64 Amazing SaaS Company Success Stories & Case Studies [2024]
SaaS (Software as a Service) is software that allows users to access and use it over the internet. It is a subscription-based service that provides users with access to software that they can use for their business. It offers a variety of features, including a project management tool, an automation engine, and a workflow designer.
To start a SaaS company you should be familiar with the SaaS business model and have a good understanding of how to build and market a SaaS product. You should also have strong technical skills and be able to develop a high-quality software product.
Salesforce is one of the best SaaS companies in the world. Salesforce provides an integrated CRM platform that brings companies and customers together. The company is one of the most innovative cloud software solutions providers on the market, generating nearly all its annual recurring revenue from SaaS tools. According to Salesforce's latest financial reports, the company's current revenue (TTM) is $26.49 B.
Starting a SaaS company is a great way to enter the tech industry. This type of company is growing in popularity as more businesses are looking for ways to save money and reduce their IT costs. SaaS companies typically have high margins and offer a lot of flexibility for entrepreneurs.
Here are some real life success stories of starting a saas company:
1. Bunnyshell ($300K/year)
Alin Dobra, the CEO and Co-founder of Bunnyshell, came up with the idea for his business while working as a CTO for an outsourcing development company. Facing technical challenges with servers and high costs, Alin realized there was a need for an automated cloud management solution. He and his co-founder launched Bunnyshell in 2018, and they have since secured €750K in investment, built a team of 15 people, and generated a revenue of $12k/month.
How much they make: $300K/year
Current team size: 15
Bunnyshell CEO and co-founder Alin Dobra discusses how he created the managed cloud automation SaaS solution from scratch, securing €750,000 in investment in under 18 months, and generating $12k/month in revenue from providing services to corporate clients worldwide.
2. Morningscore ($660K/year)
The founder of Morningscore, an SEO tool built like a computer game, came up with the idea after realizing that customers had trouble investing in SEO due to a lack of knowledge and reliance on sleazy consultants. They wanted to create a tool that would make SEO easier and more accessible. With a focus on gamification and space exploration, Morningscore has gained over 600 customers and achieved 300% year-over-year revenue growth without VC funding.
How much they make: $660K/year
How much did it cost to start: $500K
Current team size: 9
Morningscore, an SEO tool with gamification elements, grew to 600+ customers with an MRR of $40,000 in 3 years without VC funding, and achieved 300% YoY revenue growth; the founder shares insights on launching too early, not comparing growth to bigger-funded competitors, and the necessity of funding for hyper-growth in high-competition industries like SAAS.
So... can you actually make money with a saas company?
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. Upvoty ($240K/year)
With a background in building online businesses, the founder needed a customer feedback solution for his own business.
The founder did not find any suitable tools for his SaaS platform, so he decided to build Upvoty on the side to “scratch his own itch.”
How much they make: $240K/year
Current team size: 0
A case study on the founder of Vindy and Upvoty, who used his experience with his first startup to quickly grow his second startup to over 100 customers and $500 MRR, all while financing everything with the profits of his first company.
4. Hawk Prospecting ($12K/year)
Mohamad Alasadi, a 19-year-old entrepreneur and blogger, came up with the idea for Hawk Prospecting while running his marketing agency. He realized the need for a low-budget tool that could help him find qualified leads and prospects. With a limited technical knowledge, he used a no/low-code site builder to build Hawk Prospecting, which has now gained traction and generated $1500 in monthly revenue within its first two months.
How much they make: $12K/year
Current team size: 1
Mohamad Alasadi, a 19-year-old entrepreneur, shares how he grew his B2B prospecting software, Hawk Prospecting, from an idea to $1.5K MRR in 7 weeks, using a no/low-code tool to build the product, and a go-to-market strategy that focuses on user feedback and outreach to marketing agency owners.
So... can you actually make money with a saas company?
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. BrightLocal ($10.2M/year)
Myles Anderson, co-founder and CEO of BrightLocal, came up with the idea for the business after seeing the struggles that local businesses had in understanding and capitalizing on digital marketing. With a background in media planning and business development, Myles and his business partner, Ed Eliot, started BrightLocal as a digital marketing agency before pivoting into a software and services company specializing in local SEO. Since then, they have grown to serve over 20,000 customers across 8 countries, generating around $9 million in annual revenue and growing 20% year-on-year.
How much they make: $10.2M/year
How much did it cost to start: $5K
Current team size: 180
BrightLocal, the B2B local SEO software and services company, grew to $9M ARR through a combination of intuitive software, done-for-you services, training, and knowledge-sharing, attracting 20,000 customers in 8 countries through inbound marketing efforts via a free trial model, extensive content marketing, and a web series hosted by industry experts on local SEO tactics.
