Episode 798 | Lessons From 10 Years of SaaS Growth Without a Hockey Stick
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
In this episode of Startups for the Rest of Us, Rob Walling interviews Colin Bartlett, co-founder of StatusGator, about his remarkable 11-year journey building a status page aggregator from a simple idea to a 7-figure ARR SaaS company. (00:00) Colin shares how StatusGator evolved from monitoring official status pages to providing early outage detection through crowdsourced data, positioning themselves as "early warning signals" that often detect outages 30+ minutes before providers acknowledge them. (05:23) The conversation covers the challenges of building in a category that didn't exist, the power of programmatic SEO, and key lessons learned including the importance of focus, proper pricing, and finding the right ICP after years of iteration.
- Main Theme: The story demonstrates that SaaS success often requires extraordinary perseverance, strategic pivots, and the willingness to focus on what's working rather than chasing multiple opportunities simultaneously.
Speakers
Rob Walling
Rob Walling is the host of Startups for the Rest of Us and founder of TinySeed, an accelerator for early-stage SaaS companies. He's a serial entrepreneur who has founded multiple successful startups and is known for his expertise in bootstrapped SaaS growth strategies.
Colin Bartlett
Colin Bartlett is the co-founder of StatusGator, a status page aggregator that provides early outage detection for cloud services. A former software development contractor, Colin has been building and iterating on StatusGator for over 11 years, growing it from a side project to a 7-figure ARR SaaS company with 6 employees.
Key Takeaways
Focus Beats Multiple Products Every Time
Colin and his co-founder Andy initially tried building multiple SaaS products simultaneously through their company Nimble Industries. (16:43) However, once StatusGator began gaining real traction around 2020 during the pandemic, they realized the multi-product approach was a major distraction. They made the strategic decision to focus entirely on StatusGator, which was actually generating revenue while their other products had little to no traction. This laser focus allowed them to pour all their energy into scaling the one product that was working, ultimately leading to their 7-figure success.
Developer Feedback Doesn't Equal Market Validation
Colin initially validated StatusGator by talking to developer friends who loved the concept. (08:09) However, he later realized this was a critical mistake because developers typically don't have purchasing authority at enterprises. The real buyers turned out to be IT directors and managers who needed to reduce support tickets when services went down. This lesson highlights the importance of validating not just product-market fit, but also identifying who actually has the budget and authority to purchase your solution.
Stumbling Into SEO Gold Can Transform Your Business
Colin accidentally discovered the power of programmatic SEO when he created individual pages for each monitored service around 2015. (13:28) People searching "Is GitHub down?" or "Is Google Meet up?" started finding these pages, which became StatusGator's primary acquisition channel. Today, approximately 90% of their growth comes from people searching for service status online. This organic discovery taught Colin that SEO, which he initially thought was a scam, could be incredibly powerful when executed correctly.
Positioning Evolution Can Unlock Premium Pricing
StatusGator's transformation from a simple status aggregator to providing "early warning signals" was a game-changer for both positioning and pricing. (29:32) Instead of just showing official status updates, they now detect outages through crowdsourced data before providers acknowledge them. This unique value proposition allowed them to position against the problem that "status pages lie" and are slow to update, justifying much higher prices and enabling enterprise sales processes for deals worth tens of thousands annually.
The Right Marketing Consultant Can Accelerate Growth Exponentially
After one failed attempt with a marketing consultant, Colin and Andy found Max, who immediately challenged their approach and provided a comprehensive strategy deck. (19:16) Max suggested focusing on content marketing targeting their ideal customer profile rather than just writing generic articles. This partnership became instrumental in their growth, with Max still working with them today. The key was finding someone who could do "founder-level zero to one marketing" rather than just executing predetermined tasks.
Statistics & Facts
- StatusGator monitors over 6,000 services and has more than 350 different connectors or checkers for pulling in official status data. (04:32) This massive scale gives them significant SEO advantages and comprehensive coverage for their customers.
- Approximately 90% of StatusGator's growth comes from people searching for service status online, demonstrating the power of their programmatic SEO strategy. (13:28)
- The company went from $25k MRR in 2022 when they joined TinySeed to 7-figure ARR today, representing significant growth acceleration after years of slower progress.
