18 Marketing Automation Platform Success Stories [2024]
Here are some real life success stories of starting a marketing automation platform:
1. Growave ($1.32M/year)
Eldar, the founder of Growave, started the business after realizing the limitations of his successful previous venture, ThinkLab. With a desire to expand into a dynamic market, Eldar and his team researched and developed a product for the growing e-commerce industry. Despite facing challenges and delays, Growave eventually launched as a free app and gained traction through forums and the Shopify App Store, steadily growing its customer base and revenue to over 12,000 merchants and $110,000 per month.
How much they make: $1.32M/year
How much did it cost to start: $100K
Current team size: 70
Growave, an all-in-one marketing tool for Shopify brands, went from struggling to be profitable to earning over $110,000 monthly with over 12,000 merchants using the app worldwide, thanks to an improved marketing and retention strategy implemented after the launch.
2. User.com ($1.2M/year)
User.com was initially developed as a side project of the team's open-source platform, CivilHub.org. Recognizing the need for better customer engagement, Greg Warzecha created CivChat, which eventually evolved into UserEngage. After positive feedback and interest from beta users, UserEngage was transformed into a SaaS project in 2016. With international releases, an API, and various integrations, User.com gained momentum, leading to a successful international launch on Product Hunt, additional sales, and further growth opportunities.
How much they make: $1.2M/year
Current team size: 40
User.com is a full-stack marketing platform with customers in over 60 countries that reached close to $1m ARR last year, with plans to double it this year, and has a low monthly churn rate of below 5%.
So... can you actually make money with a marketing automation platform?
Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.
But how?
- Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
- Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
- Take action, because now you have the roadmap.
Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:
3. Instoo ($360K/year)
Rohan Arun, the Founder of Instoo, came up with the idea for his social automation service after writing a viral article in 2017 about building Instagram bot farms. The article gained a lot of traction and ranked #1 on Google, giving him insight into the automation market. Inspired by this, he launched Instoo to automate business growth on social platforms, which now has thousands of global active users and generates an average monthly revenue of $30,000.
How much they make: $360K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 3
Instoo Founder Rohan Arun raised $3.9 million through his previous startups before launching Instoo, which now has thousands of global active users and generates $30,000 in average monthly revenue through its social automation service.
4. CLOSEM ($360K/year)
Richard Miles, co-founder of CLOSEM, came up with the idea for the business after realizing the missed opportunities for follow-up in his own experiences with service providers. He reached out to his friend and co-founder, Laura Betterly, who loved the idea and saw the potential. Together, they created CLOSEM, a software tool that helps entrepreneurs and small business owners automate the process of following up with leads and increasing sales.
How much they make: $360K/year
Current team size: 1
CLOSEM is an AI-powered software tool that helps entrepreneurs and small business owners automate the time-consuming work of following up with leads, prospects, and customers, and increasing sales, grossing around $200,000 this year and confidently targeting $12MM next year.
So... can you actually make money with a marketing automation platform?
Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.
But how?
- Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
- Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
- Take action, because now you have the roadmap.
Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:
5. Biteplay ($72K/year)
Henrique Chappuis, co-founder of Biteplay, came up with the idea for his business after realizing the potential of YouTube ads in generating revenue. He had previously experienced success with YT ads and saw the opportunity to automate the process and target relevant video placements. Through beta testing and educational courses, Biteplay gained traction and has since been featured as a top product on Product Hunt.
How much they make: $72K/year
How much did it cost to start: $5K
Current team size: 0
Biteplay is a one-year-old SaaS that allows brands to place ads in relevant YouTube video content and create collaborations with influencers, generating up to $10k each month and growing revenue by 30% per month.
6. GreenRope ($1.92M/year)
metrics for our business are our customer satisfaction and retention rates, which remain consistently high. We currently have over 1,000 customers in over 20 countries, ranging from startups to universities and municipalities. Moving forward, we plan to continue evolving and improving our platform to meet the changing needs of businesses and provide even greater value to our customers.
How much they make: $1.92M/year
Current team size: 15
GreenRope, a self-funded CRM and marketing automation platform with over 1,000 customers in 20 countries, was built organically and focused on creating a positive, customer-centric culture without outside investment, with an all-in-one interface solving challenges in managing sales, marketing, customer service, and operations.
