This is a different kind of blog post. Some time ago, I reached out to the MakerKit community to ask for stories of how founders are using MakerKit to build their businesses. That led to the Customer Spotlight series — and the MakerKit Podcast.
I’ll be sharing how founders are using MakerKit to ship faster, reach their first customers, and what they’d do again (or never again) if they had to start tomorrow.
The first founder I spoke to is Rob Saric, a Canadian serial founder who used MakerKit to build Provider.app.
Rob’s story is a great example of a profitable niche SaaS with a human mission: helping clinics focus on patient care, not paperwork.
There’s a lot to learn here, so let’s dive in.
I love founders who build for their own pain. Rob is exactly that.
Rob co‑owns a physiotherapy clinic. Like many clinics, they were drowning in spreadsheets and clunky exports—time and energy that should have gone to treating patients.
Clinicians want to treat patients, not fight CSVs. Rob was the one stitching numbers together every week to answer simple questions like: “Are we actually getting better? Where’s the money leaking?”
“I automated the exports… and still ended up babysitting spreadsheets,” he told me. “That’s when I realised I was automating myself into more work.”
So he built the first version of what became Provider.app — initially just for his clinic. MakerKit for the skeleton, Supabase underneath, a couple of Upwork contractors to wrestle the old monolithic practice‑management systems, and some AI sprinkled in to normalise messy data.
It worked. The clinic had been stuck around $400k/year. With weekly discipline and clear numbers, they pushed past $500–600k/year.
This wasn’t “find PMF on Twitter.” This was: build, use, fix, repeat.
Sales: no ads, just walking and calling
One of my favourite parts of Rob’s story is how he built Provider.app. He didn’t start with a product; he started with a problem. He knew the problem, he knew the buyer, and he spoke their language.
Rob has almost 100 paying clinics now. No ads. No launch stunt. He does what most of us avoid: he literally walks around Ottawa and cold‑calls clinic owners. He doesn’t pitch the product. He talks about the problem, how he fixed it for himself, and shows the numbers.
That’s it. Clinic owners pick up because he sounds like one of them — because he is.
This is why picking a niche and solving a 10‑year problem matters. The best problems are the ones you’ve lived, care about, and can build a business around.
It’s easy to forget how powerful direct sales is when you spend all day on X or polishing onboarding. Rob’s rule: get to 100 customers before you buy ads.
Productised services are a great wedge
A lot of owners don’t know which metrics matter, let alone how to move them. So Provider.app isn’t just dashboards.
Rob pairs the software with coaching when it’s needed. Weekly “your targets dipped here—fix this” emails (Trigger.dev + Resend), a quick Loom when context helps, and simple goal‑setting.
Is that perfectly scalable? No. Is it sticky, useful, and profitable? Yes.
I’ve said this before: productised services are a great wedge. They pay the bills, give you direct feedback, and build trust. You don’t have to stay there forever, but for most bootstrappers it’s the fastest way to learn and earn.
Don’t blindly rely on third‑party services
One of Rob’s earlier startups nearly died because a core integration lived inside someone else’s SaaS. That company shut down. Lesson learned.
With Provider.app, the data pipelines are in‑house. Supabase is open‑source, so he can self‑host. The surface area where someone else can pull the rug is small.
As a principle: use great platforms, but make sure you can walk away if you have to.
I care about this with MakerKit too — I don’t want you locked into me if something goes sideways. You should be able to keep shipping. That’s why with MakerKit you can customise all the code.
What I’m stealing from Rob (and you probably should too)
- Build for a 10‑year problem. Clinics needing to make more money and waste less time isn’t going away.
- Distribution before automation. If you can’t cold‑email or cold‑call your way to 50–100 customers, ads will just burn cash faster.
- Charge for outcomes, not features. A free two‑year performance report and “we’ll help you add 5% next year” beats “$29/month for charts.”
- Keep the core in your control. Don’t stake your business on a third party that can price‑hike or vanish.
Selling is telling a true story
Rob said something simple but true: “If you can say this is how I did it for myself, it’s always a better sales tool.” That shows up everywhere — how he built Provider.app, how he sells it, how he prices it.
If you’re stuck: pick one problem you’ve actually lived with, solve it properly, and go talk to 50 people who have the same scar.
Rob’s playbook
Solve your own problem. Talk to customers. Price the result. Own the core.
Do that long enough and you won’t need luck - you’ll have a business.
Links
The next Customer Spotlight interview will drop next week! If you’ve built something with MakerKit and have a story like Rob’s, please send us an email at info@makerkit.dev - I’d love to feature you next.