The Story of Metalab

Andrew Wilkinson had $200 in his bank account when he quit his data entry job and launched Metalab as SaaS without funding. He pretended to be a team by always saying "we" and charged double what he thought he was worth. Nine years later, Metalab had 60 employees and had designed the interface for Slack.

Andrew shares how he went from building a nerdy Mac news site as a teenager to running the bootstrapped agency behind one of the biggest software products in the world. You will learn how building SaaS without funding forced conservative financial management that saved him during the 2008 recession when clients stopped paying.

Stuart Butterfield found Metalab through word of mouth and sent a one-line email. This self-funded design shop landed the Slack project not through pitching but through years of building reputation - proving that SaaS without funding can still attract world-class clients.

🔑 Key Lessons

• 🚀 Position as an agency from day one when building SaaS without funding: Andrew doubled his freelance rate from $15 to $30/hour by calling himself Metalab and using "we" in all communications, creating the perception of a bootstrapped agency that justified premium pricing.
• 💰 Hire when it hurts to force growth: Andrew's father advised him to take on payroll because having people reliant on him for a paycheck would force him to grow the self-funded business, eliminating the option of staying comfortable.
• 🎯 Reputation brings enterprise clients to SaaS without funding founders: Stuart Butterfield found Metalab through word of mouth and sent a simple email. Andrew's bootstrapped agency landed Slack not through pitching but by building a reputation for quality work over years.
• 📉 Run a conservative bootstrapped agency to survive downturns: When the 2008 recession hit and clients stopped paying, Andrew survived because he had no debt, had not over-hired, and had diversified his client base.
• 🧠 Use anxiety as entrepreneurial fuel for SaaS without funding: Andrew describes himself as an anxious person, but channeled that anxiety into driving his bootstrapped SaaS business forward rather than letting it paralyze him.
• 🛠️ Start with what you know, then expand: Andrew started Metalab doing simple web development, then expanded into design, branding, and eventually SaaS products as his skills and team grew.

Chapters

• Introduction
• Who is Andrew Wilkinson outside of work
• Why Andrew started meditating for anxiety
• Omer's meditation experience
• Book recommendation - 10% Happier by Dan Harris
• What drives and motivates Andrew
• Starting Metalab - the SaaS without funding origin story
• The argument with his boss at the data entry job
• Building Mac Teens as a teenager
• Dropping out of journalism school
• Landing first freelance clients with $200
• Growing Metalab into a multi-million dollar agency
• Starting side businesses - Ballpark, Flow, Pixel Union
• Getting first clients and hiring help
• Father's advice about hiring to force growth
• How long it took to get serious traction
• How Metalab landed Slack as a client
• What Slack looked like when Metalab started designing it
• What Metalab designed for Slack
• Whether Metalab is still involved with Slack
• The hard times - surviving the 2008 recession
• Wrap up Part 1

Resources

• Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/76
• Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email