Bootstrapped SaaS Playbook: $200k MRR
Key Points
- Mike, an Australian founder, runs five boot‑strapped SaaS apps—curator.io, juno.co, frill.co, fluke.co, and the upcoming smile.co—that collectively generate over $200 K in monthly recurring revenue.
- All five businesses were launched using the same repeatable 10‑step playbook, which Mike claims guarantees success for any idea he applies it to.
- His goal is to scale the portfolio to $1 M in monthly revenue within five years while keeping the team lean and avoiding external capital.
- Mike’s background includes a stint as a “worst” Flash developer, running and selling a digital advertising agency, and ultimately returning to product building, which fuels his systematic approach.
- The suite of apps covers diverse niches such as social‑media aggregation, customer feedback road‑mapping, digital signage for local venues, no‑code onboarding tours, and B2B group e‑cards.
Sections
- SaaS Founder Reveals $200K Framework - Australian entrepreneur Mike outlines his repeatable 10‑step playbook that has turned five SaaS apps into a combined $200,000 monthly recurring revenue without outside funding.
- Four‑Founder Equal‑Share Model - The speaker outlines a risk‑averse startup strategy that builds tech‑heavy teams of four co‑founders with equal 25% equity, emphasizes design and UX, targets around $10,000 monthly recurring revenue before profit distribution, and focuses on sustainable salaries rather than large exits.
- MVP Launch via Lifetime Deal - The speaker outlines a rapid‑launch strategy that builds an MVP, sells it as a one‑time lifetime deal, always charges users for feedback, leverages niche communities, and kick‑starts content and marketplace promotion.
- Identifying Unfailable Business Ideas - The speaker outlines how to pick low‑risk, “can’t‑fail” concepts by avoiding reliance on external APIs (e.g., AI‑driven music services) and highlights a promising, under‑served opportunity in affordable documentation tools.
- Launching Boring Apps with AI - The host thanks guest Mike, highlights the profitability of simple “boring” businesses, and promotes Starter Story Build’s AI‑driven program for turning such ideas into real applications.
Full Transcript
# Bootstrapped SaaS Playbook: $200k MRR **Source:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67zh8_yiPh4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67zh8_yiPh4) **Duration:** 00:13:38 ## Summary - Mike, an Australian founder, runs five boot‑strapped SaaS apps—curator.io, juno.co, frill.co, fluke.co, and the upcoming smile.co—that collectively generate over $200 K in monthly recurring revenue. - All five businesses were launched using the same repeatable 10‑step playbook, which Mike claims guarantees success for any idea he applies it to. - His goal is to scale the portfolio to $1 M in monthly revenue within five years while keeping the team lean and avoiding external capital. - Mike’s background includes a stint as a “worst” Flash developer, running and selling a digital advertising agency, and ultimately returning to product building, which fuels his systematic approach. - The suite of apps covers diverse niches such as social‑media aggregation, customer feedback road‑mapping, digital signage for local venues, no‑code onboarding tours, and B2B group e‑cards. ## Sections - [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67zh8_yiPh4&t=0s) **SaaS Founder Reveals $200K Framework** - Australian entrepreneur Mike outlines his repeatable 10‑step playbook that has turned five SaaS apps into a combined $200,000 monthly recurring revenue without outside funding. - [00:03:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67zh8_yiPh4&t=184s) **Four‑Founder Equal‑Share Model** - The speaker outlines a risk‑averse startup strategy that builds tech‑heavy teams of four co‑founders with equal 25% equity, emphasizes design and UX, targets around $10,000 monthly recurring revenue before profit distribution, and focuses on sustainable salaries rather than large exits. - [00:06:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67zh8_yiPh4&t=381s) **MVP Launch via Lifetime Deal** - The speaker outlines a rapid‑launch strategy that builds an MVP, sells it as a one‑time lifetime deal, always charges users for feedback, leverages niche communities, and kick‑starts content and marketplace promotion. - [00:09:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67zh8_yiPh4&t=584s) **Identifying Unfailable Business Ideas** - The speaker outlines how to pick low‑risk, “can’t‑fail” concepts by avoiding reliance on external APIs (e.g., AI‑driven music services) and highlights a promising, under‑served opportunity in affordable documentation tools. - [00:12:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67zh8_yiPh4&t=769s) **Launching Boring Apps with AI** - The host thanks guest Mike, highlights the profitability of simple “boring” businesses, and promotes Starter Story Build’s AI‑driven program for turning such ideas into real applications. ## Full Transcript
Right now, we have five apps and we're
doing just over [music] 200 grand MR.
