After 12 Failed Startups, A Solo Developer Create an API Service that made $1M ARR

Can one person, working mostly alone, build an online business that makes over $50,000 every single month? It sounds like a dream.

Imagine building 12 products over 10 years and watching every single one fail.

That was Jon Yongfook's reality before Bannerbear. Today, his solo-founded company generates over $1,000,000 in annual revenue, serves 3,000+ paying customers, and runs profitably with just 3 team members. No venture capital. No fancy growth hacks. Just pure product-market fit.

Starting a SaaS is hard. Really hard. Just ask Jon Yongfook, who spent years building products that nobody wanted. Then, his company Bannerbear makes over $50,000 every month. But the journey wasn't smooth.

What makes this story remarkable? Jon went from $0 to $10,000 monthly revenue in just 10 months. Then scaled to $50,000 MRR in under 3 years. All while working mostly alone and spending almost nothing on marketing.

This is the story of how one developer kept failing, kept learning, and finally built something people actually pay for.

What is BannerBear

Bannerbear is a tool that helps people automatically create images and videos. Think about all those social media posts, ads, or website banners. Bannerbear can make them for you, super fast! But it didn't start out this way.

Let's look at how Bannerbear grew from a small idea into a business making over $50,000 every month. We'll see how they changed their plans, found what customers really wanted, and grew their users and money.

Let’s dive in!

The Failed Projects That Came Before

Before Bannerbear, Jon built multiple products that flopped. He wasn't new to the startup game - Jon tried a few other things.

• Ticketbase - An event ticketing platform that couldn't compete

• Beatrix - A social media scheduling tool in an oversaturated market

• Votemeet - A meeting scheduler nobody asked for

• Mojosaas - The project that finally led to something real

• EbookBear: Next, Jon thought about ebooks. He made a tool called EbookBear to help people create simple ebooks. This was a bit better. Some people used it, and it made a little bit of money. But, it still wasn't a big hit. The number of people who needed this specific tool was small.

The First Ideas: Not Always a Hit

It’s normal for first ideas not to work out perfectly. Many business owners try a few things before they find something that really clicks.

In late 2019, Jon was working on something called Mojosaas. It was supposed to be a collection of SaaS tools. But it wasn't working.

Then something interesting happened. One feature started getting attention - an API for auto-generating images. Users kept asking about just that one part.

Jon made a brave decision. He killed Mojosaas and focused everything on that single feature. That feature became Bannerbear.

The pivot happened in November 2019. By December, he had a working product. By January 2020, he had his first paying customers.

• Week 1: First paying customer ($19/month)

• Month 1: $500 MRR (26 customers)

• Month 3: $2,000 MRR (100+ customers)

• Month 10: $10,000 MRR (500+ customers)

The Big Change

Jon kept learning. He saw that people liked the idea of automating creative work. EbookBear was a small step in that direction. But what if he could automate something even more people needed?That’s when the idea for Bannerbear (the API version) was born.

Instead of just ebooks, this new tool would help create all sorts of images and banners automatically using an API. An API is like a special messenger that lets different computer programs talk to each other. This meant developers could build Bannerbear into their own websites or apps to create tons of images without doing it by hand.

For Bannerbear, this pivot was a game-changer. They moved from a small tool for ebooks to a powerful tool for developers and businesses who needed lots of images.

Finding Product-Market Fit

How did Jon know he found product-market fit? The numbers told the story.

Before Bannerbear, his products had:

• 2-3% trial-to-paid conversion rates

• $5-10 average revenue per user

• 5-10% monthly churn rates

With Bannerbear:

• 15% trial-to-paid conversion

• $45 average revenue per user

• Under 5% monthly churn

The key signs were:

1. Customers found him through Google (organic traffic grew 400% in 6 months)

2. People upgraded to paid plans without sales calls

3. Users started recommending it to others (30% of new signups came from referrals)

4. Support questions changed from "what does this do?" to "can it also do this?"

The "One Week Build, One Week Market" Rhythm

One of Jon's secret weapons was his disciplined approach to balancing product development and marketing. He followed a strict cycle:

Week 1: Build

• Monday-Friday: Pure coding and feature development

• No distractions, no marketing, just building

• Focus on one major feature or several small improvements

Week 2: Market

• Monday-Wednesday: Content creation (blog posts, tutorials)

• Thursday: Community engagement (forums, Twitter, Reddit)

• Friday: Email newsletter to entire list

Repeat

This rhythm solved a common founder problem: constantly switching between building and selling, doing neither well. By batching similar work, Jon could achieve deep focus and better results.

