I Built 3 SaaS Apps to $200K MRR: Here's My Exact Playbook
Starter Story
Nov 2, 2025
Mike is a founder from Australia who has bootstrapped three SaaS apps to a combined $200K MRR. This video breaks down his 10-step playbook and his portfolio approach to building multiple sustainable SaaS businesses simultaneously.
Learn How to Build a Unicorn → https://clickhubspot.com/ed613c
Build your own app with AI→ https://build.starterstory.com/build/ai-build-accelerator?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=mikehill
Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mymatemike/
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🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:51 - Who is Mike?
1:21 - Apps Breakdown
2:17 - Background
2:50 - Mike's Approach to Building
4:31 - How to Build a Unicorn
5:40 - 10 Step Proven Playbook
9:52 - Good vs Bad Ideas
11:13 - Tech Stack
12:02 - Final Advice
12:52 - Final Word
This video is an educational case study of one founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.
Chapters
Stack
Transcript
Chapters
Stack
No tools listed for this business.
Right
now
we
have
five
apps
and
we're
doing
just
over
200
grand
MRR
This
is
Mike
a
founder
from
Australia
who
built
five
different
SaaS
apps
that
make
a
combined
200
000
MRR
But
here's
what's
interesting
Each
successful
app
he's
created
follows
the
same
repeatable
framework
And
this
framework
works
so
well
that
he
guarantees
every
app
he
puts
through
it
becomes
successful
I
like
to
build
ideas
that
can't
fail
I
asked
Mike
to
come
onto
the
channel
and
he
shared
everything
including
his
five
apps
that
make
200
000
a
month
how
he
picks
ideas
that
cannot
fail
in
his
exact
10
step
playbook
that
he
uses
over
and
over
this
episode
You
cannot
miss
So
let's
get
into
it
I'm
Pat
Walls
and
this
is
Starter
Story
All
right
Mike
welcome
to
the
channel
Tell
me
about
who
you
are
what
you
built
and
what's
your
story
Hey
Pat
my
name's
Mike
I've
currently
got
three
SaaS
businesses
doing
over
200
grand
a
month
And
we've
got
two
more
on
the
way
Current
businesses
are
Curator
io
Juno
co
Thrill
co
Fluke
co
and
soon
Smile
co
Our
aim
over
the
next
five
years
is
to
get
to
about
a
million
dollars
MRR
And
we
want
to
do
that
with
the
smallest
team
possible
without
raising
any
capital
All
right
Amazing
You
have
a
bunch
of
different
apps
making
a
ton
of
money
Can
you
share
a
little
bit
more
about
what
your
businesses
do
and
what
your
holding
company
does
as
a
whole
Our
current
businesses
are
Curator
io
which
is
a
social
media
aggregator
for
websites
and
events
Thrill
co
which
is
a
customer
feedback
tool
which
allows
you
to
collect
customer
feedback
plot
it
to
a
roadmap
and
announce
new
features
Juno
co
which
is
a
digital
signage
business
aimed
at
cafes
gyms
schools
and
shops
And
Fluke
co
which
is
a
no
code
tours
platform
that
allows
you
to
build
onboarding
tours
for
SaaS
businesses
tooltips
pop
ups
things
like
that
without
having
to
bother
the
developers
And
our
final
business
which
we're
launching
in
the
next
two
weeks
is
Smile
which
is
an
innovative
way
at
doing
group
e
cards
for
B2B
businesses
And
altogether
these
five
apps
make
just
over
200
grand
a
month
We're
fully
bootstrapped
and
we've
used
exactly
the
same
playbook
to
launch
all
of
them
OK
I'm
excited
to
get
into
the
playbook
of
how
you
did
this
Clearly
it's
working
You've
done
it
with
three
about
to
be
five
companies
Before
we
get
into
that
I
want
to
understand
a
little
bit
about
your
background
How
do
you
get
to
the
point
where
you
own
multiple
SaaS
businesses
Well
I
used
to
be
a
developer
one
of
the
world's
worst
developers
I
was
a
flash
developer
and
ended
up
running
an
agency
a
digital
advertising
agency
and
sold
that
a
number
of
years
ago
I
somehow
fell
into
advertising
ironically
realized
I
was
rubbish
at
advertising
And
what
I
really
loved
was
building
products
