years·Équipe
SaaSMarketing🇺🇸 US
Nick Francis
Long ball growth strategy: $40 CAC, recouped in the first month
Help Scout's "long ball" growth strategy kept CAC at $40, recouped in the customer's first month. 10,000+ customers with only about $6.8M raised ($800...
$30M/an·$10K MRR dans 2 years·Équipe
SaaSMarketing🇺🇸 US
SE
Steli Efti
Found content niche where nobody was writing about sales
Nobody in Silicon Valley was writing about sales. We found that gap and owned it. Switched to recording voice instead of writing to remove friction....
$40M/an·$100K ARR dans 5 years·Équipe
SaaSMarketing🇺🇸 US
Brian Dean
Failed with first 5 businesses, created Skyscraper Technique, acquired by Semrush
I failed with my first 5 online businesses before Backlinko worked. Created the "Skyscraper Technique" which became an industry standard. Eventually a...
$100K ARR dans 3 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationÉducation🇺🇸 US
Brian Halligan
HubSpot
Coined "inbound marketing", built $38B company from 3 customers
We coined the term "inbound marketing" and built HubSpot into a $38B company. Started with just 3 customers. Earned attention by being helpful. Cre...
$2.9B/an·$100K ARR dans 10 years·Équipe
SaaSMarketing🇺🇸 US
Des Traynor
Wrote 93 of first 100 blog posts, content is majority of acquisition
I personally wrote 93 of Intercom's first 100 blog posts. Content became the majority of our customer acquisition. Now at $300M+ revenue. Founder-L...
$382M/an·$100K ARR dans 7 years·Équipe
SaaSMarketing🇮🇪 IE
Jason Cohen
4th bootstrapped company to $1M+, "A Smart Bear" blog built massive authority
WP Engine is my 4th bootstrapped company to hit $1M+. My "A Smart Bear" blog built massive authority that attracted customers and investors. Serial...
$400M/an·$100K ARR dans 8 years·Équipe
SaaSOutils Développeur🇺🇸 US
Marcus Sheridan
$35M in sales from a single article answering "how much does a fiberglass pool cost"
One single article answering "how much does a fiberglass pool cost?" has generated $35M in sales as of February 2026. This became the "They Ask, You A...
$100K ARR dans 9 years·Équipe
Agence / ServiceMarketing🇺🇸 US
OS
Oleg Shchegolev
Started 2008 with 2 tools, bootstrapped for a decade before one VC round, then NYSE
We started Semrush in 2008 with just 2 tools. We bootstrapped for about a decade, then raised a single $37-40M institutional round in 2018 before goin...
vendue pour $1.9B·$100K ARR dans 15 years·Équipe
SaaSMarketing🇺🇸 US
MC
Maciej Cupial
From Bankruptcy to $100K ARR: A 2.5 Year Struggle
Maciej Cupial from Poland had a background as a programmer and entrepreneur. After a challenging 2.5 years building Calendesk, he finally reached $100...
$179K/an·$100K ARR dans 2 years·Équipe
SaaSProductivité🇵🇱 PL
Ali Salah
Status Page SaaS: Learning Customer Support While Reaching $1K MRR
Ali Salah built Instatus, a service for creating status pages. Reaching $1K MRR was his goal for 2020. Product-Market Fit Initially offered a fr...
$480K/an·$1K MRR dans 8 months·Solo
SaaSProductivité🇺🇸 US
Tim Bennetto
From Locksmith to Self-Taught Developer: $74K MRR Solo
Tim Bennetto worked as a locksmith for 10 years and never imagined he'd build a SaaS. He taught himself to code via Codecademy. The Pivot Starte...
$1.2M/an·$10K MRR dans 3 years·Solo
SaaSMarketing🇬🇧 GB
Iuliia Shnai
After 11 Failed Products: Open Source DocSend Alternative to $45K MRR
In 2023, Iuliia built 10 products. Her partner Marc launched Papermark - a simple open-source DocSend alternative. The first version took one weekend....
