How we grew Tally to $4M ARR, fully bootstrapped
Almost five years ago, we set out to build Tally with one simple goal: Make form-building fun, fast, and free. At the time, the idea felt almost naïve.
Forms have existed since the early days of the internet. The space is crowded, every business needs a form, and yet… almost nobody actually likes using a form builder. Most of them are bloated with features, locked behind paywalls, and NPS scores to prove it. Because let’s be honest, nobody loves forms.
But what if we could build a product people actually wanted to use?
Even if we could convince just 1% of this saturated market, we believed we’d already be onto something.
And that’s how it all started.
If you’re new here, this is a recap of our journey:
| Sept. 2020 | $0K | How we ended up building a form builder |
| Mar. 2021 | $1K | From MVP to Product Hunt launch |
| Oct. 2021 | $5K | Bootstrapping to $5K MRR and 11K users |
| Dec. 2021 | $8K | Wrapping up 2021 |
| Feb. 2022 | $10K | Bootstrapping to $10K MRR and 20K users |
| Jun. 2022 | $20K | Growing from $10K to $20k MRR |
| Oct. 2022 | $30K | Bootstrapping our SaaS to $30K MRR |
| May 2023 | $60K | Bootstrapping our SaaS to $60K MRR |
| Sept. 2023 | $75K | Launching Tally 2.0 |
| Feb. 2024 | $100K | Bootstrapping to $100K MRR |
| Nov. 2024 | $150K | Bootstrapping to $150K MRR |
| Feb. 2025 | $175K | We crossed $2M ARR |
| June 2025 | $258K | From $2M to $3M ARR |
| October 2025 | $338K | Here we are 📍 |
Doing One Thing Really, Really Well
Tally isn’t a platform. It’s a product, and that distinction matters.
We’ve deliberately resisted the temptation to expand horizontally (we also can not as a small bootstrapped team). No “Forms + CRM + Scheduling app + Tables” bundle. No bloated interfaces. Just a single mission:
Create the simplest, most enjoyable way to make a form.
We obsessed over every detail:
- A text-editor interface instead of drag-and-drop
- One simple pricing tier, no upsells or dark patterns
- A clean, calming design that feels familiar, like Notion
- Tiny touches that make people smile while they work
In a market where everyone adds complexity to stand out, we’ve done the opposite. Simplicity is our edge — and our moat.
You’ll see it in our product, our design, our marketing, and our decision-making. The hardest part hasn’t been technical. It’s been staying true to our principles. How do you keep things simple when everything around you pushes for more?
We learned to say no. No to features, to ideas, and sometimes even to customers when they didn’t align with our vision.
Because for us, scaling isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing the right things, and doing them well.
Building With Users, Not Just For Them
From the very beginning, we’ve talked to users every single day. Thousands of founders, creators, and small teams have helped shape Tally.
We still read every email, every tweet, every message. It doesn’t scale, but it keeps us close and informed.
Our users don’t just give feedback, they co-build with us. Through our slack channel with our 3000 first users, our beta group and our feedback board.
They cheer us on. Many have become friends and ambassadors. But, that connection didn’t happen by accident. It came from giving a lot: free value, quick replies, and actually listening.
Bootstrapping forces that kind of closeness. There’s no buffer between you and reality, just honest conversations.
Our roadmap is public. Features are upvoted in the open. And we build in public, side-by-side with the people who use Tally every day.
Like Emily (who runs social at Tally) once said: your community is your best insurance policy. And she’s right, that’s why we let them shine.
Product-Led Growth, By Design
Most people discover Tally not through ads but by filling out a form.
Our product is simple, viral by nature, and largely free. That means trying it requires no friction. No signup, no credit card, no onboarding wizard.
There is nothing stopping you from visiting our homepage and building a form in the next 10 seconds. And that fast time-to-value is crucial, because it creates a growth loop:
Free product → Word-of-mouth → More people create forms → More visibility from “Made with Tally” badges → More Pro conversions
The product is the growth engine. That’s why we obsess over experience and details. If people love using it, they’ll share it. And they do.
We Don’t Build for Everyone
When you enter a saturated market without a budget or a big team, you need an edge. That’s why we made opinionated decisions, in both product and positioning.
We built Tally for:
- People who value great UX and design
- Builders who get excited by tools like Notion
- No-code makers and indie hackers
- In short: people like us
And when you build for people like you, your product gets a soul.
Someone on Reddit once joked, “your average stuffy SME owner will have no idea how this notepad-looking thing is a form builder. But, they won’t win in a saturated market by trying to win every visitor, instead they want to make the few visitors they win really love it.”
And they’re right. For some people, it’s confusing. But for others, it clicks instantly, and they fall in love. So we doubled down on that.
- A blank-canvas experience with keyboard shortcuts
- Honest, sometimes playful communication
- A voice that sounds like us, not like “B2B SaaS”
We can do things our competitors can’t or won’t. Big (VC-backed) competitors manage PR risks, move slower, and definitely don’t build in public. But when you’re small, you have nothing to lose by being bold in your product or marketing. The worst thing that can happen to us is being boring or ignored.
Our playbook hasn’t changed
So what got us from $0 to $4M ARR? It wasn’t a hack or a secret playbook.
It was a set of simple principles, repeated with care:
- Talk to users (and show up) every day
- Focus on doing one thing really, really well
- Keep the product simple by prioritizing ruthlessly
- Move fast
- Let the community shine
A Note From Us 💙
Tally has always been built hand-in-hand with our community. Every milestone, every feature, every bit of progress exists because people believed in what we were building. We’re endlessly grateful to everyone who helped us grow, on our own terms, at our own pace, and with our own values intact.
Here’s to simplicity, sustainability, and the power of staying small.
Marie & Filip 🫰
PS: we're hiring