Acquiring a micro-SaaS and quitting his job after years of side hustling

After years of dabbling with side projects, Bruce McLachlan bought a micro-SaaS, grew it, and quit his job. Now, he has a portfolio of products, featuring Cloakist and Sotion, bringing in over $12k MRR.

Here's Bruce on how he did it. 👇

Going from side hustle to main hustle

I studied MSc Computer Science and later a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration. I started my career as a programmer, moved into software architecture, and then into engineering management. My last full-time role was as Technical Director at a fintech startup called Backbase. I spent about a decade in the fintech startup/scaleup world.

Along the way, I always kept side projects going, partly to keep my technical skills sharp, but also because I simply love programming. I tried monetizing a few of these projects, but my career took priority at the time.

In 2021–22, I decided to take side projects more seriously and push for a second income stream. I eventually came across Cloakist on MicroAcquire (now Acquire.com), which was making about $2k MRR. Cloakist allows you to connect any webpage with a custom domain. I acquired it, grew it significantly, and spun out related products like Sotion, AliasLinks, and ZerpHost.

Building for three years alongside full-time work was exhausting. I even stepped down to a lighter job to make space, but it led to burnout. So, as of July 2025, after 10 months of slow progress, I’ve gone full-time indie

It was risky. Revenue didn’t yet cover living expenses, but with a small financial buffer, I made the leap. Today, Cloakist and Sotion together generate more than $12k MRR.

Playing it safe by acquiring

By the time I became Technical Director, the career path ahead (VP → SVP → etc.) felt like more of the same. I wanted new challenges, independence, and to own my own time. After going through burnout, the motivation to go solo only grew stronger.

I also had practical considerations: I have a wife and two teenage boys, so financial stability was crucial. I knew I couldn’t afford a long runway with repeated failed experiments. That’s why acquiring a business with traction appealed; it gave me a head start.

Running my own SaaS apps also meant I could design my schedule to be more flexible with family. And because the products are subscription-based and relatively automated, they don’t demand constant firefighting.

Resisting the temptation to over-engineer

My past side projects taught me to avoid over-engineering. As a software engineer, it’s tempting to obsess over architecture or clean code, but what really matters is delivering value to customers and growing the business. That shift in mindset made all the difference.

When I acquired Cloakist, it was very barebones. Many onboarding steps were manual, day-to-day operations weren’t automated, and it only supported a few platforms.

My first steps were automating processes, improving onboarding, and investing heavily in SEO. That paid off in the long run. I also saw an opportunity to niche down: I built Sotion, a spin-off focused specifically on Notion websites. Sotion eventually surpassed Cloakist in revenue.

A lean, modern stack

Cloakist and Sotion are built with React/Next.js, Node.js, Tailwind, and Supabase as the database. Hosting runs on AWS, with Cloudflare for caching.

We use Stripe for billing, Sidemail.io for emails, Crisp for support, Feather.so for blogging, and Fathom Analytics for privacy-friendly tracking. It’s a lean, modern stack that balances flexibility with reliability.

With my newer products, AliasLinks and ZerpHost, I've started using PHP Laravel, which has been an awesome ecosystem to build on.

Technical challenges

I've hit many technical challenges while building. Here are a few of the worst:

• AWS costs spiraled at one point, forcing me to re-engineer core infrastructure.

• With 30+ platform integrations, changes on their side often break things, sometimes even customer sites, requiring a fast response.

• Hosting customer websites means dealing with bad actors. I had to build monitoring and response processes for phishing or fraudulent sites.

Three-pronged revenue growth

Cloakist and Sotion both use a SaaS subscription model with monthly and annual plans. Pricing is tiered by both the number of websites supported and feature depth. That way, we capture both customers who want “more sites” and those who want “more advanced features.”

Revenue growth comes from:

1. Expanding Cloakist to support more platforms.

2. Launching Sotion as a niche spin-off, the biggest growth driver.

3. Improving retention through steady product refinement.

SEO and word of mouth

I mentioned that I doubled down on SEO when I acquired Cloakist — well, that has been the biggest driver of growth. It includes documenting use cases, ranking for key terms, and creating useful content around the platforms we support. Word of mouth and organic traffic keep compounding over time.

Early on, Indie Hackers and X gave encouragement, visibility, and credibility, but long-term, my customers weren’t really there. Cold email campaigns didn’t deliver much, and I haven’t tried paid ads — my hunch is they wouldn’t work well for this type of SaaS.

So the growth engine is mostly SEO + consistent product improvements that improve retention. Balancing product, marketing, and support as a solo founder is tough, so this mix has been really helpful.

My advice: Start SEO sooner. It compounds massively and is even more relevant with AI discovery that will likely surpass traditional search.

Use challenges to your advantage

Competition came and went, but the biggest scare was when Notion launched its own website publishing.

It ate into Sotion’s market share but also grew awareness. We adapted by focusing on unique features like membership management, which has become a key differentiator.

Parting advice

Here's my advice:

• Consider acquisition as a path; it reduces risk and gives you traction from day one. That was my single best move.

• Focus on the core product. Keep it lean, deliver value, and expand only as you understand your customers better.

• Think in terms of work–life integration, not balance. Set aside time for focused, high-impact work, and ignore the noise. Most tasks can wait, and half won’t matter later.

• Practice feature discipline. I learned not to chase every customer request. Stick to your product’s core value proposition and only expand where it truly matters.

• SEO is one of the best long-term bets you can make. Start early, document everything, and let it compound.

• Automate early. Stable, hands-off systems buy you time to focus on growth.

Lastly, I'll say this: I wish I’d started years earlier. A career gave me experience, but the freedom I have now is priceless. Worst case, you can always get another job.

What's next?

Right now, my focus is on stability and independence: maintaining MRR, steady growth, improving conversion, and boosting retention. Long-term, I’d like to sell Cloakist and Sotion, and maybe start over again with another SaaS.

My current apps are B2C/SME-focused. Next, I’d like to move into B2B SaaS, whether that’s via acquisition, a spin-off, or a fresh build.

Working solo has been amazing, but I do miss team interaction. That’s why I spend ~20% of my time consulting, which gives me variety and balance.

The vision: Sell my current SaaS in a few years, then start and grow a new B2B SaaS product.

You can check out my holding company with all current and past (failed) products. My most active products are sotion.so and cloak.ist. And follow along on X, where I post about my journey.