Kyle Nolan

ProjectionLab

Побочный проект финансового планировщика: 2+ года до $10K MRR

$83.3K MRR

Current revenue · as of June 2025

ProjectionLab (founder)

2 years

$10K MRR

Сообщества

Канал роста

Соло-основатель

Основатель

Kyle Nolan

Соло-основатель•Технический•USA

Занятость

Side Project

Опыт

Впервые

Продукт

ProjectionLab

Программное обеспечение для финансового планирования личных финансов.

Тип

SaaS

Отрасль

Финансы

Модель

Маркетинговая стратегия

Как Kyle привлекал клиентов

Канал роста

Сообщества

Tech Stack

Инструменты, использованные для создания ProjectionLab

Vue.jsChart.jsFirebasePaddle

Полная история

Кайл построил ProjectionLab, потому что хотел лучше спланировать своё финансовое будущее. Когда он опубликовал пост на Hacker News, было 0 платных пользователей.

Магия Hacker News

Он закрыл вкладку, ожидая, что это ничего не даст, но вернулся час спустя и обнаружил переполненный входящий ящик. Пост попал на первую страницу.

Работа над побочным проектом

Создавался более 2 лет как побочный проект, в то время как Кайл работал полный день, тратя ~40 часов в неделю.

9 месяцев до $1K MRR
4 месяца до $2K MRR
2 года до $10K MRR
Часы побочного проекта: ~40/неделю

Ключевые выводы

Создавайте для себя – решайте собственные проблемы

Hacker News может кардинально изменить судьбу инструментов для разработчиков

Побочные проекты требуют жертв, но снижают финансовые риски

Рост ускоряется после достижения первых вех

Изначально опубликовано наIndie Hackers

Founder proof brief

A one-page proof brief turns Kyle's ProjectionLab playbook into your next test.

See what it covers before you sign up: the pattern worth copying, the channel to test, and the risk to avoid when you adapt this story.

Pattern

$10K MRR

Channel

Сообщества

Output

Action checklist

What a proof brief covers

A one-page brief that turns Kyle's pattern into a testable plan
Channel bet: start from Сообщества
A risk check before copying the ProjectionLab playbook

See what a proof brief covers

See what it covers first. Create an account only if you choose to unlock.

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Путь через milestone

Kyle достиг 3 milestone на пути к $10K MRR

Первый клиент

2 months

May 2021

Среднее: 1 month

+7 months до следующего milestone

$1K MRR

$1,000

9 months

December 2021

Среднее: 6 months

+1 year до следующего milestone

$10K MRR

$10,000

2 years

June 2023

Среднее: 1 year

2 years

Общее время пути

Достигнутые milestone

Against every documented journey

Kyle Nolan reached $10K MRR in 2.3 years, faster than 20% of the 295 documented $10K journeys (median 12 months). The amber bar is this journey.

See the full distribution

Путь Kyle к $10K MRRПремиум

История, решения и контекст, стоящие за этим milestone

How Kyle actually did it

7/7 funnel stages sourced

Reconstructed from Kyle's own published sources. Quoted claims are the founder's words, verified verbatim; anything marked as our analysis is exactly that.

Where the idea came from

Personal pain

Kyle was following the financial independence movement and wanted a clearer, more detailed picture of his own long-term finances than any existing app or his own spreadsheet could give him, so he built the tool for himself first.

“I looked around, but couldn’t find a good tool with a modern UI where you can build detailed long-term financial plans and that’s actually fun to use”

"Why I Built Another Financial Planning Tool" - ProjectionLab company blog

Validation

Built first, validated after

MvpValidated

Built the full working web app (originally launched as "ProjectiFi") based on his own needs before doing any formal market validation, then posted it publicly to see if the demand extended beyond his own use case.

Kyle built the complete tool to solve his own planning problem, then found out via public posts that many others wanted the same thing.

“I had trouble finding a good FI planning and simulation tool that could model things in enough detail to finally ditch my spreadsheets... so I built one.”

Show HN: "I made a simulator for personal finance" (OP text + Kyle's own comments, username scubakid)

First test users

Online communityFree testersHacker News (Show HN)

After a few low-key Reddit shares went nowhere, Kyle posted the tool to Hacker News without much expectation; the post unexpectedly reached the front page within the hour and brought in the first wave of users.

“I posted the link to HN just for kicks, but didn't bother checking back in... then an hour later I found my email inbox blowing up”

Tweet by @_knolan (Kyle Nolan) announcing $100k ARR

First paying customer

Online communityFree to paid upgrade

The first paying customer ("first internet dollar") came out of the same Hacker News post that produced the first users, in May 2021.

“First internet dollar!”

"We reached $1M ARR with zero funding" - ProjectionLab company blog

Acquisition channels, and whether they worked

Communities · Hacker News (Show HN)LaunchWorked

Kyle posted the product link to Hacker News on a whim, without expecting much, and didn't check back in for an hour.

