Marko Saric @markosaric@fosstodon.org
- My site
- https://markosaric.com/
- Plausible
- https://plausible.io/
- On Mastodon
- https://fosstodon.org/@plausible
Escaping the adtech machine and making the web a bit more human friendly
Co-Founder Plausible Analytics, simple and privacy focused web analytics
Joined Oct 2019
If we can manage to donate $19k (the year after losing $50k of our savings) by running a bootstrapped and open source Google Analytics alternative, then anything is possible!
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion"
Always inspiring to follow Matt Mullenweg and his work on building a more open web
New milestone! I'm now a dad so I guess I'll be sharing child growth lessons learned in addition to the SaaS growth lessons learned in the future 👀
We started the year by making it to $10k MRR on January 12 (took us almost two years to get there). If things go well, @plausible could end the year on $50k MRR! 🤯🤞
I've been a fan of Wholegrain Digital and their quest to make websites greener for a couple of years now (love their Website Carbon Calculator). It feels great to see this post where they recommend Plausible to their clients instead of GA!
https://www.wholegraindigital.com/blog/plausible-vs-google-analytics/
"Marketing Is Scary for a Solo Developer"
Rauno Metsa made it to the Hacker News front page again!
I was a bit concerned about companies paying Google to get in front of people that search for Plausible but turns out it had no effect on us. November was our best Google organic traffic (12.3k) and best new MRR ($4.4k) month yet.
After reading about OBS Project's brand being misused and our recent issue of competitors misrepresenting themselves as Plausible in Google's ads, it seems that registering a trademark is a must for open source projects.
Another nice Linux app I can recommend is the Break Timer. It notifies you when it's time to take a break from your screen. I use it to rest my eyes for 20 seconds every 20 minutes (the 20/20/20 rule).
"I'm thinking to open-source my app, what's your advice?"
1. Becoming sustainable by relying on donations is tough. Find a better monetization method.
2. Think carefully about the license you want to use. There are risks associated with a permissive license.
3. Go for it!
Someone asked why care about Hacker News when it's "low quality" traffic (high bounce rate, low conversion rate...).
It's not about the immediate impact. It's about the increase in word of mouth, branded searches, social shares, links and search rankings that follow HN.
We're introducing new people to open source but we don't have that as our only selling point. People also use Plausible as we're simple, easy to understand, lightweight... It's important for open source to break out of the "for techies only" box.
https://riseofcommunity.substack.com/p/how-plausible-bootstrapped-to-500k
The more emails like these I see, the less I trust anything I read...
(Plausible has never paid to be included on any list, review or recommendation)
What an email to get on Friday night... 👀
Let's see what happens next. Live stats at https://plausible.io/plausible.io?period=realtime
I spoke with Prashant Choubey on the initial steps we took to promote Plausible after I joined, on competitors misrepresenting themselves as us in paid ads, and other marketing stuff.
I have an interesting audience on LinkedIn these days! #bigtech 👀
Despite the dark patterns, I take a moment to make my choice on the consent banners. Sites are listening and the GDPR opt-in rate is one of the key performance indicators. They often mention this when they contact Plausible. Every choice is a vote for a more private web.
Another advantage of being bootstrapped is that it forces us to be resourceful. We do more with less. We manage our server infrastructure, we do our marketing without paying experts or influencers, and we speak to the customers ourselves.
I was asked how we're going to double our MRR now...
We won't change our approach. There's no need to force growth. We'll continue doing what works for us. The obsession with ever faster growth is weird. The doubling will come with time and patience.
It's been a wild ride so far for @plausible:
$0 to $400 MRR in 12 months
$400 to $10k MRR in 9 months
$10k MRR to $500k ARR in 10 months
- My site
- https://markosaric.com/
- Plausible
- https://plausible.io/
- On Mastodon
- https://fosstodon.org/@plausible
Escaping the adtech machine and making the web a bit more human friendly
Co-Founder Plausible Analytics, simple and privacy focused web analytics
Joined Oct 2019
