0:00
We launched it about 19 months ago. Gone
0:02
from zero to over a million in ARR over
0:07
>> This is Zach. He built a million-dollar
0:09
SAS in just over a year. But here's the
0:12
crazy part. This is not your typical SAS
0:15
model because he does something
0:17
completely different. And it's the
0:19
reason he's adding $10,000 in MR every
0:23
single month. I think the reason it's
0:25
easy and like why I think this kind of
0:27
concept of selling to agencies is like a
0:29
really good angle is agencies are really
0:31
easy to find. I asked Zach to come on to
0:33
the channel to reveal everything. And in
0:35
this episode, we'll dive into the 1
0:38
million ARR SAS that he built, how he
0:40
found this idea, and why almost nobody
0:42
else is doing it, and how you can
0:44
replicate this new SAS model right now
0:47
in 2026. All right, let's dive in. I'm
0:50
Pat Walls and this is Starter Story.
0:54
Zach, welcome to the channel. Tell me
0:56
about who you are, what you built, and
0:58
>> Yeah, thanks for having me. My name is
1:00
Zach and my partner Brendan and I built
1:03
a analytics platform called Hero
1:04
Analytics. We launched it about 19
1:07
months ago in October 2024. So, we've
1:10
gone from zero to over a million in ARR.
1:13
And today, I'm really excited to talk
1:14
specifically about building SAS for
1:16
agencies instead of brands.
1:18
>> This is crazy. first of all and I think
1:20
you have a unique kind of take on why
1:22
this happened and why it grew so fast
1:23
and we're going to talk about that but
1:25
before we do let's talk about what you
1:26
built. Can you explain what your SAS
1:28
does in a few sentences?
1:30
>> So Hero is a analytics and reporting
1:34
platform specifically focused on
1:36
automation for agencies and really like
1:38
a specific niche of agencies which are
1:40
email and SMS marketing agencies. These
1:42
are the agencies running platforms like
1:45
Claio on behalf of their clients sending
1:47
weekly emails. an agency can go into
1:49
kind of every aspect of what they're
1:52
running on behalf of their clients and
1:53
pull a ton of data and then we have like
1:56
agency specific features. So an agency
1:58
can see all of their clients in one
2:00
place. They can see how their team is
2:02
pacing versus their goals. And this is
2:05
Stripe for the last 4 weeks. We're at
2:10
in MR. We're currently pacing at adding
2:12
close to 10K in MR every month. And then
2:14
you can see churn is like extremely low
2:16
as well. That is the best churn rate
2:18
I've ever seen from anyone who's come on
2:20
to Starter Story. So, this is the real
2:22
deal. Can you explain your business
2:24
model at a high level? Like, how much
2:26
does it cost? And is it on subscription?
2:29
>> It's a subscription. We do a 30-day free
2:31
trial for every agency that comes on.
2:33
And so, we set the monthly fee kind of
2:36
based on their client count. So, let's
2:38
say you're an agency with 10 clients,
2:40
you kind of pay 500, 20 clients, 600,
2:43
etc., etc. And then larger agencies,
2:46
it's a little bit more bespoke cuz some
2:48
of them have 200 clients and they might
2:50
pay a couple thousand a month.
2:52
>> Okay, cool. Well, we're going to be
2:53
talking all about this sort of unique
2:55
pricing model that you have and
2:57
approach, which is to sell to agencies.
