How Paul Copplestone Built Supabase to $12M+ ARR (Open Source Firebase Alternative)
Supabase is an open-source alternative to Firebase that aims to provide developers with tools to build and scale their projects.
About The Supabase Founders
Who is Paul Copplestone?
Paul Copplestone serves as the CEO and co-founder of Supabase, a platform that offers backend services for developers.
Prior to establishing Supabase, Paul held positions at several tech companies, such as Accenture, Eneform, and ServisHero, where he took on leadership responsibilities and acquired considerable experience in developing and scaling software solutions.
He pursued studies in BCom, IT project management, and E-Business Systems at the University of Canterbury.
About The Business
Idea
How did Paul Copplestone get the idea for Supabase?
Paul was working on a project that resembled WhatsApp. The underlying tech was Firebase, which he felt was very good at building chat applications.
He encountered scaling issues with Firebase and migrated to a Postgres database. However, Postgres lacked Firebase’s real-time capabilities.
To address this, Paul built and open-sourced a real-time engine and posted about it on Hacker News. It gained traction on Hacker News, and realizing the potential, he decided to start Supabase.
Paul's post on Hacker News that validated the Supabase idea Source
Build
How did Paul Copplestone build the initial version of Supabase?
Here is a diagram showing Supabase architecture:
Supabase architecture
Launch
How did Paul Copplestone launch Supabase?
Supabase launched its beta product, focusing on performance, reliability, and security. They introduced multiple features, announced beta pricing, their round from Mozilla, and their commitment to the OSS community.
Supabase launches
Growth
What is the growth strategy for Supabase?
Supabase cofounders focused on engaging and growing their audiences on platforms like GitHub, YouTube and Hacker News:
For instance, on HN, Paul and his co-founder changed website tagline from “Realtime Postgres” to “The open source Firebase alternative.” and posted about the switch on HN and Supabase went viral.
...we actually changed the tagline on the website from “Realtime Postgres” to “The Open-Source Firebase Alternative.” We were planning on launching after YC, but that day, it was shared on Hacker News and went on top. — Paul (Source).
On YouTube, the co-founders posted demos and announced feature releases often. Here is a good example:
Supabase Supabase.js 1.0 Release and demo on YouTube
Pricing
How does Supabase price their products?
Supabase offers three pricing tiers and a free plan. Here is the overview of Supabase pricing:
- Free Plan
- Pro Plan: @ $25/Month
- Team Plan: @ $599/Month
- Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing
Pricing as of May 2024
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This case study explores the journey of building Recall, an AI-powered browser extension, and how the founder experienced initial struggles with user retention, sought feedback, made product improvements, and secured VC funding after a viral HackerNews post, leading to a successful launch and continued growth.
More about Supabase
Who is the owner of Supabase?
Paul Copplestone is the founder of Supabase.
When did Paul Copplestone start Supabase?
2020
What is Paul Copplestone's net worth?
Paul Copplestone's business makes an average of $1M/month.
How much money has Paul Copplestone made from Supabase?
Paul Copplestone started the business in 2020, and currently makes an average of $12M/year.
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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