Bootstrapped founder builds an AI app with Supabase and scales to $1M in 5 months

After getting a new grad offer from his “dream company” rescinded with tech layoffs, Yasser Elsaid decided to embark on a different path and bootstrap his own venture.

Two months before the release of the ChatGPT API, Yasser explored the GPT3 API and saw its immense potential. Leveraging Supabase as the backend, he built Chatbase in two weeks and launched it in February.

Just five months after launching, Chatbase reach $1,000,000 annualized revenue, making it one of the most successful single-founder AI products in the industry.

The Challenge#

Fascinated by the possibilities of GPT3, Yasser envisioned Chatbase as an AI-driven chatbot capable of handling complex customer queries in real time. However, building a cost-effective and reliable solution to ingest and store data and manage large-scale customer interactions by himself wasn’t trivial.

Yasser faced another challenge: he needed to rapidly transform his idea into an actual product to maintain a competitive edge, but he didn’t have a team or funding.

Choosing Supabase#

Using Supabase for the first time, Yasser was immediately impressed by the developer experience and ease of use. He effortlessly implemented secure user authentication, relieving the pain of building such a system from scratch.

But the most crucial aspect for us is Supabase's all-in-one solution. Chatbase relies on Supabase for database, authentication, storage, and real-time functionality. Yasser believes he saved between 100 to 150 hours by using only 1 solution to build almost the entire backend, instead of spending that researching, learning, and implementing individual solutions for each component.

With Supabase, everything seamlessly came together and he was able to go from idea to MVP in two weeks and launch soon after that.

Supabase is great because it has everything. I don’t need a different solution for authentication, a different solution for database, or a different solution for storage.

What he built#

Chatbase is a powerful AI chatbot builder that enables users to train ChatGPT on their own data, revolutionizing the way businesses and individuals interact with customers. With seamless integration to over 5000 apps through Zapier, including popular platforms like Excel, Notion, Whatsapp, Discord, and Slack, Chatbase empowers everyone to deploy custom AI for their specific workflows.

By simply uploading a PDF containing the desired information, Chatbase creates intelligent chatbots that automate customer support, handle frequently asked questions, and streamline communication channels, ultimately enhancing overall efficiency and user experience.

Chatbase became a sensation, crossing 2,000,000 visitors in a matter of months and now has 2,200 paying customers.

The Results#

Leveraging Supabase as the backend gave Yasser the speed and efficiency to turn into a significant advantage over the competition, enabling him to gain a strong advantage in the market and establish Chatbase as one of the pioneering AI chatbot builders.

As Chatbase gained traction and acquired users, Supabase's robust infrastructure seamlessly accommodated the surging user base, ensuring smooth scalability and uninterrupted growth.

Within just five months, Chatbase grew to an astonishing $1,000,000 in annualized revenue.

Chatbase is still bootstrapped, but now Yasser has a team of 5 who help with customer support, marketing, and development. He is now exploring Supabase's capabilities for achieving GDPR compliance and implementing Vault for end-to-end encryption.

To learn more about how Supabase can help you build and scale AI apps with ease, reach out to us.