Inside the Startup Journey of Mike Slaats and Upvoty’s Growth

[Maria Gonzalez]

I was reading about Mike Slaats, the founder of Upvoty, and his path from building SaaS products to launching a feedback platform that helps teams organize and act on user input. Public interviews with him mention that Upvoty started when he couldn’t find an affordable tool that worked the way he wanted, so he created his own and validated demand with a simple landing page before building it out. Over time it has grown into a standalone SaaS that many product teams use. Mike also hosts podcasts and vlogs around startup life and shares productivity techniques he uses personally. It really got me thinking about how many tools we use today started from someone’s own need and evolved into something broader.

 

[Anna Kowalska]

That’s pretty cool. I always like stories where a founder builds something because they needed it themselves. Makes it feel more real.

 

[Joe Smith]

I’ve heard of Upvoty before, but didn’t know the backstory. Interesting that it was born out of handling feedback for another product.

 

[Maria Gonzalez]

I’ve heard of Upvoty before, but didn’t know the backstory. Interesting that it was born out of handling feedback for another product.

Yeah, that part stood out to me too. It’s nice to see someone test ideas before building a full product.

 

[Wei Zhang]

I wonder how big Upvoty is now in terms of monthly revenue or users.

 

[Michael Anderson]

I’ve been curious about his productivity methods like the Now, Next, Not Yet thing. Seems like it could help focus a lot of people.

 

[Maria Gonzalez]

I’ve been curious about his productivity methods like the Now, Next, Not Yet thing. Seems like it could help focus a lot of people.

Totally. Sometimes the routines founders use are almost as interesting as the product itself.

 

[Ahmed Hassan]

Podcasts and vlogs too? That’s a lot on his plate.

 

[Helena Ortiz]

I’ve looked at some of the product announcements too. It seems like Mike Slaats really emphasizes user feedback in his posts. I don’t think we can tell exactly how much it drives growth, but it’s interesting to see the focus on iterating based on customer input. Did you notice any trends in how often they roll out updates?

 

[Alice Morgan]

Yeah, I followed a few of those updates. From what I can see, most are feature-related, nothing on financial outcomes. I guess that’s pretty common for private SaaS startups. You mostly get to track leadership vision and product evolution from the outside.

 

[Miguel Torres]

I was reading about Mike Slaats, the founder of Upvoty, and his path from building SaaS products to launching a feedback platform that helps teams organize and act on user input. Public interviews with him mention that Upvoty started when he couldn’t find an affordable tool that worked the way he wanted, so he created his own and validated demand with a simple landing page before building it out. Over time it has grown into a standalone SaaS that many product teams use. Mike also hosts podcasts and vlogs around startup life and shares productivity techniques he uses personally. It really got me thinking about how many tools we use today started from someone’s own need and evolved into something broader.

It’s impressive how he turned a personal frustration into a tool that now helps entire teams. It really highlights the value of solving your own problem first before scaling it out to others.

 

[Daisy Miller]

I was reading about Mike Slaats, the founder of Upvoty, and his path from building SaaS products to launching a feedback platform that helps teams organize and act on user input. Public interviews with him mention that Upvoty started when he couldn’t find an affordable tool that worked the way he wanted, so he created his own and validated demand with a simple landing page before building it out. Over time it has grown into a standalone SaaS that many product teams use. Mike also hosts podcasts and vlogs around startup life and shares productivity techniques he uses personally. It really got me thinking about how many tools we use today started from someone’s own need and evolved into something broader.

I like that he validated the idea with a landing page before building the full product. That’s a smart way to test demand early without over-investing in development.

 

[Amelia Bennett]

I was reading about Mike Slaats, the founder of Upvoty, and his path from building SaaS products to launching a feedback platform that helps teams organize and act on user input. Public interviews with him mention that Upvoty started when he couldn’t find an affordable tool that worked the way he wanted, so he created his own and validated demand with a simple landing page before building it out. Over time it has grown into a standalone SaaS that many product teams use. Mike also hosts podcasts and vlogs around startup life and shares productivity techniques he uses personally. It really got me thinking about how many tools we use today started from someone’s own need and evolved into something broader.