6. Nichesss ($360K/year)
Malcolm Tyson came up with the idea for nichesss after discovering the power of OpenAI's GPT-3 API. Seeing a gap in the market for an affordable AI content generation tool, he decided to create a user-friendly app that leverages the capabilities of GPT-3 to help businesses write content quickly. With the app generating around $30,000 a month and a loyal customer base, Tyson has proven the success of his business model.
How much they make: $360K/year
Current team size: 1
Nichesss is an AI content generation tool that helps businesses and individuals write content quickly; founded by self-taught programmer Malcolm Tyson, the company has generated a monthly revenue of $30,000, with a user base consisting of copywriters, small businesses and marketing agencies.
So... can you actually make money with a saas company?
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. Studio Ninja ($1.8M/year)
Chris Garbacz, a professional wedding photographer, came up with the idea for Studio Ninja after experiencing various challenges in his photography business, including forgetting his camera bag on a wedding day. He realized the need for a user-friendly and comprehensive solution to manage his leads, clients, contracts, and invoices, leading him to create Studio Ninja, the world's most user-friendly photography business management app. With 7,000 active subscribers and monthly recurring revenue of $150,000, Studio Ninja has become a successful tool for photographers worldwide.
How much they make: $1.8M/year
How much did it cost to start: $75K
Current team size: 13
Studio Ninja is a photography business management app that has achieved 6 years of success, with 7,000 active paying subscribers and monthly recurring revenue of $150,000, thanks to co-founder Chris Garbacz's experiences and failures as a wedding photographer and serial entrepreneur.
8. CocoSign ($240K/year)
Caroline, the CEO of CocoSign, came up with the idea for their digital signature platform during the 2020 pandemic when businesses were struggling to physically exchange documents. Recognizing the rising demand for e-signature providers, Caroline and her team set out to create an exceptional solution that offers a user-friendly interface and robust features. Since their launch in 2020, CocoSign has seen impressive success, generating monthly revenue of 67.3K from 2000 sales and experiencing a 5% increase in customers every month.
How much they make: $240K/year
How much did it cost to start: $10K
Current team size: 57
CocoSign is a digital signature platform generating a monthly revenue of 67.3K from 2000 sales, boasting a 5% increase in customers each month, and offering valuable features such as customer rewards, API integrations, helpful customer service, and simple & effective marketing strategies.
9. Marine Digital ($6K/year)
Ivan, the founder of Marine Digital, came up with the idea to create a modern digital service in the marine industry after seeing how outdated and inefficient the industry was during his work in banking, IT, and logistics. With the support of APX VC Fund and a pivot in his business, Ivan and his team developed a fuel optimization system that has garnered interest from clients and generated €60K in revenue from pilot projects. Now, they are launching the production of their digital twin in the EU, with plans for worldwide mass-market scaling in the future.
How much they make: $6K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1M
Current team size: 12
Marine Digital is a deep-tech company that aims to make modern instruments of decarbonization available for the mass market and has made massive progress in performance digital twin cost reduction (10 times lower than the average market cost), providing opportunities for non-giant marine companies to use it, with 3 pilots earning about €60k.
10. Treendly ($12K/year)
While working on another SaaS product, he wondered about what non-essential feature he could take out from an existing product and put into another market where the feature is essential.
He was already running one of my other software products, where he collected e-commerce data. One of the features of that product was trend-spotting for e-commerce merchants.
And so Treendly was born from a side feature of that other product.
How much they make: $12K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 0
This case study is about a jazz musician turned SaaS founder who bootstraps and simultaneously runs nine products with $8k/month revenue, of which Treendly, a platform that discovers emerging trends, accounts for $1k/month and uses self-taught data collection skills to focus on what is important.
11. LabsMobile ($600K/year)
After years of failed projects, Boris discovered the world of mobile marketing and corporate communication. He saw the potential in SMS as a communication channel and founded LabsMobile in 2009. The platform now has over 12,000 corporate accounts and operates in multiple countries, providing an efficient and affordable SMS communication solution for small and medium-sized companies.
How much they make: $600K/year
How much did it cost to start: $70K
Current team size: 5
An entrepreneur built a successful SMS platform for small and medium-sized companies, boasting over 12,000 corporate accounts in countries like Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile, with customer loyalty and recurring purchases as the basis of the project's revenue.
12. Agiled ($120K/year)
Asad Ali, founder and CEO of Agiled, came up with the idea for his all-in-one business management software while running a web development agency. Frustrated with switching between multiple tools, he decided to create a centralized platform to help business owners efficiently manage their operations. Since launching in early 2020 and with the help of an Appsumo launch, Agiled has grown to serve over 5,000 companies and generate $10k/month in revenue.
