8 Search Platform Success Stories [2024]

Updated: November 19th, 2023
Start A Search Platform

Here are some real life success stories of starting a search platform:

1. SearchTap ($120K/year)

Lakshdeep Rajput, co-founder and CEO of SearchTap, came up with the idea for the business while running an IT consulting company. After realizing that existing search solutions for eCommerce stores were not a good fit in terms of features, functionality, and budget, Rajput decided to build a personalized search technology product himself. Today, SearchTap works with over 400 eCommerce stores globally and plans to continue expanding its offering.

How much they make: $120K/year
Current team size: 30

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How We Developed A $100K+ ARR SaaS Search Tool For Ecommerce stores

SearchTap, a search technology product for websites and mobile applications that provides fast and relevant search solutions, shared how they developed a $10K/month SaaS search tool for eCommerce stores.

About
Lakshdeep started SearchTap almost 8 years ago
Revenue
Lakshdeep grew the business to $10K/month
Read by 6,661 founders

2. FindPeopleFast ($2.4M/year)

customer engagement and reach. Additionally, we use Google Analytics to track website analytics and optimize our performance. We are also exploring the use of email marketing tools to enhance our customer communication and retention strategies.

How much they make: $2.4M/year
How much did it cost to start: $56K
Current team size: 86

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I Started A $2.4M/Year SaaS Company That Gathers People's Personal Information

Find People Fast is a Saas product that pulls out detailed information about any person including social media profiles, public records, address, pictures, property holdings, etc, generating upwards of an estimated revenue of $500,000 per month and employing a team of 60 employees since launch eight months ago.

About
Daniela started FindPeopleFast about 4 years ago
Revenue
Daniela grew the business to $200K/month
Costs
It cost Daniela $56000 to start the business
Read by 4,834 founders

So... can you actually make money with a search platform?

Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.

But how?

  1. Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
  2. Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Take action, because now you have the roadmap.

Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:

Start Now

3. Station ($120K/year)

How much they make: $120K/year
Current team size:

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Growing a Waitlist to 50k Users after Pivoting during COVID

Case study: Startup CEO shares how his company created a unified search for teams, utilizing a browser extension that organizes important resources and knowledge shared across SaaS applications, making it faster and easier for teams to find information and stay up to date.

Revenue
They grew the business to $10K/month
Read by 543 founders

4. GummySearch ($120K/year)

Fed, the founder of The Hive Index and GummySearch, originally built The Hive Index as a simple project to create a directory of online communities. Inspired by the supportive indie hacker and bootstrapper communities, Fed saw potential in helping people find online communities for their interests. This led to the creation of GummySearch, an audience research tool for startup founders, which generated $60k in revenue in its first year.

How much they make: $120K/year
Current team size: 0

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I Built A Reddit Search Engine That Generated $60K In Its First Year

Bootstrapped founder Fed shares the success of his community-focused products, The Hive Index and GummySearch, which have helped over 10k people find online communities each month and generated $60k in revenue in its first year, respectively.

About
Folio started GummySearch almost 3 years ago
Revenue
Folio grew the business to $10K/month
Read by 9,786 founders

So... can you actually make money with a search platform?

Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.

But how?

  1. Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
  2. Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Take action, because now you have the roadmap.

Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:

Start Now

5. bestcourses ($1.2K/year)

Janosch came up with the idea for bestcourses while searching for online courses to enhance his web development skills. He wanted to create a platform that made it easier to find and compare courses from different platforms. The idea was inspired by similar platforms in other niches, and by leveraging his experience in creating and selling online courses, Janosch saw an opportunity to make online education more accessible and transparent.

How much they make: $1.2K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 0

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How We Grew Our Online Course Search Platform To 600K Monthly Impressions

Bestcourses.io is an online course comparison platform that aggregates courses from major online learning platforms and enables users to easily find deals, with an impressive 500k+ monthly impressions and making $100/month from affiliate commissions.

About
Janosch started bestcourses over 2 years ago
Revenue
Janosch grew the business to $100/month
Read by 2,275 founders