How a non-technical founder grew Alitu to $45k MRR

Executive overview

Colin Gray built a podcast editing SaaS from an existing content business, using a stair-step approach to validate and fund development slowly. Starting with a small audience and taking 27 months to launch, he initially struggled to convert his technical-focused readers into software customers. By pivoting to target non-technical creators and entrepreneurs instead, Alitu reached $45,000 MRR in two years and now serves as his primary revenue engine.

Core insight: Audience specificity matters more than audience size when launching SaaS—you may need to find a different market than the one you initially built.

Stair-step path from side project to SaaS

• Started with The Podcast Host as a hobby project in 2010, solving a real problem at his university job
• Shut down the hosting service after 1.5 years due to low margins and high support costs
• Built a content site with SEO traffic and an email list by 2014–2015
• Offered productized podcast production services using a freelancer (2015–2020)
• Bootstrapped Alitu for 27 months using revenue from the content business and podcast production

Why audience size alone doesn't guarantee SaaS success

• Had thousands of daily visitors and a 5,000–6,000 person email list at launch in 2018
• Only reached $3,000 MRR after six months and $8,000 after a year
• Discovered his audience was highly technical (gear enthusiasts, DIY podcasters) who enjoyed playing with audio tools rather than automating them
• Realized he needed entirely different content to reach non-technical creators, entrepreneurs, and solo founders
• Once he shifted content strategy, the funnel worked; now the blog is the main lead generator for Alitu

The long, profitable build

• Non-technical founder meant hiring one developer at a time over 27 months
• Never went unprofitable—always funded through existing revenue streams
• Built prototype in five months, then spent months on design and implementation
• Stayed patient with monthly progress; experienced founders think in years, not months
• When COVID hit, doubled in three months (unprecedented growth)
• Now at two years post-launch with $45,000 MRR and four new hires

Handling scaling challenges

• Support tickets backed up during COVID growth surge, especially around audio troubleshooting
• Audio files are unpredictable; only one developer had deep audio expertise
• Hired second audio developer to handle doubled customer issues
• Still leaving headroom for uncertainty in next 6–12 months despite rapid growth

Choosing the right product fit

• Considered hosting, recording, and other podcast solutions; chose editing because it matched his passion
• Enjoys helping people create and the satisfaction of simplifying their workflow
• Unlike hosting (which he found thankless in 2010), editing feedback energizes him
• Editing was also unique—few competitors building exactly what Alitu does
• Major interface redesign caused weeks of customer backlash when it alienated existing users

Slow hiring despite fast growth

• Takes on staff deliberately, not reactively
• Built confidence to hire first employee (Matthew) through productized service revenue
• One hire makes the next hire easier; doesn't try to grow multiple businesses at once
• Doubled staff in three months during COVID spike but cautiously avoids overcommitting
• Prioritizes financial runway and sustainable pace over aggressive expansion

Why production work didn't scale

• Podcast production was fulfilling but time-consuming (two days per show for scripting and narration)
• Forced hard choice: spend time on client work or grow Alitu
• Ultimately abandoned client production to focus on product growth, though misses the creative work