How much they make: $120K/year
How much did it cost to start: $10K
Current team size: 15
Agiled is a bootstrapped business management software company founded by Asad Ali that has generated $10k/month serving over 5,000 companies, with a goal of reaching $100k MRR by the end of next year.
13. Document360 ($408K/year)
Saravana Kumar, founder of Document360, came up with the idea for the software as a service knowledge base while searching for good documentation tools for their existing enterprise products. Realizing the lack of a suitable tool for SaaS businesses, Saravana developed the idea into a viable project and eventually launched Document360, which has since been rated the #1 Knowledge base product by Gartner Digital Markets.
How much they make: $408K/year
Current team size: 200
Kovai.co, a bootstrapped SaaS startup founded by Saravana Kumar, has grown to over 200 employees with $10M in ARR and has developed numerous products including Document360, which has been rated the #1 Knowledge base product by Gartner Digital Markets, and their goal is to generate $30M ARR within the next 3 years and become a SaaS Unicorn by 2030.
14. DisplayBuddy ($18K/year)
Siddharth, an iOS engineer based in Singapore, came up with the idea for his indie app DisplayBuddy when he noticed his colleague struggling with switching between his work laptop and gaming PC on his monitor. Remembering a software he used in the past to control monitor settings, Siddharth developed a Mac app that allows users to control external displays directly from their menu bar. After launching the app in February 2021, Siddharth has gained 900 happy customers and crossed $5,000 in revenue.
How much they make: $18K/year
How much did it cost to start: $100
Current team size: 2
An iOS engineer based in Singapore created DisplayBuddy, a Mac app that allows users to control external displays from their menu bar, which has now reached an average MRR of $600 and garnered 900 happy customers and 6,000+ users on SetApp.
15. Boei ($30.4K/year)
Ruben, the founder of Boei, came up with the idea for his business after realizing the shortcomings of existing live chat solutions. He wanted to create a better alternative that would make it easier for customers to connect with companies through their preferred social channels. With his programming skills and marketing efforts, Ruben launched Boei and has seen success, including a gross profit of over $20,000 in just ten months.
How much they make: $30.4K/year
How much did it cost to start: $100
Current team size: 0
Boei is a chat widget that integrates with social channels like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, which has made a gross profit of over $20,000 in just ten months and has over 2,088 customers and growing.
16. Vadootv ($120K/year)
Ankur Singh, co-founder and CEO of Vadootv, came up with the idea for his video hosting and marketing platform when he saw the rapid adoption of videos in content and communication due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Realizing the challenges faced in video consumption, Ankur and his team pivoted from providing an optimization solution to creating a complete video hosting platform. With 15,000+ users and monthly recurring revenue of $15,000+, Vadootv is on a mission to help creators and small businesses grow their reach using videos.
How much they make: $120K/year
How much did it cost to start: $800
Current team size: 5
Video hosting platform Vadootv has onboarded 15,000+ creators, SMBs, and brands around the world who are using the platform to scale their business online using videos, generating $300k in revenue from one-time license sales and $15,000+ in monthly recurring revenue.
17. SaaS Labs - pushing boundaries of the SaaS world ($120K/year)
How much they make: $120K/year
Current team size:
How Helpwise went from a $20k budget to $100k annually building SaaS businesses.
18. Coassemble ($2.1M/year)
Jude Novak, Co-Founder & CPO of Coassemble, came up with the idea for the online training platform after experiencing the limitations and poor user experience of existing online training systems. He wanted to create a platform that was easy to use and could provide engaging training experiences. By targeting the underserved market segment of small to medium-sized businesses new to online training, Coassemble has experienced over 100% YoY customer growth and has attracted over 1,000 businesses to their platform.
How much they make: $2.1M/year
How much did it cost to start: $10K
Current team size: 30
Coassemble is an online training platform that has seen >100% YoY growth since launch, capturing the untapped market segment of small to medium businesses looking to train online for the first time, with over 1,000 businesses signing up to the platform and 90% of new customers training online for the first time, using a focus on ease of use, flexible sharing options, deep reporting, and genuine engagement experiences.
19. AdviNow Medical ($2.4M/year)
James Bates, the CEO and Founder of AdviNOW Medical, came up with the idea for his business after realizing that doctors spend 2/3 of their time on clerical work, leaving less time for patients. He saw the potential for artificial intelligence to automate the front and back office of clinics, allowing doctors to focus on patients and increasing revenue and profitability. With the vision of making healthcare available to everyone through technology, AdviNOW is revolutionizing the industry and seeing significant success with over 1,000 medical locations adopting their automated medical visit system.
How much they make: $2.4M/year
How much did it cost to start: $15M
Current team size: 25
AdviNOW Medical uses artificial intelligence to automate clerical work, resulting in doctors being able to focus solely on patients and patients seeing more doctors every day, leading to increased profitability while solving healthcare issues.
