Scaling bootstrapped SaaS the smart way with Vitaly Motuz @ReviewsOnMyWebsite

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by saas.group, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies.

In episode #36 of season 5, Anna Nadeina talks with Vitaly, founder of ReviewsOnMyWebsite & TextNinja.

Vitaly began coding websites in high school and later enrolled in a mechanical engineering program in Alberta, Canada. After three years he left university to follow the path he enjoyed: building web products and helping local businesses. He spent nine years at a digital marketing company, experimenting in his spare time, until one idea finally took off — ReviewsOnMyWebsite.

Why ReviewsOnMyWebsite started

The idea was practical and immediate. A friend who ran a local business had many strong Google reviews but no straightforward way to show them on her own website. Vitaly discovered there were either clunky, expensive options or outdated workarounds online — nothing simple and affordable for small local businesses.

He hired a developer on Upwork and launched a working prototype within three weeks. Within the first week of going live, he secured his first paying customers. Early growth came from forums, blog comments and a free plan that included a “powered by ReviewsOnMyWebsite” link in the widget — an effective viral lever.

Who uses ReviewsOnMyWebsite (the ICP)

Although the product can serve any business with a Google Business Profile, Vitaly narrows his focus to three primary categories:

• Home services (electricians, plumbers, movers, tile companies)
• Healthcare and beauty (dentists, chiropractors, salons)
• Professional services (accountants, lawyers)

The typical customer is a single-location mom-and-pop business with about 5–10 employees. Recently, the product has also started expanding into multi-location customers.

Growth channels that worked (and those that didn’t)

Vitaly prioritized SEO and content from day one — how-to articles and keyword targeting around “Google reviews widget” and “add reviews to your website” paid off when competition was sparse. Organic traffic remains a steady channel.

Other growth levers that mattered:

• Word of mouth: customers recommending the widget to peers
• Product placement: visible widgets with the powered-by link drove curious visitors to discover the product
• Partnerships: creator partnerships and reseller programs (more on this below)

Paid channels (Google Ads, Facebook) were tested but did not consistently produce sustainable ROI. LinkedIn hasn’t been explored yet — Vitaly is skeptical about whether local service owners are active there, though agencies as resellers could be a fit.

White-label and agency partnerships

After repeated requests from marketing and SEO agencies, Vitaly built a white-label version that lets agencies:

• Upload their logo
• Use a custom domain for the dashboard
• Resell the product and set their own pricing

For ReviewsOnMyWebsite, agencies became high-value clients: one agency can onboard dozens of local businesses, so a single partner can be worth many times more than an individual customer. Most partners find ReviewsOnMyWebsite organically; Vitaly’s team supports them through onboarding and technical setup to reduce friction.

How TextNinja was born

TextNinja began as a travel-inspired insight. While in Croatia, Vitaly booked a quad through a company that used a WhatsApp widget on its site. The real-time, phone-first communication made booking simple and fast — and it stuck with him.

TextNinja is a lightweight two-way SMS widget that lets website visitors send a message with their phone number and receive a reply by text. Vitaly saw competitors offering similar functionality but often bundled into expensive suites. He launched a focused, affordable standalone product under a distinct brand. The domain TextNinja came with some backlinks, which helped initial SEO.

Running two product brands as a small, bootstrapped team

Vitaly deliberately kept TextNinja as a separate brand. He likes the idea of several niche tools doing one job well, rather than one monolith doing many things adequately. That said, running two separate SaaS products stretched a small team and highlighted the trade-offs of being bootstrapped.

Why stay bootstrapped?

• No personal experience with raising capital and no desire to give up equity.
• Avoiding outside influence on product direction — Vitaly values the freedom to set his roadmap and lifestyle.
• Organic, steady growth matched his priorities: building a sustainable business while remaining location-independent.

The constraints are clear: slower scaling and resource limits. Still, the choice supported his preferred pace and way of running a company.

AI in the product: Respond with AI

ReviewsOnMyWebsite added an AI feature that drafts personalized responses to reviews. Vitaly introduced this soon after large language models became available, focusing on one practical pain point: small businesses often don’t know what to write or don’t have time to reply.

Key elements of the AI approach:

• Personalized responses that reference the reviewer’s name and the sentiment of the review
• Business owners can edit suggestions before posting — full control remains with the user
• Plans to add configurable automation later (for example: auto-respond to 3–5 star reviews, flag 1–2 star reviews for manual attention)

Adoption is growing but not universal. Many businesses simply don’t realize the impact of responding to reviews yet, so education remains an important part of the product strategy. Vitaly hasn’t seen major pushback on AI-generated drafts because users can preview and edit replies.

Biggest lesson: learn to let go

Vitaly points to one major personal and business win — learning to stop doing everything himself:

“I had to learn to give up some of that control and bring people on board to help me with tasks I either didn’t want to do or wasn’t the best person to do.” — Vitaly Motuz

For years he handled almost every non-development task: customer messages, product decisions, support and operations. Eventually he became a bottleneck. Hiring the first demo/customer-success person — someone with domain experience in reputation management — changed the game. It freed Vitaly to focus on strategy and product while improving onboarding and demos for customers across time zones.

Two practical founder hacks Vitaly swears by

• Plan your day the night before: Spend 5–10 minutes every evening to block the next day’s calendar and pick the most important task. It reduces morning friction and improves focus.
• Talk to customers regularly: Even if you’re technical and introverted, one-on-one conversations reveal how customers actually use your product and what they care about. Customer feedback reshaped ReviewsOnMyWebsite’s roadmap and product priorities.