$114K/an·$10K MRR dans 1 year·Équipe
SaaSProductivité🇩🇪 DE
EB
Elston Baretto
Simple HTML Hosting: 18 Months to First 50 Customers, Now $10K MRR
Elston launched Tiiny Host with a simple hypothesis: there are customers who just want a simple tool to quickly host HTML content. SEO Takes Time...
$450K/an·Premier Client dans 2 years·Solo
SaaSOutils Développeur🇺🇸 US
Pierre de Wulf
From 2 Failed Products to API Success: First Customer in 50 Minutes
Pierre de Wulf and his co-founder Kevin met in high school. After building ShopToList and PricingBot with limited success, they went all-in on Scrapin...
Premier Client dans 0 days·Équipe
API / Outil DéveloppeurOutils Développeur🇫🇷 FR
Elie Steinbock
Inbox Zero
Open Source Email Assistant: Scratch Own Itch to $10K+ MRR
When running a previous business, Elie spent way too much time on email. He thought, 'Why can't an AI do this for me?' First Mover Elie was a fi...
$120K/an·$10K MRR dans 1 year·Solo
SaaSProductivité🇺🇸 US
JB
Josef Büttgen
12x12 Challenge: From Dwindling Runway to $10K MRR in 14 Months
Josef taught himself to code at age 13. He freelanced until he saved enough runway to commit to entrepreneurship. The Challenge His first produc...
$90K/an·$10K MRR dans 1 year·Équipe
SaaSAI / ML🇺🇸 US
Pat Flynn
Fired Architect Creates LEED Exam eBook, Builds Multi-Million Dollar Brand
Pat Flynn was fired as an architect in 2008. He launched an ebook about the LEED exam based on his own study materials. The Pivot That first inf...
$1.9M/an·$10K MRR dans 2 months·Solo
Produit d'InformationCréation de contenu🇺🇸 US
Adam Enfroy
Digital Marketer Launches Blog, Hits $100K/Month in 2 Years
Adam launched AdamEnfroy.com in January 2019 as a side project while working full-time as a Digital Marketing Director. Aggressive Growth He sta...
$5.7M/an·$100K ARR dans 2 years·Solo
AutreCréation de contenu🇺🇸 US
James Clear
Habits Writer Builds 3M+ Subscriber Newsletter Worth $20M+
James Clear has been writing about habits and continuous improvement since 2012. In year one, his list went from 0 to 30,000 subscribers. Slow Buil...
$10K MRR dans 5 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationCréation de contenu🇺🇸 US
Ryan Holiday
Author Revives Ancient Philosophy with Daily Email to 320K+ Subscribers
Building on the success of The Obstacle Is the Way, Ryan Holiday launched Daily Stoic in 2016. Daily Consistency Each morning, Ryan sends a shor...
$10K MRR dans 3 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationCréation de contenu🇺🇸 US
Ben Thompson
Growth Engineer Launches Tech Analysis Newsletter, Builds $3M Business
Ben Thompson founded Stratechery in March 2013 from Taipei while working at Microsoft. Accidental Format He introduced paid daily updates in 201...
$5M/an·$1K MRR dans 7 months·Solo
Produit d'InformationCréation de contenu🇺🇸 US
AL
Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Neuroscientist Launches Mindful Productivity Community, $100K ARR in 22 Months
Anne-Laure Le Cunff sent her first Maker Mind newsletter in July 2019. Ness Labs started as free content and community. Pivot to paid In 2019 mo...
$352K/an·$100K ARR dans 1 year·Solo
Produit d'InformationCréation de contenuLondon, UK
Ramit Sethi
Blogger Waits 2 Years to Launch $4.95 eBook, Now Runs $10M+ Business
Ramit Sethi waited two years before creating his first product, building audience to 50,000 visitors per month first. First Product His first pr...
