hanu, the founder of SiteGPT, has successfully leveraged a unique approach termed "engineering as marketing" to grow his AI-powered chatbot SaaS to a remarkable $13,000 MRR, achieving over $500,000 in revenue in less than a year, all without any paid marketing. His strategy revolves around building numerous free tools that attract organic traffic and then converting these users into paying customers for his core SaaS product. This method is a game-changer for builders and solo founders who often struggle with or dislike traditional marketing activities.
SiteGPT offers a 24/7 AI assistant for websites, enabling businesses to answer customer queries based on their content. The impressive traffic metrics—over a million visitors since launch, with 60-70% from Google and 90% of that from free tools—underscore the efficacy of Bhanu's strategy. He explained SiteGPT's straightforward SaaS model, where users pay a monthly fee based on usage. The business boasts strong conversion rates, turning roughly 25-40% of trials into customers, with an average revenue per customer of $100 and a high Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) of $1,700-$1,800.
Bhanu's journey into SaaS began after leaving a large startup to build on his own, moving back home to minimize expenses. His previous product, Feather, reached $6,000 MRR before he discovered AI tools in early 2023. He initially built an AI chatbot for his Feather customers but quickly realized its broader potential, launching SiteGPT independently within two weeks. The rapid traction of SiteGPT, reaching $10,000 MRR in its first month, led him to sell Feather for $250,000 to focus entirely on SiteGPT.
The core of his "engineering as marketing" strategy involves creating around 50 free, simple tools. These tools, like PDF-to-Markdown converters or chatbot name generators, are designed to be highly relevant to SiteGPT's potential customer base. Bhanu shared a detailed 7-step playbook for this process:
1. Use Ahrefs Keywords Explorer to find broad search terms.
2. Apply filters to include specific keywords related to the product (e.g., "AI," "generator").
3. Filter for low keyword difficulty (e.g., less than 10) to ensure rankability.
4. Add a volume filter (e.g., at least 1,000 monthly searches) for sufficient traffic potential.
5. List these qualified keywords in a Notion page with their search volume and difficulty.
6. Brainstorm compelling Calls to Action (CTAs) for each potential tool, linking them to the main SiteGPT product.
7. Prioritize tool development based on high volume, low difficulty, ease of build, and relevance.
A critical accelerator for this strategy is the use of AI to create new tools rapidly, often in less than five minutes, by prompting an AI with existing tool structures. This high-speed iteration allows him to continuously expand his SEO footprint. Bhanu also highlighted his tech stack, which includes Ahrefs for SEO, PostHog for analytics, Bento for emails, and AI coding tools like Cloud Code. His overarching advice for aspiring founders is to "launch fast" with a core feature and let user feedback dictate future product development, avoiding prolonged, unvalidated building cycles. This holistic approach demonstrates how technical skill, combined with strategic marketing principles, can drive substantial business growth without traditional marketing spend.