What's your backstory?

I grew up in a country called Bangladesh, which is considered a third-world country. Being from a third-world country, we had a significant lack of resources at that time, particularly in terms of internet access, availability of resources, manpower—everything.

In 2005, I completed high school and got my first computer. Like other kids, I spent a lot of time playing on the computer, but instead of just watching movies and cartoons, I started editing them using Windows Media Manager, which came with the Windows software. That was what first caught my attention. I tried to edit videos, cutting and pasting, similar to what people do now when creating YouTube videos, but this was back in 2005.

After that, I started experimenting with animations, which led me to learn Flash, ActionScript, and Flash animations. It was a lot of fun, and I had to teach myself all these animation and media-related skills. Later, web development caught my attention, and I began learning HTML, CSS, and basic web development using WordPress. WordPress and Joomla were the first CMS platforms that came out that year, in 2005.

I bought my first hosting at a trade show, installed WordPress and Joomla on it, and learned how to work with them because I didn’t know how to install them on my computer. I connected to my hosting using a dial-up connection, which took a whole day to set up Joomla and WordPress via FTP software. That’s how I got started learning HTML, web development, and all those things in 2005.

Before starting college, I received my first job offer from one of my elder brothers to work for his company. I took the opportunity and spent my days and nights building websites for the company. This was before I went to college. Once I got admitted to college, I focused on completing my studies, and then I got into university in Malaysia.

By that time, I already had hands-on experience in web development and related fields, so I started freelancing on platforms like Elance, Get a Freelancer, and Get a Coder. I began with small projects, which led me to focus more on freelancing, eventually causing me to drop out of my higher studies.

After dropping out, I returned to my country and began freelancing more seriously. I realized I was making a lot of websites for clients, and many elements were repetitive, so I started looking into template companies and plugin companies that were doing well. I thought, why not create my own template company?

That’s how my journey began in 2010. I created a few templates, released them for free, and they really took off in the community. Those were Joomla templates, and people appreciated my work, which motivated me to continue developing my template and plugin company. That’s pretty much the backstory of how my journey began. So, yeah, that’s it.

What does your company do & how did you come up with the idea?

Before starting ThriveDesk, the SaaS product we're discussing, I founded ThemeXpert, a template company initially focused on Joomla and later expanded to WordPress. At ThemeXpert, we developed a lot of templates, plugins, and extensions for clients. We started in 2011, and by the time we launched ThriveDesk in 2021, we had hundreds of thousands of clients and millions of websites using our plugins and templates.

One challenge we consistently faced was customer support. The customer support portals available at the time, like Zendesk and Zopim (which was later acquired by Zendesk), weren't well-suited for SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses). These platforms began targeting SMBs but eventually shifted towards the upper market, with pricing that became prohibitive for us.

In our country, paying $100 or $200 for software was difficult, making these options expensive. Additionally, the SaaS pricing model was based on sales, meaning we had to pay more as we grew, which wasn’t friendly for SMBs like us. These tools also lacked the necessary integrations and features we needed.

During the COVID lockdown, my two co-founders and I thought about creating something that would make our lives easier, which we could eventually release as a software product. We quickly prototyped a customer support software because we saw a significant market opportunity and realized we could target people like us—software developers—and solve their problems.

We developed the prototype in a month and started using it ourselves. Based on feedback from our customer support team, we kept improving the software. Eventually, we realized we had built a solid product that we were happy with, so we launched it to the market. That’s how ThriveDesk came to be.

Before ThriveDesk, we experimented with a few different SaaS ideas, such as email marketing software and booking software. However, none of these ideas sparked our passion. As software developers, we’re passionate about building software, but we also needed to be passionate about solving the problem at hand. The email marketing software and Calendly alternative we worked on didn’t resonate with us.

However, when we built the customer support software, we found that we had the passion to carry it forward. Our mission became making enterprise-level customer support software accessible to SMBs at an affordable price, and that’s the story behind creating ThriveDesk.

How did you get your first 10 customers?

Getting our first 10 customers was an interesting process because we followed a pretty conventional approach: securing customers before fully building the software. We believe strongly in this method.

Instead of leveraging our existing clients from ThemeXpert or other ventures, we took a different route. I posted on my Facebook and a few other groups, announcing that we were developing a new software and shared a few screenshots. I invited people who were interested to join our mailing list. To facilitate this, I created a small landing page with 2-3 screenshots and a prominent call-to-action button to subscribe.