Premier Client dans 2 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationÉducation🇺🇸 US
JO
Jordan O'Connor
Solo Dad Builds $42K/Month Chrome Extension with $1/Day Pricing
I'm the self-proclaimed 'winner of Indie Hackers' - if you filter for solo founders with verified Stripe revenue, I come up at the top. Simple Valu...
$420K/an·$100K ARR dans 2 years·Solo
Extension ChromeE-commerce🇺🇸 US
DK
Dan Kulkov, Sveta Bay
Couple Makes $60K Helping Solopreneurs with AI Marketing Wrapper
My co-founder and I built FounderPal.ai, an AI marketing strategy tool for solopreneurs. The initial version only incurred a monthly cost of $150....
$215K/an·$1K MRR dans 1 month·Équipe
SaaSAI / ML🇺🇸 US
Sergiu Chiriac
Solo dev builds AI directory of directories to $10K revenue in one year
Sergiu created a meta-directory listing AI tool directories, reaching $10K revenue by helping AI startups get discovered.
$60K/an·$10K MRR dans 1 year·Solo
MarketplaceMarketing🇷🇴 RO
Alex Le
Picture ItAcquired a Shopify app and grew it to $3,500 MRR as a solopreneur
Alex acquired an existing Shopify app and scaled it to $3,500 MRR through product improvements and customer focus.
$1K MRR dans 2 years·Solo
SaaSE-commerce🇺🇸 US
Rob Hope
How a South African designer built $100K/year from website curation
Started curating single-page websites in 2008. Cross-promotion between projects grew to $100K+/year.
$10K MRR dans 9 years·Solo
AutreDesign🇿🇦 ZA
VK
Victoria Kurichenko
SEO Blog
SEO Specialist Reaches $1K/Month with Just 89 Blog Posts
Victoria built a WordPress blog with only 89 posts and 15,000 monthly visits to reach $1K/month from affiliate marketing.
$40K/an·$1K MRR dans 3 years·Solo
AutreMarketing🇺🇦 UA
Sumit Bansal
Tech Worker Sees Excel Skills Gap, Builds Blog to 1M+ Visitors and $10K/Month
Sumit saw colleagues struggling with Excel and built TrumpExcel to 1M+ monthly pageviews and $10K/month revenue.
$54K/an·$10K MRR dans 3 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationÉducation🇮🇳 IN
MJ
Mayank Jain
Digital Startup Veterans Build AI Content Platform, $100K MRR in Year One
Mayank and co-founders leveraged 10+ years of digital marketing experience to build Scalenut to $100K MRR in one year.
$10.3M/an·$100K ARR dans 1 year·Équipe
SaaSMarketing🇮🇳 IN
Jesse Mecham
Broke College Student Builds Spreadsheet Into Multi-Million Dollar Business
Jesse Mecham built a simple spreadsheet to manage money with his wife. That spreadsheet became YNAB, now used by millions worldwide.
$49M/an·$10K MRR dans 5 years·Solo
SaaSFinance🇺🇸 US
PX
Peter Xu & Harry Yu
Twin Brothers Build Top-Ranked Travel Planning App
Peter Xu and Harry Yu (twin brothers) leveraged their Stripe and Google experience to build Wanderlog, now top-ranked for travel planning.
$1M/an·$1K MRR dans 1 year·Équipe
SaaSVoyage🇺🇸 US
Christopher Gimmer
Christopher Gimmer Built Snappa to $1.5M ARR with Content-First Strategy
Chris and Marc built an audience with a viral blog post on free stock photos, then leveraged it to launch Snappa and reach $10K MRR in 5 months.
$1M/an·$100K ARR dans 5 years·Équipe
SaaSDesign🇨🇦 CA
DP
Danny Postma
Danny Postma: From 7-Figure Headlime Exit to Building HeadshotPro
After selling his AI writing tool Headlime for 7 figures in 8 months, Danny Postma built HeadshotPro - now serving 196,000+ customers.
