Latest / The Indie Hacker Podcast with Fexingo: Solo Developers, SaaS Side Projects, and Independent Tech / How a Solo Dev Hit 10K MRR With a Newsletter
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this solo developer, goes by the handle MailSmith online, who decided to build a SaaS tool specifically for newsletter creators. Not another email platform like Mailchimp or ConvertKit, but a utility that sits on top of those tools. Luna: Interesting. What's the pain point he was solving? Lucas: Subscriber list hygiene. If you run a newsletter, you know that a chunk of your list goes stale every month—people change email addresses, they stop opening, they mark you as spam. MailSmith built a tool that automatically identifies and removes inactive subscribers, and it plugs into the major email platforms via API. Luna: Okay, that sounds useful. But how did he get from zero to ten thousand dollars a month in recurring revenue? That's the part I want to hear. Lucas: Right. So he documented the whole thing publicly. He started not with the software, but with a free five-day email course called 'Clean Your List in Five Days.' He promoted it on Reddit and in a few newsletter-specific Slack communities. Luna: So he validated demand before writing a line of code. Lucas: Exactly. About 400 people signed up for the course. He sent them daily emails with manual list-cleaning tips. On day five, he mentioned that he was building a tool to automate this process and offered a beta invite. Over 100 people clicked through. Luna: That's a smart funnel. So he had a warm audience of potential beta testers. Lucas: Right. He built the MVP in about three weeks—a simple web app that connected to Mailchimp and ConvertKit via their APIs, scanned your list for bounces and low engagement, and gave you a one-click purge. He launched with a flat $10 a month, no tiers. Luna: That's really cheap for a B2B SaaS. Was that sustainable? Lucas: It was a deliberate strategy to get early traction. His first 50 customers came from that course. Then he set up an affiliate program with a 30 percent recurring commission, and he recruited a few newsletter consultants and agencies who promoted his tool to their clients. That brought in another 80 customers over the next two months. Luna: So he wasn't spending on ads at all. Lucas: Zero ad spend. His biggest expense was the time to write the email course and do personal outreach. He told me he sent about 200 cold emails to newsletter operators he found on Twitter and LinkedIn, just offering a free trial and asking for feedback. That personal touch converted about 15 percent. Luna: That's a really high conversion rate for cold outreach. What was he saying in those emails? Lucas: He didn't pitch immediately. He would compliment something about their newsletter—a specific issue or a design choice—then mention that he noticed they had a large subscriber list and wondered if list hygiene was a challenge. Then he'd offer a free month, no strings attached. Luna: So it felt like a peer helping out, not a sales pitch. Lucas: Exactly. By month three, he was at $2,300 MRR. Then he introduced tiered pricing based on list size: $10 per month for lists under 5,000 subscribers, $25 for up to 25,000, $50 for up to 100,000. That increased his average revenue per user from $10 to about $18. Luna: And that pushed him toward the 10K mark? Lucas: That plus a feature launch. He added a 're-engagement campaign' feature that automatically sends a gentle email to inactive subscribers asking if they want to stay. If they don't click, they get removed. That feature alone reduced churn from 8 percent to about 3 percent per month. Luna: Lower churn means you keep more of what you earn. That's a huge lever. Lucas: Right. By month six, he had about 560 paying customers, average revenue per user around $18, and MRR hit $10,080. He's still solo, still profitable, and he only works about 20 hours a week on it now. Luna: That's a great story. What's the one takeaway for other indie hackers? Lucas: I think the biggest lesson is how he used content—the free email course—to build a relationship before the product existed. He didn't need a big launch on Product Hunt or a viral tweet. He just solved a small, specific problem for a niche audience and let word of mouth do the rest. Luna: It's almost the opposite of the typical 'build it and they will come' approach. Lucas: If today's conversation gave you something usable, the reason this show stays ad-free is listener support. You can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It genuinely keeps us going. Luna: Yeah, we really appreciate that. And it helps us keep the focus on practical stories like this one, without any sponsor interruptions. Lucas: So back to MailSmith—he's now working on a second feature: automatic list segmentation based on subscriber behavior. He's planning to beta test it with his existing customers first. That's something I think more indie hackers should emulate: build for the people who already trust you. Luna: That's a good point. Too many founders try to acquire new users for every new feature, when their existing customer base is right there. Lucas: Right. And his customers are already paying, so they're more likely to give honest feedback and even pay more for an upgrade. He's essentially creating a product-led growth loop from within his own user base. Luna: So what's the next milestone for him? Is he aiming for 20K MRR? Lucas: He says he's not in a rush. His goal is to keep the business sustainable and maintain his lifestyle. He's actually turned down two acquisition offers already, both in the low six figures. He wants to keep building independently. Luna: That's refreshing to hear in a world where everyone's trying to exit. Lucas: Exactly. He's proof that you don't need venture capital or a huge team to build a profitable business. You just need a clear problem, a direct way to reach the people who have it, and a product that works. Luna: And maybe a free email course to start. Lucas: Yeah, that helps. For the show notes, I'll link to his Twitter thread where he broke down his revenue month by month. It's a really transparent read. Luna: I'd love to see that. Alright, thanks Lucas. That was a great story. Lucas: Thanks Luna. And thanks to everyone listening. If you try something from this episode, let us know how it goes.