Top Founders with Nathan Latka · 2026-07-10
Handwrytten Sends 6 Million Fake Handwritten Notes a Year and Makes $10M
David Wachs (sold text-marketing company Cellit for eight figures in 2012, started Handwrytten the next day) runs a 100%-owned, bootstrapped robot-handwritten-notes business: ~200 self-built robots in Phoenix, ~5-6M notes last year, ~350K notes/month across ~400 active customers. Revenue $2.4M (2019) -> $9.4M (2024) -> $9M (2025, ~$350K profit), targeting $10-11M in 2026. Paid search fails on unit economics, so growth comes from in-house SEO and integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce, Shopify, Zapier, Claude MCP); new robot-leasing line to 3PLs at $1,000-1,250/robot/month.
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Numbers mentioned
| Subject | Metric | Value | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Handwrytten | revenue | USD 1M–1.5M/year estimate | “We were probably low to mid one millions in 2018.” |
| Handwrytten | revenue | USD 2.4M/year approximate | “but we were 2.4 in 2019. We were probably low to mid one millions” |
| Handwrytten | revenue | USD 9.4M/year approximate | “2024, we did 9.4 million. 2025, full transparency, we actually went down a little. We were only at 9 million. This year, we are fully on track to break 10 to 11. So we're growing.” |
| Handwrytten | revenue | USD 9M/year approximate | “2025, full transparency, we actually went down a little. We were only at 9 million. This year, we are fully on track to break 10 to 11. So we're growing.” |
| Handwrytten | revenue | USD 10M–11M/year projection | “This year, we are fully on track to break 10 to 11. So we're growing.” |
| Handwrytten | profit Roughly breakeven; owner-discretionary expenses run through the company | USD 350K/year approximate | “It was relatively breakeven. We had a whopping $350,000 in profit.” |
| Handwrytten | count Self-built handwriting robots in the Phoenix facility | 200 robots approximate | “But we've got 200 robots in our facility in Phoenix. We've been, you know, we've been at this way longer than anybody else.” |
| Handwrytten | count Notes sent last year; guest said 'about 6 million' then apparently corrected to 5 million | 5M–6M notes/year estimate | “last year, I want to say we pushed about 6 million notes. Whoa, okay. 5 million.” |
| Handwrytten | count Expected notes sent in April 2026 (guest first said four to five, corrected to 3.5 i.e. 350K) | 350K notes/month estimate | “Well, no, about three and a half. 350,000. My apologies. 350,000 notes.” |
| Handwrytten | users All clients in the customer database (many sent a single note) | 400K accounts approximate | “we have 400,000 clients in our customer database of those active. You're probably talking 400.” |
| Handwrytten | customers Active customers | 400 customers estimate | “we have 400,000 clients in our customer database of those active. You're probably talking 400.” |
| Handwrytten | count Largest clients' monthly volume (other large clients 20-30K/month); heavy power-law skew | 40K–50K notesper customer /month approximate | “we have clients that are sending easily 40, 50,000 a month.” |
| Handwrytten | count Notes sent via iPhone and Android apps (small share; most volume via automations/bulk upload) | 30–40 notes/day estimate | “I'd say maybe 30 to 40 notes a day go through that.” |
| Handwrytten | cpc Google search ad click (e.g. from a realtor) | USD 5per click approximate | “if we do like a Google ad and then God forbid a realtor clicks it, you know, that's a $5 click and we get like, you know, 20 cents in contribution margin.” |
| Handwrytten | profit Contribution margin from a low-volume (e.g. realtor) customer acquired via a $5 Google click | USD 0.2per click approximate | “that's a $5 click and we get like, you know, 20 cents in contribution margin.” |
| Handwrytten | views Organic search clicks to the site, read by host from an SEO tool; not confirmed by guest | 40K clicks/month estimate | “which is very strong, getting 40,000 organic clicks a month.” |
| Handwrytten | views Organic clicks to the top blog post (best wishes / good luck messages), per host's SEO tool | 14K clicksper post /month estimate | “It brings in almost 14,000 clicks to the website on a monthly basis.” |
| Handwrytten | domain rating 'above a 70' domain rating per host's SEO tool | 70 score estimate | “Your overall domain rating is above a 70,” |
| Handwrytten | price Robot lease price to 3PL/gifting facilities; build cost is 'much less' on an annualized basis | USD 1,000–1,250per robot /month approximate | “Each one, you can assume, is about $1,000 to $1,250 per month per robot.” |
| Handwrytten | count Robots leased out in the field | 30 robots approximate | “Is that meaningful part of your 10 million revenue? Not yet. We've only got about 30 out in the field.” |
| aggregateHandwrytten's robot-lease customers (3PL/gifting) | count Largest lease customer (in Tempe) | 15 robots approximate | “a very large one not too far from us um in tempe that has about 15 robots” |
| Handwrytten | ownership Founder's ownership; never raised outside capital | 100% | “Yeah. Yeah. 100%. I'm 100% owner.” |
| Handwrytten | team size From host's closing recap | 60 people approximate | “There are 60 folks on the team, and he has bootstrapped this business.” |
| Cellit | exit price | eight figures approximate | “which he sold in 2012 for an eight-figure exit” |
| Cellit | ownership Founder's stake at the time of sale | 75% approximate | “I was 75% older than that. So I did okay.” |
| Cellit | count 'over a million' texts per day sent for brands | 1M texts/day approximate | “a text message marketing company sending over a million texts a day” |
| Letter Labs | revenue | 'Fix' (garbled; likely 'six', presumably $6M) estimate | “What's your guess on what their revenue is? Fix, if I had a guess.” |
| Simply Noted | revenue | 'Two' (unit unstated, presumably $2M) estimate | “What is it? Simply noted? Two. Interesting.” |