Founder stories
Founder stories
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13 stories found
Ivan Zhao
Rebuilt the product 4 times, moved to Japan, now $567M ARR
We rebuilt Notion 4 times before it worked. At one point, we moved to Japan to rewrite the entire tech stack. Now we're at $567M ARR with 30M+ users....
$100K ARR in 8 years·Team
SaaSProductivity🇺🇸 US
AJ
$1K on launch day to $2M ARR with zero marketing spend
Carrd launched on Product Hunt and made $1K on day one. It grew to $2M ARR with absolutely zero marketing spend. The Launch Product Hunt launch...
$100K ARR in 3 years·Solo
SaaSProductivity🇺🇸 US
Ajay Goel
24-year SaaS veteran builds $8.6M ARR Gmail tool with $10K investment
After 24 years in SaaS, I built GMass to $8.6M ARR with just $10K initial investment and 11 employees. Bootstrap Forever I've been bootstrapping...
$100K ARR in 7 years·Solo
Chrome ExtensionProductivity🇺🇸 US
Sebastian Röhl
German Developer Reaches $10K MRR After 2.5 Years with Habit App
I'm a 29-year-old software engineer from Germany who left my full-time job to dedicate one year to building my own projects. The Grind My MRR gr...
$10K MRR in 2 years·Solo
Mobile AppProductivity🇺🇸 US
Lukas Hermann
Built first version in a weekend, now €20K MRR with 85% profit margin
Stagetimer started as a weekend project. I posted it on Reddit and it took off. Now doing €20K MRR with 85% profit margin. The Reddit Launch I b...
$10K MRR in 3 years·Solo
SaaSProductivity🇺🇸 US
Iuliia Shnai
After 11 Failed Products: Open Source DocSend Alternative to $45K MRR
In 2023, Iuliia built 10 products. Her partner Marc launched Papermark - a simple open-source DocSend alternative. The first version took one weekend....
$10K MRR in 1 year·Team
SaaSProductivity🇩🇪 DE
Elie Steinbock
Open Source Email Assistant: Scratch Own Itch to $10K+ MRR
When running a previous business, Elie spent way too much time on email. He thought, 'Why can't an AI do this for me?' First Mover Elie was a fi...
$10K MRR in 1 year·Solo
SaaSProductivity🇺🇸 US
MC
Maciej Cupial
From Bankruptcy to $100K ARR: A 2.5 Year Struggle
Maciej Cupial from Poland had a background as a programmer and entrepreneur. After a challenging 2.5 years building Calendesk, he finally reached $100...
$100K ARR in 2 years·Solo
SaaSProductivity🇵🇱 PL
Ali Salah
Status Page SaaS: Learning Customer Support While Reaching $1K MRR
Ali Salah built Instatus, a service for creating status pages. Reaching $1K MRR was his goal for 2020. Product-Market Fit Initially offered a fr...
$1K MRR in 1 year·Solo
SaaSProductivity🇺🇸 US
Julien Nahum
Bootstrapped a Notion form builder from $0 to $10K MRR in one year
Julien built NotionForms to solve his own problem, reaching $10K MRR in 12 months through Product Hunt and SEO.
$10K MRR in 1 year·Solo
SaaSProductivity🇫🇷 FR
Gourav Goyal
Open-source Notion extension earns $9K+ while staying free to use
Built to solve his own problem with Notion navigation, Gourav kept Notion Boost open-source while still earning $9K+ through premium features.
First Customer in 4 years·Solo
Chrome ExtensionProductivity🇮🇳 IN
Luca Restagno
Software Engineer Turned Solopreneur Shares First Year Journey to $1.5K MRR
Luca documented his solopreneur journey publicly on Twitter, reaching $1.5K MRR in his first year while working a day job.
$1K MRR in 1 year·Solo
SaaSProductivity🇮🇹 IT
Shahed Khan
How 9 Months of Failure and 2 Pivots Led to a $975M Exit
Shahed Khan and his co-founders pivoted twice before landing on Loom. The async video platform was acquired by Atlassian for $975 million.
$100K ARR in 3 years·Team
SaaSProductivity🇺🇸 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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