Bank Statement Converter growth strategy

Angus and a friend built the MVP in ~1 week: Kotlin backend generalized from his personal script, Next.js frontend, deployed on Netlify + AWS EC2. Bought a domain and got it into production immediately.

Bought Google Search Ads immediately after launch to validate demand. People started uploading bank statements right away, confirming the problem was real.

Continued running and optimizing Google Search Ads for ~6 months trying to reach profitability. Spent approximately $1,000 per campaign cycle, generating only ~$300 in sales. Never cracked a profitable ROAS despite extensive optimization attempts.

Ran 3 months of cold email outreach. Contacted businesses or individuals who might need PDF-to-spreadsheet conversion.

Cut all Google Ads after 6 months of unprofitable spend. Discovered 2–3 organic signups per day were already coming in without any paid spend — users finding the site via organic Google search. Shifted full focus to this channel by default.

Focused entirely on fixing issues customers complained about via email. Replied to every customer email immediately (including 3am emails). Built features based on real user requests rather than assumptions, using analytics to identify drop-off points.

Continued compound growth from organic search with no paid acquisition. Sustained product-led improvements driving retention and word-of-mouth. No new channels introduced.

Same playbook — organic search + product improvements. Business continued compounding with no employees, no ads, no new growth channels.

Reached $40K MRR as a solo operator. 75,000 total users, ~1,000 paying customers, ~40,000 monthly site visits. ~$39K of $40K is profit (near 97.5% margin) due to minimal infrastructure costs and no staff.