Papermark · B2B · open-source DocSend alternative
Build an open-source alternative to a well-known tool people dislike
Now ~$3M ARR; founder credits timing and a known, disliked incumbent
Workedpositioning-nichemarket-selection
What they did
Picked a space nobody was building open source in: DocSend-style document sharing and data rooms. Rode the 2023 wave of commercial open-source alternatives to older SaaS (e.g. an open-source Calendly alternative). DocSend was known to everyone, disliked, and had stopped iterating after Dropbox acquired it. Customers usually already use a comparable tool, so they need no education. He urges founders to look at saturated, non-AI markets ripe for disruption rather than AI products that need behavior change.
What happened
Momentum 'right on the nail'; grew to ~$3M ARR and ~3,000 paying customers
- Stage
- Pre-launch (Idea, 2023)
“And so, we I feel like we hit the momentum like right on the nail because everyone knew DocSend, everyone didn't like it.”
“but I'd urge, you know, anyone listening to look for these markets that are, you know, saturated.”
“Most of the time, our customers use already a comparable tool if they're in that market. So they don't need any education.”
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More from this episode
- Papermark: Tweet the idea first; build it over a weekend only if people engageTweet got 450 likes and 95K+ views; the launch went viral and users asked to pay
- Papermark: Share your wins and losses publicly every monthFirst ~1,000 GitHub stars in 1-2 months; 8,900 stars now
- Papermark: Post where your customers are, even if your following is elsewhereOne LinkedIn post reached ~250K views; helps but can't be tracked to revenue
- Papermark: Match the incumbent's must-have features before you expect people to switchUnder $1M for ~2 years; then $1M to $2M in four months once parity hit
- Papermark: Let customers put their own domain and brand on everything they shareFounder calls it a differentiator; no numbers
- Papermark: Keep a free plan forever when the big competitor drops theirs~100 signups a day and ~100 new paying customers a month
- Papermark: Make shared links use your domain unless users add their ownFounder says most growth is organic and word of mouth; 60K+ teams
- Papermark: Save a year of personal runway first, then bootstrap with a co-founderBootstrapped and profitable at ~$3M ARR; never considered quitting