“I posted the link to HN just for kicks, but didn't bother checking back in”

Tweet by @_knolan (Kyle Nolan) announcing $100k ARR

Kyle never gave a specific reason the HN post took off; he frames it as an unplanned break rather than a deliberate tactic he can explain or repeat on demand.

Our analysis, not the founder's claim

Communities · RedditPre-launchDidn't work

Before the Hacker News post, Kyle shared the tool a few times on Reddit, which produced almost no response.

“a few shares to places like Reddit were met with little (i.e. no) fanfare”

Tweet by @_knolan (Kyle Nolan) announcing $100k ARR

Word of mouthScalingWorked

In the run-up to $10K MRR, Kyle names reposts to HN/Reddit and organic word-of-mouth as essentially the only growth channels he actively used.

“Mostly just posts to HN / Reddit and word-of-mouth growth so far.”

"My side project hit $10K MRR!" (Kyle Nolan's own Indie Hackers post + his replies in the comments)

Other · Financial-independence bloggers/podcasters (Mad Fientist, Physician on FIRE, Rob Berger, Mr. Money Mustache, etc.)ScalingWorked

As ProjectionLab matured, established voices in the financial-independence niche gave it unpaid shoutouts, extending its reach beyond Kyle's own posts.

“community took notice!!”

"2023 Year in Review" - ProjectionLab company blog

What didn't work

ChannelPre-launchCost: time

Early low-key posts of the tool to Reddit got almost no traction before the Hacker News post took off.

“a few shares to places like Reddit were met with little (i.e. no) fanfare”

Tweet by @_knolan (Kyle Nolan) announcing $100k ARR

What they did instead: Posted to Hacker News instead, which unexpectedly hit the front page and drove the first real wave of users and revenue.

TeamScalingCost: time

For years, Kyle fielded inbound interest from people wanting to become a growth/marketing partner, but most wanted a large equity stake for little contribution, or weren't the right skills fit.

“Several wanted an outsize equity stake to essentially just make suggestions. Others had the wrong skillset or didn’t feel like a complete fit.”

"We reached $1M ARR with zero funding" - ProjectionLab company blog

What they did instead: Brought on Jon Kuipers, who put in a year of real contribution before being asked to join full-time as growth partner.

How it changed as they grew

At launch: 1 person (Solo founder, building as a side project alongside a full-time software engineering job.)

First 10k mrr: 1 person (Still a solo founder at the $10K MRR milestone, over two years into bootstrapping.)

Bootstrapped

Pricing increase

Kyle didn't know how to price the product when he launched it and started out too cheap.

“Initially I had no idea how to price a product and started out way too low.”

"My side project hit $10K MRR!" (Kyle Nolan's own Indie Hackers post + his replies in the comments)

What broke as they grew

As a solo engineer with no marketing background, Kyle recognized that continuing to handle everything himself would cap ProjectionLab's growth, which is what eventually pushed him to bring on a dedicated growth/marketing partner rather than keep building alone.

“Keep doing everything myself and watch growth plateau”

"We reached $1M ARR with zero funding" - ProjectionLab company blog

Sources (7 in the founder's own words)

"My side project hit $10K MRR!" (Kyle Nolan's own Indie Hackers post + his replies in the comments) · founder-authored · 2023-06
Show HN: "I made a simulator for personal finance" (OP text + Kyle's own comments, username scubakid) · founder-authored · 2021-04
Tweet by @_knolan (Kyle Nolan) announcing $100k ARR · founder-authored · 2023-04
"Why I Built Another Financial Planning Tool" - ProjectionLab company blog · founder-authored · 2021-08
"Reached 10k MRR" - ProjectionLab company blog · founder-authored · 2023-06
"We reached $1M ARR with zero funding" - ProjectionLab company blog · founder-authored · 2025-06
"2023 Year in Review" - ProjectionLab company blog · founder-authored · 2024-01
"Building > Marketing: Kyle Nolan of ProjectionLab" - Indie Hackers staff interview (Kyle's words quoted by an IH interviewer) · third party · 2023-01

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Смотрите полный разбор: стратегия запуска, методы валидации, стартовые затраты, экспертный анализ, replication playbook и другие практические инсайты.

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Frequently asked questions

How much does ProjectionLab make?

ProjectionLab reports $83.3K MRR as of June 2025. Hit $1M ARR ($83.3K MRR) June 30, 2025, with 4,300+ customers. Kyle publishes monthly milestones. Source: ProjectionLab (founder).

What is ProjectionLab?

Программное обеспечение для финансового планирования личных финансов. It operates in Финансы.

How long did it take ProjectionLab to reach $10k mrr?

Kyle Nolan took 2 years to reach $10k mrr with ProjectionLab.

Was Kyle Nolan a solo founder?

Yes. Kyle Nolan built ProjectionLab as a solo founder.

What marketing channel did ProjectionLab use to grow?

ProjectionLab grew primarily through Сообщества.

What industry is ProjectionLab in?

ProjectionLab operates in Финансы.

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