2:59
But before we do, how do you get to the
3:01
place where you've built a SAS that got
3:03
to 90K MR in just over a year? How do
3:07
>> I'll say the first business that
3:08
actually worked out was an email
3:09
marketing agency. So, we ran that for
3:12
about 6 years. We had around 30 clients
3:15
who were kind of like our ICP for this
3:17
app. And Brendan was so fed up with a
3:20
lot of kind of the friction points that
3:21
all of these agencies experience that
3:23
he's like, I'm just going to figure out
3:24
how to build something. And so it kind
3:26
of just worked out where right as we
3:27
were really getting momentum with Hero,
3:29
we were able to step away from that
3:31
agency full-time to focus on this. I
3:34
love everything that Zach is breaking
3:36
down right now. But I think one of the
3:37
real secrets behind his success is this
3:40
kind of overlooked category that he's
3:42
building in. There are so many business
3:44
ideas like this that are hiding in plain
3:46
sight. They're just not being shared on
3:48
places like X and Instagram. This is
3:50
exactly why we launched this free
3:51
database of 30 plus business ideas in
3:54
unsexy niches. When you download it, you
3:57
will find real business ideas that are
3:58
quietly making money while everybody
4:00
else fights over these overcrowded
4:02
markets. Every idea is grounded on real
4:04
founders, real data, and numbers to back
4:07
it up. So, if you've been looking for an
4:08
idea, then head to that link in the
4:10
description and you can download this
4:12
database 100% for free. All right, I
4:14
hope you enjoy. Let's get back to the
4:15
episode. So, you guys kind of built this
4:17
without deep technical experience, even
4:19
though this is a pretty technical data
4:21
heavy product. What were some of the
4:22
early tools that you used to allow you
4:24
to build a SAS product and then what are
4:27
>> The funny thing is we like had this
4:28
oddly specific old background in ETL.
4:31
The funny thing is we had no idea about
4:34
AWS as it relates to like app usage. So
4:36
like our early day bills on on like AWS
4:40
and like the first time we set up
4:41
Snowflake were like crazy high, but we
4:43
knew how to set up the tables and then
4:45
retool which is essentially like an
4:48
internal app building tool and then we
4:51
were just connecting it to kind of like
4:52
our own database structure that we had
4:54
set up and then over the last 6 to 8
4:56
months we've actually completely kind of
4:58
pivoted. It's all cloud code. So the
5:00
main reason why I wanted to bring you on
5:02
to the channel is to talk about this
5:04
sort of unique business model that you
5:06
have. So can you give me an overview of
5:08
what this is and how it works. So there
5:11
are a lot of analytics applications in
5:13
the kind of like Shopify e-commerce
5:15
space, but all of them go to individual
5:18
brands, right? So every time I need to
5:20
make a sale, I would have to go to brand
5:21
A, brand B, brand C to sell one
5:24
subscription to each of them to get to
5:26
three subscriptions. with agencies. Each
5:28
of the agencies have 10, 20, 30 brands
5:31
as customers. And so in effect, I'm
5:35
getting 30 brands onto the platform by
5:38
going through one agency. And then the
5:40
agencies have 10 users or 20 users. So
5:43
I'm selling seats to each of the users.
5:45
They can give seats to their customers.
5:47
So imagine the agency has 10
5:49
strategists. They're paying $10 a month
5:51
for each of those seats. And then they
5:53
have 20 customers. And each customer
5:55
wants a seat. that's another $200 a
5:57
month in seats. And so you're just
5:58
getting a lot of access to users through
6:01
one customer. And I think the reason
6:03
it's easy and like why I think this
6:05
concept of selling to agencies is like a
6:07
really good angle is agencies are really
6:09
easy to find. You can go to the Shopify
6:12
agency partner page directory, the
6:14
Clavio partner page directory, and they
6:16
basically give you a force rank list of
6:18
agencies by like size and influence. And
6:21
because the agencies are all leveraging
6:23
the same platform, you can kind of
6:25
safely assume they have the same
6:26
problem. 99% of the features we launch
6:29
is relevant to every single user every
6:32
time. Okay, I just think this is super
6:35
super smart. Instead of having to go
6:36
again to the end consumer and try to
6:38
sell a $10 per month subscription,
6:40
you're going to the agency that serves
6:43
hundreds of those. And it just makes so
6:45
much more sense. And it reminds me of
6:46
two softwares that I paid for as a
6:48
business, which is Gusto and QuickBooks.
6:51
I didn't actually just go buy these on
6:52
the website. My bookkeeper recommended
6:55
them to me and actually sold them to me.