20. MiloTreeCart ($72K/year)
Jillian Leslie, co-founder of MiloTree Easy Payments, came up with the idea while running her first online company, Catch My Party. She needed to grow her Pinterest followers for traffic and monetization and built the MiloTree pop-up app to solve that problem. Based on the success and feedback from their own experience, they expanded MiloTree to help other bloggers and creators grow their real followers on multiple platforms.
How much they make: $72K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1.5K
Current team size: 2
Jillian Leslie launched two businesses, Catch My Party and MiloTree, to grow her social media followers and monetize her content, and recently launched MiloTree Easy Payments, a platform to help creators monetize their expertise, which is projected to generate $40k ARR by year's end.
21. ScrapingAnt ($72K/year)
Oleg, a serial entrepreneur with a technical background, came up with the idea for ScrapingAnt after trying out various e-commerce projects and realizing the need for a reliable data scraping solution. He partnered with his friend Andrii, who had experience in setting up scalable infrastructures for data gathering, and together they created a simple solution based on AWS Lambdas. They launched the business on the RapidAPI marketplace and focused on content marketing and providing excellent customer support to attract and retain customers. The company has achieved profitability and continues to invest in technology and search for their "thingy" that will bring in more customers. Recently, they entered into a collaboration with software development company Codery to expand their capacity.
How much they make: $72K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 2
ScrapingAnt is a web scraping service with an easy-to-integrate API, making it the ideal data extraction infrastructure solution for companies and private entrepreneurs, making a profit of $7.1K in December 2021 and actively looking for technical and non-technical content creators.
22. Ziflow ($8M/year)
How much they make: $8M/year
Current team size: 99
23. TextMagic ($14.4M/year)
In 2001, TextMagic started as a niche side project in the UK with limited offerings. When Priit Vaikmaa joined the company in 2007, he saw the huge potential in their SMS marketing platform and focused on expanding and improving its usability. Today, TextMagic has a diverse customer base and generated revenue just short of €11 million in 2021.
How much they make: $14.4M/year
Current team size: 51
TextMagic's CEO Priit Vaikmaa discusses the development and success of the SMS marketing solutions company, which has grown its revenue to almost €11 million and employs people remotely from all over the world.
24. FreeMcServer ($12K/year)
Back in 2018, Nuno had just finished school, and seeing the success of large minecraft servers online, whose founders are able to pay bills with it, he decided to build one platform himself. He was an avid minecraft player and needed a way to host the game 24/7 without the electricity bill going through the roof. That is when he started this personal project, both as a way to earn passive income, and to add to his CV.
How much they make: $12K/year
Current team size: 1
FreeMcServer.net, a free high-performance Minecraft server hosting service launched in 2018, has more than 970,000 registered users and generates monthly profits of around $1,000 USD, with over 95% of revenue coming from advertisements on the website and a primary user base from lower-income countries.
25. Closing Credits ($600K/year)
Buford Taylor, founder of Closing Credits, came up with the idea for his education marketplace for creators after realizing there was a lack of support and resources for amateur creators to level up their skills. With experience in the creator space and the success of his previous ventures, Taylor launched Closing Credits, which has already crossed the $500k revenue mark within 11 months.
How much they make: $600K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 0
Closing Credits is an education marketplace for creators, generating $500k in revenue within 11 months and launched to Buford Taylor's active audience of 600k people.
26. StayFi ($960K/year)
Arthur Colker, the Founder and CEO of StayFi, came up with the idea for his WiFi marketing and management company after working as a marketing consultant for a short-term rental operator. He realized that there was a need for a solution that could collect marketing data from guests in rental properties, as the booking platforms didn't share this data. He built an MVP version of the product for his client and then expanded it to other operators in the industry.
How much they make: $960K/year
How much did it cost to start: $150K
Current team size: 6
StayFi CEO Arthur Colker founded a WiFi marketing and management company that operates in almost 10,000 short-term rental properties from 600+ companies across 10 countries, with a focus on helping customers to introduce their brand and market to guests to book directly.
27. Swift App ($120K/year)
Jeet Mehta, one of the founders of Swift App, came up with the idea for the business after hearing the complaints of a sports facility owner. He and his team, all working full-time in Toronto tech, decided to build a prototype that would help facility owners manage bookings and save time. After receiving positive feedback and securing their first paying customer, they launched the business and have since grown to $10K/month in revenue.
How much they make: $120K/year
How much did it cost to start: $300
Current team size: 3
Swift App founders built software to help sports facility owners run their businesses, freeing up valuable time with an easy-to-use online booking system, which has helped the company grow to $10k/month in revenue.
