One Person SaaS Business: Solo Founder to $50M ARR
Show notes
Jason VandeBoom started ActiveCampaign from a dorm room, sold his car to fund it, and charged $9 a month. As a one person SaaS business for 13 years, Jason built the company to 60,000 customers and $50 million in annual revenue - all without a co-founder. In this episode, he reveals why he ran on-premise software for a decade before switching to SaaS, why he raised $20M but has not spent any of it, and why he reads cancellation reasons every morning. Jason ran the one person SaaS business on-premise for 10 years with eight employees and a couple million in revenue. Then bootstrapped SaaS growth compounded rapidly after the switch - from 20 employees to 300 in two years. As a solo founder SaaS story, ActiveCampaign proves that a one person company vision can scale to eight figures without venture capital or co-founders. Jason VandeBoom is the founder and CEO of ActiveCampaign, an email marketing, marketing automation, and sales CRM platform serving 60,000+ customers. 🔑 Key Lessons 🎯 A one person SaaS business compounds slowly but builds unshakeable foundations: ActiveCampaign grew slowly for 10 years on premise, then compounded rapidly after switching to SaaS. Jason went from eight employees to 300 in two years. 📉 Fear of success delays growth just as much as fear of failure: Jason saw the SaaS opportunity years before acting. He kept planning instead of launching. Overthinking builds the wrong thing because users tell you what needs scaling. 💰 Start at $9/month and let bootstrapped SaaS growth prove the model: ActiveCampaign started SaaS plans at $9/month and remained profitable through the transition. Jason raised $20M only after 13 years and has not spent any of it. 🧠 Obsess over customer pain, not competitors: Jason starts and ends every day reading cancellation reasons and NPS scores. Founders watching competitors instead of understanding customer problems will always be a step behind. 🚀 Find the underserved middle market: ActiveCampaign found product-market fit in mid-market marketing automation - beyond basic email but below enterprise pricing. Nobody was serving that gap for a one person SaaS business to exploit. 🤝 Solo founders can build massive businesses without co-founders: Jason built ActiveCampaign for 15 years alone. Clear vision, extreme passion, and hiring people better than yourself compensate for the lack of a partner. Chapters Introduction Jason's background - from developer to fine arts student Building email marketing solutions as consulting work Ten years of on-premise software with eight employees The decision to switch from on-prem to SaaS Why slow bootstrapped growth deserves more respect Transitioning to SaaS and consolidating eight products to one Bootstrapping a one person SaaS business for 13 years Being a single founder with no co-founder for 15 years The loneliness and benefits of solo founding Starting SaaS pricing at $9 per month Fear of success and overthinking decisions How much time to spend thinking about competitors Mistakes in copying other companies' strategies What drove growth in the last two years Finding product-market fit in mid-market automation Lightning round Wrap-up and contact information Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/195 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email
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