6:58
And I didn't even have a choice in the
6:59
matter. I just had to use it. I imagine
7:01
that the sales teams of those companies
7:02
are doing something similar to you as
7:04
they're going to the bookkeepers who
7:05
manage hundreds of businesses. It's kind
7:07
of a similar idea, right? Agency model.
7:10
I have a question on this though. Are
7:11
you worried at all that Claio, which is
7:13
this app that you wrap around, or the
7:16
agencies themselves, say, "Hey, I don't
7:18
want to pay $500, $1,000 a month for
7:20
something that I could just build on my
7:22
own." What do you think about the future
7:25
>> Yeah, that's a great question. Us having
7:27
a $1 million ARR business unit is
7:30
amazing because we're a couple people. A
7:32
publicly traded company having a 1 AR
7:34
business unit like isn't really going to
7:36
move the needle for them. So, I just
7:38
think their sites are elsewhere. The
7:39
other piece is we don't just connect to
7:41
Claio. And so if you're an agency with
7:43
30 clients, you might have 20 clients
7:46
using Claio, but you might have another
7:48
10 using Postcript or Attentive or
7:50
Omnisend. And so even if Claio were to
7:53
build a version, it's extremely unlikely
7:55
they'd show the data from those other
7:57
platforms where Claio isn't even
7:59
involved with that brand. I think that's
8:00
a great answer and a good point. Let's
8:02
talk about how to replicate this. What
8:04
would be your advice for anyone watching
8:05
this that wants to build a SAS and
8:07
potentially take some things from this
8:09
model and implement it?
8:10
>> We had specific experience in this
8:13
industry. So, we knew the platforms, we
8:15
knew the players, we knew what mattered.
8:17
So, I think I would kind of take a step
8:19
back in whatever industry I'm currently
8:21
working in and say like, oh, is there an
8:23
agency layer here that I could do this
8:25
with? Think of restaurants for example.
8:27
Restaurants have agencies who are
8:29
managing their Door Dash and Uber Eats
8:30
ads and they have to report to the
8:32
client on how that's performing. So now
8:34
that you picked your industry, you kind
8:36
of have a sense of what the key
8:37
platforms are. Like most of those
8:39
platforms are going to have a page on
8:41
their site that is like agency directory
8:43
or partner directory. Those directories
8:45
kind of give you that access right off
8:46
the bat. And I think the key with
8:48
agencies is they're all experiencing the
8:50
same problem. Every agency owner is
8:53
trying to take on more clients without
8:55
hiring more people. And the second most
8:57
impactful thing is how much time can you
8:59
save the agency? And so in selling a
9:01
product to agencies, you can just hit on
9:04
those key points. And that's really how
9:06
you get an agency owner to be like,
9:07
"Okay, yeah, I'll take you seriously."
9:09
Like, you understand what my key
9:10
problems are. Let's see what this thing
9:13
>> All right. Well, thanks for sharing
9:14
that. I think it's just super cool model
9:16
that you've come up with. I think people
9:18
are going to love it. Last question that
9:20
we ask all founders who come on to the
9:21
channel. What would be your advice to a
9:23
younger Zach or for anyone watching
9:25
this, maybe they're an agency operator
9:27
or just anyone who wants to build a SAS
9:28
that could make a million dollars a
9:29
year. What would be your advice?
9:31
>> The path to finding like the business
9:33
that really works is never linear. We've
9:36
talked about, oh, Hero got to a million
9:38
in ARR in a year and a half, whatever.
9:40
But really, like it took us like maybe
9:42
10 years to build hero, right? like we
9:43
worked at this data visualization
9:45
startup. Amazon bought that startup. We
9:47
worked at Amazon. We left Amazon. We
9:49
started a failed newsletter business.
