Podcast Summary
Episode Overview
Podcast: SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders
Host: Nathan Latka
Guest: Andrew Fennell, Founder of StandOut CV
Episode Date: December 24, 2025
Episode Title: Founder uses Genius Playbook to hit $1M revenue with no employees
Nathan Latka interviews Andrew Fennell, founder of StandOut CV, an online CV/resume builder that has amassed over 18 million visitors and more than £1M in revenue—with no full-time employees. Andrew shares his journey from a recruitment background to bootstrapping a SaaS business, with a deep dive on SEO strategies that powered his growth, including clever link-building, content creation playbooks, pricing experimentation, and lessons learned around churn and lifetime value. The episode is fast-paced, highly practical, and transparent—focused on actionable advice for aspiring SaaS founders.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Origin Story & Business Model Evolution
- Recruitment Roots: Andrew began as a recruiter and freelance CV writer—“I initially started freelancing, writing people's CVs for them. And then… started the website.” [01:07]
- Business Model Pivot: Started as a service-based site, pivoted to ad-supported content, and then transitioned into a SaaS app (“interview winning CV and online CV builder”) to create recurring revenue. [01:07–01:52]
- Competitive Moat: Succeeded in a cutthroat space (CV/resume builders) by dominating SEO—“This is a very competitive space so you know he has to be very good at SEO to win in this space.” [00:20]
2. Product & Monetization
- Product Experience: Users build a CV using the web app, then pay to download and customize it. Offers a low-cost two-week trial, then switches to a subscription model (£16.95/month). [02:15]
- Not Yet AI Powered: “We haven't got around to putting AI yet… we’re working on it.” [02:45]
- Why StandOut CV Over LinkedIn?: Trust built with extensive free content, expertise, and superior templates/tools [03:04].
3. Metrics & Revenue Growth
- Domain Authority & Traffic: “Domain Rating 73… Organic Traffic… about 110k [visits] at the moment. It was at its peak, it was around about 300k.” [03:26–03:37]
- Annual Revenue: “Between 2020 and 2025 you’ve done a million pounds” = ~$1.27M USD in four years [09:59]
- Lifetime Value (LTV): Started at £20, now £67.43—switching from one-time payment to subscription model was key:
“The mistake I made in the beginning was that I didn't go with a monthly recurring plan… we switched to a subscription model and that massively increased the revenue.” [06:37] - Churn Reduction: Churn once as high as 44%. To reduce, they surveyed churned/canceled users monthly and implemented top feature requests. [07:21–07:35]
- MRR: “About 30k MRR at the moment.” [22:32]
4. SEO & Link-Building Playbook
- Early Tactics: Started with guest posts and outreach to small blogs—worked early, but becoming less effective due to saturation [10:35].
- Current Approach—Linkable Assets & Digital PR:
- Linkable Assets: Create comprehensive, data-focused, “evergreen” stats pages to earn natural links (“Job interview statistics” page: ~335–2,130 referring domains). [12:50–14:05]
“If you do this properly, this content will rank naturally without having to do any outreach…” [13:41]
- Digital PR: Partnering with Root Digital for surveys and stories (“How many people lie on their resume?”)—picked up by Entrepreneur, CNN, and others, building hundreds of natural links. [14:42–15:35]
- Linkable Assets: Create comprehensive, data-focused, “evergreen” stats pages to earn natural links (“Job interview statistics” page: ~335–2,130 referring domains). [12:50–14:05]
- Agency Pricing: £2,000–£10,000 GBP/month for high-quality digital PR/link-building campaigns. [16:14]
- Avoiding Duplication & Over-Automation: Used programmatic SEO (Python tool, ChatGPT snippets) to mass-produce tailored content, but overdid duplicate variants—had to prune/recover. [19:59–21:57]
“Programmatic SEO is good, but you have to keep an eye on it… Otherwise… you confuse Google because a lot of it was very much the same.” [21:31]
5. Conversion Rates & Retention
- Trial Conversion: Stands at a strong 34% from cheap paid trial to full subscription—well above consumer SaaS averages. [09:01]
- Churn Fixes: Introduced exit surveys and prioritized feature requests; incremental improvements paid off. [07:21]
6. SEO Performance & Tactics
- Peak Traffic: “He was getting 7,493 clicks per day organically from Google.” (July 9, 2024) [17:31]
- Evergreen Content: “CV example” pages; added features not available from ChatGPT (zoom CV, copy text version)—differentiating from generic AI answers [18:00].
- Programmatic SEO—With Caution: Made tools to generate page variants but had to reverse course when duplication penalized rankings. [19:59–21:57]
7. Exit Strategy & Next Steps
- Actively Considering Sale: “Certainly open to looking for buyers at the moment.” [22:46]
- Valuation Expectation: Seeks ~£600-700k GBP for exit, factoring in continued involvement. Will consider earn-out/contingent structures. [23:34–24:14]
- New Agency: Focusing on linqwest.co.uk, an SEO agency specializing in SaaS [24:22]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
“I always thought you launch the site and customers just arrive. Turns out you have to learn… SEO.”
— Andrew Fennell [04:27]
“The mistake I made was not going with a recurring plan… we switched to a subscription model and that massively increased the revenue.”
— Andrew Fennell [06:37]
“You don’t have to write a 6,000 word piece… Data is becoming the number one thing in link building.”
— Andrew Fennell [14:16]
“If you do this properly, this content will rank naturally without having to do any outreach and you will attract a lot of links.”
— Andrew Fennell [13:41]
“Programmatic SEO is good, but you have to keep an eye on it and make sure the content is still quality. Otherwise… you confuse Google.”
— Andrew Fennell [21:31]
“Most agencies that do high-level link building will charge a fixed fee… at least £2,000/month. But it’s worth it.”
— Andrew Fennell [16:14]
“With AI and ChatGPT… you might think a free resume builder has no shot. But Andrew just showed you over a million dollars in total sales.”
— Nathan Latka [24:56]
Timestamps for Important Segments
- [01:07] — Why Andrew entered the CV/resume space
- [02:15] — Product paywall and pricing model
- [03:26] — Domain authority & organic traffic metrics
- [04:27] — Transition from zero revenue and the hard-earned lesson in SEO
- [06:37] — Pivoting from one-time to subscription pricing lifts LTV
- [07:21] — Tackling churn with user surveys and feature additions
- [09:01] — 34% trial-to-paid conversion explained
- [09:59] — £1M total revenue confirmed
- [10:35–15:35] — Deep dive on current link-building playbook: linkable assets and digital PR
- [16:14] — Digital PR agency pricing revealed
- [17:31] — Peak organic traffic and seasonality effects
- [18:00] — Creating value beyond AI tools (ChatGPT)
- [19:59–21:57] — Experience with programmatic SEO: benefits, pitfalls, and traffic recovery
- [22:32] — Current MRR disclosed
- [22:46–24:14] — Exit plans, valuation expectations, and acquisition deal structuring
- [24:22] — Andrew’s new SaaS SEO agency revealed
Takeaways for Listeners
- Owning your acquisition channel (in this case, SEO mastery) is a massive SaaS multiplier—even for solo founders.
- Recurring revenue trumps one-time sales: Making the switch is the surest way to grow LTV and stabilize MRR.
- Data-driven, evergreen content is the engine for passive backlinks and sustained organic growth.
- Programmatic SEO can scale content but must be checked for duplication penalties and content quality.
- Digital PR and linkable assets are the top strategies for authoritative, sustainable backlink profiles in 2025.
- Don’t be afraid to iterate on pricing, onboarding, and retention tactics based on real user feedback.