Solo Founder’s Digest - Issue #8

Curated insights for bootstrapped solo founders

Author

Mohit
September 13, 2025

👋 Hey Solopreneurs,

Running a business solo can feel like juggling fire - thrilling, scary, and a little chaotic all at once. The good news? You’re not alone in figuring it out. This issue is packed with fresh stories, ideas, and tools to help you navigate the ride.

Here’s what’s inside this issue:
💌 How one guy built a $5M one-man newsletter
💻 5 “boring but profitable” micro-SaaS niches you could start today
⏰ The real work hours solopreneurs are putting in
🛠️ 75 free tools to run your business on a budget

Let’s dive in!

🔦 Solopreneur Spotlight

Dan Ni went from stock trader to SaaS founder (Scraper API, $4M ARR) before following his passion for tech news and launching TLDR. What started as a side project is now a daily newsletter with 750K+ subscribers and ~$5M in annual revenue - all while spending about 30 minutes a day writing. He scaled it using smart growth levers: paid ads from the start, constant experimentation and funnel tweaks, and tapping into other people’s audiences through sponsorships and cross-promotions.

💡Solo Business Ideas

Sometimes the best opportunities aren’t in flashy AI startups but in simple, under-the-radar micro SaaS tools. Think PDF generators, screenshot APIs, form builders, SaaS boilerplates, and niche job boards - small products solving everyday problems with recurring revenue baked in. For solopreneurs, these “boring but profitable” niches can turn modest apps into money machines.

🌍 Community Picks

Solopreneurs in a Reddit thread shared that there’s no one-size-fits-all for work hours: some hustle 10-12 hours a day, while others stick to a lean 5-6 hour sprint when they’re most productive. The consensus? It’s less about hours and more about output, consistency, and avoiding burnout.

How many hours a day do you put into your solo business?

🧰 Resource Roundup

A treasure chest of totally free tools covering project management, design, email, accounting, analytics and more. If you’re bootstrapping, this list helps you operate like you’ve got a team without spending a ton. These are the kinds of tools that let you punch above your weight.

📬 Closing Thoughts

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading! If something here sparked an idea, share it with a fellow solopreneur. And if you’ve got feedback, stories, or tools worth featuring, just hit reply, I’d love to hear from you.

We’re in this solo, together 🤝

Mohit