doloc.io and Cloud Backup for Podio: How Daniel Schreiber Runs Two SaaS Products on the Side
"Happy Bootstrapping" Volume #51
Daniel Schreiber is a software developer based in Offenbach, Germany. He works part-time (80 percent) and runs two SaaS products on the side. His Cloud Backup for Podio has been generating around €2,500 MRR for over ten years.
His newer project doloc.io is an AI-powered translation tool for app developers that is just gaining initial traction. In between, there’s a startup he sold, a product that completely failed, and the realization that distribution remains the biggest challenge.
This is a summary of Episode 162 of the “Happy Bootstrapping” Podcast (German).
From the Energy Market to a Backup Tool
Daniel’s first brush with entrepreneurship was Wechselfuchs – a startup for automated energy provider switching that he launched about 14 years ago with his brother Dominik. The idea: use a power of attorney to switch electricity providers every twelve months and capture new customer discounts. After a few years, they sold the customer base to Wechselpilot – not a life-changing exit, but a small return.
The real byproduct of Wechselfuchs turned out to be more valuable: all customer data was stored in Podio, a SaaS platform for SMBs. Daniel wondered what would happen if Podio went down – and wrote a backup script. That script became Cloud Backup for Podio, a standalone product with Stripe integration and a clear value proposition: back up data, browse it independently, export it, and restore it if needed.
“The backup is more of a peace-of-mind thing. Knowing your data is somewhere else. Even if the intern deletes everything.”
Nearly all customers came through Podio’s plugin marketplace – without any active marketing.
The tech stack is pragmatic: PHP on the backend, MongoDB, Google Cloud, and a REST API for the frontend. Daniel deliberately never did a major rebuild, because the stability built up over ten years is priceless.
ValiPod: The Fail Without a Single Customer
In parallel, Daniel tried building ValiPod, a second Podio-based product – a validation tool for cross-field rules. Despite pre-launch interviews with experts, not a single paying customer signed up. The niche was too small, the search term too obscure, and there was no distribution channel. Daniel kept the tool online for free for years before eventually shutting it down.
“My learning: the niche can also be too small. And the distribution game doesn’t always run by itself.”
doloc.io: AI Translation for the Build Process
doloc.io was born from frustration with delayed releases caused by missing translations. The idea: app developers send their language files (JSON, XLIFF) to doloc’s API and get them back translated in seconds – context-aware, because already translated texts serve as an implicit glossary. Unlike traditional translation management platforms, doloc has no separate state, no complex UI, and no asynchronous translation process. Translation happens directly in the build.
The tech stack is modern: TypeScript with the Bun runtime on Google Cloud Run, Supabase for the database, and Astro on Cloudflare for the frontend. Translations run on GPT-4.1 because of its large context window. Operating costs are minimal.
Pricing starts free for up to 100 texts, €12 for up to 2,000 texts, and €45 for up to 10,000. A handful of paying customers are on board. The beta customer is Daniel’s own employer – free of charge, since the idea originated there.
“I’d rather focus on product and tech – that’s what I’m good at. Distribution is the open challenge.”
The biggest challenge remains marketing. Google Ads didn’t work because the relevant search terms are dominated by established translation platforms. Reddit drives some traffic, an IntelliJ plugin for developers generates visibility, and an open-source Angular addon links to doloc. Daniel also tried Product Hunt launches with his brother Raphael – without any lasting effect. His observation: the builder scene there tends to stay in its own bubble. He’s now betting on an affiliate program to reach content creators and newsletter operators with existing audiences in the developer community. Anyone interested is welcome to reach out directly.
What I Learned in This Interview
A product that has been running stably for 10 years at €2,500 MRR doesn’t need to be made bigger. Sometimes a reliable side income is more valuable than a risky growth strategy.
Distribution beats product. Cloud Backup had the Podio marketplace, ValiPod had nothing – with comparable product quality. That makes all the difference.
You don’t need the pressure. Daniel’s “everything is possible, nothing is required” philosophy might sound like an excuse, but it’s a deliberate luxury of indie hacking without external capital.
Learnings for Founders
Your own problems are the best starting point: Both Cloud Backup and doloc.io were born from genuine personal needs – which automatically validates the core idea.
The marketplace is your friend: Nearly all Cloud Backup customers came through the Podio marketplace. Platform ecosystems are often the most effective distribution channel for niche products.
Stability over modernization: Daniel never fundamentally rebuilt the PHP stack of Cloud Backup. Ten years of stability is worth more than a modern tech stack.
Failure costs little when the cost base is right: ValiPod ran on Firebase and caused no ongoing costs. The only loss was time and mental energy.
Affiliate programs need meta-marketing: Setting up an affiliate program isn’t enough – you still need to actively find and approach creators, which is yet another distribution problem.
The full episode is also on YouTube (german only):
Happy Bootstrapping is a German podcast where I interview bootstrapped founders, indie hackers, and solopreneurs about their startup journeys.
Over the years, I’ve connected with many successful entrepreneurs who have built e-commerce shops, SaaS platforms, mobile apps, content businesses, or hybrid models.
Furthermore I am a bootstrapper myself and growing my DevOps-as-a-Sercice and Web Operations Company “We Manage”.