And
that's
how
I
got
back
into
building
products
OK
Mike
one
of
the
big
reasons
I
wanted
to
bring
on
the
channel
is
you
have
this
sort
of
strict
and
meticulous
way
of
looking
at
building
apps
choosing
ideas
of
what
to
build
And
I
really
like
your
approach
So
could
you
break
that
down
for
me
What
is
your
approach
to
building
apps
So
our
entire
approach
is
about
minimizing
risk
I
expect
every
single
one
of
our
businesses
to
be
successful
We
have
a
much
higher
rate
of
success
We
haven't
had
a
failure
So
our
model
is
like
this
We
go
and
find
the
idea
work
out
how
well
they're
doing
despite
the
bad
UX
We
then
go
and
assemble
the
team
We
like
to
have
it
tech
heavy
So
we'll
have
a
front
end
developer
a
back
end
developer
ideally
a
designer
as
well
and
then
somebody
like
myself
who
does
everything
else
around
the
product
We
always
start
with
four
co
founders
What
that
does
is
minimize
founder
fallout
which
is
one
of
the
key
reasons
most
businesses
fail
We
prioritize
design
quite
heavily
We
believe
that
good
design
sells
which
is
why
we
like
to
have
a
designer
designer
on
the
team
We
like
people
that
can
do
a
little
bit
of
everything
We
like
every
single
person
on
the
team
to
be
thinking
about
the
UX
of
the
product
That's
really
really
crucial
to
who
we
get
on
board
With
those
four
co
founders
we
always
split
the
company
equally
25
each
We
then
grow
the
company
to
about
10
000
MRR
which
covers
costs
there
or
thereabout
depending
on
which
company
it
is
Then
after
10
000
MRR
we
split
the
profits
between
the
founders
and
that's
when
we
start
to
pay
ourselves
These
businesses
are
about
bigger
salaries
not
big
exits
We
don't
invest
as
much
money
back
into
advertising
We
don't
invest
as
much
money
back
into
staff
We
stay
super
super
lean
so
that
all
the
profits
come
out
to
the
founders
What
I
love
about
Mike's
story
is
his
approach
to
building
He
doesn't
just
build
apps
randomly
He
actually
knows
what
separates
successful
SaaS
businesses
from
failures
HubSpot
for
Startups
who
I'm
partnering
with
for
today's
video
also
knows
a
few
things
about
successful
companies
too
Over
35
000
customers
rely
on
them
to
grow
their
startups
and
they
just
put
together
an
insane
resource
called
How
to
Build
a
Unicorn
in
2025
It's
a
free
high
signal
guide
packed
with
the
sharpest
data
and
founder
insights
shaping
billion
dollar
businesses
today
Inside
you'll
discover
what
kinds
of
companies
are
actually
winning
hot
industries
fast
rising
topics
and
how
you
can
build
something
around
these
ideas
My
favorite
part
about
this
is
that
they
removed
all
the
fluff
and
made
it
as
quick
and
actionable
as
possible
so
you
can
walk
away
and
start
executing
on
these
ideas
immediately
So
if
you're
building
anything
in
2025
and
want
to
understand
what
separates
winners
from
everyone
else
just
download
HubSpot
for
Startups
free
guide
at
the
first
link
in
the
description
below
Thanks
again
to
HubSpot
for
Startups
for
sponsoring
this
video
Let's
get
back
into
it
Okay
I
think
this
is
amazing
You
sort
of
have
this
framework
for
how
to
find
ideas
and
how
to
build
an
idea
that's
almost
impossible
to
fail
as
you
sort
of
explained
I
want
you
to
get
more
detailed
though
Can
you
break
down
this
playbook
step
by
step
so
anybody
watching
can
do
the
same
Sure
We
have
a
10
step
playbook
and
we
follow
this
to
the
letter
every
single
time
we
launch
a
business
business
First
and
foremost
pick
an
idea
that's
been
done
before
New
ideas
are
risky
New
ideas
need
validation
If
you
pick
an
idea
that's
been
done
before
you
know
that
people
want
it
You
know
that
it
works
Number
two
decide
what
is
a
good
enough
MVP
You
need
to
work
out
from
your
competitors
what
are
the
things
that
their
customers
want
the
most
Build
the
MVP
Get
it
out
there
as
quickly
as
possible
Get
people
using
it
Core
to
how
we
make
money
early
on
is
the
third
point
in
our
playbook
Offer
a
lifetime
deal
