Hey - Marc here.

Happy Saturday morning, motivated B2B SaaS Founders!

Here's at least one tip to keep in mind as you grow your B2B SaaS company:

Today's issue takes about 5 minutes to read.

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In today's issue, I share some key takeaways from a recent interview between Nathan Latka, the host of Daily Interviews with SaaS Founders, and Julien Danjou, the co-founder and CEO of Mergify. They discussed how he hit $112k MRR, bootstrapped, using community growth strategy.

For the past 25 years, Julien has been involved in the Free Software movement and ecosystem. He was lucky to contribute to a large panel of 100+ open-source projects and build large scalable systems from scratch. He also ran non-profit organizations, built his own consulting agency, and wrote books.

About Mergify

Mergify is a tool that helps software developers automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks on the GitHub platform. It allows developers to manage their codebase efficiently and improve their workflow by automating processes such as merging pull requests and managing branches.

Bootstrapped, Julien Danjou started the company in his spare time while he was still working at another job. Later, he decided to quit his job and focus full-time on building and growing Mergify.

They use a community growth strategy to acquire new customers. The company contributes to open-source projects and engages with the developer community on social media and forums. They also offer a free trial of their product to attract new users.

PS Mergify currently serves 150 customers who pay $750 per month on average.

Challenges

Scaling a bootstrapped company.

This includes the need to balance growth with profitability. It's like he was building a sandcastle with a spoon and a bucket, but managed to create a masterpiece. Despite this, Julien and his team have built a successful business and in a span of a year, Mergify's growth surged by over 300%.

Advice to Other Founders

Stay focused on the core product and avoid distractions.

It's easy to get distracted by shiny new features or business opportunities, but remember to stay focused on your core product. Think of it like a pizza. You can add all kinds of toppings, but if the crust isn't good, nobody's going to want to eat it.

Be resourceful.

Consider it akin to a survival situation where you have to rely on your wits and creativity to make do. Even if you lack fancy tools, you can still fashion a shelter using natural materials like sticks and leaves. It all boils down to being resourceful and maximizing the potential of what's available to you.

Provide value beyond just your product.

Building a community can lead to word-of-mouth referrals, user-generated content, and even evangelism for your brand. This can include creating content that's relevant to your audience, such as blog posts, tutorials, or webinars. Listen to your users and incorporate their feedback into your product roadmap.

Bonus

Julien’s favorite book is “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.”
He follows Nathan Barry, the CEO of ConvertKit.
His favorite online tool for building Mergify is GitHub.
At 39, Julien’s married with two kids.

TL;DR

Mergify was launched back in 2018, and the founders worked side jobs until 2021-2022 when they quit and went full-time. A year ago, Julien Danjou told Nathan Latka they were doing $35k per month, but now they are doing $112k per month in revenue, all bootstrapped. They serve 150 customers who pay on average $750 per month. Mergify helps you merge your code faster and safer with merge cues, workflow automation, and many other ways to save time.

PS Here is a link to the full interview if you are interested in listening to the full episode: Developer SaaS hits $112k MRR bootstrapped using a community growth strategy

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See you again next week.

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