After posting in these groups (with permission), we quickly gathered around 500-600 subscribers to our mailing list, which was fascinating. We then focused on engaging these subscribers through different channels because we knew that email open rates can be low, with only about 20% of recipients typically opening the emails.

To maximize engagement, we created a Facebook group and started building a community there, posting updates and encouraging feedback. This approach was similar to the "building in public" concept, but we did it within our private Facebook group instead of on Twitter or LinkedIn.

In March 2021, we opened our first beta and launched a lifetime deal exclusively for our group members. We didn't have big expectations, but on the very first day of the beta launch, within 24 hours, we sold $5,000 worth of licenses. This response was unexpected, and it made us realize that we needed to test the product more thoroughly before expanding further.

We quickly decided to limit the offer, announcing that it would be closed within a week. This created even more urgency, and people rushed to buy more licenses. By the end of the five-day period, we had sold around $20,000 worth of licenses.

Our pricing was slightly higher than the conventional lifetime deal pricing because we had carefully calculated our price based on factors like lifetime value (LTV) and other metrics. Our top pricing tier was $750 for the unlimited plan, and people were buying it eagerly. We had to stop the offer within a week and move forward with the next phase of development. That's how we got our first few customers—actually, more like 50 or more—through this process.

What did you do to confirm that your product/service matched what your customers needed?

From the very beginning, we focused on being customer-centric, always listening to our customers' feedback and addressing their needs. Since we were customers ourselves, running ThemeXpert and several other WordPress-related businesses, we understood the pain points and problems our users faced.

This insight guided us in building integrations with the WordPress ecosystem first because our initial target audience was WordPress customers—those selling themes, plugins, or software related to WordPress. We knew their challenges because we had been in their shoes, so we worked to match their expectations and solve their problems.

Our initial customers, particularly those who purchased our lifetime deal, were very vocal and provided us with valuable feedback. For example, one of the first requests we received was for a multi-workspace feature. Although it was a complicated feature to implement, we recognized its importance.

Many users were involved in multiple companies and needed to manage them all from a single platform, rather than logging in with different email accounts. We developed this feature within a week, and our customers appreciated it, which helped them grow more attached to our product.

However, along with these developments, we faced several challenges. Being from a third-world country with limited resources, we didn't have many successful SaaS stories to draw from. ThriveDesk might be the first SaaS product from our country to achieve global scale. Our developers, while talented, lacked experience in building scalable SaaS products.

They were more familiar with creating WordPress, Joomla plugins, and custom solutions, not with building SaaS platforms capable of handling millions of API calls daily. This lack of experience was a significant challenge, as was recruiting talent with SaaS expertise.

Another major challenge was funding. We didn’t have access to strong venture capital or angel investors in our country, so raising funds was difficult. Instead of seeking external funding, we decided to take an unconventional route—raising money from our customers. After our initial beta launch, we ran a major lifetime deal campaign within our community and partnered with a few large lifetime deal communities. This campaign was a huge success, generating around $100,000 in a month.

Achieving that with a small product and a limited feature set was a significant accomplishment for us, showing that our customers believed in what we were building.

Overall, while there were ups and downs, the success of raising funds directly from our customers has been our biggest achievement so far.

How did you reach and acquire your first 100 customers?

We initially launched within our Facebook group, which brought in our first 50 to 70 customers. For our first public launch, we expanded our efforts by collaborating with several other Facebook groups. Through this strategy, we easily surpassed 100 customers—actually, we ended up with more than 200 customers.

For any entrepreneur building SaaS software, I would recommend building relationships with relevant groups, like LTT groups or any communities within your niche. Connect with the admins, engage in conversations, share ideas, and even share some of your revenue.

By leveraging these connections, we were able to successfully launch ThriveDesk in September or October, partnering with various WordPress and LTT groups, as well as using our own groups and mailing list. This approach was highly effective in reaching our first 100 customers.

Another key strategy was focusing on SEO early on. Even before we fully developed the software, we began working on our SEO strategy. We had a few high-authority sites from our other ventures, like ThemeXpert, and we used these to build content, such as articles titled "10 Best Customer Service Software for Small Businesses."

These articles started gaining traction, and although we didn’t initially mention ThriveDesk because the product wasn’t ready, we were laying the groundwork for strong passive SEO. Once ThriveDesk was ready, we added it to the top of those lists, which significantly boosted our visibility. SEO continues to be the biggest driver of customers for our software.

