Full Transcript

I make $32K/month from 3 simple, boring websites

14:281,203 summary words · ~6 min readEnglishBy Starter StoryTranscribed Aug 25, 2026

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Summary

Bootstrapping simple, highly targeted B2B directory and database products solves acute workflow bottlenecks and can generate over $30K in high-margin monthly recurring revenue when scaled with programmatic SEO.

Demonstrates that utility-focused, non-hyped micro-SaaS businesses running on standard web stacks can operate at ~$62/month in infrastructure costs while yielding significant, compounding cash flow without external funding.

Section summaries

Introduction to the Micro-SaaS Portfolio

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Host Pat Walls introduces Rashid, a bootstrapped software founder who earns approximately $32,000 in monthly recurring revenue across three straightforward website products. The host emphasizes that these businesses deliberately avoid complex AI trends in favor of simple database functionality. The episode sets out to explore the revenue mechanics, growth tactics, and building blueprint behind the portfolio.

Standard show introduction framing the upcoming interview.

Product Portfolio Overview and Revenue Breakdown

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Rashid introduces his background and provides verified revenue metrics for his three web properties. The flagship product, AngelMatch, maintains 125,000 investor profiles, generating $29,000 MRR from 360 active subscribers with a 33% trial conversion rate on pricing tiers between $59 and several thousand dollars. His secondary platform, InvestorHunt, yields $2,800 MRR on pricing tiers between $57 and $297 per month purely through search traffic, while JournalistHunt generates $260 MRR across 200,000 media contacts on $49 to $99 plans.

AngelMatch generates $29,000 MRR with 360 subscribers and converts one-third of all trial users.
InvestorHunt brings in $2,800 MRR completely passively via organic SEO without active marketing.
JournalistHunt captures entry-level PR outreach revenue with $49–$99 monthly tiers.

Provides exact pricing structures, subscriber counts, and revenue numbers across all three applications.

The Core Philosophy of Painful Problem Selection

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Pat Walls discusses why solving painful operational problems outperforms chasing speculative technology hype. The segment emphasizes that unglamorous utility websites succeed because customers are already actively spending time and capital trying to resolve specific operational bottlenecks. Walls also introduces a downloadable sponsor database of startup ideas compiled with HubSpot.

Contains an extended sponsored integration and general thematic commentary.

Origin Story: Validating Demand from a Failed Fintech

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Rashid recounts how his non-technical background in finance led him to build a fintech app that ran out of initial seed capital from friends and family. While attempting to raise institutional venture funding through manual cold outreach, he compiled an extensive spreadsheet of angel investors that yielded direct partner meetings. Recognizing that list assembly was an industry-wide bottleneck, he manually structured 40,000 contacts and launched on Product Hunt, generating $4,000 in revenue in his first month.

Rashid had no technical coding background and relied on contract developers to construct the platform.
The initial database was manually assembled while attempting to solve his own startup fundraising needs.
The first launch iteration validated paying market demand immediately with $4,000 in monthly sales.

Outlines how to transition an acute internal workflow problem into a validated commercial product.

Scaling from $3K to $43K MRR via Content and Search

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Rashid describes noticing baseline traction of 60 daily site visitors and deciding to scale traffic tenfold through search engine optimization. He hired six content writers, published articles consistently, and developed free utility tools on the website to capture search intent. This approach expanded monthly recurring revenue from $3,000 to $20,000 over six to eight months before layering in Meta ads, eventually peaking at $43,000 MRR.

Content marketing and free interactive tools drove the initial jump from $3,000 to $20,000 MRR within eight months.
Paid Meta advertising was introduced only after organic SEO channels were fully established.
Revenue peaked at $43K MRR before settling into a stable $32K MRR baseline.

Details the precise content scaling and marketing transition that drove ten-fold top-line growth.

Unexplored Database Niches in the Current Market

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The discussion covers specific directory categories that remain ripe for commercialization. Rashid highlights potential opportunities in localized or niche influencer databases segmented by audience size and content category, as well as curated paid newsletter directories designed for brand sponsorship managers. Both niches currently rely on inefficient manual research that businesses are eager to outsource to structured software.

