How do you bootstrap a SaaS to $1 million+ ARR?

In this episode, Rob Walling chats with Colin Bartlett about how he and his co-founder Andy transformed a side project monitoring tool into a seven-figure ARR business that now serves as an early warning system for outages across 6,000+ services.

From nearly abandoning the product during three stagnant years to discovering their killer differentiation, Colin's journey is a masterclass in patient iteration, finding product-market fit the hard way, and why sometimes the most boring infrastructure businesses make the best SaaS companies.

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• (3:08) – How StatusGator detects outages (and why users are part of the signal)
• (6:23) – From side project to SaaS: the early days of building StatusGator
• (8:46) – Shifting the ICP: Why developers weren’t the buyers
• (11:52) – SEO as the engine behind thousands of trials
• (17:24) – Hitting early MRR milestones and hiring the first marketer
• (25:12) – How TinySeed funding unlocked a full product redesign
• (32:05) – Building a dual funnel to boost ACV and win enterprise deals
• (38:00) – Advice for other SaaS founders playing the long game

• Invest in TinySeed Fund Three
• MicroConf Mastermind Matching - Applications open until September 24th
• StatusGator
• Colin Bartlett | LinkedIn

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

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OutboundSync just hit $35k MRR—but the decisions are only getting harder.

In this episode of TinySeed Tales, Rob Walling and Harris Kenny dive into the messy middle of SaaS growth, where every opportunity comes with a trade-off. They explore the tension between raising funds you don't need, staying focused when good ideas keep coming, and building a business while raising a family.

• (2:28) – From $20k to $35k MRR in three months
• (2:53) – The bets that moved the needle
• (4:56) – Infinite runway, SOC 2 wins, and building trust
• (8:29) – Saying no to good ideas with limited bandwidth
• (10:00) – Decision-making, value-driven growth, and agency DNA
• (13:14) – Should Harris raise more funding or stay focused?
• (15:52) – Why boring “pipes” matter in an AI world
• (20:25) – Trade-offs, mindset, and building for scale
• (25:35) – Hiring a sales coach and focusing on what works
• (27:52) – Balancing startup stress with parenting

• SaaS Institute
• Coaching Call Bonus
• OutboundSync
• Harris Kenny | LinkedIn

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

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What if your SaaS isn’t growing because of the product, not the marketing?

In this solo adventure episode, Rob Walling unpacks why SaaS marketing feels harder than ever and why most advice out there will waste your time. He shares how he’d approach things if growth has stalled, the questions he’d ask first, and why real progress comes from proven fundamentals.

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• (2:20) – Why marketing is harder than ever, and what’s changed
• (4:00) – The Dunning-Kruger Effect
• (11:18) – Marketing is not just convincing someone to buy what you've built.
• (17:39) – Validating vs. throwing dice at a wall
• (20:10) – Is there a ‘one right way’ to grow a business?
• (25:00) – Be careful who you listen to

• MicroConf Events
• MicroConf Mastermind Matching
• 75+ SaaS Marketplaces
• The SaaS Playbook
• TinySeed
• Rob Walling (@robwalling) | X

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify