Hi, my name’s Andrew
I’ve spent the last 10 years building one of the UK’s biggest CV advice websites (StandOut CV) from scratch to over 18 million organic visitors and 140K YouTube subscribers.
I also launched and managed the StandOut CV builder SaaS app, signed over 20,000 paying customers and generated over £1million in subscription revenue.
I started with no audience, no funding and no knowledge of marketing whatsoever.
And eventually sold the business to a private investor in early 2026.
My SaaS business growth and sale journey
Starting from zero
1
Launched a CV writing business called StandOut CV and spent months building the site on Shopify, expecting customers to magically appear once it went live. Instead, it launched to virtually zero visitors… My first real lesson in the importance of marketing.
2
Spent the next 2 years reading every “Ultimate Guide” on digital marketing and Search Engine Optimization
3
Applied my learnings to the website; building helpful CV content, sales pages and backlinks from reputable careers websites.
4
Achieved no traction in months and almost gave up…. Until I saw that the site was ranking on page 1 for “CV writing service” – My first taste of SEO success.
First wins
5
Started attracting hundreds of ideal customers to the website, generating consistent leads and sales.
6
The business started generating more profit than I was making in my full-time recruitment job, so I quit to focus on StandOut CV full time – a goal I had dreamed about for years.
7
Started hiring freelancers, introducing systems and built one of the UK’s most popular CV advice websites, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors monthly.
Scaling and adapting
8
Switched the business model from writing services to selling advert space, allowing me to scale quicker and stay lean – generating over £1M in ad revenue.
9
Launched the StandOut CV YouTube channel and grew it to over 140K subscribers – After overcoming a fear of being on camera and several-hundred re-takes.
Building a product and exiting
10
Re-invested profits into building the StandOut CV builder app, allowing our visitors to create a winning CV in minutes.
11
Pulled the product from the site after it performed terribly in its first few months.
12
Rebuilt the product after deeper research and taking some expert advice from a CV product expert.
13
Re-launched and signed over 20,000 paying customers and generated over £1M in subscription revenue.
14
Sold the business to a private investor for a six figure sum
What’s next?
Building a SaaS company from scratch taught me that businesses don’t necessarily need the biggest budgets to win – they can reach their target audience and build trust with helpful content and smart low-cost promotion.
But doing that isn’t always easy.
Today, I share the lessons, strategies, mistakes and insights I’ve learned along the way to help founders and marketers grow through smarter organic marketing.
With the sale of StandOut CV complete – I’m settling into my new office in the Sussex countryside and focusing on the following things:
- Sharing organic SaaS growth lessons here on my site, YouTube, LinkedIn and X.
- Helping SaaS founder and marketers to grow revenue with SEO
- Launching a new SaaS SEO agency