Curated directories of micro-influencers categorized by engagement and location represent high-demand monetization targets.
Paid newsletter databases for brand sponsorships can replace tedious manual ad-placement prospecting.

Helpful brainstorm of specific unbuilt directory concepts for aspiring indie hackers.

The 3-Step Playbook for Launching a Database SaaS

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Rashid outlines his three-phase implementation roadmap for building a directory product: first, identifying a high-utility problem; second, compiling the data through manual curation or automated scraping; and third, testing immediate buyer feedback upon public launch. He highlights programmatic SEO as the most critical ongoing strategy, noting that it generates roughly half of his portfolio's total revenue through automated landing page indexation.

Phase one requires selecting a problem where users already assign direct monetary value to the data.
Data collection can begin with manual scraping and progress toward automated scrapers once proven.
Programmatic SEO accounts for roughly 50% of all ongoing portfolio revenue.

Synthesizes the end-to-end operational framework and tactical distribution mechanism into concrete steps.

Full Tech Stack and Operational Cost Breakdown

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Rashid shares the complete software and hosting architecture supporting his products. The front end uses Next.js, the backend runs on Nest.js, data is managed in PostgreSQL, and SEO research is conducted via Ahrefs. DigitalOcean provides hosting, Nylas manages in-app cold email delivery, Cloudflare blocks bot traffic, Klaviyo handles marketing automations, and G Suite handles email, totaling just $62 per month across all operations. He concludes by stressing the importance of persistence over chasing short-lived peer metrics.

The architecture combines Next.js, Nest.js, PostgreSQL, and DigitalOcean for dependable performance.
Nylas and Cloudflare handle email outreach infrastructure and security bot filtering, respectively.
Total operational software costs are maintained at roughly $62 per month.

Provides an exact tool-by-tool technical stack and reveals the remarkably low overhead costs.

Host Analysis: Why B2B Data Assets Outlast Trend-Chasers

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Pat Walls and producer Gus reflect on Rashid's business model, comparing it to transient software trends. Walls emphasizes that directory products must strictly focus on B2B use cases where finding accurate contacts is existential to the buyer's business, contrasting this with failed consumer directories. They conclude with a reminder that sustainable micro-SaaS businesses are built around solving painful business problems rather than deploying complex emerging technology.

B2B directories succeed because solving existential business hurdles justifies high recurring subscription rates.
B2C directories struggle to maintain retention and pricing power due to discretionary user spending.

Useful conceptual synthesis distinguishing between viable B2B and unviable B2C directory models.

Key points

B2B Mission-Critical Curation Unlocks Pricing Power — Database products command sustained subscription fees ($49 to several hundred dollars monthly) when they address existentially painful business processes like fundraising or media outreach rather than generic consumer interests.
Programmatic SEO Serves as the Primary Growth Engine — Scaling a curated directory beyond initial launch traction requires building automated, programmatic landing pages and free search-indexed utilities around specific niche queries.
Radical Infrastructure Efficiency Maximizes Margins — A multi-product database business can be fully operated using a decoupled standard stack (Next.js, Nest.js, PostgreSQL, DigitalOcean, Cloudflare, and Nylas) for roughly $62 per month across all applications.

“We are at 29,000 MRR as of today. Active subscribers is 360 users. Our trial conversion rate is 33%” — Rashid

“That made me realize that first, cold emailing works, but second, finding the list of investors is such a tedious and time-consuming process.” — Rashid

AI-generated from the transcript. May contain errors.

0:00

I run a portfolio of bootstrapped SaaS

0:02

companies that generate about $32,000 in

0:05

MMR today.

0:06

>> This is Rashid, and he's a guy who's

0:08

built three websites that make him over

0:10

$30,000 every month.

0:12

>> The reason why they work is because

0:16

>> But, here's the interesting part. These

0:18

websites are not complicated. They're

0:20

actually quite simple, [music]

0:22

and they all kind of do the same thing.