$3.6M/an·$100K ARR dans 1 year·Solo
SaaSAI / ML🇳🇱 NL
AW
Ania Wysocka
How I Built a 2M+ User Anxiety App With Zero Employees
Ania started having panic attacks in her final year of university. She built the app she wished existed.
$1.2M/an·$100K ARR dans 5 years·Solo
Application MobileSanté & Bien-être🇨🇦 CA
Steve Kamb
Nerd Fitness: Building a 7-Figure Business for Fitness Misfits
Steve Kamb turned his nerdy approach to fitness into a 7-figure business, starting from around 3,500 email subscribers near his first $10K MRR milestone.
$10K MRR dans 2 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationSanté & Bien-être🇺🇸 US
AD
Aaron Davidson
Cronometer: A Nerdy Side Project That Became the Most Accurate Nutrition Tracker
Aaron Davidson built Cronometer as a personal tool for CRON dieting, now used by millions for precise nutrition tracking.
$3.8M/an·$10K MRR dans 10 years·Solo
Application MobileSanté & Bien-être🇨🇦 CA
BT
Bernie Tschirren & Michael Cameron
Rome2Rio: From Side Project to $40M Exit by Solving "How Do I Get There?"
Two ex-Microsoft engineers built the definitive travel search for getting from A to B anywhere in the world.
vendue pour $30M·$10K MRR dans 4 years·Équipe
SaaSVoyage🇦🇺 AU
Davis Siksnans & Lauris Liberts
Printful: From Garage Printing to $289M Revenue Print-on-Demand Giant
Started printing posters in a living room, Davis Siksnans bootstrapped Printful to $289M revenue and 1,700+ employees.
$2.3B/an·$100K ARR dans 2 years·Équipe
MarketplaceE-commerce🇱🇻 LV
EM
Erikas Malisauskas
Kaching Bundle Quantity Breaks
Building a $4.5M/Year Shopify App Portfolio with $0 Marketing
Erikas Malisauskas quit freelancing and built 5 Shopify apps generating $4.5M annually without any paid marketing.
$4.3M/an·$100K ARR dans 3 years·Équipe
SaaSE-commerce🇱🇹 LT
GW
Gareth Williams, Barry Smith & Bonamy Grimes
Skyscanner: From Ski Trip Frustration to £1.4 Billion Exit
Three friends frustrated by expensive ski flights built Skyscanner on the side, bootstrapped it to £1,000/day, then sold for £1.4 billion.
vendue pour $1.7B·$100K ARR dans 5 years·Équipe
SaaSVoyage🇬🇧 GB
Rick Perreault
Unbounce: From Agency Frustration to $100K MRR Without a Sales Team
Rick Perreault solved his own pain as a creative director - waiting on developers for landing pages - and built Unbounce to $100K+ MRR without a sales team.
$50.9M/an·$100K ARR dans 3 years·Équipe
SaaSMarketing🇨🇦 CA
PX
Peter Xu & Harry Yu
Twin Brothers Built the Top Trip Planner App After Working at Stripe and Google
Peter and Harry Yu, twin brothers from Yale, built Wanderlog into the top-ranked trip planning app after previous bootstrapped travel ventures and stints at Stripe and Google.
$1M/an·$10K MRR dans 2 years·Équipe
Application MobileVoyage🇺🇸 US
SS
Shalom Stark
Growing to 200,000 Users Without Any Marketing: The Invoice Ninja Story
Shalom Stark bootstrapped Invoice Ninja to 200,000+ users through open source, SEO, and word of mouth - without spending on marketing.
$550K/an·$10K MRR dans 3 years·Équipe
SaaSFinance🇺🇸 US
Julia Enthoven & Eric Lu
Building a Viral Video Editor with the "Watermark Growth Hack"
Julia Enthoven and Eric Lu bootstrapped Kapwing to 100,000+ users using SEO and the viral watermark strategy.
$10.4M/an·$10K MRR dans 1 year·Équipe
SaaSCréation de contenuSan Francisco, CA
YE
Yoni Elbaz & Moran Benisty
Loox
How Two Sears R&D Engineers Built a $15M+ ARR Shopify App
Yoni Elbaz and Moran Benisty met at Sears R&D in Israel and bootstrapped Loox to $15M+ ARR without paying themselves for 15 months.
