Starter Story they built a $900K/year open-source app | Starter Story
Nov 4, 2025
Discover how a husband and wife team successfully transformed a weekend open-source project into a $900K/year business. They discuss the advantages of the open-source model and share effective growth strategies that can inspire budding entrepreneurs. Tune in to learn about their journey and the innovative ideas that have propelled their success!
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Weekend Project To $75k MRR
- Yule and Mark bootstrapped Papermark from a weekend open-source project to $75k MRR.
- Their success came from turning a tweet idea into a near-million-dollar business within about a year and a half.
Open Source As A Growth Engine
- Open source can be a powerful business model that attracts adoption quickly.
- Being open source helped Papermark scale rapidly and win enterprise customers.
Rapid Scaling In 18 Months
- They built Papermark quickly and scaled to $75k MRR in roughly 18 months.
- The founders attribute rapid growth to open-source distribution and community uptake.