28. Upvoty ($48K/year)
How much they make: $48K/year
Current team size: 10
Upvoty, a user feedback tool founded in 2018, provides a comprehensive platform for managing customer feedback from various channels and is focusing on SaaS companies with its product.
29. Cledara ($2.4M/year)
How much they make: $2.4M/year
Current team size: 43
Cristina Vila and Brad van Leeuwen founded Cledara, a subscription management company that has acquired over 700 clients, a $2.4M ARR, raised $7 million, and partnered with financial giants such as PayPal, Caixa Bank, and Railsbank.
30. Jumper Media ($19.2M/year)
How much they make: $19.2M/year
Current team size: 50
Jumper Media-founder Colton Bollinger's Instagram-focused marketing strategies helped him to assist over 3000 small businesses to build brand awareness and boost audience engagement and sales, leading Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Yahoo to recognize him for his efforts.
31. Trust Chain ($360K/year)
How much they make: $360K/year
Current team size: 7
Trust Chain Global is a fintech platform and third-party workflow management solution that aims to bring trust, confidence, and transparency to the global commodities market through cutting-edge technologies like blockchain, continuous identity verification, digital escrow and payments, and a smart deal management system.
32. Locale ($500K/year)
Aditi Sinha and her co-founder Rishabh Jain came up with the idea for Locale.ai while working in consulting jobs in a Data Analytics company. They noticed that Ops and Data teams in large companies were facing operational inefficiencies and lacked specialized software. They decided to build Locale, a SaaS-based control tower platform, to simplify operations for these teams. Today, Locale is used by top operations teams around the world and has customers in 33 countries, with an ARR of $650k.
How much they make: $500K/year
Current team size: 30
Locale.ai co-founder Aditi Sinha discusses the development and success of their SaaS based modern control tower for Ops and Data teams at physical businesses, currently serving clients in 33 countries with an ARR of $650k and plans for future growth and expansion.
33. ClearForMe ($3.9M/year)
How much they make: $3.9M/year
Current team size: 11
ClearForMe is an ingredient SaaS solution used by 300 companies, including Credo Beauty and Ulta Beauty, offering user-friendly ingredient education, filter, and search capabilities based on transparency and customization, with over 1.6 million ingredients.
34. System.io ($2.4M/year)
How much they make: $2.4M/year
Current team size: 48
French internet marketer, Aurelien Amacker, founded Systeme.io in 2016, which has over 6,000 users generating $11 million and was successful due to the founder's first $500,000 in sales, teaching internet marketing to a French audience online, and leveraging partnerships.
35. Stravito ($12.1M/year)
How much they make: $12.1M/year
Current team size: 79
Stravito is a powerful knowledge management platform enabling consumer businesses to organize expertise and insights with centralized, accessible information.
36. Yellow Jersey ($1M/year)
How much they make: $1M/year
Current team size:
Discover how Emil Egeland grew his SaaS Yellow Jersey business by accelerating the growth of startups, taking two companies from zero to one million dollars in 12 months and another from one million to six million dollars in less than two years.
37. SmartSuite ($1.2M/year)
How much they make: $1.2M/year
Current team size: 8
SmartSuite gained 400 customers and $100,000 in monthly recurring revenue in just 4 weeks after 3 years of development, offering three monthly seat pricing tiers with the largest deal closed for 150 seats.
38. UserGuiding ($2.4M/year)
Osman and his co-founder Muhammet started UserGuiding after a failed search for a business model in San Francisco. They had the skills, time, and money, but no idea until they analyzed a difficult-to-use product they were offered a job for and realized they could build a better user onboarding tool. They received positive feedback from experienced SaaS founders and quickly developed a prototype, making their first sale to Mobile Action founder Aykut. Within their first month, they made $2,000 and launched on Product Hunt, gaining more customers and attending SaaStr Annual 2018 with Aykut's gift of tickets.
How much they make: $2.4M/year
How much did it cost to start: $200K
Current team size: 30
UserGuiding is a SaaS product that has attracted 73 subscribers, 5,000 sign-ups from 92 countries, and 4 million end users, with a monthly recurring revenue that has increased from $413 to $9,400 in the past 14 months.
39. Pony Express Studio ($3.6M/year)
Thibault Louis-Lucas, the founder of Taplio and Tweet Hunter, came up with the idea for his startups after experiencing failures with previous ventures. Through trial and error, he and his co-founder committed themselves to building new products every week until one gained traction. Their "aha" moment came when they developed Tweet Hunter, a simple search bar that retrieved viral tweets, leading to a successful launch and subsequent growth.
How much they make: $3.6M/year
How much did it cost to start: $1K
Current team size: 7
Taplio and Tweet Hunter, founded by Thibault Louis-Lucas, experienced tremendous growth, going from $0 to $3.5m in ARR in just two years, targeting Twitter, LinkedIn and social media creators and becoming one of the most successful startups in the industry.
