Hey bootstrappers,

Many of the founders we interview seek recurring revenue. 

It’s a popular business model because it’s easier to forecast performance (which investors like), and subscribers tend to stick around once they’ve signed up, saving customer acquisition costs. 

But how do you productize education, PR, and other services to generate recurring revenue? This week’s founders have some ideas you might find interesting.

You'll learn:

• How one founder built a SaaS from his productized marketing agency,
• How another developed a subscription pricing model for training webinars,
• And how internal automation can drive consistent revenue without subscriptions.

What do you think of the recurring revenue model? Is it the holy grail of business models or for the SaaS crowd only?

Drop us a line and let us know.

Chris Roper

Managing Editor

Sick of Poorly-Attended Webinars, This Three-Time Founder Created a Half-Million ARR Asynchronous Solution

Melissa Kwan’s answer to the dull and disorganized group webinar is a prerecorded yet interactive version people can access anytime, anywhere.

While building two successful startups, Flat World and Spacio, Melissa Kwan relied on webinars for engagement and training. The only problem was attendance. Often, turnout was as low as 10 percent. People were busy, and to make up for the shortfall, Melissa would have to run more.

Realizing how inefficient the webinar concept was, Melissa began thinking of automation. She sold Spacio and launched eWebinar – a prerecorded webinar platform with an autoresponder for questions. For a monthly fee, companies can create webinars their staff can view anytime. 

“Why do we expect to press play for consumer content but not for business content? What if I told you that you can only watch your favorite Netflix show next week at eleven? There’s a disconnect there.”

Turning Points

1. Realizing that webinars needn’t be live. Having presented at hundreds of poorly-attended webinars, Melissa decided it was time for a change.

2. Focusing on small-to-medium sized businesses. Large enterprises were hesitant to use eWebinar as it would leave their webinar teams with very little to do.

3. Competing on culture, not salary. Melissa’s remote team enjoys the freedom to work when they like and from where they like, which inspires loyalty.

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How to Create a Successful SaaS: Build Services For Your Best Clients

From developing Shopify brands for a one-off fee to building a SaaS tool that pulls in recurring revenue, Erman Küplü’s experiments in monetization have all paid off.

For years, Erman Küplü built websites for clients on the freelance platform Upwork, traveling the world on whatever he could earn. But soon, client management wore him down. Erman then productized his services to simplify his workflow and avoid “toxic relationships.”

Erman built repeat relationships with cashflow clients like Shopify businesses. When he heard them complain of a lack of analytics integrations, he saw a chance to offer an internal analytics tool as a Shopify app. Only he would give it to clients free and only charge for support.

“We think selling to clients and giving to them are not independent actions. Maybe some industry experts don’t like it, but it worked for us. We hear so many compliments from clients because they know exactly what our tool costs.”

Turning points

1. Eschewing recurring payments – at first. Instead of a retainer, Erman charged a one-off fee for projects, helping prevent client fatigue and project stagnation.

2. Offering an internal tool for free. So few apps existed in the Shopify ecosystem that demand for his internal tool was huge – giving it away for free only increased it further.

3. Charging for support not a product. Erman invests a lot of time and resources into giving unprecedented service for a Shopify app – and his customers love it.

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How These Founders Turned Their Passion for Proptech Into a Niche Public Relations Agency Netting Seven Figures

Proptech maestros Adam Malik and PJ Appleton were bombarded with branding questions at every conference they attended, so they decided to build a PR agency to answer them.

A knack for making the complex simple put Adam and PJ top of mind on every industry panel they attended. Tech firms in real estate had burning questions few could answer. Realizing their knowledge was in high demand, Adam and PJ launched Bloxspring to amplify proptech voices.

The duo started with a press release and 60 companies responded. The founders later automated their sales campaigns to raise revenue without adding to their workloads.

“We run a well-oiled sales machine. We have two to three campaigns running automatically. We hit them with one message, and if they respond, great. If not, they get a second message, and sometimes a third. Ninety percent of our clients come this way.”

Turning points

1. Testing the market with a press release. Despite being popular speakers at proptech events, Adam and PJ had to know whether people would pay for their expertise.

2. Giving clients more time. Unlike the scheduled calls of most PR agencies, Bloxspring keeps the lines open via Slack whenever a client has a question or comment.

3. Aligning culture to their clients. Bloxspring has ditched the suit-and-tie corporate look of many PR firms, setting itself apart with its approachability and respect for the work-life balance.

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