0:24

>> To build a successful database product,

0:26

I think it's possible in 2026, and the

0:29

way you can approach it is

0:30

>> So, I asked Rashid to come on to the

0:32

channel to break all this down, and in

0:34

this episode, we're going to dive into

0:36

the exact three websites that he's built

0:39

and that make him over $30,000 a month,

0:41

the non-obvious secret to why these

0:43

websites work and how they make

0:45

thousands of dollars [music] every

0:46

month, and we're going to go over his

0:48

advice for anyone who wants to build

0:49

websites like these

0:51

>> [music]

0:51

>> right now in 2026. All right, let's dive

0:53

in. I'm Pat Walls, and this is Starter

0:56

Story.

0:59

All right, Rashid, I am pumped to have

1:01

you on the channel. Tell me about who

1:03

you are, what websites you built, and

1:05

what's your story.

1:06

>> Hey, my name is Rashid, and I run a

1:08

portfolio of bootstrapped SaaS companies

1:10

that generate about $32,000 in MMR

1:13

today, and the main product is

1:16

AngelMatch. It's all-in-one solution

1:19

that helps startup founders find

1:21

investors to raise capital. And today,

1:24

I'm excited to share with you what

1:26

lessons I learned along the way. Yeah,

1:28

I'm excited to be here.

1:29

>> Awesome. Well, I'm excited to talk all

1:31

about these sites you built. I think

1:32

they're super cool. Explain your three

1:34

different websites in just a few

1:36

sentences, how they work, and how they

1:37

make money.

1:38

>> Let's start with AngelMatch. It's a

1:40

database of like 125,000

1:42

angels and VCs. We primarily focus on

1:45

helping early-stage startups [music] who

1:48

are raising capital. The other one is

1:50

InvestorHunt. It's just an investor

1:52

database product. And the third one is

1:54

JournalistHunt. It's a

1:57

of 200,000 journalists which helps small

2:00

businesses and media companies find

2:02

journalists to get press coverage.

2:05

>> I love these kind of websites. Get all

2:06

this data, put it in one place, make it

2:08

useful for people that need to raise

2:09

money or whatever it is. There's so many

2:11

cool ideas around this. We're going to

2:12

get into it. But first, show me this is

2:14

legit. Show me how much money these

2:16

businesses are making. Could you do

2:17

that?

2:18

>> Yeah, absolutely. This one is Angel

2:20

Match. We are at 29,000 MRR as of today.

2:23

Active subscribers is 360 users. Our

2:27

trial conversion rate is 33% and as of

2:31

now Angel Match is bringing about 800 to

2:34

1,000 clicks per day across organic,

2:37

referral, direct, and little bit of paid

2:40

Facebook ads. The prices for Angel Match

2:42

starts at $59 per month and we have few

2:46

thousand dollar prices as well. So, it

2:48

depends on how many investors you want

2:50

to reach out per month. And this is

2:53

Investor Hunt. It's making 2,800 as of

2:56

today. For Investor Hunt, we don't do

2:58

any marketing. It's just an SEO. Also,

3:01

for Investor Hunt, it's basically $57,

3:04

$97,

3:06

$297.

3:08

And this is Journalist Hunt. It's making

3:10

$260.

3:12

For Journalist Hunt, we don't have that

3:14

many users. But we see that people buy

3:16

the basic and the middle tier which

3:18

ranges between $49 to $99 per month.

3:22

>> I personally love Rashid's approach to

3:24

building and specifically these

3:26

businesses that he's built. Why? Because

3:28

these business ideas don't chase some

3:31

crazy AI trend or something like that.

3:33

They are just simple websites that

3:35

actually work and have made money over

3:37

the course of years. Because I think the

3:39

real lesson behind this story and these

3:41

businesses is that these businesses

3:43

solve a painful problem. And in my

3:46

opinion, that is the most important

3:47

thing you can do when you come up with a

3:48

business idea and you want to make money

3:50

online. So, you might be wondering,

3:52

well, how do I find a painful problem to

3:54

solve? How do I find my idea and where

3:57

should I even look for this? Well, we've

3:59

got something for you. We've been

4:00

working with the team at HubSpot to put

4:01

together a free database of over 90

4:04

painful problems that are worth solving

4:06

right now in 2026. Each of these

4:08

problems and pain points can be turned

4:10

into real businesses and we'll even show

4:12

you real businesses that are making

4:14

money solving these problems right now.

