How a Delhi boy created $200 M SaaS with $0 VC money?

Did you know, Wingify became the first bootstrapped SaaS company out of India to cross $50M ARR?
Wingify Business Success Timeline

This isn't your typical founder story!

Paras was a gold medalist from Delhi College of Engineering in biotechnology, a field that had absolutely nothing to do with what he was about to build in coding or programming. But here's the twist: Paras had been programming since he was 13, back when his father first brought a computer home.

I just immediately fell in love with the idea of programming- Paras, Wingify founder

By the time he graduated in 2008, he'd already started multiple startups during college, watched them all fail, and learned the hard lesson that most entrepreneurs learn: failing fast and failing often is part of the process.

The original Wingify wasn't even called VWO. It was just "Wingify", a platform that Paras thought would help businesses optimize their websites.
But as he started building and talking to potential customers, he discovered something that businesses desperately need A/B testing tools, but the existing solutions were either too expensive (costing $25,000+ annually) or too complex for non-technical users.

& that is how Wingify came to fruition!

Unique Value of this Bootstrapped Gold Standard:

  1. The Visual Revolution: VWO introduced something that seems obvious now but was revolutionary then, a visual editor that let marketers create A/B tests without writing a single line of code.
  2. The Pricing Genius: While enterprise A/B testing solutions were charging $50,000-$200,000 annually, VWO started at $49/month. This wasn't just aggressive pricing, they were creating a market segment altogether.
  3. The Trust Framework: While competitors focused on fancy features, VWO obsessed over making sure tests actually worked.

The David vs. Goliath Victories:

  1. Beating Optimizely at Their Own Game: When Optimizely raised $57 million and positioned itself as the "Rolls Royce" of A/B testing, industry experts assumed VWO would get crushed. Instead, while Optimizely focused on enterprise features for Fortune 500 companies, VWO obsessed over user experience for everyone.
  2. Surviving Google's Optimize: When Google launched Google Optimize as a free A/B testing tool, VWO's doubled down on what Google couldn't offer, personalized support, advanced features, and reliability for serious businesses.
  3. The Global Market Penetration Strategy: From day one, Paras understood that to build a truly scalable SaaS business from India, you needed to think globally. While Indian competitors focused on the local market, VWO positioned itself as a global solution that happened to be just built in India.
Did you know that Wingify originally had a modest goal to generate just $1000 MRR, when they started?

Success Milestones:

  • Reached $1 million annual recurring revenue in just 18 months, in 2010
  • Paras Chopra featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 (Asia), in 2014
  • Closed $20M ARR with industry-leading margins by 2017
  • Acquired 6,000+ paid customers across 90+ countries by 2019
  • Everstone Capital acquired majority stake for $200M, in 2025
Did you know that Wingify founders rejected VC money for 15 years?
Source: Avinash Raghava on Wingify, Medium

5 hacks Paras used to Turn Wingify into a $200 Million Enterprise

  1. Profitability>Funding: While competitors burned through VC millions trying to achieve growth at any cost, Wingify's profitability gave them infinite runway and ultimate strategic freedom.
    Hacks
    : Cash flow positive businesses can outlast, outmaneuver, and ultimately outcompete funded companies.
  2. Global>Local for Indian SaaS: Indian market alone can't support a truly scalable SaaS business, so always build for global markets from launch.
    Hacks
    : Don't let geography limit your ambition or your pricing power.
  3. Founder Market Fit: By staying close to every aspect of the business, Paras developed an intuitive understanding of customer needs that no amount of market research could provide.
    Hacks
    : The best product decisions come from founders who stay connected to ground reality, not boardroom presentations.
  4. User Experience: While Optimizely competed on enterprise features and Google competed on price (free), VWO won by obsessing over user experience.
    Hacks
    : In crowded markets, user experience is often the only sustainable competitive advantage.
  5. Product Innovation: Every dollar Wingify spent had to be justified by revenue generated. This forced them to innovate efficiently and focus on customer needs.
    Hacks
    : Resource constraints force creative solutions and sustainable business models.

Join Over 10,000 Readers where we share insight to grow your company, build products. Get access to growth hack pitch decks and more.  

By subscribing you agree to with our Privacy Policy.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Subscribe to
Beyond Stack

Join our growing community of more than 10,000 Business Leaders.

Get access to Growth Hacks, Expert Interviews, and Data-backed Strategies every week, Exclusive Downloadable Templates and Data Bases.

By clicking Sign Up you're confirming that you agree with our .
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.