Bootstrapping·Onur Alp Soner, Countly

Bootstrapped SaaS to 7-Figure ARR With Zero Sales Calls

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Onur Alp Soner was a C++ developer at Huawei when he decided to build a bootstrapped SaaS with no validation, no customers, and no idea how to sell to enterprises. Intel came knocking anyway - before he even had an enterprise product to sell them.

In this episode, Onur reveals how Countly grew from a side project on SourceForge to a 7-figure ARR analytics platform serving BMW, Coca-Cola, and AWS - all without raising a dollar or making a single outbound sales call. You'll hear why their first SaaS attempt failed, how a Hacker News blog post changed everything, and how he survived a co-founder breakup that nearly killed the business after four years of silent tension.

Onur was working as a C++ developer at Huawei in 2013 when he noticed there was no good open-source alternative for mobile analytics. He started building Countly as a side project, hosting the code on SourceForge before GitHub was the default.

There was no validation phase. No customer interviews. No landing page test. Onur just started building and put the code out there. The bootstrapped SaaS didn't start with a business plan - it started with curiosity and a gap in the market.

Then something unexpected happened. Intel found Countly's open-source code and reached out asking for an enterprise version - before one even existed. That pattern repeated. Large companies would evaluate the free version, realize they needed support and compliance features, and ask to buy something that didn't exist yet. The bootstrapped SaaS was being pulled into the enterprise market by its own users.

A blog post about leaving his comfort zone as a C++ developer and learning Node.js hit the front page of Hacker News. That single piece of content drove a wave of attention that brought more enterprise buyers to their door. All without a single outbound sales call.

But the journey wasn't smooth. Countly's first attempt at a SaaS product - Countly Cloud - failed. It looked identical to Mixpanel and Google Analytics with no clear differentiator. It hit a revenue ceiling and couldn't grow. Instead of pushing harder, Onur killed it and refocused on the enterprise model that was actually working.

When they tried SaaS again with Countly Flex, they built it differently. Each customer gets a dedicated server in their chosen region, turning privacy from a marketing claim into technical architecture. That differentiation gave the bootstrapped SaaS a reason to exist alongside much larger competitors.

The hardest chapter came when a co-founder dispute that had been building silently for four years finally erupted. The breakup took eight months and nearly destroyed the company. Neither founder fully controlled the business during that period, and the tension paralyzed the entire team.

Twelve years in, Countly is profitable, growing, and still bootstrapped. Onur believes the patience that comes from not having VC pressure is what allowed them to survive the failed product, the co-founder split, and the slow grind of enterprise sales.

This episode is part of our Bootstrapping series.

Key Insight

Onur Alp Soner bootstrapped Countly to 7-figure ARR over 12 years by using open-source code as an enterprise sales funnel. Companies like Intel and BMW found the free version, then paid for enterprise features before they existed. Their first SaaS failed due to no differentiation, but relaunching with dedicated servers per customer created a privacy moat that competitors couldn't copy.

Key Ideas

Intel and BMW discovered Countly through open-source code and requested a paid enterprise version before one existed
First SaaS product (Countly Cloud) hit a revenue ceiling because it looked identical to Mixpanel with no privacy differentiator
Relaunched as Countly Flex with dedicated servers per customer in their chosen region, turning privacy into technical architecture
Stopped publishing pricing after the first 10 enterprise deals - switched from cost-based to value-based scoping
12 years of inbound-only growth through documentation, blog content, and open-source code with zero outbound sales

Key Lessons

🚀 Open source is a bootstrapped SaaS sales funnel: Countly released free code that enterprise buyers like Intel and BMW evaluated, then requested paid versions - generating inbound enterprise deals for 12 years without a single outbound sales call.
💰 Charge for expertise after your first 10 deals: Onur learned that enterprise customers pay for strategic consulting and hands-on support, not just the product. That shift moved Countly from cost-based pricing to value-based scoping.
📉 Kill your bootstrapped SaaS product if it lacks differentiation: Countly Cloud looked identical to Mixpanel and hit a revenue ceiling. Instead of pushing harder, Onur killed it and refocused on the enterprise model that was actually generating revenue.
🛠️ Relaunch with architecture as your moat: When Countly tried SaaS again with Flex, each customer got a dedicated server in their chosen region - turning privacy from a marketing claim into technical infrastructure competitors couldn't easily replicate.
🤝 Address co-founder tension at the first sign of misalignment: Onur's co-founder dispute built silently for four years before erupting into an eight-month crisis. He now recommends having hard conversations immediately, not waiting until the relationship is beyond repair.
🧠 Bootstrapping buys patience that VC money can't: Without investor pressure, Countly spent 12 years iterating through failed products, co-founder breakups, and market shifts - a timeline that would have been impossible with VC expectations.
✍️ Write for yourself one year ago: Onur's biggest content hit was about getting out of his comfort zone as a C++ developer using Node.js. Share authentic founder experiences rather than trying to sound like an expert.