40. Filestage ($3M/year)
Hey, my name is Niklas Dorn and I'm the CEO and co-founder of Filestage. We started the company in 2015 after realizing how messy and complicated the feedback process was for agencies and marketing teams when it comes to content creation. Our software makes it easy for teams to share, comment, and approve any digital content, and today we have over 600 customers and 50,000 users worldwide.
How much they make: $3M/year
How much did it cost to start: $200K
Current team size: 50
Filestage is a content review and approval software that started in 2015 and now has over 600 customers and 50,000 users worldwide, offering an efficient approval process for digital content such as videos, images, pdf, podcasts, and entire websites.
41. PDFLiner ($480K/year)
Dmytro Serhiiev, the co-founder of PDFLiner, came up with the idea for the business while working with contractors, partners, and other departments in the startup studio. He realized the need for user-friendly document management services and digital signatures, leading him to create PDFLiner. Since its launch in June 2020, the business has experienced impressive growth, reaching $1K MMR in December 2020 and currently generating over $40K MRR.
How much they make: $480K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1K
Current team size: 20
PDFLiner is an electronic document management platform that allows users to create and edit PDF files, add electronic signatures, fill out forms, and manage electronic documents, and has reached $40K MRR and is on track to do $500K ARR this year, with more than 80,000 users, and plans to expand its forms catalog and improve its functionality to deal with the B2B segment.
42. Sharetribe ($2.4M/year)
Juho Makkonen, the CEO and co-founder of Sharetribe, came up with the idea for their online marketplace software while working on a research project at a Finnish university. After receiving multiple requests from non-technical founders to use their technology for their own ideas, they realized there was a market for a solution that allowed non-technical founders to build their own marketplace websites without coding skills. Today, Sharetribe powers over 1000 marketplaces in 70+ countries, with some customers raising millions in venture capital.
How much they make: $2.4M/year
How much did it cost to start: $100K
Current team size: 24
Sharetribe is a SaaS product that makes it easy for non-technical founders to create their online marketplace without coding skills; with more than 1000 marketplaces in 70+ countries powered by Sharetribe software, it began with an idea of Juho Makkonen and a co-founder, spinning out of their first marketplace research project.
43. Excelformulabot ($276K/year)
David Bressler, the founder of Excelformulabot.com, came up with the idea while on paternity leave. After discovering the power of AI and its potential in Excel formulas, he realized there was a need for an AI-based Excel formula generator. With 1 billion Excel users worldwide, Bressler saw a big enough market and quickly built a barebone application that went viral and gained traction through Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Since the launch in September 2022, the website has generated over $14K in monthly recurring revenue.
How much they make: $276K/year
How much did it cost to start: $196
Current team size: 0
AI-powered web application, Excelformulabot.com, generates Excel formulas within seconds for a subscription fee of $6.99/month or free for five formula requests per month, resulting in $14k/month in recurring revenue since its launch in September 2022, accruing millions of visitors through word of mouth, influencer marketing, SEO, and PPC, implemented through no-code web application Bubble.io, while preparing to penetrate a B2B market and focus on B2B outreach in the future.
44. Viima ($1.8M/year)
Jesse Nieminen, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Viima, came up with the idea for their innovation management software while studying computer science at Aalto University. They realized that companies needed a way to test their ideas in the market sooner, based on their own struggles, and developed Viima to help organizations collect, develop, and manage ideas all the way through to innovations. With over 13,000 organizations using their platform and a growth rate of around 70% year-over-year, Viima has become the most widely used and highest-rated innovation management software in the world.
How much they make: $1.8M/year
How much did it cost to start: $3K
Current team size: 10
Viima, a Finnish-based bootstrapped innovation management software company, has managed to grow their recurring revenue at a rate of around 70% year-over-year, with more than 13,000 organizations from all around the world using their platform to manage innovation ideas, showing that online and inbound marketing are indeed the most effective ways to create a low-cost customer acquisition machine and a leading brand in the field.
45. Helpkit ($54K/year)
Dominik Sobe, the solo founder of Seven Degrees Labs, came up with the idea for his most successful product, HelpKit, while working on other projects that required a help desk tool. Realizing that he already documented his business using Notion, he wanted to create a professional knowledge base using the platform, leading him to build HelpKit. Now exceeding his goal of $3K MRR, Sobe is grateful for the success of HelpKit and the ability to work on his own terms.
