How Takuya Matsuyama Turned Inkdrop into a $10K+/Month Bootstrapped SaaS

Background and Early Projects

Long before Inkdrop, Takuya Matsuyama was tinkering with free software in his teens in Japan. He wrote utilities and simple apps that gained him a small but loyal user base. After a short stint at Yahoo! Japan, he quickly realized that a 9-to-5 environment wasn’t going to feed his creative drive. He shifted to freelancing, giving him the freedom to explore personal ideas. One early side project, Walknote, attracted over 130,000 users but didn’t yield revenue. That experience taught him the importance of planning for monetization from day one.

Building Inkdrop

In 2016, fed up with generic note apps, Takuya set out to build a Markdown editor tailored to developers. He gave himself three months to launch version 1.0 using Node.js, Electron, React Native, and Next.js. The goal wasn’t to chase features but to cater to coders: syntax highlighting, custom plugins, secure encryption, and seamless cross-device sync. Within months, word of mouth among dev communities started to spread.

A Pricing Model That Works

Instead of a freemium tier, Inkdrop offers a 14-day trial. Takuya discovered free users demanded too much support and consumed resources without paying. By removing a free tier and charging $9.98/month or $99.80/year, he streamlined support costs and focused on feature quality. When he doubled prices, only 20% churned, while new sign-ups remained steady, proving that a smaller base of happy customers is more sustainable.

Marketing via Transparency

Takuya’s real edge came from sharing every step of his journey. He wrote candid posts on Hacker News like “How I Built a Markdown Editor Earning $1,300/mo” and “I Stopped Setting a Financial Goal for My SaaS.” Those articles drove roughly 90% of initial sign-ups. Readers connected to his honesty about hits and misses, sparking discussion and trust.

YouTube: From 0 to 200K Subscribers

Three years later, Takuya launched the Devaslife YouTube channel, sharing tutorials, lessons learned, and motivational talks with a unique “Wabi-sabi” touch. Videos started ranking in search results and recommended feeds. Today the channel has over 201,000 subscribers and drives 70-80% of new Inkdrop users. His advice: focus on emotion, keep experimenting, and design content specifically for video instead of repurposing blog text.

Key Lessons and Balance

Takuya stresses that a strong brand and community are harder to copy than features. He treats his work as art, resists VC pressure, and maintains a steady pace. Despite temptation to start new projects, he channels that energy back into video ideas, keeping both himself and Inkdrop evolving without burnout.

Looking Ahead

With eight years under his belt, Takuya plans to keep Inkdrop running lean. His focus remains on niche developer needs, transparent storytelling, and organic growth through quality content. For those building SaaS on a shoestring, his route shows that genuine sharing, niche focus, and smart pricing can outpace bigger players.