4:16

We're going to map out all the data you

4:17

might need, customers, cost to start,

4:20

days to launch, everything. So, if

4:22

you've been searching for business ideas

4:23

and thinking about this idea of solving

4:26

problems, then head to the link in the

4:27

description, download the database and

4:29

you can get started. Oh, yeah, and it's

4:31

100% free. All right, let's get back to

4:33

the episode. I think these sites are

4:35

super cool. So, how do you get to this

4:37

point where you have these three

4:38

different websites that are crushing it

4:39

making over $30,000 a month?

4:41

>> So, I'm not the technical founder. I

4:43

always relied on finding developers to

4:46

build the websites. I studied finance in

4:48

college and in my last year of college,

4:51

me and my college friend decided to

4:53

build a fintech investment app. We

4:55

raised $100,000 from family and friends.

4:58

I maxed out my credit cards, got some

5:00

personal loans. So, that money was not

5:03

enough. So, we had to raise capital from

5:05

like professional investors, so-called

5:07

angels and VCs. We decided to manually

5:10

search through

5:12

and build like a list of investors to

5:13

reach out to. And that list actually

5:16

helped us get into calls with some of

5:18

the big VC names at that time and big

5:21

angels. That made me realize that first,

5:24

cold emailing works, but second, finding

5:27

the list of investors is such a tedious

5:29

and time-consuming process. So, yeah.

5:31

>> Yeah. I mean, this is like super common.

5:33

I see this with a lot of founders is

5:34

they go to build a business, they

5:36

experience some sort of problem while

5:39

they're building this business, and then

5:40

that problem that they experienced was

5:42

really painful and annoying like this

5:44

trying to find investors, that you end

5:46

up building another business on top of

5:48

that. So, what did you do next? How did

5:50

you build it? How did you take the next

5:51

step after you saw this problem?

5:53

>> That time we were like early stage

5:55

founders ourselves, so we thought if it

5:58

takes so much time and effort finding

6:00

investors, maybe there are other

6:02

founders out there who face the same

6:03

problem. So, we decided to test this

6:06

theory that we had by launching a

6:08

product and seeing if we can get any

6:10

traction. So, we built like 40,000

6:12

investors with a few people, and then we

6:15

launched on Product Hunt. That month we

6:17

made like $4,000, and we saw that a lot

6:19

of founders actually had that kind of

6:21

issue that we had. So, this idea

6:24

basically happened accidentally, like

6:26

trying to solve our own problem.

6:28

>> Nice. Obviously, you launched this on

6:30

Product Hunt. It was a cool new idea,

6:32

made $4,000. But, how did you actually

6:34

grow this into a business that now makes

6:35

over $30,000 a month and has been, you

6:38

know, a full-time income? What was your

6:39

marketing strategy for these sites?

6:41

>> So, one day I was sitting in front of my

6:43

computer, and I was looking at Google

6:46

Analytics, and I saw that we are getting

6:48

like 60 clicks per day on Angel Match,

6:51

and idea hit me. So, I was like

6:53

thinking, what if I like 10x this

6:55

traffic? Would that translate into like

6:58

10x-ing my MRR? And that's how I came

7:01

across SEO. We hired six content

7:04

writers. We started publishing blogs

7:07

consistently. At the same time, with the

7:09

tech team, we were building and

7:10

launching like free tools and all types

7:12

of valuable content for our users. By

7:15

doing that for like 6 months or 8

7:18

months, our traffic started to grow. And

7:20

then, basically, from $3,000 MRR to

7:23

$20,000 MRR, we grew through SEO and

7:27

[music] added like Meta Ads. At highest

7:29

point, we reached 43k in MRR.

7:32

>> Okay, cool. Well, thank you for sharing

7:33

that. As someone who's been successful

7:35

in this space, you built three

7:36

successful sites. What is the secret

7:38

behind a successful directory database

7:41

product that you've been so successful

7:43

with.

7:43

>> The reason why they work is because they

7:46

all solve a problem for our target

7:49

audience. We were targeting from the

7:51

beginning like early stage startups that

7:54

are raising capital because we were

7:55

ourselves early stage startup founders.