In addition to SEO, we formed partnerships with WordPress plugin companies, especially those selling WooCommerce plugins since we had integrated with WooCommerce. We reached out to these companies, negotiated partnerships, and launched customized offers to their audiences. This outreach strategy has been an ongoing effort, helping us continuously acquire new customers.

Our initial customer profile (ICP) was people like us—those building software for or with WordPress—so we knew where to find them. By targeting these specific channels, including marketplaces like Envato, we were able to quickly reach and surpass our first 100 customers.

What distribution channels did you try that were crap and didn't work?

We didn’t experiment with a ton of channels, but we did try a few, and the most disappointing was paid campaigns, particularly PPC (pay-per-click) advertising. We tried Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and retargeting, but none of these worked well for us. It’s not that these channels are inherently bad; it’s more likely that our skills in running effective ad and retargeting campaigns weren’t up to par. As a result, we failed miserably in this area.

PPC campaigns were especially expensive in our space. For our targeted keywords, a single click could cost anywhere from $5 to $10, which was quite costly. Retargeting was less expensive, but for some reason, it still didn’t yield good results. While these strategies have worked well for our other businesses, they didn’t perform as expected for this particular platform.

We also tried partnerships with other software or plugin companies. Some of these partnerships were successful, but about 50% of them didn’t work out well. Partnerships can be effective, but they’re also very time-consuming and not easily scalable. Unlike ads, which you can scale quickly if they’re converting well, partnerships can take 2 to 3 months just to close a deal. You then have to negotiate offers, send out emails, and go through a lengthy process, making it a hectic and challenging approach.

In summary, I’d say PPC and some partnerships didn’t work well for us. My advice would be to focus on SEO from the start, build strong partnerships with complementary industry software, and then consider exploring PPC and other channels later on.

What tools, software, or resources have been most helpful in growing your business?

In terms of tools that have been instrumental in growing our business, I wouldn't say there's a single tool that directly boosted our revenue or growth. We experiment with various tools, but there are a few that we rely on daily for communication, productivity, and development.

One essential tool for us is GitHub. As a software company, we can't operate without it. We used to use different project and product management tools, but we've since moved everything into GitHub, and it has significantly improved our focus and productivity. GitHub is crucial in helping us develop high-quality software and continues to be a key part of our workflow.

For marketing and growth, we're experimenting with several cold outreach platforms, such as Instantly and Apollo. These tools have been helpful in our cold outreach and marketing efforts, allowing us to connect with potential customers more effectively.

Another important tool is PostHog, a product analytics platform we use to understand our customers better. With PostHog, we can track how customers use our products, what features they like or don't like, and make data-driven decisions. This tool allows us to enable or disable features for specific customers or regions, making it an everyday go-to for product insights.

Of course, we also use the Google suite, including Google Drive and Docs, for general productivity and document management.

I want to give special thanks to the Azure Startup Program, which has been incredibly helpful. Through this program, we received a lot of credits on the Azure platform, which is where our software is currently hosted. Azure provides us with the infrastructure we need to manage databases and balance our operations, and their support has been crucial to our growth. We're very grateful for the support we've received from Azure, as it has played a significant role in getting us to where we are today.

So, while no single tool has driven our growth, a combination of GitHub, cold outreach tools like Instantly and Apollo, PostHog for analytics, and the support from Azure have all been vital resources in our journey.

How did you make the transition from a side hustle to full-time founder?

Looking back at my career, the transition from side hustle to full-time founder was a gradual process. I started as a freelancer, then worked a regular job while creating plugins and building businesses that were based on one-time payments rather than the SaaS model. Eventually, I shifted to developing SaaS products.

For any aspiring founder, I recommend starting with a job and pursuing your side hustle first. Taking on all the risks of building a software product without any fallback can be daunting, and there’s a high chance that the first attempt might fail, which could be demotivating. By starting with a side hustle, you can build relationships within your community, connect with your niche market, and engage with potential customers. Once you achieve certain milestones or traction, then you can consider making the leap to full-time entrepreneurship.

Having a steady income from your main job or agency can provide the mental stability needed to focus on your product. In my case, without the steady income and support from my main company, ThemeXpert, we wouldn’t have been able to survive while building ThriveDesk. That income allowed us to reinvest in the product and keep going.

