How I scaled my agency to $12k MRR BEFORE launching a B2B SaaS

Next month I'll be re-launching Hello Inbox on PH as a B2B email deliverability SaaS.

But, there's a back story I wanted to share with the community on how I validated the idea, and scaled to $12K MRR before deciding to build and launch a SaaS solution for my clients.

I think this could be useful for startup founders who are trying to validate their business models.

Because let's be honest, time is the most valuable resource. Sometimes the biggest lever is deciding what NOT to do.

Question is, are you dedicating your valuable time in solving a hard enough problem that people will be willing to pay for?

I launched Hello Inbox as a one-page checklist on Hacker News 4 years ago. It was a solution to a personal problem I had in my previous business. I was building and selling a digital product and once in a while I would send emails to my customers informing them of an update (new features, security updates, etc).

I noticed my open rates were low and I didn't know why. These were clients who had paid, not cold leads. They knew who I was.

I decided to go down the rabbit hole that is email deliverability and discovered a bunch of things I wasn't even aware of even after being in tech for over a decade. So after implementing all the deliverability best practices I finally increase my open rates significantly.

However, I noticed that all the information I found was scattered around the web and there wasn't one central resource or guide for businesses to follow.

So I build a 39 step checklist and launched it on Hacker News.

I got 10,000 visitors in the 1st week and then businesses and marketers started asking me for help.

Over the last 4 years I've helped hundreds of small and medium sized business maximize inbox placement for their email marketing campaigns. I've jumped on consultation calls and performed hundreds of audits.

I gained a very deep understanding of their biggest challenges and frustrations. And I observed which tools businesses were willing to pay for.

There's a few tools that are key to troubleshooting and improving email deliverability, I created affiliate accounts with some of those tools and referred clients to those tools.

These were not random tools, they are tools I have used, and can vouch for.

And now 4 years later I am earning $12K MRR from affiliate sales.

Why did I do this and not just launch a product right away?

Because I wanted to understand their problems intimately and deeply before coming up with a solution, in order NOT to waste my time.

And also, because revenue solves A LOT of problems.

I decided that once I reached $10K MRR from affiliate sales it would give me the time to build without any stress or urgency in paying the bills.

Now I can confidently say:

1. I'm solving a personal problem (I use my own tool)
2. I've identified businesses have no problem paying for these tools
3. I've identified a gap in the market by talking to hundreds of business
4. I'm building something better that fills that gap