Bangladeshi founder bootstrapped his way to global success

Md Sadek Hossain bootstrapped EzyCourse to seven figures without a single dollar of outside funding.

Md Sadek Hossain never planned to compete with billion-dollar platforms like Kajabi and Thinkific. The young founder from Sylhet, Bangladesh, was simply frustrated with existing course platforms when he tried launching his own YouTube channel teaching web development.

That frustration turned into something much bigger. His bootstrapped startup EzyCourse now serves over 1,800 creators worldwide, pulls in US$ 1.5 million in trailing twelve-month revenue, and has its sights set on unicorn status-all built from a city most Silicon Valley investors have never heard of.

The medical school aspirant who chose coding: Hossain's story starts in an unusual place. After studying in a madrasa and skipping three grade levels, family expectations pushed him towards medicine-the traditional path for bright Bangalee students. When public medical college admission didn't work out, he made a decision that changed everything.

"I had always dreamed of doing something big, something that gave me control over my future," Hossain tells us. "I didn't want to rely on external facilities like high-end labs or university resources to succeed. That mindset led me to choose Computer Science & Engineering-a field where I could build, learn, and grow independently with just a laptop and an internet connection."

By his third semester at Leading University at Sylhet, Hossain was already working full-time as a freelancer on Fiverr. Within months, he'd built a team of around 20 people serving clients worldwide, maintaining a perfect five-star rating.

When the solution becomes the business: The jump from freelancing to product development happened when Mr Hossain hit a wall with his own needs. He wanted to launch courses for his growing YouTube channel, so he tested the usual suspects-Thinkific, Kajabi, WordPress solutions. None delivered what he wanted.

"I explored platforms like Thinkific, BuddyPress, and WordPress-based solutions, but none of them met my expectations," he explains. "They were either too limited, too complex, or too expensive for what I wanted to build."

Instead of settling, Hossain spent a year studying the market. His approach was smart: while developing EzyCourse, he deliberately took freelance projects that matched the platform's planned features and architecture.

"This strategy gave me deep insights into the tech stack, architecture, and challenges I'd later face in building the platform," he says.

Development kicked off officially in 2020. A small team worked on EzyCourse while others kept the freelance money flowing to fund operations.

The brutal reality of bootstrapping: Building EzyCourse meant surviving on unpredictable freelance income while keeping a team motivated. The pandemic brought Hossain's hardest leadership moment: cutting everyone's salary by 30 per cent.

"During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, I had to cut their salaries by 30 per cent. It was painful. But I made them a promise: If I'm alive and working, I will repay you, in sha Allah. And they trusted me," Hossain recalls. "And Alhamdulillah, I kept my word and paid back every single bit of that cut when we became stable."

The bootstrap journey meant constant trade-offs-- picking clients whose work aligned with long-term goals, working through the night, deciding which features to build first and which could wait. Eventually, EzyCourse hit sustainability, and the team could finally ditch client work for good.

Going head-to-head with the giants: Today's numbers tell a compelling story. EzyCourse serves over 1,800 active creators who are earning more than US$ 13million from using this platform. The business model mixes lifetime licences (US$ 9,000-US$ 10,000+) with monthly and yearly plans, plus various add-ons.

Their trailing twelve-month revenue has crossed US$ 1.5 million. The platform's modular design lets them spin off sister products like EzyStudio, EzyCommunity, and EzyForm--each using the same core code but targeting different markets.

EzyStudio, which focuses on website building and community-focused products, is already showing strong traction. The platform brought in over US$ 50,000 in pre-launch sales and is set to launch fully within a month. It competes directly with no-code tools like Wix, Squarespace, and Framer.

The company is also developing EzyCommunity for community management and EzyForm for form building solutions. Additionally, they're working on a no-code mobile app builder as part of their expanding ecosystem.

Competing with established unicorns like Kajabi and Thinkific might seem daunting, but Mr Hossain's strategy is refreshingly straightforward.

"My strategy is simple: 'FIND THE GAP.' Every market has gaps-areas where users are frustrated or underserved," he explains. "For example, one major gap across all these platforms is customer support. Most require users to wait days just to get a reply—no real human, no urgency. We've turned this into one of our strongest assets."

Rethinking how to build teams: Sadek Hossain's approach to hiring reflects bigger challenges in Bangladesh's tech scene. Rather than chasing developers with impressive CVs, he looks for raw talent with competitive programming backgrounds.

"Instead of chasing 'experienced' profiles which often don't translate into true product experience, we started hiring raw talent-especially from competitive programming backgrounds," he reveals. "We give them a solid starting salary and then put them through a three-month learning phase. No output is expected during that time-just learning."

This strategy tackles what he sees as a fundamental problem: most available talent in Bangladesh hasn't worked on large-scale SaaS products because the majority of companies focus on client services, not product development.

No-nonsense advice for wannabe founders: When it comes to advice for young entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, Mr Hossain cuts through the startup hype with practical wisdom.

"First things first, don't chase the shiny word 'startup.' It's become trendy, but starting up without a proper foundation often leads to burnout and failure," he warns.

His recommended path is more grounded: get experience working for someone else first, learn money management and delegation early, build reliable cash flow, and focus on customer feedback rather than chasing trends.

"'I want to be my own boss' - please, not yet. That mindset sounds cool but doesn't work without experience. Be an employee first. Work under someone. Take responsibility for real projects," he advises.

The key insight here is to master the fundamentals before trying to revolutionise anything.

The bigger picture for Bangladesh: Beyond personal success, Sadek Hossain has ambitious plans for Bangladesh's entire tech ecosystem. Operating from Sylhet isn't just about convenience, it's a deliberate choice for the founder who believes the city has unique advantages.

"I live and work in Sylhet not just because it's home, but because it's a cool, calm, and deeply rooted city. It's a peaceful place with religious values and growing ambition," he explains. "I strongly believe Sylhet is on its way to becoming a major tech startup city in Bangladesh. I see great companies and visionary founders being built here, people with the potential to lead not just in Bangladesh, but on the global stage."

Sadek believes Sylhet could become a major startup hub and has a specific proposal for government support.

He believes that the government or investors in Bangladesh need to identify 200-300 service-focused companies that currently cannot afford to develop products. Providing support for their transition from client servicing to product development would be tremendously beneficial.

"In a few years, many of those companies will start generating revenue. They'll hire more people. Their team members will become experienced in building global SaaS. From these 300, another 1,000 new startups will be born," he projects.

"In sha Allah, I'm working to build a unicorn from Sylhet. And once I do, my dream is to give back to this ecosystem," Hossain says. "Bangladesh has everything it needs to surpass India in certain areas of tech but we need to believe, back our builders, and build a real runway for them to take off."

With EzyCourse's momentum and Hossain's track record of keeping promises, that unicorn dream doesn't sound so far-fetched.

tanjimhasan001@gmail.com