How a solo founder built a $40K/month waitlist app competing with giants

Executive overview

Most restaurant waitlist apps force customers to download and sign up before seeing their wait time. Joe Rozek noticed this friction firsthand at brunch and built a simpler alternative. Weightly charges a flat $100/month, answers support calls instantly, and earns 700 paying customers by serving the niche the giants ignore.

Simple, focused products can out-compete billion-dollar platforms by winning on price, simplicity, and service.

From side project to $500K ARR

• Started in 2017 as a learning project to teach himself iOS development
• First year: no revenue (free version only)
• Year 2: $14,500; Year 3: $116,000; Year 4: $186,000
• Year 5: $307,000; Year 6: $354,000; Year 7: $445,000
• Current year on pace for over $500,000
• COVID accelerated growth: retail chains with capacity limits deployed Weightly in 700 locations, 10x-ing revenue that year

How Weightly works

• Restaurant adds a customer to the waitlist with name, party size, estimated wait, and seating preference
• Customer immediately receives a text with a link showing their wait time — no app download required
• Staff taps "Notify" when the table is ready; customer gets a second text
• Works for any industry with waiting customers, not just restaurants

Competing with OpenTable and Yelp

• Price: flat $100/month vs. hundreds per month plus per-cover fees from competitors
• Simplicity: single-focus product — waitlists and reservations only
• Customer service: every support call answered immediately; customers are routinely surprised

Growth and marketing

• Primary driver: Apple Search Ads on targeted keywords
• Customer acquisition cost: ~$130; lifetime value: $750–$1,000
• Email nurture sequence: onboarding tips, quick-start videos, Zoom onboarding, staff training
• Promotional offers sent near end of trial to convert to paid

Business metrics and costs

• 15,000+ businesses have tried Weightly; 700 current paying customers
• 59 million parties waitlisted since launch
• Monthly costs: Firebase $700, SMS $2,500, Apple Search Ads $500, RevenueCat 1% of revenue, Stripe 3% of revenue, tooling ~$332

Tech stack

• Backend: Google Firebase (hosting, auth, database), Node.js
• iOS app: Swift
• Web app: React.js

Framework for finding and building ideas

1. Find an existing solved problem and improve it — look for an underserved niche within it
2. Use AI to build an MVP quickly (weeks, not months)
3. Get feedback from early customers
4. Expect the unexpected and adapt