Offer
away
your
product
for
59
100
whatever
it
is
for
a
single
time
payment
Number
four
never
give
away
an
account
for
free
Always
charge
people
If
people
pay
for
it
they'll
use
it
That's
key
to
what
you
want
at
this
stage
in
the
playbook
You
want
people
using
your
product
You
want
people
telling
you
why
it's
crap
You
want
people
giving
you
as
much
feedback
as
possible
Number
five
do
as
much
work
as
possible
to
sell
a
private
LTD
Work
in
Reddit
groups
Work
in
private
Facebook
groups
Get
onto
X
Find
out
where
your
customers
are
living
Work
with
the
LTD
groups
of
which
there
are
many
to
get
your
product
bought
by
as
many
people
as
possible
For
Thrill
we
launched
a
private
LTD
and
raised
about
30
000
from
our
private
LTD
Number
six
start
writing
content
It
is
never
ever
ever
ever
too
early
to
start
writing
content
Start
writing
landing
pages
Start
writing
blog
posts
Use
that
money
that
you
got
from
the
private
LTD
to
start
writing
content
Write
competitor
pages
alternative
to
pages
Get
it
out
there
as
early
as
humanly
possible
The
longer
it's
up
there
the
longer
ChatGPT
the
longer
Google
will
start
indexing
it
and
start
sending
you
traffic
Once
you've
started
writing
content
launch
on
AppSumo
or
one
of
the
other
marketplaces
AppSumo
is
great
because
they
have
huge
huge
reach
You
can
do
two
different
things
on
AppSumo
You
can
launch
on
their
marketplace
which
has
a
lower
fee
or
you
can
work
with
their
sales
team
and
work
on
their
select
offering
Both
work
do
your
own
research
there
but
they
have
a
huge
huge
database
of
people
that
they
can
mail
out
to
This
can
get
you
again
way
more
users
and
a
hell
of
a
lot
more
capital
Your
aim
should
be
to
close
your
LTD
with
100
grand
in
your
pocket
that
you
can
use
for
a
year
or
two
years
to
write
more
content
Once
you've
done
an
AppSumo
LTD
move
to
stage
eight
which
is
do
one
last
private
LTD
Many
people
don't
want
to
miss
out
on
a
deal
So
this
is
where
you're
closing
off
your
LTD
your
lifetime
deal
for
life
It
will
never
ever
be
available
again
Pup
your
prices
up
a
little
bit
and
offer
one
last
private
LTD
send
it
out
to
your
mailing
list
and
then
close
it
and
ideally
close
it
forever
Stage
nine
is
crucial
This
is
live
or
die
moment
You've
got
100
grand
or
however
much
you
raise
from
your
LTD
in
the
bank
This
is
where
you
get
your
customers
to
write
your
current
LTD
customers
to
help
you
get
an
honest
review
on
Trustpilot
on
G2
Wherever
they're
willing
to
write
your
reviews
it's
so
incredibly
important
It'll
boost
your
domain
ranking
and
get
honest
reviews
for
you
You'll
find
that
the
LTD
community
are
willing
to
do
that
because
they
really
really
want
you
to
succeed
They're
your
early
ambassadors
It
used
to
be
Quora
that
we
would
go
out
and
answer
questions
on
but
more
and
more
we're
seeing
Reddit
as
an
important
place
to
go
and
answer
questions
about
your
product
Scan
Reddit
see
who's
asking
for
one
of
your
competitors
Answer
honestly
authentically
on
Reddit
posts
Look
for
subreddits
where
your
customers
are
hanging
out
This
is
such
a
crucial
stage
because
you've
now
moved
to
MRR
Money's
depleting
but
hopefully
you're
starting
to
get
MRR
And
by
the
time
your
money
runs
out
hopefully
you've
got
enough
MRR
to
stay
alive
That's
it
That's
the
10
step
process
This
has
worked
for
us
on
three
companies
We're
halfway
through
the
playbook
on
a
fourth
company
We're
about
to
start
it
on
the
fifth
company
Okay
Thank
you
for
sharing
that
playbook
That's
amazing
Super
tactical
super
step
by
step
And
I
can
see
how
that
works
I
want
to
jump
back
to
the
earlier
steps
of
the
playbook
which
is
finding
ideas
Specifically
you
really
focus
on
finding
ideas
that
can't
fail
Can
you
go
a
little
bit
deeper
on
that
What
is
an
example
of
an
idea
that
can't
fail
And
then
what
is
an
example
of
an
idea
that
could
potentially
fail
that
you
wouldn't
touch
So
what
I
will
tell
you
is
one
idea
