The Marketing Playbook That Grew My App to $13K/month | Starter Story

August 22, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Free Tools Playbook That Grew a SaaS to $13K/Month Without Paid Ads

Banu, a solo software engineer from India, built SiteGPT — a tool that lets businesses add an AI chatbot to their website — and grew it to $13,000 in monthly recurring revenue without spending a dollar on advertising. Around 60 to 70 percent of his traffic comes from Google search, and nearly 90 percent of that Google traffic comes from a single strategy: free tools that he builds in minutes.

His first SaaS product, Feather, reached $6,000 MRR before he sold it for $250,000. He launched SiteGPT in March 2023, and within the first month it hit $10,000 MRR. The business now gets roughly 50,000 visitors per month. Of those, about 200 become leads, 60 convert to trials, and 25 to 40 percent of trials become paying customers. Average revenue per customer is around $100, and customer lifetime value runs between $1,700 and $1,800. He has roughly 130 businesses paying for the product.

The Core Strategy: Free Tools That Rank

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What you'll learn

1 (02:31) **Who is Banu and what is SiteGPT** - The founder introduces himself and his two SaaS products, including SiteGPT which generates $13K/month
2 (03:48) **The free traffic secret: free tools marketing** - Banu reveals his zero-cost strategy for driving thousands of visitors without paid ads
3 (05:25) **Banu's background and how SiteGPT started** - The founder's journey from quitting his job to launching a weekend project that took off
4 (06:45) **Selling the first SaaS and focusing on SiteGPT** - How Banu exited his previous product to go all-in on his new AI chatbot
5 (09:01) **The core strategy: free tools that relate to your main product** - Banu explains how to make free tools that drive qualified traffic
6 (11:27) **Step-by-step playbook: Step 1-4 - Keyword research** - Banu's exact process for finding low-competition keywords with high search volume
7 (13:14) **Step-by-step playbook: Step 5-7 - Prioritization and CTAs** - How to organize and prioritize which free tools to build first

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

The Marketing Playbook That Grew My App to $13K/month

Sharing ideas that make money!

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------------ Keywords: saas business, startup founder, indie hacker, micro saas, app flipping, app monetization, tech entrepreneur

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