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56 stories found
Nathan Latka
Podcast Host Turns Interview Data into $150K MRR SaaS in 100 Days
Nathan turned his podcast interview data into Getlatka, reaching $20K/month in 100 days and $150K MRR within a year.
$100K ARR in 1 year·Solo
SaaSMarketing🇺🇸 US
Ellen Yin
Corporate Marketer Quits Job, Pre-Sells Course, Reaches 7 Figures
Ellen pre-sold her first program with zero content, then built it based on customer feedback to reach 7-figure lifetime revenue.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
PG
Prompt Genie Founder
From Idea to First Customer in 4 Days, Five Figures in 30 Days Using No-Code + TikTok
A non-technical founder went from idea to first customer in 4 days and five figures in 30 days using no-code tools and TikTok.
$10K MRR in 1 month·Solo
Chrome ExtensionAI / MLUnknown
PD
PostBridge Developer
Cross-Platform Social Media Tool Reaches $7K/Month With Just TikTok Marketing
PostBridge reached $7K/month and 100K users with just 1 hour of daily TikTok content creation - zero ad spend.
$1K MRR in 3 months·Solo
SaaSMarketingUnknown
Arvid Kahl
Arvid Kahl Built FeedbackPanda to $55K MRR in 2 Years, Then Sold It
Arvid and his partner Danielle built FeedbackPanda for online ESL teachers, reaching $55K MRR before selling for a life-changing amount.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Team
SaaSEducation🇩🇪 DE
Justin Jackson
Justin Jackson Built Transistor to $1M+ ARR by Building in Public
After years of solo projects, Justin teamed up with Jon Buda to build Transistor.fm, documenting the journey publicly on their "Build Your SaaS" podcast.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Team
SaaSContent Creation🇨🇦 CA
Uku Taht & Marko Saric
Plausible Analytics: From $400 MRR to $500K ARR as Open Source
Uku and Marko built an open source, privacy-first alternative to Google Analytics. One blog post changed their trajectory.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Team
SaaSDeveloper Tools🇪🇪 EE
Davis Siksnans & Lauris Liberts
Printful: From Garage Printing to $289M Revenue Print-on-Demand Giant
Started printing posters in a living room, Davis Siksnans bootstrapped Printful to $289M revenue and 1,700+ employees.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Team
MarketplaceE-commerce🇱🇻 LV
David Holz
Midjourney: The Bootstrapped AI Art Revolution That Said No to Apple Twice
David Holz bootstrapped Midjourney to profitability within months, building a billion-dollar AI art platform on Discord without VC funding.
$100K ARR in 2 months·Solo
SaaSAI / ML🇺🇸 US
Dave Rogenmoser, Chris Hull & JP Morgan
Jasper: From 0 to 100K Customers in Under 2 Years, Unicorn in 18 Months
Dave Rogenmoser launched Conversion.ai and grew to 100K paying customers in under 2 years, reaching unicorn status in 18 months.
$100K ARR in 2 months·Team
SaaSAI / ML🇺🇸 US
Cristóbal Valenzuela
Runway: From NYU Research Project to Hollywood's AI Video Tool
Cristóbal Valenzuela started Runway as a NYU research project and grew it into the AI platform behind Oscar-winning films like "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
$100K ARR in 4 years·Team
SaaSAI / ML🇺🇸 US
Colin Nederkoorn
Customer.io: From 5 Customers at $10/Month to $70M ARR Over a Decade
Colin Nederkoorn started Customer.io with 5 customers paying $10/month and grew it to $70M ARR over 10 years through patient, methodical growth.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Team
SaaSMarketing🇺🇸 US
Jimmy Daly
Superpath: The $500K Content Marketing Community That Costs $500/Month to Run
Jimmy Daly built Superpath into a $500K business with just $500/month in operating costs using no-code tools and community-led growth.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Solo
OtherMarketing🇺🇸 US
Patrick Woods
Orbit: Creating the Community Growth Category and Raising $22M
Patrick Woods created the Orbit Model for developer relations, then built Orbit to help teams manage communities - raising $22M in the process.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Team
SaaSMarketing🇺🇸 US
David Cramer & Chris Jennings
Sentry: From Open Source Side Project to $3B Error Monitoring Platform
David Cramer started Sentry as django-db-log in 2008. Five years of open source work led to product-market fit from day one when they launched the cloud service.
$100K ARR in 3 years·Team
SaaSDeveloper Tools🇺🇸 US
Jake Cooper
Railway: Making Cloud Deployment Simple After Getting Laid Off from Uber
After Uber sold Jump to Lime and laid off his team, Jake Cooper built Railway to solve the infrastructure headaches he kept running into with every project.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Solo
SaaSDeveloper Tools🇺🇸 US
Henrique Dubugras & Pedro Franceschi
From YC VR Pivot to Billion-Dollar Fintech: The Brex Story
These 22-year-old Brazilian founders pivoted from VR in Y Combinator to build Brex, solving their own pain of not getting a corporate credit card despite having funding.
$100K ARR in 6 months·Team
SaaSFinance🇺🇸 US
Ben Jabbawy
Privy
How Privy Reached 500K Merchants and a $120M Exit
Ben Jabbawy built Privy into the #1 Shopify sales app with 500K+ merchants, driving $6B+ in eCommerce sales before a successful exit.
$100K ARR in 4 years·Solo
SaaSE-commerce🇺🇸 US
Andrew Bialecki & Ed Hallen
Klaviyo
How Klaviyo Bootstrapped to $1M ARR Before Raising
Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen bootstrapped Klaviyo to over $1M ARR before raising, eventually building a $6B+ public company.
$100K ARR in 4 years·Team
SaaSE-commerce🇺🇸 US
David Stefanides & Marek Hrabě
How Mockuuups Built a Self-Funded Mockup Empire from Frustration
David and Marek turned their frustration with low-quality mockups into a profitable, self-funded design tool with 5000+ mockups.
$10K MRR in 8 years·Team
SaaSDesign🇨🇿 CZ
Henrique Dubugras & Pedro Franceschi
From Brazilian Teen Hackers to $12B Fintech: The Brex Story
Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi started working together at 16 and built Brex to $12B valuation.
$100K ARR in 1 year·Team
SaaSFinance🇺🇸 US
Tobi Lütke
ShopifyFrom Snowboard Shop to $200B E-Commerce Empire: How Tobi Built Shopify
Tobi Lütke built Shopify because he wanted to sell snowboards online and hated the existing software.
$100K ARR in 3 years·Team
SaaSE-commerce🇨🇦 CA
MF
Mark Forrester, Magnus Jepson & Adii Pienaar
Three Strangers From Three Continents Built the World's Most Popular E-Commerce Platform
Mark Forrester met his co-founders in an online forum, launched WooThemes, then WooCommerce - acquired by Automattic for $30M+.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Team
SaaSE-commerce🇬🇧 GB
Sahil Lavingia
Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company: The Gumroad Story
Sahil Lavingia left Pinterest before vesting, raised $8M, laid off 75% of staff, then rebuilt Gumroad as a profitable "small" business.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Solo
SaaSE-commerce🇺🇸 US
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A note on these stories: The founders featured here represent those who publicly shared their success. Not every startup succeeds, and timelines vary widely. These stories are meant to inspire and educate, not to set expectations.
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