How much they make: $54K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 1
Case study of a solo founder who built HelpKit, a profitable software product that turns Notion pages into professional knowledge bases, surpassing his goal of $3K MRR by another $2K, and shares his process of building the MVP using Figma and a landing page to validate the idea, launching on Twitter, and growing through sharing his story on Reddit and Indiehackers, creating free tools like Notion Simple Table Generator, building on a growing niche, getting to know his customers, and accepting slow growth.
46. EventBookings ($120K/year)
Mark Thomas, the founder of EventBookings, came up with the idea after witnessing the difficulties event organizers face in hosting events for universities worldwide during his career in the educational photography industry. He realized the need for a platform that could help event organizers remain organized throughout the chaos of event planning. With EventBookings, he created an all-in-one event technology platform that makes it effortless to sell event tickets online. Since its launch, EventBookings has hosted over 10,000 events and attracted 1,500 event organizers worldwide.
How much they make: $120K/year
How much did it cost to start: $60K
Current team size: 25
EventBookings is an all-in-one event technology platform that helps event organizers remain organized throughout the chaos of event planning and is now running the business with 25 employees and is currently on track to reach their next revenue target of $1M.
47. Checkout Page ($26.4K/year)
Sander, the founder of Checkout Page, came up with the idea while working as a freelance developer and traveling as a digital nomad. He identified a need for an easy way to accept payments in Stripe and saw it as an opportunity to help people make a living online. After launching on Product Hunt and receiving positive feedback, Sander continued to focus on customer support and validation to further develop the product.
How much they make: $26.4K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 0
Checkout Page is a payment software for independent businesses that processed over $1M in transactions last year and is now aiming to 10x the business to $10k monthly revenue with a new co-founder and focus on user experience and marketing.
48. 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.
49. dealpad ($20M/year)
Adam, the founder of dealpad.io, was inspired to start his business after successfully building and selling his previous companies. He developed a sales framework using Excel during his time at Salesforce and saw how it had a significant impact on closing deals. This led him to transform his framework into software and create dealpad, a Digital Sales Room Platform that helps B2B software organizations increase their sales conversion rates.
How much they make: $20M/year
How much did it cost to start: $200K
Current team size: 12
Dealpad.io is a Digital Sales Room Platform for B2B SaaS organizations with $2M - $200M annual recurring revenue; it enables sellers to quickly create personalized buying rooms to increase the likelihood of deals closing by 300%.
50. Distro ($1.68M/year)
Chad Ingram, the founder and CEO of Distro, came up with the idea for his business after facing challenges with hiring and retaining software developers in his previous ventures. Seeing the need for a better alternative in the competitive labor market, Chad created Distro as a marketplace for companies to find, hire, and pay remote development teams. Within 8 months of launching, Distro has already surpassed $2 million in annual recurring revenue and is focused on scaling its marketing and product implementation.
How much they make: $1.68M/year
How much did it cost to start: $250K
Current team size: 5
Distro, a marketplace for companies to find and hire software developers, has reached $2 million in ARR in just 8 months, and is profitable, giving founders hope to grow through capital efficiency focussing on product and sales by aggressively targeting a $3.5 million ARR by December 2022 alongside building a scalable marketing system and product implementation.
51. Songstats ($828K/year)
Oskar Eichler, co-founder of Songstats, came up with the idea for his business while working as a label manager and DJ in Shanghai. Being involved in the music industry, he recognized the value of data analytics for artists and record labels and wanted to provide a platform that aggregated insights across various music services. After teaming up with his co-founders, they built Songstats and now have over 6,000 customers generating almost $1 million in annual recurring revenue.
How much they make: $828K/year
How much did it cost to start: $400K
Current team size: 8
Songstats is a music data analytics SaaS platform that aggregates insights across 14 different music services, approaching $1 million in annual recurring revenue and growing its team of music lovers, ultimate frisbee players, and close friends that came together in Bali, Indonesia with a shared vision of launching their startup.
52. StatsDrone ($240K/year)
John Wright, CEO and co-founder of StatsDrone, came up with the idea for his B2B affiliate SaaS company after years of experience in the iGaming and affiliate marketing industry. Recognizing the existing problems in the marketplace, he decided to create a solution that would support the entire affiliate marketing industry. With close to $20k MRR and a successful bootstrapping journey, StatsDrone is now in the middle of an investment round to further accelerate its growth.
How much they make: $240K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1M
Current team size: 12
B2B affiliate SaaS company, StatsDrone, bootstrapped to close to $20k MRR and is in the middle of an investment round to accelerate the company, with a focus on video content marketing and using tools such as Figma and Tableau for product development.
53. MarsX ($1.2M/year)
The founder of MarsX Inc, a low-code development platform, came up with the idea after experiencing the repetitive and time-consuming nature of building startups. Frustrated with traditional development methods, the founder wanted to create a tool that would simplify the process and allow for the reuse of code. Now, with hundreds of projects on the platform and a dedicated team, MarsX is looking to scale and target a specific market.
