Carving out a $1M+/yr niche out of the Microsoft ecosystem

Thomas Mahony got a job that gave him the experience he needed to spot a niche problem and build a solution. Now, Pckgr is bringing in over $1M ARR with a small team.

Here's Thomas on how he did it. 👇

An unexpected path

I started working at a small managed service provider with five employees back in 2017. I started on the help desk and slowly built my knowledge on all things IT, from hardware to networking. After that, I worked at a consulting firm in Melbourne, mainly with Microsoft Intune. A massive consulting company called Capgemini then purchased the firm. I worked on some really big projects for clients at Capgemini, and that led to what I do today.

I am the founder of a company called Pckgr. We are a web-based SaaS located in Melbourne. Pckgr primarily helps IT Admins automate software and update packaging for their devices. Our customers range from under 100 devices to over 100,000 devices.

I started Pckgr because it solved a pain point I had experienced. Microsoft Intune features software deployment to your devices. I couldn't believe how much effort packaging an Intune-ready application required. Looking online for answers led me to forums where many people were in the same boat. Existing market solutions were too expensive for smaller businesses.

In other words, I spotted a niche where I could create a modern browser-based app deployment tool, keeping features and scope minimal for solo management.

So, I built it as a simple point-and-click tool that automatically packaged Intune-ready applications. For example, want Google Chrome deployed? Sign up for Pckgr, connect to Intune, then select Chrome and deploy. That's it.

We're currently over $1M ARR.

Bootstrapping a side project

I built most of the original product myself while Pckgr was still a side project. This was before AI tools like Claude Code and Cursor were available, so I completed much of the development and troubleshooting manually.

The business was fully bootstrapped, so I carefully managed costs, keeping the product as simple as possible and spending most nights working on the build. Luckily, SaaS startups can start extremely cheaply. Many services offer generous free tiers, helping to build with minimal overhead costs. This allowed the platform to scale while keeping it bootstrapped.

Pckgr uses a combination of no-code tools, cloud infrastructure, and custom automation.

• Bubble for the application's front-end, which handles the user interface and custom front-end logic

• GitHub Actions for application packaging and testing

• Microsoft Azure for our back-end infrastructure, including serverless functions, storage, and the services that communicate with Microsoft Graph and our customers’ Intune environments.

My existing experience with Microsoft Intune was essential; I already understood the packaging process, the common failure points, and what IT administrators would expect from the finished product.

The main challenge I faced was building hundreds of application packages for deployment. I had to learn many fringe cases when dealing with Windows applications.

From free to recurring

I initially launched Pckgr completely free so I could attract early users and learn how the product performed in real environments. I think that's the best way to do it. Then, after resolving the most important early bugs and improving the platform based on user feedback, we introduced a subscription priced at $25 per month. That's when I went full-time on the product.

The recurring model works well because application management is not a one-off task; software must continually be deployed, updated, replaced, and maintained.

The first paying customer validated our product, demonstrating that the problem was significant enough for someone to pay to solve. As the product matured and delivered more value, we expanded the available plans and adjusted pricing to better reflect the capabilities of the platform. We now have four tiers: Starter, Pro, Business, and Custom. And increasing our prices played a significant role in our growth.

Our customers range from smaller IT teams managing their own environments to managed service providers supporting multiple client organizations.

Reddit and partnerships

Once we had a working minimum viable product, we launched Pckgr for free in subreddits and Facebook groups where Microsoft Intune administrators were already discussing application packaging and deployment. That gave us immediate access to a highly relevant audience and helped us validate whether the problem was important enough for people to try a new solution.

After the initial Reddit launch, we used our marketing budget to contact Microsoft MVPs (independent technology experts in the Microsoft ecosystem) to demo the product. Partnering with these specialists proved to be one of our most effective growth channels.

They already had trusted audiences in the Intune community, so we asked them to demo the product on YouTube. This worked well because the audience was highly targeted, and the content continued attracting customers long after it was first published. A useful YouTube demo can still generate sign-ups years later, which gives it a much longer return than a short-lived advertising campaign.

Removing roadblocks

I hit so many roadblocks. I was frequently sure that there was no way forward. The worst was when I was getting close to launching. Microsoft announced that it would release its own similar platform. I lost a ton of motivation and almost abandoned the idea of releasing.

But whenever I hit a roadblock, I'd go to sleep, wake up the next day with an idea, and keep going.

Staying motivated is important as an indie hacker.

Originality and passion

It's hard to give advice because it's much different now than when I started, and honestly, a bit scarier. With Claude Code and other AI solutions, the barrier to entry feels incredibly low. That means competition is increasing.

But the flipside of that is that it's also easier than ever for you to build an MVP to test an idea. So do that.

And make sure it's something unique that you are passionate about.

What's next?

My next venture is our Pckgr RMM, a platform that fully manages Windows devices. I aim to expand this solution and build my first deca-millionaire business.

Once I achieve this, I will be done with software for a while!

You can follow along on LinkedIn. And check out Pckgr.