Origins of a $5 Million ARR Software Company (Yelp Hack)

Jason BergenskeFounder of MoveItPro $5 Million annual recurring revenue
Published June 9, 2023 by Niall Doherty

The software is called MoveItPro, and their pitch goes like this

The #1 moving company software

Increase your revenue and profitability with the best moving and storage software for moving companies. MoveitPro is a one-stop shop for everything to do with the operations of your company.

Notes from a recent interview with founder Jason Bergenske…

In 2011, Jason took over a moving and storage business in Orlando, Florida, which his grandparents had started in 1968.

He quickly became frustrated that the business was still being run with pen and paper instead of modern software.

So he started looking around for a solution.

He couldn’t find a good software solution, so he decided to build his own…

It wasn’t smooth sailing right away. Jason went through five different teams before he found developers he could rely on to build what he needed.

But a couple of years later, he had spent over $75,000 on development and only built about 10% of the features that he thought his business needed.

Most people would see that as a failure, but for Jason it was a big aha moment

He reasoned: if it’s so hard for me to build software to run my company, it must also be really hard for other moving and storage companies.

So he decided to go all in on the software, and invested another ~ $200,000 – funded from the profits of his existing business – to build a product he was happy with and felt confident he could sell to other companies.

Jason ultimately spent 5 years building the software before he got his first paying customer. 

Waiting that long and investing that much money before landing a customer is usually a recipe for disaster

But in this case Jason was able to test out and perfect the product in his own company before offering it to others.

Essentially, he was his own first customer.

And it worked out well, to the point where MoveItPro now earns $5 million a year in recurring revenue

Jason’s first real customers were friends who owned other moving companies.

Beyond that, he used a clever hack to find customers via Yelp.

He would go on there and “request a quote” from other moving companies, but attached to the quote he would explain about the software and how it might be helpful.

Jason explains the clever part…

When someone does request a quote on Yelp… it sends a push notification directly to the owner of that [company’s] cell phone and… Yelp penalizes that owner if they do not respond to the message within a certain amount of time.

The result…

We started messaging hundreds of moving companies throughout the United States and we probably signed up 50 moving companies in a matter of two months.

Looks like Yelp still has this feature.

Could be a good way to pitch your products or services to other businesses

First time seeing our Online Money Maker profiles? Click here for a quick intro.

The goal of our Online Money Maker profiles is to show you all the different ways people make money online. We strive to ensure that each profile is realistic – no hype, no scams – so you can see what it really takes to build each type of business.

If you'd like to hear when we publish new profiles, subscribe to our free newsletter below. Each edition is packed with tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. We send it out every Tuesday and Friday to 30,845 legendary subscribers.

Sign up to get the next edition of eBiz Insider delivered to your inbox




HP

We'll first send a confirmation email to make sure it’s you 🔒
Check out our privacy policy to see how we protect and manage your data.

See our latest profiles of Online Money Makers


Learn more about income claims and estimates on this website

Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.

With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.

Here’s how:

We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.

If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.

Is this kind of business right for you?

Check out our framework to see the 19 types and 6 levels of online business, and discover which is best for you.

Other ways to make money online

There are many other ways to make money online, to work from home or anywhere in the world.

Full list of ways to make money onlineMore profiles of online money makers👇 Subscribe to eBiz Insider 👇

Every Tuesday and Friday we email 30,845 people like you with top tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. No hype, no scams, no fake gurus. Sign up below to get the next one.

HP

We'll first send a confirmation email to make sure it’s you 🔒
Check out our privacy policy to see how we protect and manage your data.