The combination of building a SaaS and sharing his journey through podcasts and vlogs makes his approach feel really transparent. It’s interesting to see how founders engage with the community while growing their product.

 

[Clara]

Yeah, I followed a few of those updates. From what I can see, most are feature-related, nothing on financial outcomes. I guess that’s pretty common for private SaaS startups. You mostly get to track leadership vision and product evolution from the outside.

Exactly, that’s what I’ve noticed too. For private SaaS startups like Upvoty, the public-facing updates are mostly about new features, improvements, or general growth milestones. Financials or concrete performance metrics are rarely shared, so from the outside, all you can really track is how the product evolves and how the leadership communicates their vision.

 

[Alice Morgan]

I’ve looked at some of the product announcements too. It seems like Mike Slaats really emphasizes user feedback in his posts. I don’t think we can tell exactly how much it drives growth, but it’s interesting to see the focus on iterating based on customer input. Did you notice any trends in how often they roll out updates?

Yeah, I noticed that too. From what I’ve seen, Upvoty seems to push updates fairly regularly, especially smaller tweaks and feature improvements based on user feedback. It’s hard to know the impact on actual growth from the outside, but the cadence suggests they take customer input seriously and try to iterate quickly. It gives a sense of an active roadmap even if the bigger metrics aren’t public.

 

[Helena Ortiz]

Yeah, I noticed that too. From what I’ve seen, Upvoty seems to push updates fairly regularly, especially smaller tweaks and feature improvements based on user feedback. It’s hard to know the impact on actual growth from the outside, but the cadence suggests they take customer input seriously and try to iterate quickly. It gives a sense of an active roadmap even if the bigger metrics aren’t public.

Exactly, that’s what I was thinking too. You can’t see the exact growth numbers or revenue impact, but the frequency of updates and the way they highlight user feedback gives a pretty clear picture of their approach to product development. It’s more about creating a responsive tool and showing users that their input matters, even if the bigger business results remain behind the scenes.

 

[Amelia Bennett]

Exactly, that’s what I was thinking too. You can’t see the exact growth numbers or revenue impact, but the frequency of updates and the way they highlight user feedback gives a pretty clear picture of their approach to product development. It’s more about creating a responsive tool and showing users that their input matters, even if the bigger business results remain behind the scenes.

I agree completely. The regular updates and attention to feedback really suggest that Upvoty is focused on building a tool that actually meets user needs. You might not get hard metrics from the outside, but seeing that pattern over time gives a sense of how they prioritize product evolution and customer engagement. It’s one of those cases where consistent behavior tells you more than a single announcement ever could.

 

[Miguel Torres]

I agree completely. The regular updates and attention to feedback really suggest that Upvoty is focused on building a tool that actually meets user needs. You might not get hard metrics from the outside, but seeing that pattern over time gives a sense of how they prioritize product evolution and customer engagement. It’s one of those cases where consistent behavior tells you more than a single announcement ever could.

Exactly, that’s what I’ve noticed too. Even without seeing revenue or growth numbers, the steady stream of updates and the emphasis on acting on user feedback show a clear approach to product development. Patterns like that often reveal more about a company’s priorities and culture than any single press release or announcement could.

 

[Daisy Miller]

The combination of building a SaaS and sharing his journey through podcasts and vlogs makes his approach feel really transparent. It’s interesting to see how founders engage with the community while growing their product.

Absolutely, that transparency really stands out. Sharing the journey through podcasts and vlogs not only highlights his product approach but also gives insight into how he thinks as a founder. It’s a neat way to connect with the community while showing the evolution of Upvoty beyond just feature updates.

 

[Alice Morgan]

Absolutely, that transparency really stands out. Sharing the journey through podcasts and vlogs not only highlights his product approach but also gives insight into how he thinks as a founder. It’s a neat way to connect with the community while showing the evolution of Upvoty beyond just feature updates.

It gives a more personal view of the product and the decisions behind it. You can see how he experiments, iterates, and shares lessons learned, which makes the development process feel more accessible and real, not just a list of features or updates.