7:57

So, I think that positioning also worked

8:00

for us. And also like there are tons of

8:01

different database products. You can

8:03

build like a real estate investor

8:05

database. You can build like stock

8:07

traders or something. I think finding a

8:09

niche is also important.

8:11

>> [music]

8:11

>> So, on that point, I'd be curious if you

8:12

have any ideas, if you were to start

8:15

another one. Do you have any ideas on

8:16

like where would be a good opportunity

8:18

to start in 2026 based on everything

8:21

you've seen and you're in the space?

8:23

>> I think there are lots of ideas you can

8:25

work on. You could build like a database

8:27

of influencers that are categorized by

8:30

maybe locations, audience size, what

8:33

they post about, and put a paywall

8:35

behind it. I'm pretty sure people will

8:37

be willing to pay for it. And another

8:39

idea would be a newsletter database. You

8:42

know, like there are lots of like

8:43

sponsored content happening on

8:45

newsletters. And doing it manually takes

8:47

time, right? So, if you just can curate

8:49

and build a database of that, that could

8:51

work.

8:52

>> Okay, I mean, yeah, those are two great

8:53

ideas. Influencer database. I've been

8:55

seeing a lot of these pop up. On that

8:57

note, I'd be curious because you built

8:58

multiple of these database SaaS's. If

9:01

you had to start over right now, what

9:03

would be your actual steps that you

9:05

would take if you had to start over in

9:06

2026?

9:07

>> To build a successful database product,

9:09

the way you can approach it is through

9:11

getting three things right. So, first,

9:13

actually coming up with a database

9:15

product or directory product idea. You

9:17

don't want to just start any kind of

9:19

database or directory. You need to start

9:21

those that solves a particular problem,

9:23

right? Once you're building a database

9:25

that solves a problem, the next step is

9:27

start collecting the data. And to get

9:29

the data, you can manually build it like

9:31

I did at the beginning. If you're like

9:33

tech-savvy, maybe you can like build

9:35

some automated systems and collect that

9:37

data. And the third step would be get as

9:39

much eyeballs as you can, launch it and

9:42

get the first like feedback. If you see

9:44

that someone is willing to pay for it,

9:46

some people are signing up, you have a

9:48

good signal. And I believe for directory

9:51

and database products, SEO works very

9:53

very well. So, I would focus on

9:55

programmatic SEO. For us, it brings half

9:58

of our revenue and if you do it

10:00

consistently, you will get there.

10:02

>> If you are watching this far into the

10:04

video, Rashid just gave up his sauce,

10:06

which is programmatic SEO. Do a Google

10:09

on that one. We also have some other

10:10

videos on that. Let's switch topics a

10:12

little bit and talk about tech stack.

10:14

How specifically do you build a database

10:16

SaaS in 2026 and what do you recommend

10:19

tools to use?

10:20

>> On the front end, we use Next.js. On the

10:23

back end, we use Nest.js. We use

10:26

PostgreSQL for database and we use

10:29

Ahrefs for SEO. For hosting, we use

10:32

DigitalOcean and we also use Nylas,

10:36

which powers our email outreach inside

10:38

of AngelMatch, Cloudflare to prevent

10:41

bots from signing ups and for security,

10:43

and we use Clavio for email flows and

10:46

marketing. And finally, we use like G

10:49

Suite for emails. It's not expensive.

10:51

It's like $62 per month on all apps.

10:54

>> Awesome. Well, sounds like a pretty

10:55

profitable business. Love that. The last

10:57

question that we ask all founders who

10:58

come on Starter Story, if you could go

11:00

back in time before you had these

11:01

successful apps, what would be your

11:03

advice to yourself or for anyone

11:05

watching this that is looking for that

11:07

first right idea to build?

11:09

>> I would say like you should be patient,

11:12

put in the work and never give up

11:13

because there were like founders who

11:15

were starting with me at that time and

11:17

they were like making a lot lot more

11:19

than what we are making right now, but

11:21

they gave up and I don't see them

11:23

anymore. So, I would say never give up.