$7.6M/an·$100K ARR dans 3 years·Équipe
SaaSE-commerce🇮🇱 IL
Chris Koh
GemPages
How a Developer Built GemPages to 100K+ Shopify Merchants
Chris Koh spent years working with eSellers before writing the first code for GemPages, a Shopify page builder now used by 100K+ merchants.
$100K ARR dans 3 years·Solo
SaaSE-commerce🇻🇳 VN
MC
Michael Cameron & Bernie Tschirren
How Two Ex-Microsoft Engineers Built Rome2rio to a $40M Exit
Michael Cameron and Bernie Tschirren built Rome2rio from their parents' living room to 10M+ monthly visitors before selling to Omio.
$100K ARR dans 8 years·Équipe
SaaSVoyage🇦🇺 AU
AZ
Aktarer Zaman
How a 22-Year-Old Built Skiplagged and Beat United Airlines in Court
Aktarer Zaman built Skiplagged at 20, got sued by United Airlines and Orbitz, and won - now helping millions find cheaper flights.
$20M/an·$10K MRR dans 2 years·Solo
SaaSVoyage🇺🇸 US
Varun Khona
How Headout Grew from 0 to $130M Revenue in Under 4 Years
Varun Khona built Headout from a 500 Startups incubation to $130M+ revenue, pioneering the managed experiences model.
$130M/an·$100K ARR dans 4 years·Équipe
MarketplaceVoyage🇺🇸 US
Alex Tew & Michael Acton Smith
From Million Dollar Homepage to $2B Meditation App: The Calm Story
Alex Tew, creator of the Million Dollar Homepage, teamed up with Michael Acton Smith to build Calm to $2B valuation.
$210M/an·$100K ARR dans 4 years·Équipe
Application MobileSanté & Bien-être🇺🇸 US
Eddie Machaalani & Mitchell Harper
From IRC Chat Room to $4.6B IPO: How Two Strangers Built BigCommerce
Eddie Machaalani met his co-founder Mitch Harper in an IRC chat room in 2003, and built BigCommerce to a $4.6B valuation.
$359.1M/an·$100K ARR dans 2 years·Équipe
SaaSE-commerce🇦🇺 AU
Davis Siksnans & Lauris Liberts
From Garage T-Shirts to Latvia's First Unicorn: The Printful Story
Davis Siksnans started printing t-shirts in his co-founder's garage at age 22 and built Printful to $1B+ valuation.
$2.3B/an·$100K ARR dans 2 years·Équipe
SaaSE-commerce🇱🇻 LV
Greg Smith
From Law School Side Project to $160M IPO: The Thinkific Story
Greg Smith created an LSAT prep course while in law school, moved back in with his parents, and built Thinkific to a $1.36B market cap.
$66.9M/an·$100K ARR dans 3 years·Équipe
SaaSCréation de contenu🇨🇦 CA
Tiago Forte
From Voice Disorder to a $1M+ Productivity Course Taken by 50,000 People
Tiago Forte developed his note-taking system to cope with a debilitating voice disorder. That personal system became Building a Second Brain, the world's most popular personal knowledge management course.
$2.1M/an·$100K ARR dans 5 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationProductivitéSan Francisco, CA
Matt Kepnes
From Hospital Admin to 7-Figure Travel Empire: The Nomadic Matt Story
Matt Kepnes quit his hospital admin job after a trip to Thailand opened his eyes. His travel blog became Nomadic Matt — one of the world's largest travel media brands with over 1 million monthly readers.
$1M/an·$100K ARR dans 4 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationVoyage🌍 Remote
Andrew Henderson
How a 22-Year-Old's Tax Bill Built a Global Nomad Advisory Empire
Andrew Henderson built a radio broadcasting empire at 22, then faced a 43% tax bill that changed his worldview. He founded Nomad Capitalist to share what he discovered — and built a 60-person global advisory brand.
