Jon Yongfook (yeah, that’s his real name) is a UK-born entrepreneur now in his mid-forties, and he’s the brains behind slick automated media tools like Bannerbear.

Living in Asia these days, he’s made the jump from a tired nine-to-five pro to the sole captain of a mini SaaS fleet that pulls in $75,000 a month — all recurring revenue.

No outside investors. No big marketing budget. Just a tight crew of three and a mountain of grit.

Jon’s journey is all about messing up in public, dishing the dirt on his failures, and chasing tiny niches that light him up. Below is a year-on-year rundown of the wild ride — from crashes that taught him lessons to the little tweaks that finally clicked.

🌱 Pre-2018 – Corporate Peak & Early Failures

Corporate Burnout

In design and product gigs, he once cranked out banners the old-fashioned way. After months of sliding the same old images around, he burned out on the repeat task.

He also did a stint at agencies, and each time the same design hell loop kept getting sent to print. Eventually, he realized he’d already climbed the corporate ladder and, at the very top, there wasn’t a rung that made him want to keep climbing.

"When I left my last job, I could feel the drumroll of my career roaring behind me. I could tell it’d be a marathon or a month of dead-end scrolling to find a gig that gave the same buzz. So, I locked my gaze and decided to stitch a solo business, for me and me alone." – Dec 2024 X post

Ten Years of Swing and Miss

From 2008 to 2018, I pumped life into a dozen SaaS ideas. Each one left the lab weak and wobbly. I traced the bruises to my eye for detail, half-baked marketing, and a calendar that stretched too thin.

The Switch

"Focus on a single thing and plant it where your heartbeat races. That’s when it clicked." – July 2020

The Rookie Mistake I Taught Myself

In 2014, I typed a post called Failing Because Your Marketing Sucks. I fast-forwarded the lesson others needed: never, ever skip building an audience — my blind spot for years.

💥 2018–2019 – The Bounce-Back: 12 Startups in 12 Months

The Idea

When 2019 stormed in, I threw out a personal dare: launch a dozen fresh products in the next twelve calendar pages. I sped-printed littles, tweeted my slices of progress, and threw launch parties on Product Hunt.

The Scoreboard

None of the dozen landed a cash bump that mattered — every dollar tried to run inside the door and out again. The launches went mint-to-dust.

But at the end of the year, the skills I schlepped grew a mile. So did my network and the crowd that buzzed around me.

"With your tenth idea you’ll be stronger at design, marketing, and connected to a bigger circle." – Nov 2024

Key Takeaway

Throwing ideas at the wall didn’t last; sticking to one you love and pushing it hard mattered way more than doing a hundred.

🎯 2020 – Hello Bannerbear

The Spark and the Start

Bannerbear was a fix for a pain Jon kept seeing at agencies: turning a simple template into a hundred different images through a simple API. He pressed go in early 2020 and used the audience he’d already built to start selling it.

Early Ps

By late 2020 Bannerbear was bringing in $10K MRR, powered by helpful blog posts, how-to videos, and chatting with users in every possible corner.

"Stay focused, stay fired up, and don’t stop." – Jul 2020

📈 2021 – Hitting $20K MRR

Pattern for Growth

Every two weeks Jon went deep: one week in the code, the next in the marketing. He’d publish fresh blog posts, polish the landing page, tweet what he learned, and fire off a weekly newsletter.

Marketing Moves

• SEO-rich how-tos

• Affiliate links to spread the word

• YouTube how-tos

• Two pushes on Product Hunt

Biggest Oops

Churn was a ghost he kept ignoring; when he finally turned to it, Monthly Recurring Revenue was already much stronger.

💡 2022–2023 – Growing the Suite & Passing $50K MRR

Next Steps

Jon brought out Cinemato, a video rendering API, and Databear, a data-fetching tool — weaving them into a media automation arsenal.

The Number

The trio crossed $1M ARR together, with Bannerbear alone soaring past $50K MRR.

Tech Lessons

Jon wrote a blog called 5 Tech Mistakes I Made While Growing My SaaS. He talked about the bumps in the road when you try to grow a business and why mapping out your tech setup ahead of time is a game changer.

⚖️ 2024 – Peaks, Dips & Stepping Back

MRR Peak & Dip

We went to $53,000 MRR, then lost $3,000 after a round of members left. I pulled the public revenue readout to cool down the pressure on the team and me.

Thoughts

"Running a business isn’t about loving it; I do it because the job thing never fit me." – October 2024

🚀 2025 – $75K MRR & Truths from the Hustle

Present Portfolio

Bannerbear stays the crown jewel, while Cinemato and Databear keep dropping steady monthly gains.

Marketing Roll-Up

• SEO and blog posts piling up traffic

• Affiliate partners pushing more and more

• Pricing tests keeping the numbers fresh

• New toys go out the door — flop or fly

Failing Upward

A product can bomb by noon, but Jon files it as data, not heartbreak.

🔑 Learned the Hard Way

• Passion × Focus = Unlimited Power
  Jon’s real win came when he kicked shiny objects aside and went all in on media automation.

• Marketing Is Required
  SEO articles, threads on X — every post is free gains in the tank.

• Ship Early, Read the Room
  Get the product live, then hear the crowd.

• Keep Going, Keep Growing
  A dozen dead ideas at the back, each one a stone on the path.