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone—it’s challenging and mentally stressful. My advice is to set clear goals and milestones for your side hustle. Once you hit those targets and feel confident, then consider transitioning to full-time entrepreneurship.

What advice do you have for founders in the earlier stages?

The one piece of advice I’d give to early-stage founders, or even to my younger self, is this: focus on building a community before building the software. Over time, I've realized how crucial this is. If you have a strong community and a solid follower base on your social profiles, it becomes much easier to launch and experiment with different software ideas. Without a community, it's much harder to gain traction.

I recommend focusing on one or more social media platforms—whether it’s Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or even Reddit—and start building your community and establishing your voice there. If you can build a following of, say, 20,000 to 30,000 people on Twitter or LinkedIn, or gain a strong presence in a Facebook or Reddit group, your chances of a successful product launch increase significantly. When you launch, you’ll have a ready audience that knows and trusts you, making it much easier to get early adopters.

So, instead of diving into building and testing 20 different products, start by building your audience. That’s the advice I’d give to any early-stage founder: focus on building your followers and your community first.

What drives you to do what you do?

What drives me is the joy of building software. Before ThriveDesk, we created several different software products for ourselves and our clients, and I’ve always had a creator's mindset. Instead of just working on projects for specific clients, I prefer to build software that can be used by thousands of people and have a significant impact across various niches.

We've developed a range of products, including Joomla and WordPress plugins, themes, extensions, and even page builders, each serving different markets. I love being a creator—it's what motivates me every day.

The excitement of launching a new feature gives me an adrenaline rush and drives me to keep innovating and building new things. I’ve realized that being a creator allows me to unleash my full potential, and that’s much more fulfilling for me than any job could be.

So, what drives me is the passion for creating cool software that can make a difference. It's what gets me up in the morning and keeps me excited about what I do every day.

What an unpopular opinion you have about entrepreneurship?

An unpopular opinion I have about entrepreneurship is that it's not as fun as it's often portrayed on social media. It’s really not fun at all. If you want to succeed, you need to be prepared to work incredibly hard for months or even years just to reach the point you aspire to. During that time, you’ll likely face anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and other challenges.

For example, in our early days, one of my co-founders experienced severe anxiety and depression, even needing to be hospitalized. This isn’t uncommon—entrepreneurship is extremely challenging and not for the faint of heart. It’s for those who are mentally strong and resilient.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, you need to prepare yourself mentally and emotionally. You have to train your mind and set realistic expectations. Personally, I’ve trained myself and my family to live within a certain budget, so that if we face financial challenges or go bankrupt, we can still manage. When we made money, we didn’t spend it on improving our lifestyle; instead, we reinvested it into our product and business.

Entrepreneurship isn’t glamorous, and it’s not for everyone. If you choose this path, be ready to work 24/7 for the rest of your life.

What do you do to keep sane being a busy entrepreneur?

To keep myself motivated and maintain my mental health as a busy entrepreneur, I make it a point to take breaks from work regularly, usually every week or two. On weekends, I try not to focus on projects or products. Instead, I spend time with my family—watching movies, going out, and just having fun. Being a father, my kids are a big motivating factor for me. They inspire me not to give up and to stay strong for them.

I recommend staying connected with your family, spending time with them, and taking occasional days off to relax. Whether it's watching a movie, going out with friends, or just enjoying time together, these breaks help keep you motivated. It’s also important to reward yourself when you reach milestones.

Treat yourself to something like a new phone, a watch, or anything that reminds you of your achievements. Every time you see that item, it’ll remind you of the milestone you’ve reached, which can be a great motivator.

Additionally, I try to read books when I can, though it's been harder to find the time lately. Reading helps calm me down and keeps me motivated as well. So, balancing work with breaks, family time, and small rewards are key strategies I use to stay sane and motivated.

Who are some recommended experts or entrepreneurs to follow for learning how to grow a business?

- Adam
- Russell Brunson (ClickFunnel)
- Tibo
- Guillaume Moubeche

Any quotes you live by?

“Dream is not that which you see while sleeping it is something that does not let you sleep.”
― A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Your links + socials

- Linkedin
- Twitter

Any promotions you would like to add for Founderoo readers?

We'de love to offer ThriveDesk free for 3 months to all Founderoo readers. Just reach out to us and refer Founderoo we'll make that happen