In short5 min read
- The tool started as a fix for one real person's frustration with bad PDF-to-EPUB conversions.
- First sales came from posting the tool in reading-focused subreddits, not paid ads.
- The founder reports $1,000 in total revenue across his first three months of SaaS building.
- After the first win, he began publishing other tools he had built for himself.
Most side-project success stories start with a big idea. This one starts with a girlfriend who was tired of unreadable Kindle files. According to a recent post in Reddit’s r/SaaS community, a software developer turned a tool he built for her into the first of several products, reaching $1,000 in total revenue over his first three months of publicly building SaaS.
By the end of this article, you’ll know how he found his first paying users, why the idea worked, and how to run the same “built it for one person” test with your own tool this month.
To be clear, $1,000 isn’t life-changing money, and the founder says so himself: “These are all small numbers but everyone start small.” What makes this case worth studying is the path: a real problem, a real user, and a free distribution channel. You can copy that path without ads, an existing audience, or funding.
In this article
What Was Built and Why It Worked
The problem: existing converters produced unreadable results
The founder’s girlfriend wanted to convert PDFs into EPUB files so she could read them on her Kindle. According to the post, she had been using online tools but was “mostly getting unreadable results.”
That detail matters. She wasn’t missing a tool entirely. She was stuck with tools that technically existed but didn’t do the job well. That’s often a stronger signal than a brand-new idea, because demand is already proven and the bar to win is simply “works better.”
The first user was also the first validator
The founder built the converter for her. Her reaction, as he describes it: it was the best one she had ever used, he needed to publish it, and people would pay for it.
One enthusiastic user isn’t market research. But she was a genuine member of the target audience, an active e-reader user who had already tried the alternatives. Her comparison against competing tools was more useful than a friend saying “cool app.”
Quality beat novelty
PDF-to-EPUB conversion is not a new category. The opportunity here wasn’t inventing something. It was serving people who were already searching for a solution and coming away disappointed. If you’re hunting for side-hustle ideas, “existing category, unhappy users” is a pattern worth looking for.
How the First Customers Were Found
The distribution strategy was simple. The founder says he posted about the tool on reading subreddits, “everyone loved it,” and he started getting sales.
Why this works:
- The audience already has the problem. People in reading communities are the ones loading files onto e-readers.
- The story is relatable. “I built this for my girlfriend because other converters failed her” reads like a recommendation, not an ad.
- It costs nothing but time. No ad budget, no email list, no SEO waiting period.
A caveat: the post doesn’t say which subreddits he used, how many posts he made, how he priced the tool, or how many customers he has. Don’t assume any specific conversion rate from this story. Treat it as proof that the channel can work, not a forecast of what it will produce for you.
Where the Money Actually Comes From
Here’s the playbook broken into parts, based only on what the founder shared.
| Element | What the founder did | Why it matters for you |
|---|---|---|
| Idea source | Solved his girlfriend’s PDF-to-EPUB problem | Real problems from real people beat brainstormed ideas |
| Validation | She compared it to tools she’d used and called it the best | Feedback from someone who tried the alternatives carries weight |
| Distribution | Posted on reading subreddits | Go where the problem owners already gather |
| Expansion | Started publishing other tools he’d built for himself | One win can turn into a small portfolio |
| Result | $1,000 total revenue in 3 months of SaaS building | Small but real, and repeatable in principle |
Note that the $1,000 figure is described as total revenue across his three months of building, and he mentions publishing more tools after the first one. The post doesn’t break down how much came from the converter versus later tools.
Monetization Difficulty: Medium
The marketing side of this case is easy: share a useful tool where its users hang out. The building side is harder than it looks. The founder is a working software developer who had been making games, apps, and tools for years before publishing anything.
File conversion in particular is full of edge cases, such as odd layouts, images, and formatting that breaks. The whole reason his tool stood out was that competitors produced unreadable output. If you can’t match that quality bar, the story falls apart. That’s why we rate this Medium rather than Easy.
Realistic Adjustments If You Copy This Today
Don’t clone the exact product. The insight is the method, not PDF-to-EPUB conversion. Look for your own household or workplace frustration where current tools disappoint.
If you’re not a developer, lean on AI coding assistants carefully. AI tools can help you prototype a simple utility much faster than learning from scratch. But test heavily with real files and real users, because “it runs” is not the same as “it’s the best one I’ve used.”
Respect community rules. Many subreddits restrict self-promotion. Read each community’s rules before posting, lead with the problem you solved, and be open that you built the tool.
Set up payments simply. The founder didn’t share his pricing or payment setup. Pick a straightforward checkout option and check the official site for current fees before committing.
Expect small numbers first. Results depend entirely on execution, the niche, and timing. The founder’s own framing, that everyone starts small, is the right mindset.
Plan for tool number two. His bigger shift was psychological: the first sale “woke up something” in him, and he began publishing the tools he already used himself. Many developers have a folder of private scripts that could become products.
How to Do It: 7-Step Checklist
- List five recurring annoyances you, your partner, friends, or coworkers deal with, especially ones where people already use a tool but complain about the results.
- Pick one with a clear quality gap. Try the existing solutions yourself and note exactly where they fail.
- Build the smallest version that fixes that failure. Focus on the one outcome users care about, like readable output, not on extra features.
- Hand it to one real user who has tried the alternatives. Ask directly: is this better than what you used before? Would you pay for it?
- Add a simple way to pay. Keep pricing easy to understand and verify fees on your payment provider’s official site.
- Post in two or three niche communities where the problem owners gather. Check the rules, tell the honest origin story, and answer every comment.
- Track sales and feedback, then repeat. Fix what users complain about, and look through your own private tools for the next one to publish.
Want to run this playbook with your own tool?
Today, write down five tools you or someone close to you uses but complains about. Pick the one with the clearest quality gap and test the current options yourself to see exactly where they fail.
Source: Reached $1000 revenue in total 3 months of saas building because of my gf
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