The Exact Marketing Playbook for First 25 Customers

Jon's marketing budget in year one was exactly $0. Here's the complete breakdown:

This consistent marketing push, fueled by his "build in public" philosophy, involved several smart tactics, many of which he detailed in his own advice for founders looking for their first SaaS customers. Here’s how he did it:

1. Product Positioning: The Multiple Reinventions

Before finding product-market fit, Jon re-invented Bannerbear's positioning multiple times:

• Started as "Mojosaas" - a collection of marketing tools

• Pivoted to "API for auto-generating images"

• Refined to "Image generation for developers"

• Finally landed on "Auto-generate social media images & videos"

Each repositioning came from actual user feedback, not guesswork. The lesson? Your first positioning is probably wrong.

2. Personal Touch: Direct Outreach to Early Users

For the first 100 users, Jon personally reached out to each one:

• Welcome email from his personal address

• Follow-up after 1 week asking for feedback

• Quick response to feature requests

• Thank you notes for bug reports

Result: 60% of early users became long-term customers

3. The Product Hunt Marathon (Until They Got Sick of It)

Jon didn't launch once on Product Hunt - he launched three times with major features:

Launch #1 - Beta (Month 2)

• Result: #5 of the day, 2,000 visits, 300 signups

• Lesson: Even beta products can get traction

Launch #2 - Official Launch (Month 4)

• Result: #3 of the day, 3,000 visits, 500 signups

• Lesson: Building an audience between launches matters

Launch #3 - Video Generation Feature (Month 8)

• Result: #2 of the day, but fewer conversions

• Lesson: The community started recognizing him as "that guy who keeps launching"

Jon admits: "By the third launch, engagement was lower. The community was growing tired of seeing Bannerbear."

4. Community Engagement: The Non-Promotional Approach

Jon was active in 10+ online startup communities, but never as a promoter:

Communities where he was active:

• Indie Hackers (daily)

• r/SaaS subreddit

• r/webdev and r/api

• MicroConf Connect

• Various Slack groups (Ramen Club, NoCode Makers)

• Facebook groups for marketers

Jon didn't spam Reddit with links, his rules:

1. Give advice based on experience

2. Share learnings from failures

3. Found specific subreddits where his customers hung out (r/webdev, r/SaaS, r/api)

4. Answered questions first without mentioning Bannerbear for 2 weeks

5. Only mentioned his product when directly relevant to someone's problem

6. Created valuable tutorials specifically for each subreddit's audience

7. Focus on helping, not selling

His exact Reddit approach:

1. Search for keywords like "image generation API" or "automate social media images"

2. Provide genuine help first

3. Mention Bannerbear only if it directly solves their stated problem

4. Follow up with a DM offering free credits to try it

Result: Became known as "the helpful image API guy" rather than "that spammer"

5. The Twitter Strategy

Jon tweeted about Bannerbear almost daily:

What he shared:

• Development updates with screenshots

• Revenue milestones ($100 MRR, $1K MRR, etc.)

• Technical challenges and solutions

• Customer success stories

• Honest reflections on failures

Viral tweets that drove growth:

• "Reached $10K MRR after 10 months!" - 500+ retweets

• Thread about pivoting from failed product - 1,000+ likes

• Screenshot of revenue graph - 300+ comments

Strategy: 80% valuable content, 20% product updates

How he tried DM:

• Searched Twitter for people complaining about creating social media images

• Sent personalized DMs (not spam) showing how Bannerbear could help

• Offered free credits to try it out

• Follow-up rate: 8 out of 10 people responded positively

Example DM template: "Hey [Name], saw your tweet about spending hours on Instagram graphics. I built an API that automates this - want to try it free? No sales pitch, just think it might save you time."