Watch the Episode

Chapters

00:00Introduction

00:46What Countly does and the privacy-first mission

01:42Major customers: BMW, Coca-Cola, AWS, Roche

02:23Revenue, team size, and bootstrapped status

02:48Origin story: the idea at Huawei in 2013

04:00No validation - just build and see what happens

05:13The Hacker News blog post that changed everything

06:22From MVP to enterprise version in 12 months

07:06Quitting the corporate job while co-founders stayed

08:26How Intel found them through open source

09:52Why enterprises chose Countly over building in-house

12:16The painful reality of early enterprise customers

14:47Learning to say no and set boundaries

16:28How long it took to close the first 10 deals

18:54Inbound-only growth and content marketing lessons

20:47Writing content without feeling like an expert

23:58Why the first SaaS product failed

26:07Killing Countly Cloud to refocus on enterprise

28:49Relaunching SaaS with Flex - dedicated servers for privacy

33:00The co-founder breakup that nearly killed Countly

36:09Warning signs of co-founder misalignment

38:19Having hard conversations early

40:04Lightning round

Episode Q&A

How did Onur Alp Soner's bootstrapped SaaS land Intel as a customer?

Intel discovered Countly's open-source mobile analytics tool and reached out asking for an enterprise version before one even existed. Onur scrambled to build it while the customer was already waiting - proving that open source can be the most effective bootstrapped SaaS sales channel.

Why did Countly's first bootstrapped SaaS product fail?

Countly Cloud looked identical to competitors like Mixpanel and Google Analytics with no privacy differentiator. It hit a revenue ceiling and couldn't grow beyond a certain MRR, so Onur killed it to refocus on the enterprise model that was actually generating revenue.

How did a Hacker News post drive growth for Countly's bootstrapped SaaS?

Onur wrote a blog post about leaving his comfort zone as a C++ developer and choosing Node.js and MongoDB. It hit the front page of Hacker News, bringing large companies directly to Countly without any outbound sales effort.

What did Onur Alp Soner learn about pricing from Countly's first 10 enterprise deals?

He learned that enterprise buyers pay for expertise and strategic consulting, not just software. After those first 10 deals, Countly stopped publishing pricing and started scoping each deal based on how much hands-on support the customer needed.

How does Countly Flex differentiate from Mixpanel and Google Analytics?

Instead of a shared multi-tenant environment, Flex spins up a dedicated server for each customer in their chosen region. This preserves data ownership and privacy compliance while making enterprise-grade bootstrapped SaaS analytics accessible to smaller companies.

How did the co-founder breakup nearly destroy Countly's bootstrapped SaaS business?

A misalignment that built silently over four years erupted into an eight-month breakup process. Neither founder fully controlled the company during that period, and the visible tension paralyzed the entire team's ability to execute.

Why did Onur Alp Soner never raise VC funding for Countly?

Being bootstrapped gave Countly the patience to iterate over 12 years. Onur argues that VC timelines would have forced premature decisions, while bootstrapping let them survive the failed SaaS product, the co-founder split, and the slow grind of enterprise sales.

What content strategy drove Countly's inbound-only bootstrapped SaaS growth for 12 years?

They focused on thorough product documentation explaining use cases rather than just API endpoints, regular blog posts sharing authentic founder lessons, and open-source code that enterprise buyers could evaluate and trust before purchasing.

How did Onur Alp Soner rebuild Countly after the co-founder split?

He had hard conversations earlier with remaining team members, set clearer boundaries on product vision, and relaunched the SaaS product with a privacy-first dedicated-server model that aligned with Countly's core value proposition.

Book Recommendations

Deep Work

by Cal Newport

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