or
an
area
that
we
will
never
go
after
We
will
never
go
after
an
AI
focused
business
Too
many
times
you
have
an
idea
that
relies
on
something
an
API
that
you
do
not
control
something
that
you
are
not
in
control
of
which
puts
you
at
massive
massive
risk
Having
said
that
one
idea
that
we
almost
went
after
we
still
may
go
after
We
love
the
idea
of
some
sort
of
documentation
tool
I
don't
feel
like
the
documentation
tools
that
are
out
there
at
the
moment
are
doing
a
really
good
job
or
the
ones
that
are
doing
a
really
good
job
are
severely
overpriced
And
good
documentation
especially
today
is
going
to
be
the
key
to
success
because
AI
needs
good
documentation
to
recommend
your
product
well
to
know
about
your
product
So
that's
something
that
I
think
may
work
well
We
just
won't
rely
on
AI
to
build
or
be
an
integral
part
of
the
business
Okay
cool
I
like
that
Not
going
after
sexy
ideas
that
may
not
exist
in
six
months
Avoiding
platform
risk
I
want
to
switch
gears
a
little
bit
and
talk
about
TechStack
I
know
you
come
from
a
bit
of
a
development
background
How
do
you
actually
build
these
apps
and
what
TechStack
do
you
have
them
built
on
The
TechStack
varies
depending
on
the
founding
team
and
what
they're
comfortable
using
whether
it's
Vue
whether
it's
React
on
the
front
end
Our
back
end
still
predominantly
sits
in
PHP
and
Laravel
but
again
that
changes
all
the
time
Some
of
the
tools
I'm
loving
at
the
moment
are
Willow
Voice
I
can
barely
type
anymore
You
just
press
the
function
key
and
you
can
talk
at
your
computer
We're
using
Granola
for
meeting
notes
I
absolutely
love
it
Obviously
Slack
and
things
like
that
We
use
Framer
for
websites
We've
just
moved
over
to
Framer
actually
All
of
a
sudden
websites
are
no
longer
the
job
of
the
tech
team
And
more
recently
Veo
for
prototyping
We
prototype
everything
in
Veo
and
then
we
take
it
into
design
at
Figma
and
then
we
build
it
Okay
cool
Thanks
for
sharing
that
The
last
question
that
I
have
for
all
founders
who
come
on
Starter
Story
if
you
could
go
back
in
time
and
give
advice
to
young
Mike
before
you
got
started
building
apps
and
software
in
SaaS
for
anybody
who's
watching
this
what
would
be
your
advice
to
get
started
and
build
awesome
companies
like
you're
doing
Really
simply
just
work
with
people
you
enjoy
working
with
Work
with
people
that
you
are
quite
happy
to
go
and
have
a
drink
at
the
pub
with
It's
actually
the
main
reason
I
do
all
of
this
I
feel
like
I
go
to
work
every
day
and
I
go
to
work
with
my
mates
It's
brilliant
fun
We
spend
a
lot
of
time
working
on
the
details
because
we
love
doing
that
Don't
just
create
something
that
customers
want
Create
something
that
you
love
building
as
well
That's
super
super
important
Well
I
love
that
Mike
What's
the
point
of
building
businesses
if
it's
not
fun
Thank
you
for
sharing
everything
about
all
the
companies
you're
building
I
think
it's
going
to
inspire
a
lot
of
people
Thanks
for
coming
on
and
sharing
Thanks
a
lot
Have
a
good
day
Thank
you
Mike
for
coming
on
the
channel
and
sharing
all
the
different
apps
that
you
built
Personally
what
I
love
about
Mike's
apps
is
that
they're
all
boring
They're
boring
businesses
but
they
crush
it
and
they
make
a
whole
lot
of
money
I
think
there's
something
to
learn
there
about
not
chasing
shiny
sexy
ideas
On
that
same
note
this
is
exactly
why
we
launched
Starter
Story
Build
We
will
help
you
take
your
idea
which
it's
OK
if
it's
boring
and
turn
it
into
a
real
app
using
only
AI
tools
So
if
you
are
ready
to
get
off
the
sidelines
and
ready
to
actually
launch
your
project
then
definitely
head
to
the
link
in
the
description
to
check
out
Starter
Story
Build
We
are
running
one
of
our
new
cohorts
this
week
So
click
that
link
and
save
your
spot
All
right
That's
it
for
this
episode
Thank
you
guys
for
watching
We
will
see
you
in
the
next
one
Peace
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