$100K ARR dans 3 years·Solo
Agence / ServiceVoyage🌍 Remote
Victor Riparbelli
Synthesia: From Academic AI Research to $4B Video Generation Platform Serving 90% of the Fortune 100
Victor Riparbelli assembled a founding team of two AI professors and one operations co-founder to turn academic video AI research into a $4B enterprise platform with 65,000+ business customers.
$150M/an·$100K ARR dans 8 years·Équipe
SaaSAI / ML🇬🇧 GB
Sam Parr
How Sam Parr Turned a Conference into a 1.5M-Subscriber Newsletter Acquired by HubSpot
Sam Parr started with HustleCon conference, leveraged the email list to launch The Hustle newsletter, grew to 1.5M+ subscribers, and sold to HubSpot for ~$27M.
vendue pour $27M·$100K ARR dans 2 years·Équipe
AutreCréation de contenu🇺🇸 US
TC
Tim Chen
How Tim Chen Turned $800 and a Credit Card Spreadsheet into a $500M+ Revenue Public Company
Tim Chen invested $800 to build NerdWallet, a credit card comparison site. Obsessive SEO grew it to 20M+ monthly visitors, $500M+ revenue, and an IPO in 2021.
$836.6M/an·$100K ARR dans 3 years·Équipe
AutreFinance🇺🇸 US
BL
Brian Lam
How a Gizmodo Editor Built the Internet's Most Trusted Product Review Site — Then Sold It to the NYT for $30M
Brian Lam left Gizmodo, moved to a surf shack in Hawaii, and launched Wirecutter. The NYT bought it for ~$30M in 2016.
vendue pour $30M·$100K ARR dans 2 years·Solo
AutreCréation de contenu🇺🇸 US
BE
Berk Elmas
how sketch logo ai reached $8.4k in four months on seo and a product hunt launch
A bootstrapped AI logo tool that hit $8.4k in four months through a Product Hunt launch and a relentless SEO and backlink grind.
$36K/an·$1K MRR dans 1 month·Équipe
SaaSDesign🇹🇷 TR
Eric Alli
how a solo theme maker stacked productized services to reach $20k mrr
Eric Alli sold themes for over a decade, watched WordPress sales dry up, then rebuilt on Ghost and reached $20k a month, with custom build services making up three quarters of it.
$240K/an·$100K ARR dans 2 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationDesignSan Francisco, USA
MR
Mathias Robin
how a solo founder built nala with 13 human narrators instead of ai voices
Mathias Robin spent 18 months bootstrapping Nala, a bilingual meditation app, choosing 13 specialist narrators over one generic catalogue and SEO over ads.
Premier Client dans 2 months·Solo
Application MobileSanté & Bien-être🇫🇷 FR
Elliot Sowersby
the WooCommerce plugin that earned almost nothing for 3 years, then became a full-time business
Elliot Sowersby spent three years building Coupon Affiliates with little to show for it. A decade later it is his biggest source of income and plugins make up over 90% of his revenue.
$10K MRR dans 8 years·Solo
SaaSE-commerceYorkshire, United Kingdom
M
Mehreen
how a marketing employee built a travel blog from $847 to $67k a year
Mehreen made just $847 from her travel blog in year one. By her first full-time year it brought in $67,000 across six income streams. The turning point was learning SEO and email.
$67K/an·$1K MRR dans 2 years·Solo
AutreVoyage
AF
Andrew Fennell
how a recruiter grew standout cv to £40k mrr on seo alone
Andrew Fennell knew nothing about SEO when he launched StandOut CV. A decade of slow, compounding content and careful link building took the CV builder past 23,000 paying customers and £40K MRR with no paid ads.
$480K/an·$100K ARR dans 5 years·Solo
SaaSProductivité🇬🇧 GB
SM
Sam May
how sam may grew an ai ebook creator to 700 users on seo alone
A solo developer built Inkfluence AI from scratch in October 2025 and reached 700+ users with zero ad spend, using a relentless search-console content loop and a new channel: getting cited by AI assistants.
