Software Tool

5 Software Tool Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: October 10th, 2024

Businesses are focusing on automating their operations, a need that has resulted in increased demand for software developers.

If you have software development skills and looking for a low maintenance business idea that will generate passive income, it is time to practice your skills.

A software company can build a plethora of applications and earn a passive income from them, with very little to no maintenance needed to keep the applications running. If you plan to start a software business, research the market to find high-potential opportunities. You may focus on a certain niche, or serve any business.

Choose a payment option that allows you a passive income over the lifetime of your software.

In this list, you'll find real-world software tool success stories and very profitable examples of starting a software tool that makes money.

1. Nextiva ($120M/year)

Nextiva was founded by CEO Tomas Gorny after experiencing inefficiencies in the business communication market. He wanted to create a company focused on innovation and delivering the best customer experience, which led to the development of NextOS and the expansion of Nextiva's services beyond business phone services. Despite being surrounded by industry giants, Nextiva differentiated itself through its self-funding approach, commitment to Amazing Service, and focus on building a positive company culture.

How much money it makes: $120M/year
How many people on the team: 1000

How We Developed A $10MM/Month Business Communications Software

Nextiva, an Arizona-based business communications company, has developed an all-in-one platform called NextOS, which offers CRM tools, team collaboration tools, and business communication tools, resulting in a significant shift in its business model, and has grown from just a few employees to over 1,000 spread around the world, entirely self-funded, and focused on providing amazing service to its customers.

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Read by 7,220 founders

2. ScrapingBee ($1.5M/year)

Pierre de Wulf leveraged his experience as a data engineer and reused code from a failed startup to launch ScrapingBee in 2019, which now generates $1.5 million annually.

How much money it makes: $1.5M/year
How many people on the team: 2

How Pierre de Wulf Built ScrapingBee to $1.5 ARR in 2 Years Without VC Funding

This case study showcases how ScrapingBee, a web scraping API, was built on a shoestring budget using a mix of tools and outsourced services, achieving impressive growth through SEO content and targeted marketing strategies, with revenues averaging $125K/month, generating $1.5M/year since 2019.

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Read by 383 founders

3. Snappa ($1M/year)

Christopher Gimmer, the co-founder of Snappa, came up with the idea for the business after struggling to create graphics for his blog posts. As he searched for a simple and powerful graphic design tool, he realized there was a need for one geared towards marketers and entrepreneurs. He leveraged his viral blog post about free stock photos to market Snappa and collected feedback from potential users before building the prototype.

How much money it makes: $1M/year
How many people on the team: 4

How Two Friends Bootstrapped A SaaS Business To $55K MRR

Learn how two friends bootstrapped a SaaS business to $55k monthly recurring revenue (MRR) by creating a simple graphic design tool for non-designers and focusing on content marketing for customer acquisition.

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Read by 21,568 founders

4. EspoCRM ($360K/year)

Oleksii Avramenko, one of the founders of EspoCRM, noticed a gap in the market for a universal and affordable CRM solution for small and mid-size businesses. With previous experience in the CRM industry, Avramenko and his team created EspoCRM, which has since seen significant success with an average of over 16,000 downloads per year and earning up to $30k a month. Through their innovative approach and dedication to customer satisfaction, EspoCRM has become a go-to CRM application for businesses looking to improve efficiency and performance.

How much money it makes: $360K/year
How much did it cost to start: $10K
How many people on the team: 1

How We Developed A $30K/Month Open Source CRM

EspoCRM, an open-source CRM application for small and mid-size businesses, has seen an average of over 16,000 downloads per year and makes up to $30k per month, offering efficient tools to systematize customer data, improve sales cycles, and automate routine administrative tasks.

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Read by 11,008 founders

5. Data Fetcher ($276K/year)

In 2020, Andy learned about a Google Sheets add-on called API Connector, which imports your data into a simple Google sheet.

Around the same time, Andy noticed the rise in popularity of Airtable.

Since Google Sheets and Airtable were close in compatibility, Andy decided to build a similar type of data integration tool for Airtable.

Andy’s 3-step method for coming up with ideas is helpful context for understanding how he came up with the idea: - Find a platform that is already growing massively. - Look at already successful tools for more mature platforms. - Build an equivalent tool for the new platform.

How much money it makes: $276K/year
How much did it cost to start: $100
How many people on the team: 0

How I Built An Airtable Plugin That Lets Users Manage Their Data Better [$80K/Year]

Data Fetcher is a no-code tool that imports data into Airtable which has reached 190 paying customers in just over a year after launch and is making $6500 in MRR, with a goal of reaching $30k+ in MRR, for aspiring founders looking to bootstrap an app to life-changing revenue as a solo founder.

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Read by 5,307 founders