How much they make: $1.2M/year
How much did it cost to start: $300K
Current team size: 15
MarsX, a low-code development platform with micro-apps that saves founders 90% of the time and provides flexibility on demand, has over 261 projects on the platform and has attracted hundreds of users through word of mouth.
54. Vidon.ai ($72K/year)
Alex, the founder of Vidon.ai, came up with the idea for his business while working at his previous startup. He realized that content marketing was becoming increasingly competitive, and video marketing yielded better results but was too time-consuming and expensive for small businesses like his. With a background in artificial intelligence and a passion for psychology and marketing, Alex embarked on creating Vidon.ai, an AI tool that instantly turns blog posts into shareable videos, helping companies to stand out and reach a broader audience. In just 5 months, Vidon.ai has scaled to $6K MRR and has assisted over 200 companies in transforming their written content into engaging videos.
How much they make: $72K/year
How much did it cost to start: $200
Current team size: 3
Vidon.ai, an AI tool that instantly turns blog posts into shareable videos, has scaled to $6k monthly recurring revenue in just 5 months and helped 200+ companies turn written content into video, with its most profitable channel being cold email campaigns and organic search expected to take over in the future.
55. SmartCue ($48K/year)
Robin, the founder of SmartCue, came up with the idea for his business while working as a Solutions Consultant. He noticed that sales reps struggled to deliver personalized product demos and pitches, so he set out to create a platform that would help them create a repository of tailored demos. The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of virtual selling further solidified the need for his product.
How much they make: $48K/year
How much did it cost to start: $5K
Current team size: 2
SmartCue, a demo automation platform, is helping software sales teams close deals faster with personalized product demos and has attracted 10+ pilots, both free and paid, since its launch in 2022.
56. Missive ($1M/year)
At first, Philippe and his co-founders were working on another project called ConferenceBadge. While organizing networking events, Philippe realized the need for an online solution to design and order name badges. During a brainstorming session, they came up with the idea for Missive, a collaborative email tool, and decided to pursue it alongside ConferenceBadge.
How much they make: $1M/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 4
Missive, a collaborative email tool, reached $2M in annual recurring revenues with a team of three co-founders after seven years of constant work, relying mostly on word-of-mouth marketing and creating a solid quality product for their customers.
57. Legislate ($60K/year)
Charles Brecque, the founder of Legislate, came up with the idea for his legal tech company after experiencing the slow and painful process of creating, negotiating, and tracking contracts in his previous startup role. He realized that making contracts machine-readable through knowledge graphs would be a more efficient solution and secured initial funding to start building the platform. Legislate has since gained over 120 paying clients and raised £1M in funding.
How much they make: $60K/year
How much did it cost to start: $150K
Current team size: 12
A legal tech company, Legislate, founded by Charles Brecque, makes it easy for non-lawyers to safely create lawyer-approved contracts and track the data they contain, with a team of 12 and over 120 paying clients split between property and employment.
58. Global Entry Alerts ($14.4K/year)
Vlad Verba came up with the idea for Global Entry Alerts while he was applying for Global Entry himself and noticed long wait times for interview appointments. He initially created a free Twitter page that alerted people when appointments became available, and eventually expanded to offer a paid SMS alert service. Today, Global Entry Alerts makes over $1,200 per month in profit and has gained traction through Twitter, Reddit, and organic shares from travel influencers.
How much they make: $14.4K/year
How much did it cost to start: $10
Current team size: 0
Global Entry Alerts helps travelers skip the long lines and get their Global Entry appointment with SMS alerts, making over $1,200/month profit with very minimal effort required.
59. SalesScreen ($8M/year)
Sindre Haaland, the founder of SalesScreen, initially started as a consultancy company doing mobile and website projects to finance the development of his SaaS business. The idea for SalesScreen came when they integrated their second SaaS, an infoscreen solution, with their sales reporting tool, creating a real-time visualization of sales data that motivated and excited sales teams. Today, SalesScreen has grown to have thousands of sales teams relying on their platform, and they are closing in on $10,000,000 in recurring revenue.
How much they make: $8M/year
How much did it cost to start: $10K
Current team size: 45
Sales gamification SaaS SalesScreen, founded in 2011, has grown to close in on $10m in recurring revenue and operates in 26 countries, having used its customer-focused approach to identify market demand and build a gamification platform with motivational elements.
60. Semicab ($1.53M/year)
How much they make: $1.53M/year
Current team size: 22
Trucking-focused SaaS company SemiCab went from a $400,000 project value at the end of 2020 to handling $1 million worth of loads each month in under a year, thanks to a two-year testing period and funding from technology, financial, and supply chain investors.
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