>> This is Mike, a founder from Australia
who built five different SAS apps that
make a combined $200,000 MR. 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, and 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 SAS businesses doing over 200
grand a month, and we've got two more on
the way. Current businesses are
curator.io, juno.co, frillrill.co,
fluke.co, and soonmile.co. Our aim over
the next 5 years is to get to about a
million dollars MR. And we want to do
that with the smallest team possible um
without raising any [music] 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. Frill.co, which is
a customer feedback tool, which allows
you to collect customer feedback, plot
it to a road map, and announce new
features. Juno.co, which is a digital
signage business uh aimed at cafes,
gyms, schools, [music] and shops. And
fluke.co, co which is a no code tours
platform that allows you to build
onboarding tours [music] for SAS
businesses tool tips 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 [music] an innovative way
at doing group ecards for B2B businesses
and altogether these five apps make uh
just over 200 grand a month we're fully
bootstrapped and we've used exactly the
same playbook to launch all of them
>> okay I'm excited to get into the
playbook of how you did this clearly is
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 SAS
businesses?
>> Well, I used to be a developer, one of
the world's worst developers. I was a
Flash developer and um ended up running
an agency, a digital advertising agency
and sold that a number of years ago. I
somehow fell into advertising,
ironically [music] realized I was
rubbish at advertising. And what I
really loved was building products. And
[music] that's how I got back into
building products.
>> Okay, Mike, one of the big reasons I
wanted to bring you 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.
Uh we work out how well they're doing
despite of a 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 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
[music] fail. We prioritize design quite
heavily. We believe that good [music]
design sells, which is why we like to
have a designer on on the team. We like
people [music] 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 uh 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 [music]
MR, which covers costs there or
thereabout, depending on which company
it is. Then after $10,000 MR, we split
[music] 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 uh staff. We stay super
super lean so that all the profits
[music]
come out to the founders.
>> What I love about Mike's story is his
approach to building. He doesn't just
build apps randomly. [music]
He actually knows what separates
successful SAS businesses from failures.
And HubSpot for Startups, who I'm
partnering with for today's video, also
knows a few things about successful
companies, too. Over 35,000 [music]
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 [music] 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 [music] 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
[music] time we launch a business. First
and foremost, pick an idea that's been
done before. New ideas are risky. Uh 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 [music] 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 [music]
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 on to 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 Frill, we
launched a private LTD and raised about
30 grand 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, [music] alternative to
pages. Get it out there as early as
humanly possible. The longer it's up
there, the longer chat GPT, the longer
Google will start [music] 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 [music] 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 year to write more content. Once
you've done an Absumo 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. Poop 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. [music]
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 Trust Pilot [music] uh on G2.
Uh wherever they're willing to write you
reviews, it's so incredibly important.
It will uh boost your domain ranking and
get honest reviews for you. You'll find
that the LTD community are willing to do
that [music] because they really, really
want you to succeed. They're your early
ambassadors. It used to be Kora that we
would go out and answer questions on,
but more and more we're seeing uh Reddit
as an important place to go and answer
questions uh about your product. Uh scan
Reddit, see who's asking for one of your
competitors. Answer honestly,
authentically on Reddit posts on, you
know, look for subreddits where your
customers are hanging out. This is such
a crucial stage because you've now moved
to MR. Money's depleting, but hopefully
you're starting to get MR. And by the
time your money runs out, hopefully
you've got enough MR to stay alive.
That's it. That's the 10step 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, one I will tell you is is one idea
that or an area that we will never go
after. We will never go after an AI
focused [music] business. Too many times
you have an idea that relies on
something, an API that you do not
control, something that you're not in
control of, which puts you at massive,
[music] massive risk. Having said that,
one idea that we, you know, we almost
went after, um, we still may go after,
we 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 god documentation
[music] to recommend your product well
to know about your product. So that's
something that um I think may work well.
We just won't rely on AI to build
[music] or be an integral part of the
business.
>> Okay, cool. I like that. Not going after
sexy ideas that may not exist in 6
months. Avoiding platform risk. I want
to switch gears a little bit and talk
about tech stack. I know you come from a
bit of a development background. How do
you actually build these apps and what
tech stack do you have them built on?
>> The tech stack 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
uh and Laravel. Uh but again, that
changes all the time. Some of the tools
I'm loving at the moment, uh 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,
[music] all of a sudden websites are no
longer the job of the tech team and more
recently VO for prototyping. We
prototype everything in VO and then we
take it into design and 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 and
SAS, for anybody who's watching this,
what would be your advice to get started
and build awesome companies like you're
[music] 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 it's, you know,
it's brilliant fun. We [music] spend a
lot of time uh 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 Sharon
Pat.
>> 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 are
all boring. [music] 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 okay
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, [music]
that's it for this episode. Thank you
guys for watching. We will see you in
the next one. Peace.