Founder stories
Founder stories
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39 stories found
Thomas Sanlis
After 30 failed projects, French dev builds $10K/mo Product Hunt alternative
Thomas failed 30 projects before Uneed. Six years later, he runs it full-time at $10K/month.
$10K MRR in 6 years·Solo
MarketplaceMarketing🇫🇷 FR
Sergiu Chiriac
Solo dev builds AI directory of directories to $10K revenue in one year
Sergiu created a meta-directory listing AI tool directories, reaching $10K revenue by helping AI startups get discovered.
$10K MRR in 1 year·Solo
MarketplaceMarketing🇷🇴 RO
VK
Victoria Kurichenko
SEO Blog
SEO Specialist Reaches $1K/Month with Just 89 Blog Posts
Victoria built a WordPress blog with only 89 posts and 15,000 monthly visits to reach $1K/month from affiliate marketing.
$1K MRR in 9 months·Solo
OtherMarketing🇺🇦 UA
AB
Andy Beohar
Tech Employee Quits to Build $275K MRR Marketing Agency
Andy left his tech job in 2014 and bootstrapped SevenAtoms to $275K MRR with a 90% client retention rate.
$100K ARR in 5 years·Solo
Agency / ServiceMarketing🇺🇸 US
DS
Derryck Strachan
Copywriter Spots SEO Demand, Builds $30K/Month Content Agency
Derryck recognized the growing demand for SEO content and built Big Star Copywriting to $30K/month, surviving the 2008 crash.
$10K MRR in 3 years·Solo
Agency / ServiceMarketing🇬🇧 GB
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
MJ
Mayank Jain
Digital Startup Veterans Build AI Content Platform, $100K MRR in Year One
Mayank and co-founders leveraged 10+ years of digital marketing experience to build Scalenut to $100K MRR in one year.
$100K ARR in 1 year·Team
SaaSMarketing🇮🇳 IN
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
Guillaume Moubeche
Guillaume Moubeche Bootstrapped Lemlist from $0 to $250K ARR in 365 Days
Guillaume and two technical co-founders built Lemlist, reaching $250K ARR in one year with $0 in funding through Product Hunt and AppSumo.
$100K ARR in 1 year·Team
SaaSMarketing🇫🇷 FR
Ben Chestnut & Dan Kurzius
Mailchimp: The $12 Billion Bootstrapped Exit That Changed Email Marketing
Ben Chestnut bootstrapped Mailchimp for 20 years without VC funding, then sold to Intuit for $12 billion - the largest bootstrapped acquisition ever.
$100K ARR in 8 years·Team
SaaSMarketing🇺🇸 US
Rand Fishkin & Casey Henry
SparkToro: How the Moz Founder Built a Calmer Company After VC Burnout
After building Moz to $30M ARR then stepping down, Rand Fishkin bootstrapped SparkToro to 1,000+ paying customers with a radically different approach.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Team
SaaSMarketing🇺🇸 US
Rick Perreault
Unbounce: From Agency Frustration to $100K MRR Without a Sales Team
Rick Perreault solved his own pain as a creative director - waiting on developers for landing pages - and built Unbounce to $100K+ MRR without a sales team.
$100K ARR in 3 years·Team
SaaSMarketing🇨🇦 CA
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
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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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