Transistor.fm

Justin Jackson had been writing about SaaS for years but needed a technical co-founder. He teamed up with developer Jon Buda in 2017 after Jon had already built a private podcast platform for a company he worked at. When other businesses started asking for the same thing, they realized there was a real product there. They launched publicly in 2018 and documented every step on their podcast "Build Your SaaS" — sharing real revenue numbers, hiring mistakes, and the emotional reality of bootstrapping. Day one revenue: $33. Within 11 months they crossed $20k MRR. By late 2019, both had quit their day jobs to focus on Transistor full time. The company crossed $1M ARR and today hosts over 34,000 podcasts for brands, media companies, and indie creators. Justin became one of the most-quoted voices in bootstrapped SaaS, writing that market selection matters more than hustle. They never raised outside funding.