How a Solo Founder Built SaaS Selling to Pottery Studios

**Fexingo** (0:01)
Okay, Lucas, I have to ask, Pottery Studios? You found a solo founder selling SaaS to Pottery Studios?

**Lucas** (0:09)
I did. And honestly, it's one of the most interesting vertical SaaS stories I've come across in a while. The founder's name is Maya Chun, and she started teaching a single wheel throwing class in Portland back in 2019
She realized the studio owner was managing bookings with a paper calendar and a Google Form, and kiln scheduling was a nightmare. People would fire their pots at overlapping temperatures and ruin entire loads.
So she built a simple tool for herself, just a calendar with kiln temperature slots and a glaze inventory tracker. Other studio owners saw it and asked if they could use it too. By early 2021, she had 15 paying studios.

**Fexingo** (0:52)
Wait, 15 paying studios from just word of mouth. She wasn't marketing at all?

**Lucas** (0:58)
Zero marketing. She posted about her tool once in a ceramics forum, and that was it. The product spread organically because the pain was real.
Today, she's at over 200 studios, and she's still the only employee.

**Fexingo** (1:13)
That's incredible. And I think this is a perfect moment to mention.
We keep this show completely ad-free, and that's by design. If these conversations are useful for what you're building, the best way to support that choice is at buymeacoffee.com/fexingo.

**Lucas** (1:31)
Yeah, it's a small way to keep the focus on stories like Maya's. So back to it, what makes pottery studios such a good fit for vertical sass?

**Fexingo** (1:40)
Well, you mentioned kiln scheduling. I imagine that's a huge pain point. In a typical pottery studio, you might have three or four kilns, each with different firing temperatures and cycles that take 8 to 12 hours.
If two people book the same kiln at the same temperature range, you could ruin hundreds of dollars of work.

**Lucas** (2:01)
Exactly, and the glaze inventory is another layer.
Most studios have dozens of glaze buckets, each with a different color and finish. They run out at unpredictable times, and if you're in the middle of a project and your favorite glaze is empty, you're stuck. Maya software tracks usage and sends restock alerts.
Then there's the no-show problem. Pottery classes are usually prepaid, but open studio time, where members come in to work on their own pieces, is often a flat monthly fee. If someone doesn't show up, that's a loss slot. Her system has a check-in feature that releases the spot after 15 minutes to a waitlist.

**Fexingo** (2:43)
That's smart.
So what's the pricing? I'm guessing it's not cheap for a niche tool.

**Lucas** (2:49)
She charges $99 per month per studio. That's a flat rate, unlimited users. For a small studio with maybe 20 members, that's less than $5 per member per month.
And studios are used to paying for supplies and kill maintenance. Software is just another line item for them.

**Fexingo** (3:08)
And the retention? I've heard Vertical SaaS can have high churn if the market is too small.

**Lucas** (3:14)
She shared her retention numbers 94% after the first year. That's insane. The reason is switching costs. Once a studio has all its kiln schedules, Glaze inventory, and member data in one system, moving to a competitor is a huge headache. Plus, there aren't many competitors.
She's basically the only option purpose-built for pottery.

**Fexingo** (3:38)
So she's got a mini monopoly and a niche. That's the dream for a solo founder. But how does she handle support?

**Lucas** (3:46)
She does all support herself mostly through email and a community forum. She says most questions are answered by other users within an hour.
She also records short video tutorials for common tasks. She works about 30 hours a week on the business now, down from 60 in the early days.

**Fexingo** (4:05)
That's sustainable. And the market size.
How many pottery studios are there in the US.?

**Lucas** (4:12)
Rough estimates put it at around 3,000 to 4,000 standalone studios, plus another 1,000 that are part of community centers or schools. So her addressable market is maybe 5,000 potential customers. At $99 a month, that's about $6 million in annual recurring revenue if she captures all of it.
She's at maybe 4% of that now.

**Fexingo** (4:36)
So there's still room to grow. And I suppose she could expand into other ceramics-adjacent markets, like glassblowing or metalworking studios.

**Lucas** (4:46)
That's the next step she's considering. Glass studios have similar needs, kiln scheduling for annealing inventory for colors. But she's cautious.
She wants to stay solo as long as possible, and expanding too fast could break her support model.

**Fexingo** (5:03)
Smart. So, what's the one lesson you'd take from Maya's story for aspiring founders?