So... can you actually make money with a marketing automation platform?
Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.
But how?
- Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
- Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
- Take action, because now you have the roadmap.
Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:
7. Dux-Soup ($4.8M/year)
Will van der Sanden, the Founder and CEO of Dux-Soup, came up with the idea for his business after his wife expressed frustration with manual lead generation for her publishing company. Recognizing the potential in LinkedIn scraping, Will saw a gap in the market for a product that offered more value at a lower cost than existing options. The result was Dux-Soup, a LinkedIn automation tool that now has over 70,000 users and nearly $5 million in revenue.
How much they make: $4.8M/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 20
Dux-Soup is a LinkedIn automation tool that helps business owners and sales & marketing professionals generate more leads, increase efficiency, and save time; with over 70,000 users and revenue of nearly $5 million, it offers automated top-of-the-funnel LinkedIn outreach activities, targeted LinkedIn campaigns and multi-touch & personalized LinkedIn drip campaigns for lead generation.
8. Encharge ($120K/year)
How much they make: $120K/year
Current team size:
Founder creates marketing automation tool that generates $4,000 in pre-orders before launch, validating the idea.
9. Smart Yeti Creative Agency ($96K/year)
Jeremy Kanne, founder of Smart Yeti, came up with the idea for his creative agency after realizing that technical companies needed help with messaging and marketing. With his background in civil engineering and a creative streak, Jeremy decided to combine his skills and provide affordable, high-quality services to these companies. The focus on technical clients and the introduction of retainer engagements have helped Smart Yeti attract and retain customers, leading to steady revenue growth of $1-2k per month.
How much they make: $96K/year
Current team size: 1
Smart Yeti is a successful creative agency offering fractional access to marketing services to highly technical companies and has seen YoY growth of 40%, with an average lifetime value of its customer of $50k in revenue.
10. Postscript ($37.2M/year)
How much they make: $37.2M/year
Current team size: 203
Postscript, a user-friendly SMS platform for Shopify stores, generated $3.1M per month in revenue in just six months and now ranks in the top five revenue generators.
11. JumpX Growth ($18K/year)
How much they make: $18K/year
Current team size: 2
This case study follows the success story of a part-time founder who has grown his E-commerce Marketing Agency into a six-figure operation with audience-focused, partnership-building techniques.
12. Fomo ($1.08M/year)
Ryan Kulp, a marketer and self-taught developer, acquired a social proof tool called Notify in 2016 and rebranded it as Fomo. Through strategic product-led growth, integrations, and a focus on social proof, Fomo scaled its business by 600% and achieved over $1 million in annual revenue.
How much they make: $1.08M/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 5
Fomo, a social proof tool for eCommerce stores, scaled its original business by 600% and now generates >$1m in annual revenue through product-led growth via integrations and an extensive case study library.
13. Dashly ($2.4M/year)
Dimitri Ive came up with the idea for Dashly when he realized that there was a need for a platform that could bring all customer conversations from various channels into one place. By merging user data and communication channels, Dashly simplifies how businesses communicate with their loyal customers. Since its launch in 2018, Dashly has grown to a team of 95 experts and generates $200K in monthly recurring revenue.
How much they make: $2.4M/year
How much did it cost to start: $10K
Current team size: 95
Dashly, a conversational marketing software, grew from a team of five to 95 experts and currently has a $200K MRR, providing a platform that simplifies the way businesses communicate with their loyal customers by bringing all conversations from a live chat, emails, socials, and messengers into one place.
14. eWebinar ($600K/year)
Melissa Kwan, co-founder and CEO of eWebinar, came up with the idea for the business after experiencing the pain of having to run the same webinar over and over again for her previous enterprise SaaS startup. Recognizing the need for a scalable webinar automation solution, Melissa decided to create eWebinar, a platform that turns any video into an interactive webinar that can be set on a recurring schedule or made available on demand. With customers ranging from solopreneurs to publicly traded companies, eWebinar has achieved an MRR of around $50k and continues to focus on delivering the best product and customer experience.
How much they make: $600K/year
How much did it cost to start: $500K
Current team size: 0
Melissa Kwan, CEO of eWebinar, discusses how she identified the pain point of running the same webinar over and over again, leading her to build an automated webinar solution, with a current MRR of $50k and a focus on word-of-mouth marketing.
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
