$38k MRR - Stupidly simple PDF converter

Bank Statement Converter is a simple app doing $38K MRR.

It converts clunky PDF bank statements to usable excel files.

Built by Angus Cheng -

• Solo founder
• Scratching his own itch
• Working on multiple projects in parallel

Top learning from Angus’ success?

There’s no one way to succeed. Some people do well working on a single project, some people thrive working on multiple projects. Do what works best for you.

This is BSCs revenue chart -

The problem it solves is quite simple and obvious.

All of us have to deal with boring, tedious PDF bank statements. We would love to access them in excel files.

Angus faced the same issue, and built the product as a way to scratch his own itch.

But how did he get his first customer?

First customer

BSC got its first customer via Google Search Ads

(from his reddit post)

At one point, Angus was spending $1000 a month on ads, to make $200 in revenue. This was bad financially, but it was great to get customers using your product.

Pivoting

Eventually, he stopped running Google ads, and pivoted to content marketing.

He started writing blog posts around his niche, and some of them made it to the first page of HackerNews.

And he also changed his pricing strategy -

• From selling credits, to selling subscriptions.

(from his blog)

Gradually, his posts did so well, that BSC started ranking for some crucial keywords on Google.

These are long tail high intent SEO keywords

This means, even if their overall volume is less, but the people using these keywords are focused on solving a specific problem. And they are way more likely to buy than someone searching for generic keywords.

Working closely with customers

Every bank in every country has a unique style of publishing a bank statement. So BSC has to be able to parse each of them properly.

Angus started with a generic algorithm, but as more and more customers reported issues, he add customizations to every bank that he came across.

So it may seem like a simple product from the outside, but there’s a lot of complex document parsing going on under the hood.

Angus also wrote blog posts about these banks along the way. (like this one about hsbc)

This meant that BSC also started ranking on Google for those bank names and their statement converters.

Coasting Along

Over time, BSC has continued to get more and more subscribers passively. Without Angus having to work on it too much.

In fact, he’s focusing on his other projects now, like building indie games.

This update from when he crossed $7K MRR is telling -

“Bank Statement Converter is behaving the way a good SaaS should behave. Brings in money while I do other things. Thank you BSC.”

Love it!

This is as close to passive income as you can get.

Top Lessons -

• There’s no one way to succeed. Find your own path.
• You don’t need a novel, or ground breaking idea.
• It’s okay to scratch your own itch
• Build and ship fast, iterate with customers
• Get eyeballs to your landing page - by paying money (ads) or putting in the effort (content)
• SEO is NOT dead!
• BSC’s success story is simple NOT easy.

Hope you found this useful.

Cheers 🙌

Do read Angus’ blog, he posts infrequent but interesting updates there -

• Week 83 - $5000 Monthly Recurring Revenue

Latest revenue update in this tweet.

Use AI to replace humans

I know you can build a lot of fancy stuff with AI.

But if you don't mind building a simple product that makes money.

Then consider using AI to automate any of these fiverr gigs.

These are top best selling 25 Fiverr gigs.

Most of them could be replaced with an AI SaaS.

• Proven pains
• Evergreen demand
• Clear expected outcomes

Clients already paying for this work -

🔗 Super Links

Useful links you don't want to miss -

• Senja’s SEO strategy to hit #1 for the keyword “testimonial collection tool” - Wilson
• How to get 10K+ SEO clicks from 0 search volume keywords - Phil
• 18 Amazing example of Ad copy - The Ad Professor
• 10 visual lessons from Cal Newport’s “Deep Work” - Alex & Books
• 5 SaaS ideas you can build as a SOLO founder - Rob Walling (YouTube - 5 mins)

Last week’s top link -

• Simple process to understand how a site gets customers - Andrea Bosoni

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