6. Content Marketing: Dozens of "How To" Articles

Jon wrote 50+ detailed tutorials, each one:

• Solving a specific problem

• Including code examples

• Naturally featuring Bannerbear

• Optimized for long-tail SEO

Top performing content:

• "How to Auto-Generate Social Media Images" - 50K+ views

• "Create OG Images Programmatically" - 30K+ views

• "Build an Image Generation API" - 25K+ views

7. Newsletter from Scratch: 1,500 Subscribers

Started with 0 subscribers, Jon built a newsletter through:

• Prominent signup form on blog

• "Founder updates" positioning, not marketing

• Weekly sends, never missed one

• Personal stories mixed with product updates

Newsletter metrics:

• 1,500 subscribers in year one

• 45% average open rate

• Directly attributed to 20% of new signups

❌ What Failed

8. Referral Program

• "Give $10, Get $10" system

• Result: "Zero effect" - <1% participation

9. Shopify App

• 3 months building, 6 months live

• Result: <10 installs, shut down

10. Affiliate Program

• 20% commission for 12 months

• Result: Only 5% of new MRR, barely worth it

The Actual Growth Numbers

Let's look at the actual growth data:

Year 1 (2020)

• January: $500 MRR (26 customers)

• April: $3,000 MRR (150 customers)

• July: $6,000 MRR (300 customers)

• October: $10,000 MRR (500 customers)

• Customer growth rate: 35% month-over-month

Year 2 (2021)

• Started: $10K MRR

• Ended: $27K MRR

• Added 1,000+ new customers

• Launched 15 new features based on user feedback

• Hired first employee

Year 3 and Beyond

• Reached $50K MRR by 2023 (3,000+ customers)

• Achieved $600K ARR milestone

• Maintained steady 10-15% monthly growth

• Team size: Still just 3 people

• Profit margin: Over 80%

Year 2025

• Cross 1M+ ARR

Getting Started: It took about 9 months for Bannerbear to reach its first $1,000 MRR. This shows that growth can be slow at the start.

Hitting $10,000 MRR: From $1,000, it took another 11 months to reach $10,000 MRR. The growth started to speed up! This was a big milestone.

Reaching $20,000 MRR: After hitting $10k, it took only about 5 more months to double to $20,000 MRR. By this point, Bannerbear was growing much faster. They had found their groove, and more and more people were signing up.

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Meet the Maker

Jon Yongfook isn't your typical Silicon Valley founder. Born in the UK, raised in Singapore, Jon started as a developer and designer who just wanted to build cool products on the internet. This is important because having both design and coding skills means he could build a lot of Bannerbear by himself. He didn't need to hire a big team from the start.

His background before Bannerbear:

• Early Career: Worked as a consultant and freelance developer for 5+ years

• First Taste of Success: Co-founded and sold a social media analytics company in 2011

• The Nomad Years: Spent 2014-2019 traveling the world while building products

• Technical Skills: Full-stack developer fluent in Ruby, JavaScript, and design

• No MBA, No Connections: Just a developer with a laptop and persistence

Jon isn't new to building online businesses. He's been an "indie hacker" for years. Even though those earlier projects didn't become huge hits, they gave him valuable experience and lessons that helped him succeed with Bannerbear.

Lessons for Other Founders

What can we learn from Bannerbear's journey?

Don't Be Afraid to Change (Pivot):

If your first idea isn't working, it's okay to try something new.

Listen to Users

The pivot from Mojosaas only happened because Jon paid attention to what users actually wanted.

Be Transparent & Share Everything

Being transparent about revenue and growth attracted customers who valued honesty.

Price for Value

Don't charge $9 for your SaaS, low prices attract… low value customers. Starting at $19/month meant only serious customers signed up. This reduced support burden and increased revenue per user.

Review on this journey

The journey from $0 to $50K MRR took about 3 years, then to $1M ARR. That might seem slow compared to venture-backed startups. But for a bootstrapped company with no outside funding? That's incredible.

Jon's story proves you don't need millions in funding or a huge team. You need persistence, the ability to listen, and the courage to pivot when something isn't working.

Sometimes the best businesses come from the ashes of failed projects. You just have to be willing to let the old dream die so the new one can live.

Thank you so much for reading, If you click the subscribe button. I will try my best to bring the best stories of small startup with less than 15 people generating over $1M ARR to you. See you next week.

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