Interview with the founder of BudgetSheet

About

BudgetSheet is browser extension,that helps users import bank transactions into Google Sheets.

In this interview, we talk to the founder, Vance Lucas.

How did you come up with the idea for the business?

I wrote a blog post about this that got featured on IndieHackers and got a lot of traffic. The URL is here: https://vancelucas.com/blog/how-i-built-a-google-sheets-extension-making-1-6k-mrr/ .

The TL;DR is that I just wanted my own transactions in my own spreadsheet so I could re-categorizing them quickly and do whatever I wanted with them. With most other budget apps, you still don't really "own" your own data, and you are really limited by what is available in their UI. That was not enough for me. I wanted more control and flexibility with my own financial data.

How did you build the product?

As a software engineer for over 20 years, I built it myself! The first version was completely in Google Apps Script. Now there is a small web service that powers most things.

How big was your team when you started?

Just me - I am flying Solo :)

How did you launch the business?

I literally just started coding it up to solve my own problem and scratch my own itch. I built a way to upgrade and pay into the extension, and published it to the Google Workspace Marketplace. sales started trickling in almost immediately after that just from people finding the extension, installing it into Google Sheets, using it, and upgrading to the paid version.

How have you grown the business since its launch?

I have focused on the product a lot. Better data formatting, customization, super easy onboarding and setup. Upgrade nag emails when the free trial is almost over.

I have done a little marketing here and there with some paid social media ads on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter/X. Those have mostly been break even. I have also done a few paid placements in email newsletters, which seem to be working well. The best effort has been just to optimize the search ranking on the Google Workspace Marketplace for keywords around "Budget", etc. and some content I paid to have written targeting SEO keywords around budgeting in spreadsheets. Starting this year, I am going to be pushing my affiliate program as an avenue for future growth via referrals.

What are the main marketing channels that work out for you?

Google Workspace Marketplace, SEO/content, email newsletters, and affiliates

Which tools do you use most often to help grow your business?

Email is far and away the #1 tool that has helped me grow and convert users to paid subscriptions.

What is the business model (ads/subscription etc)?

SaaS with a time-limited free trial

What do your finances look like?

I've been at around $3.5K MRR for the past few months. Q1+Q2 is where most of my growth is though, and I have been roughly doubling every year. I expect to be around $7k MRR by mid 2024 assuming the same growth and churn rates as the past 2 years. Possibly higher now with an affiliate program if things go well.