Quick Answer (TL;DR)
Mikael Cho is the Founder & CEO of Unsplash, a series a Marketplace SaaS doing $100K-500K/mo. Their top advice: "Build something people love first, figure out how to make money from it second."
| Revenue | $100K-500K/mo |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 |
| Team | 21-50 people |
| Funding | $2M-10M |
| Growth | SEO |
| Industry | Marketplace |
The Origin Story
Mikael Cho started Unsplash in 2013 as a simple Tumblr blog while working on his previous company Crew. The team needed high-quality stock photos for their projects but couldn't afford the expensive licensing fees from traditional stock photo sites. He decided to create a collection of 10 beautiful, high-resolution photos and give them away for free to anyone who wanted to use them.
If you're figuring out your go-to-market, the TAM Calculator can help size your market, and the PMF Calculator helps measure product-market fit.
Biggest Win
Unsplash's biggest breakthrough came when the team realized the power of community-driven content creation. Within the first year, thousands of photographers started contributing their work to the platform voluntarily. This organic growth happened because the team focused on giving photographers a beautiful platform to showcase their work while providing users with stunning imagery at no cost.
The Hardest Lesson
The most challenging aspect was learning to balance the needs of three different stakeholders: photographers who want exposure and recognition, users who need high-quality images, and the business model. Early on, Mikael underestimated how complex it would be to create sustainable value for all parties. Building a marketplace requires constant attention to each side of the equation.
Tool Stack
The team built Unsplash primarily on Ruby on Rails with a focus on creating an exceptional search and discovery experience. The technical infrastructure prioritizes fast image delivery and search functionality, which are critical for both user experience and SEO performance. Unsplash has invested heavily in image processing and content delivery systems to handle millions of downloads.
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Key Metrics
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Advice for SaaS Founders
Focus obsessively on creating genuine value for your users before worrying about monetization. With Unsplash, the team gave away millions of photos for free for years before finding a revenue model. This approach built trust and scale that became the foundation for everything else. Don't rush to extract value from your community until you've proven you can consistently deliver value to them.
Explore our Marketplace industry playbook for frameworks and metrics specific to this industry.