9:51
But through the newsletter business, we
9:53
learned email marketing. And then
9:54
through email marketing, we built the
9:56
agency. And then only then after running
9:59
the agency for 5 6 years did we build
10:02
hero. And so I wouldn't discount any of
10:05
these experiences. every experience you
10:07
have along the way. You never know which
10:09
one might be super relevant to the
10:11
business that finally takes off a decade
10:14
>> That's a great advice. Thanks for coming
10:16
on, Zach, and sharing million ARR in
10:18
just over a year. It's awesome. Thanks
10:20
for coming on and sharing everything.
10:21
>> Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate
10:23
>> All right, producer of Starter Story.
10:26
What do you think of this one?
10:27
>> I think he mentioned at some point in
10:29
the interview, every industry has like
10:31
an agency layer. It's interesting to
10:33
think about how there's like sort of
10:34
this business model out there for like
10:36
all all types of industries that you can
10:39
maybe go create something like this for.
10:41
So that's my first like initial thought.
10:42
I have more things to say, but I'm just
10:44
kind of impressed with this like the
10:46
business model. I mean, I know what an
10:47
agency is, so it's not like a hidden
10:49
market or anything like that, but
10:51
there's sort of this like really big
10:53
market, I guess, of agencies that I'm
10:55
maybe not like as aware of.
10:57
>> Right. Right. My favorite thing about
10:59
this is that all of this is well
11:01
documented on the internet, right? All
11:03
these billion-dollar tools have
11:06
ecosystems around them and they actually
11:08
document their agency layer on their
11:10
site. What are the best agencies to work
11:12
with because customers need this? Go to
11:14
chat GPT right now or claude and ask it,
11:16
hey, I learned about this business
11:18
model. Can you tell me where I could
11:20
apply it in other agency layers? It'll
11:22
probably give you 20 ideas of where you
11:24
could do it. And then hopefully in one
11:26
of those ideas you'll see one that is
11:28
actually interesting to you or maybe you
11:30
have some experience in it that
11:31
definitely helps. This I believe is a
11:34
gold mine hiding in plain sight and I
11:37
wouldn't just say that.
11:38
>> Yeah. Really genius and I loved how he
11:40
kind of explained it all and broke it
11:42
all down. My question for you is like
11:44
the whole like data visualization thing.
11:46
Do you think that's still like a good
11:47
idea or good sort of like problem to
11:49
solve? Is that kind of the main thing
11:51
that these agencies want? Yes, but it
11:54
goes a level deeper. The data
11:55
visualization is something that the
11:57
agencies serve to their customers. But
12:00
the reason why this business does well
12:02
is that it's a huge pain in the ass to
12:05
visualize the data and send it to your
12:06
client. And then you have to do that for
12:08
20 different clients. It's just a bunch
12:11
of manual work that they have to do. And
12:14
this software solves that problem and
12:16
allows them to do that automated. So
12:18
that's the secret there. The sauce is
12:20
not the data visualization, it's the
12:22
time saved in doing so.
12:24
>> Interesting. Yeah. No, I mean that makes
12:25
a lot of sense. And I'm just a little
12:27
bit like, wow, this is so unexpected
12:30
uh to some degree. Like I would have
12:32
never guessed this is like a a layer of
12:34
a business and it's pretty cool. And he
12:36
seemed like a cool dude. I liked him. He
12:38
>> Yeah. And that's the thing, you know, we
12:40
have a lot of people we bring on the
12:41
channel that build apps. It's cool. It's
12:43
consumer. You can understand like, oh,
12:46
maybe I would use this. This is one of
12:47
those examples that doesn't hit that.
12:48
But it's also one of those examples of
12:50
great market and kind of like an unsexy
12:53
business. And if you really want to make
12:55
money, if you want to build something
12:56
and grow as fast as they did, I would
12:58
focus on unsexy niches, especially if
13:01
you're doing something in B2B like this.
13:03
So, I will put in the description our
13:05
list of 30 plus unsexy niches or unsexy
13:08
markets that you can build a business
13:10
in. You can get it 100% for free. I'll
13:12
put it in the description right there.
13:13
Hope you guys enjoyed this one. We'll
13:15
see you in the next one. Peace.
