$23k/month with excel fomulas, crazy! | Starter Story

3 min

•Aug 23, 20259 months ago

Summary

Excel Formula Bot, a simple AI-powered tool that generates Excel formulas, generates $23,000/month from a billion-person market. Built with no-code tools by a solo founder, the business demonstrates how targeting a massive existing user base with a niche solution can create significant revenue with minimal complexity.

Insights

Massive addressable markets (1B+ Excel users) create opportunities for simple, focused solutions that solve specific pain points
No-code tools enable solo founders to build profitable businesses without technical expertise, lowering barriers to entry
Freemium models with low subscription prices ($15/month) can generate substantial revenue at scale when targeting large user bases
Viral distribution through community platforms (Reddit) can validate product-market fit immediately, as evidenced by first sale in 5 minutes
Simplicity and focus on a single problem can be more valuable than feature-rich complexity in B2B SaaS

Trends

AI-powered productivity tools targeting specific software workflows gaining tractionNo-code platforms enabling solo founder businesses to reach profitability fasterFreemium SaaS models proving effective for tools solving narrow, high-frequency problemsMicro-SaaS businesses targeting massive existing user bases rather than creating new marketsCommunity-driven launch strategies (Reddit, Product Hunt) validating product-market fit rapidlySolo founder businesses scaling to $20k+ MRR without hiringLLM/AI integration into existing software workflows as a business modelLow-price-point subscriptions ($15/month) achieving profitability through volume

Topics

Excel formula generation with AINo-code application developmentFreemium SaaS business modelsProduct-market fit validationMicro-SaaS businessesSolo founder scalingLLM/AI integrationReddit as launch platformBubble no-code platformSubscription pricing strategy Niche market targetingViral product launchesB2B productivity toolsAI-powered automationAddressable market sizing

Companies

Excel Formula Bot

Main subject: AI-powered tool generating Excel formulas, achieving $23k/month revenue with solo founder

Microsoft

Owner of Excel; episode notes 1B+ Excel users represent the addressable market for Formula Bot

Bubble

No-code platform used by Excel Formula Bot founder to build the entire application without coding

People

Excel Formula Bot Founder

Solo founder of Excel Formula Bot; subject of Starter Story case study; built business with no-code tools

Quotes

"Over a billion people, and probably a lot of them have run into trouble or don't enjoy writing Excel formulas."

Host•~1:15

"Five minutes after launch, he got his first sale, which is the ultimate sign of product market fit."

Host•~2:30

"Simple tool, huge market, that's a great business."

Host•~3:15

"He didn't write a single line of code."

Host•~2:00

Full Transcript

This website right here makes $23,000 a month. All it really does is generate Excel formulas with AI. But how? Who's paying for this? And how could a website so simple make over $20,000 a month? Well, let's break it down. So this website is called Excel Formula Bot. And what it does is you type in a question, like, how do I get the average of column A? And it spits out the exact Excel formula using LLMs in AI. It sounds basic, right? But here's where it's kind of smart. You get a few formulas for free, then it's $15 a month. And I know that doesn't sound like a whole lot, but let's look this up right now. How many people use Microsoft Excel? Over a billion people, and probably a lot of them have run into trouble or don't enjoy writing Excel formulas. This business is smart. It's getting a tiny slice of this billion person pie. And these people would gladly pay for a service like this. But what I'm curious about is, how do you actually build something like this? I've got the Starter Story case study right here of the founder who actually built this. And it looks like he built it with a no-code tool called Bubble. He didn't write a single line of code. Then he posted the idea on Reddit, and boom, the thing started going viral. Five minutes after launch, he got his first sale, which is the ultimate sign of product market fit. Today, this business makes $23,000 a month, and it only has a sole founder, zero employees. Simple tool, huge market, that's a great business. If you want to see 100 more weird micro websites like this that make money, just scan the QR code right here, or subscribe to my channel. I break down new business ideas every day.