$100 MRR dans 3 months·Solo
SaaSCréation de contenu🇺🇸 US
AC
Angus Cheng
how a hong kong developer reached $1k mrr converting pdf bank statements
Angus Cheng spent thousands on Google Ads and barely broke even selling PDF conversion credits. Switching to subscriptions and writing blog posts got Bank Statement Converter to $1K MRR in ten months, then past $7K with ads switched off.
$84K/an·$1K MRR dans 11 months·Solo
SaaSFinance🇭🇰 HK
MD
Mat De Sousa
how mat de sousa bootstrapped widebundle to $25k mrr as a student
After three failed Shopify apps, an engineering student built a bundling app in two weeks and grew it to $25,134 MRR in under a year with no paid ads.
$302K/an·$100K ARR dans 10 months·Solo
SaaSE-commerce🇫🇷 FR
Max Schmitt
how a solo dev sold 239 copies of his invoicing app in 2025
Max Schmitt has built Cakedesk, a one-time-purchase invoicing app, as a side project since late 2021. In its fourth year it sold 239 new licenses, up from about 170 the year before.
$16K/an·$1K MRR dans 2 years·Solo
AutreFinance🇩🇪 DE
PA
Pranay Agarwal
how Pranay Agarwal grew Mockey.ai to $12k a month by adding download limits
Pranay Agarwal and his co-founder ran Mockey as a free, ad-supported side project for years. Adding subscriptions and download caps roughly tripled revenue, reaching about $12k a month.
$144K/an·$10K MRR dans 11 months·Équipe
SaaSDesignNew Delhi, India
BW
Ben Waterman
how a non-technical finance pro built strabo to $1k mrr with no-code and seo
Ben Waterman left a finance job to build a personal finance dashboard with no coding background, starting in Bubble and reaching $1K MRR with 1,100 monthly active users.
$12K/an·$1K MRR dans 9 months·Équipe
SaaSFinanceLondon, UK
KK
Katie Keith
how katie keith turned a wordpress agency into a $1.7m plugin business
Katie Keith and her husband ran a WordPress design agency for seven years before betting on plugins. By 2025 Barn2 booked $1.78M in revenue, most of it recurring.
$1.8M/an·$100K ARR dans 1 year·Équipe
SaaSOutils Développeur🇬🇧 GB
AR
Andris Reinman
Turning open-source email infrastructure into $1K MRR
Andris Reinman built EmailEngine from a hard-won IMAP problem, got more than 1,000 GitHub stars before revenue worked, and reached $1K MRR in July 2022.
$120K/an·$1K MRR dans 1 year·Solo
API / Outil DéveloppeurOutils Développeur🇪🇪 EE
KN
Kostya Nesterovich
A privacy analytics startup survives six months invisible on Google
Kostya Nesterovich's Seline Analytics reached $1K MRR after 16 months, despite a domain migration that knocked the homepage out of Google for exactly six months.
$1K MRR dans 1 year·Solo
SaaSMarketingEurope
MP
Miquel Palet
Leaving a VC-Backed Edtech to Bootstrap Zernio to $1M ARR in 10 Months
Miquel Palet left a venture-backed edtech path, built a focused developer API in a weekend, and used bottom-of-funnel SEO plus paid ads to bootstrap Zernio to $1M ARR in about 10 months.
$1M/an·$100K ARR dans 10 months·Solo
API / Outil DéveloppeurOutils Développeur
YB
Yasha Boroumand
how Yasha Boroumand dogfooded FlowHunt to $10k/mo
After two failed URLSlab attempts, Yasha Boroumand turned FlowHunt into an AI-agent builder, used the product to automate its own SEO engine, and grew to $10k/month with $6k recurring subscriptions plus $4k one-off credits.
