Mangools

Peter Hrbacik had been programming since age twelve with a dream of building a product that would attract thousands of people. By 2014, he had launched several projects—web development, affiliate sites, e-shops, and other SaaS ventures—but many failed due to lost enthusiasm or missed product-market fit. He wasn't a perfectionist; instead, he believed in launching a functional prototype quickly and gathering real user feedback. This philosophy became the foundation for Mangools.

KWFinder, the first tool that would become Mangools, took about one month to develop in 2014. Peter built it to solve his own need for keyword research, hoping others shared the same problem. Rather than pursuing investors or hiring developers, Peter stayed lean—he was technical enough to launch and market the product himself with minimal costs. This allowed him to test the market potential rapidly without external dependencies.

Right after launching KWFinder, Peter posted it on Reddit, HackerNews, and other forums. This grassroots sharing became his first and most effective marketing activity. The feedback was awesome, and the community response validated the product. Until summer 2016, the growth was entirely organic—no PPC campaigns, no targeted ads, no serious marketing pushes. The tool's utility and word-of-mouth spread naturally within the online marketing community.

In July 2016, Peter realized organic growth had limits and brought on Maros as the first dedicated marketing hire. The team then pursued "low-hanging fruit": setting up proper analytics and running Google Ads remarketing campaigns, which brought hundreds of new subscriptions. They later added behavioral emailing and inbound marketing powered by high-quality content. The company also practiced what it preached—doing SEO on their own websites, optimizing technical and content factors, and eventually investing in link-building.

In May 2019, the team made a major decision: switching from a freemium model with a "forever free" plan to a time-limited 10-day free trial with three paid subscription tiers. This shift generated significant discussion within the team about the trade-offs, forcing them to make data-backed decisions rather than relying purely on intuition—a lesson learned as the business scaled.

Peter's biggest regret was not delegating sooner. He initially tried to manage everything himself, which became unsustainable as KWFinder grew. Building the team (eventually 11 people) and learning to delegate was crucial to reaching the current scale.

By the time of this interview (September 2019), Mangools was generating over $250,000 per month—equivalent to $2.7 million in yearly revenue in less than four years. The company had evolved from a single keyword research tool into a package of five SEO tools covering a broad range of SEO needs. The team of 11 was focused on improving data quality, redesigning tools for better UX, and creating free SEO resources and content to establish Mangools as an SEO authority. Peter had also begun acquiring complementary SaaS businesses (like EmailListVerify, an email verification tool) to diversify revenue streams beyond the SEO niche.