11:25

Don't give up.

11:26

>> That's great advice. What I love about

11:27

this business, Rashid, is you know, we

11:28

interview a lot a lot who build apps

11:31

that grow really, really fast, right?

11:33

But what I love about this business is

11:35

that it's not an AI trendy business.

11:38

It's just a really, really solid

11:39

business that will continue to grow and

11:41

compound when a lot of people are

11:42

building businesses that go like this

11:44

and then go to zero. So, thanks for

11:46

coming on and sharing. I think it's

11:47

going to inspire a lot of people. I'm

11:48

sure there's going to be a lot of

11:49

database products getting spun up after

11:51

this video gets released. So, thanks for

11:52

coming on.

11:53

>> Thank you so much for having me.

11:55

Appreciate it.

11:56

>> All right. Gus, producer of Starter

11:58

Story, what do you think of Rashid and

12:00

these three businesses he built?

12:02

>> Well, one of the reasons I wanted to

12:03

bring him on the channel is cuz it's

12:05

super different than some of the other

12:06

stuff we've been recently covering. I

12:08

love that it was just like I don't want

12:10

to say old school business cuz it's not

12:11

like it's a brick and mortar or anything

12:13

like that, but it feels like a little

12:14

bit of a quote older type of business,

12:16

database information, that's still

12:19

successful. And I thought that was the

12:21

most interesting thing about [music] it.

12:22

I think the question people are going to

12:23

ask naturally is, okay, does this still

12:26

work? You know, can I still do this?

12:28

Obviously, Rashid gave some ideas on

12:30

what someone can go build, things like

12:32

that, but what's kind of your opinion on

12:34

something like this?

12:35

>> Yeah, no, I think he made a good point

12:37

that I might elaborate a little bit on,

12:38

which is like these work because they

12:40

solve a painful problem. When you're

12:42

starting a startup, you need to find

12:44

investors or else everything's over.

12:45

Your startup's going to go to zero and

12:47

you're not going to make payroll. That's

12:48

a very painful problem, finding

12:51

investors. And businesses are willing to

12:53

pay for that. And I think generally

12:54

speaking, I don't think you're going to

12:56

be successful with a directory or SaaS

12:58

if it's not B2B. So, if you're building

13:00

a B2C, I don't know, here's a directory

13:02

of dog trainers or something like that,

13:04

that might be a little bit harder

13:06

because he can charge $97 a month or

13:09

whatever. I can't remember exactly what

13:10

his pricing was, but it was something

13:11

like that. So, B2B, I think is really

13:12

important.

13:13

>> Yeah. A while back we tweeted this

13:15

thing. It was like bookamagician.com. Do

13:17

you remember that case study? But that's

13:19

a good example maybe of like a B2C thing

13:22

that kind of didn't work versus

13:23

something like this that did. Or there's

13:25

I know there's a lot of these popping up

13:27

right now that influencer databases.

13:29

I've heard of like one called SideShift

13:31

that does kind of manages everything.

13:34

Maybe that's an example of something

13:35

that doesn't work anymore versus

13:36

something that is. So, anyway, that's

13:38

kind of what I was thinking about.

13:40

>> Yeah, the influencer databases are

13:42

actually really smart. I mean,

13:43

influencers are sort of hard to find,

13:45

hard to reach, and there are businesses

13:47

that are booking those. So, I think that

13:49

is probably one of the reasons those

13:51

work. Really, when it comes down to it,

13:52

businesses like these, specifically his

13:55

three successful database products, they

13:57

solve a painful problem. And that is the

13:59

best thing that you can do if you want

14:00

to find a business idea. Find a painful

14:02

problem and solve it. So, we're going to

14:03

put in our description down there our

14:05

list of million-dollar painful problems.

14:08

You can check out a bunch of painful

14:09

problems and you can see examples of

14:11

businesses that solve those painful

14:13

problems. That database is down there in

14:14

the description. I think you'll find

14:16

some interesting ideas from there. Maybe

14:18

plug that into Chat GPT or Claude, start

14:20

playing around, and find your database

14:22

idea. All right, guys. We'll see you in

14:24

the next one. Peace.

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