$72K/an·Premier Client dans 1 month·Équipe
SaaSAI / ML🇸🇰 SK
GR
Geoff Roberts, Dimitris Georgakopoulos, Dave Wong
Building the Shopify for SaaS on a 15-year timeline
Geoff Roberts and the Outseta team spent three years getting to about $1.5K MRR, then kept building an integrated SaaS stack until it became a low seven-figure business.
$996K/an·$1K MRR dans 3 years·Équipe
SaaSOutils Développeur🇺🇸 US
AE
Antonio Escudero
how Antonio Escudero grew RankInPublic to $17k MRR by turning launches into SEO tournaments
Antonio Escudero built RankInPublic into a free tournament launch platform, then turned the same founder audience into a $17k+ MRR SEO directory-submission business.
$204K/an·Premier Client dans 2 months·Solo
SaaSMarketing🇪🇸 ES
Ramsri Goutham Golla
How Questgen.ai became a $4K MRR slow-cooked AI quiz SaaS
Ramsri Goutham Golla turned years of AI question-generation research, Medium posts, GitHub code, and a Udemy course into Questgen.ai, a solo edtech SaaS that reached about $4K MRR without a viral launch.
$48K/an·Premier Client dans 2 years·Solo
SaaSÉducationHyderabad, India
Ivan Terekhin
How Sober Tracker crossed $500 MRR with privacy-first ASO
Ivan Terekhin built Sober Tracker after wanting a private, account-free way to track alcohol-free days. A plain search-intent name, simple mobile workflow and subscription switch made the app the lead earner in his indie mobile portfolio.
$6K/an·$100 MRR dans 1 year·Solo
Application MobileSanté & Bien-êtreTbilisi, Georgia
Brian Balfour
Brian Balfour ran Reforge on customer money for five years before he raised anything
Reforge started as a weekend side project Brian Balfour ran while still at HubSpot. Five years later it was profitable with eight figures of revenue, and only then did he take outside money.
$30M/an·Premier Client dans 4 months·Solo
Produit d'InformationÉducation🇺🇸 US
Chris Coyier
Chris Coyier started CSS-Tricks for beer money and sold it 15 years later
Chris Coyier launched css-tricks.com on July 4, 2007 as SEO filler in a network of Adobe help sites. By his own 2007 wrap up post in January 2008 the blog already had paying sponsors, and in March 2022 he sold it to DigitalOcean.
Premier Client dans 7 months·Solo
AutreÉducation🇺🇸 US
DK
Deepak Kanakaraju
Deepak Kanakaraju blogged for three years before asking anyone for money, then pre-sold 250 copies of a course that did not exist
Deepak Kanakaraju spent three years writing at DigitalDeepak.com without selling anything. In August 2016 he published an outline for a course he had not made, emailed his list, and took 250 pre-orders in a week.
Premier Client dans 3 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationÉducation🇮🇳 IN
Matt Paulson
The stock ratings email that turned into a $50 million media company
Matt Paulson built a daily stock ratings email to keep an ad network happy. The paid version sold 12 subscriptions its first weekend and became MarketBeat.
$50M/an·$100K ARR dans 2 years·Solo
Produit d'InformationFinance🇺🇸 US
Patrick Campbell
Patrick Campbell wrote an ebook, then sold pricing audits to ProfitWell's first 20 customers
Patrick Campbell cashed out his 401k in 2012, wrote an ebook about SaaS pricing and turned free pricing audits into the first 20 customers of Price Intelligently. He sold the company, by then ProfitWell, to Paddle for over $200 million.
vendue pour $200M·$100K ARR dans 2 years·Solo
SaaSFinance🇺🇸 US
Peter Askew
He bought an expired domain for $2,200, then went looking for a farmer
Peter Askew won VidaliaOnions.com at auction with a bid he expected to lose, spent a month working out what to do with it, then partnered with a Georgia onion farmer. They forecast 50 orders in season one and shipped over 600.
Premier Client dans 1 month·Équipe
AutreE-commerce🇺🇸 US
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