Founder stories
$100K ARRin 4 years
4 milestones
Built a $3M ARR form builder with 400,000 users and a 5-person team
Founder
Marie Martens
Co-Founders•Technical•USA
Commitment
Full-timeExperience
ExperiencedProduct
Free form builder that works like a doc.
Type
SaaSIndustry
MarketingModel
SubscriptionMarketing Strategy
How Marie acquired customers
Primary Channel
Product Hunt
Also Used
Twitter / XSEO / Content
Tech Stack
Tools used to build Tally
ReactNode.jsPostgreSQLStripe
The Full Story
Tally grew to 400,000 users and $3M ARR with just a 5-person team. The secret? Product-led growth with viral loops.
Viral Badges
30-40% of our growth comes from "Powered by Tally" badges on forms. Every free user becomes a marketing channel.
Product Hunt Success
We won the Golden Kitty award. Product Hunt gave us early traction and credibility in the form builder space.
Building in Public
We shared our journey openly on Twitter. This built trust and attracted users who wanted to support indie makers.
- Users: 400,000
- ARR: $3M
- Team size: 5
- Growth from badges: 30-40%
Key Takeaways
1
Product-led growth via viral loops
2
Start building in public early
3
Small teams can reach millions in revenue
4
Free tier with branding drives growth
Originally published onTally Blog
Inspired by Marie's journey? Generate a business idea in the Marketing space using AI and real founder data.
Milestone Journey
Marie achieved 4 milestones on the path to $100K ARR
First Customer
1 month
69% faster
vs avg 3 months+11 months to next milestone
$1K MRR
$1,000
1 year
Avg: 11 months
+1 year to next milestone
$10K MRR
$10,000
2 years
Avg: 1 year
+2 years to next milestone
$100K ARR
$3,000,000
4 years
Avg: 3 years
4 years
Total journey time
4
Milestones achieved
Marie's Path to $100K ARRPremium
The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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