SaaS Startup Revenue Verification Platform
Asger Hansen
Project — FreeMRR
Scaling a Public SaaS Revenue Verification & Startup Discovery Platform
Overview
Developed a scalable SaaS revenue transparency platform that enables startups to publicly showcase verified Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) through secure billing integrations such as Stripe.
The platform was designed to improve trust and transparency in the SaaS ecosystem by combining verified revenue metrics, public startup discovery, and real-time leaderboard rankings in a seamless user experience.
A major product goal was reducing onboarding friction. Founders could publish and promote their startup listings instantly without creating an account upfront, then securely claim ownership later through verification workflows.
The Challenge
Most startup directories rely on self-reported metrics that cannot be verified, making it difficult for users, founders, and investors to trust public growth claims.
The platform needed to solve several technical and product challenges:
Securely verify revenue data through billing providers
Support scalable public leaderboard rankings
Handle large volumes of public search and filtering queries
Build frictionless onboarding without compromising ownership security
Optimize performance for public traffic and analytics-heavy pages
Maintain reliable synchronization of verified MRR data
My Contributions
I led the backend architecture and core platform development, focusing on scalability, verification workflows, and performance optimization.
Key responsibilities included:
Designing the platform architecture using Next.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, and AWS
Building secure Stripe-based revenue verification workflows
Developing the startup leaderboard and ranking engine
Creating scalable REST APIs for startup discovery and public analytics
Implementing claim-listing and ownership verification systems
Optimizing database queries and caching strategies for high-traffic public pages
Building responsive UI components with light/dark mode support
Containerizing services with Docker for streamlined deployment workflows
Technical Implementation
Revenue Verification System
Implemented secure integrations with the Stripe API to validate recurring revenue metrics directly from connected billing accounts.
The verification pipeline included:
OAuth-based account connection
Secure token handling
Periodic revenue synchronization
Verification status tracking
Public trust indicators for verified startups
This reduced reliance on manually submitted revenue claims and improved credibility across the platform.
Scalable Leaderboard & Discovery Engine
Built a dynamic leaderboard system capable of ranking startups by:
Verified MRR
Growth metrics
Category performance
Trending activity
Implemented:
Redis-based caching layers
Optimized PostgreSQL indexing
Efficient pagination and filtering queries
Search-driven discovery APIs
These optimizations significantly improved response times for public-facing discovery pages under high traffic loads.
Claim & Ownership Workflow
Designed a secure ownership-claiming workflow that allowed startups to:
Publish listings instantly
Claim ownership later
Verify identity through connected services
The system minimized onboarding friction while preventing unauthorized ownership claims.
Technologies Used
Next.js
TypeScript
PostgreSQL
Redis
Docker
AWS
REST APIs
Stripe API
Results & Impact
Built a scalable public SaaS analytics and discovery platform
Enabled verified public MRR transparency through billing integrations
Reduced onboarding friction with instant startup publishing workflows
Improved platform trust through revenue verification mechanisms
Delivered fast and optimized startup discovery experience using caching and query optimization
Established infrastructure capable of supporting high-volume public leaderboard traffic
Key Takeaways
This project focused heavily on backend scalability, public analytics performance, and trust-driven product design.
The biggest engineering challenges involved balancing:
Public transparency with secure verification
Fast discovery experiences with analytics-heavy workloads
Frictionless onboarding with ownership protection
The result was a modern SaaS discovery platform optimized for transparency, scalability, and user trust.
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Posted May 24, 2026
Developed a SaaS platform for startups to publish verified MRR metrics, public profiles, and leaderboard rankings with secure billing integrations.
