Co-Founder & CEO · Matchhaus · Nov 2018 – Jan 2022
Matchhaus
Bootstrapped a productivity SaaS for grassroots sports teams to 4k MAU and profitability. Raised £130k SEIS funding and achieved passive income status.
4k
MAU
Organic growth over 12 months
2 weeks
MVP Launch
9 teams in first week
-97%
Ops Cost
£0.004/user/month
£130k
SEIS Funding
To expand sport types
The Challenge
Casual sports teams struggled to organise matches, track availability, and manage team communications. Existing solutions were either too complex (enterprise sports software) or too simple (WhatsApp groups).
The Approach
- 01Launched MVP in 2 weeks to validate demand quickly
- 02Optimised onboarding and time-to-value for organic referrals
- 03Built aggressive automation to keep operational costs near zero
- 04Raised SEIS funding to expand into additional sport types
The Solution
Built a lightweight SaaS that solved the core problem: getting the right number of people to show up for a match. Features included availability tracking, automatic reminders, and simple team management. The focus was on reducing friction, not adding features.
We grew to 9 teams in the first week purely through word of mouth. The product solved a real pain point that people talked about.
Key Learnings
- •Bootstrapping forces product discipline—every feature must earn its place
- •Cutting ops costs to near-zero is possible with aggressive automation from day one
- •Word-of-mouth growth validates genuine product-market fit
- •Passive income is achievable with the right architecture and cost structure
Interested in discussing this project or working together?