Solo SaaS Success Story

Summary

Pat Walls interviews Angus Chang, a solo founder from Hong Kong who built Bank Statement Converter, a simple web app generating $40,000 monthly revenue with no employees or external funding.
Angus shares the story behind his idea, technical approach, growth milestones, and lessons learned operating as a solopreneur.
Key topics include product validation, unsuccessful paid marketing, organic growth via customer focus, the pros and cons of solo entrepreneurship, technical stack, financials, and advice for aspiring SaaS founders.

No explicit action items were noted for follow-up in this transcript.

Angus quit his job in 2021 and initially sought to solve his own problem: extracting transaction data from his bank’s PDF statements for personal expense tracking.
After building a prototype for personal use, he realized others faced the same challenge.
He and a friend quickly developed an MVP, launched a web version, and used Google ads to attract early users, validating demand.
Emphasized starting with a real pain point, rapid MVP development, and iterating based on user feedback rather than overanalyzing ideas upfront.

Started with a Kotlin command-line tool for his own use, then generalized to support more banks.
Friend contributed to building the Next.js frontend; backend hosted on AWS EC2, frontend on Netlify.
Payment handled by Stripe, transactional emails via Brevo.
Angus’s method: launch quickly, avoid showing early products to friends/family, focus on customer feedback and analytics to drive product improvements.

Launched in 2021.
2022: $6K MRR. 2023: $14K MRR. 2024: $27K MRR. At time of recording: $40K MRR.
Over 75,000 users, about 1,000 paying customers, and approximately 40,000 monthly site visits.
Profit margin is extremely high, with roughly $39K of $40K monthly revenue as profit.

Initial users came from Google Search ads, but ad spend was never profitable; spent $1,000 for $300 in sales.
Blogging and “building in public” did not lead to significant user acquisition as his audience wasn’t active on those channels.
Cold email outreach resulted in only one sale but many negative responses.
After discontinuing paid ads, organic user signups began to grow; Angus focused on product improvements and customer feedback, which proved to be more effective for growth.

Transitioning from employment to entrepreneurship presented social and financial challenges, including isolation and lower income early on.
Saw advantages: autonomy, scheduling flexibility, ability to build for small markets unattractive to venture capital but viable for individuals.
Previous roles included developer positions in gaming, fintech, and crypto before launching Bank Statement Converter.

Backend in Kotlin; frontend in Next.js.
AWS EC2 (backend), Netlify (frontend), Brevo (emails), Stripe (payments).
Business is designed for simplicity, automation, and minimal operational overhead.

Early years are difficult financially and emotionally, but rewards accrue with persistence.
Save enough to sustain several years with little-to-no income before achieving product-market fit.
Ignore social media “noise” and focus energy on building and improving a product for real users.
Avoid unnecessary tasks like creating social profiles; prioritize product and customer needs instead.

Discontinued paid advertising — Ads did not yield profitable user acquisition; focus shifted fully to organic growth and customer-driven development.