Bootstrapped #123: “Why I sold my SaaS” – with Courtenay Farquharson, founder of Parserr

Bootstrapped Podcast
#1

@courtz shares how he built up Parserr to more than $10K monthly revenue – and why he sold it.

We also talk about:

  • bootstrapping in the Microsoft ecosystem
  • bootstrapping in Australia

Courtenay on Twitter: https://twitter.com/courtzz

Courtenay’s next endeavour: sleepapp.com.au

Thanks to Balsamiq who sponsored this episode. Bootstrapped listeners, to try Balsamiq for free, visit balsamiq.com/go/bootstrapped where you will find a promo code giving you an extended trial and a hefty discount.

Our guest sponsor, courtesy of Balsamiq, is HelpNinja, a simple help desk system focussed on bootstrapped businesses.

You can also listen to and download this episode here: https://bootstrapped.fm/2020/01/24/123-why-i-sold-my-saas-with-courtenay-farquharson-founder-of-parserr/

1 Like
#2

Very cool episode! Probably your best?? @SteveMcLeod

1 Like
#3

Although you might be slightly biased here, I’ll fully accept the praise! :slight_smile:

#4

I enjoyed this podcast, good work.

@courtz I had a look at https://flow.microsoft.com/ but I don’t really understand how it gives you customers. You list templates like:
https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/galleries/public/templates/5373e9703f4811e7b9809da41e7af698/extract-data-from-a-new-email-and-create-a-new-lead-in-salesforce/

But how do you make money if the templates are free to use? Or are there pro templates? I have never used flow so not really sure how it works.

Also I was interested in your view that the Microsoft market is ignored by a lot of SAAS companies. That is the case for us, we have experience of Microsoft for our desktop work but use Linux/PHP for our SAAS products.

Do you have any suggestions on how to target the Microsoft market or any insight on what kind of products work?

I would appreciate hearing your views. And good luck with the new sleep site.

2 Likes
#5

I’m also interested in Brian’s question. Never understood how the MS ecosystem works.

#6

Hi @Brian_O_Neill

Thanks for the kudos. I enjoyed doing the podcast.

You’re right. People find the templates and use them. Parserr lets you get fully setup and send 15 emails per month through Flow. Post that you need to go onto the $99/month plan.

I suppose my view of the bootstrapped/founder/hustler market is that it should be Ruby or Django or MySql and for many years the world looked at Microsoft and the products associated it with it like the devil. This is just my perception. Parserr is written in .NET. When I tell folks that some cannot believe it. Yet Microsoft has this entire ecosystem now of products and marketplaces. I think because we all ignored the market so long because it has grown its platform reach to so many businesses through their App marketplace/Flow/SharePoint marketplace etc. Because no startups really went after it or today, don’t start by going after it, it often is left underserved in various segments.

Not sure if that makes sense?