The Makerkit Podcast

Makerkit

The Makerkit Podcast showcases SaaS founders who used Makerkit to launch a successful SaaS business. Discover stories, struggles and lessons from bootstrapped founders.

Épisodes

  1. 20/11/2025

    From CTO Exit to Bootstrapped Hosting Platform – Zach Kazanski of Sherpa.sh

    In this episode of the MakerKit Podcast, I talk with Zach Kazanski, founder of Sherpa.sh – a bootstrapped platform-as-a-service built on top of MakerKit that’s quietly competing with giants like Vercel, Netlify, and AWS. Zach went from unpaid intern to CTO of a global hosting company that exited to private equity, then went on to bootstrap Sherpa. His bet: most SaaS apps don’t need serverless, and founders are overpaying 5–10x for hosting because everything is built on top of AWS. We dig into: How Zach went from intern to CTO and through a private equity exit The pricing arbitrage between AWS, metal, and PaaS that Sherpa is exploiting Serverless vs serverful for typical SaaS apps (especially Next.js & MakerKit apps) Why Sherpa builds directly on bare metal in EU data centers How a tiny team uses AI agents and MCP to do what used to require a full DevOps org The channels that actually worked to get Sherpa’s first customers (and which totally flopped) Why Reddit + memes outperformed YouTube and Indie Hackers for them The rise of “vibe coders” and why MakerKit is a natural foundation for AI-assisted development Zach’s advice for bootstrappers: validating ideas, getting people to pay before you write code, and shipping with “holes” If you’re a bootstrapped founder, indie hacker, or vibe coder trying to build a SaaS on a realistic budget, this one will hit home.

    36 min
  2. 01/09/2025

    Zero Coding Experience to Profitable SaaS: Michael's ChatFlow Success Story

    Join us for an inspiring conversation with Michael Mullings, founder of ChatFlow, who transformed from an electrical engineer in Jamaica's BPO industry to a successful SaaS entrepreneur - all without prior programming experience. In this episode, Michael shares his remarkable journey of: Teaching himself Next.js, React, and Supabase from scratch in just 3 monthsBuilding ChatFlow, an AI-powered customer support platform tailored for the Caribbean market's 4,000+ dialectsLanding his first enterprise customer (a government ministry) through cold outreachBootstrapping to profitability with 156+ organizations actively using his productCompeting against giants like Intercom by finding an underserved nicheSecuring a patent grant from Jamaica's Development BankGrowing from solo founder to a team of 5 in just 15 months Key takeaways: How to find your first customers through cold outreach (not paid ads)Why niching down geographically can be your competitive advantageThe power of SaaS starter kits for non-technical foundersHow to differentiate in crowded markets by solving specific regional problemsWhy word-of-mouth remains powerful in certain markets Whether you're a non-technical founder, interested in international SaaS markets, or looking for bootstrap success strategies, this episode delivers actionable insights on building a profitable SaaS from the Caribbean to the world. 🔗 ChatFlow: https://chat-flow.app🔗 MakerKit: https://makerkit.dev

    31 min
  3. 11/08/2025

    From Idea to Users in Weeks: Sebastian Pedavoli on MakerKit

    Sebastian Pedavoli is CPO at Sked Social by day and an indie founder by night. In this episode, he walks through a simple, repeatable path from idea to first users: a tiny PoC to prove feasibility, real discovery on Reddit (questions, not pitches), a thin slice built on MakerKit, and a cadence shift he only found by listening (monthly/quarterly beat daily/weekly for his audience). We get practical about where AI actually helps, why security can’t be vibe-coded, how to pick battles (build the core, buy the rest), and what changes now that LLMs drive discovery alongside search. Why listen:If you’re trying to ship faster without burning months on scaffolding, this is the field guide. It’s hands-on, not hype. You’ll learn: A four-step validation loop: PoC → public questions → thin slice → cadence fit How to use Reddit for honest discovery (and avoid getting roasted) Where AI accelerates (debugging, refactors, new stacks) and where it doesn’t (novel logic, security) The “monthly/quarterly” lesson that flipped Seb’s roadmap A simple rule for buy vs. build: hand-roll what is your product; rent the rest How to decide what’s “enough” to ship and what’s “not yet” Why LLM traffic changes how you structure content and small tools Who this episode is for:Non-technical founders shipping their first SaaS, technical founders who overbuild, and anyone trying to reach real users faster with fewer self-inflicted detours. Links & resources: Seb’s products: Watch This Page · Componentry Build faster: MakerKit About the guest:Sebastian Pedavoli is a product leader and indie founder from Australia. He’s CPO at Sked Social and the creator of Watch This Page and Componentry.

    41 min

À propos

The Makerkit Podcast showcases SaaS founders who used Makerkit to launch a successful SaaS business. Discover stories, struggles and lessons from bootstrapped founders.