Bookura.io (Aquired)
Bookura was the first software I ever launched, built from scratch, sold to real customers, and eventually acquired. It taught me everything I know about product.
Bookura was my first real shot at software. I had built and sold e-commerce brands before, but I always wanted to create something that felt more like infrastructure something that solved a clear, repeatable problem for businesses. Appointment booking seemed like the perfect starting point. Every service-based business I knew struggled with no-shows, messy calendars, and endless back-and-forth just to confirm a time. I wanted to build a clean, modern system that made booking as simple as clicking a link.
Bookura is, at its core, an appointment scheduling platform with a fully embeddable booking panel. A business can drop it onto their website and instantly allow customers to view services, select staff, pick a time, and confirm their booking. Payments are integrated, so they can take deposits or full payments up front through Stripe or other supported gateways. For businesses like auto detailers, med spas, gyms, or consultants, it’s a way to turn a website into a 24/7 booking machine without endless phone calls.
The dashboard is where the power really lives. Inside Bookura, a business can manage all appointments, customer details, payments, and even promotional workflows. It’s a full operating system for small businesses—appointments, staff assignments, custom forms, and real-time notifications. You can add multiple team members, create dynamic pricing, offer coupons, or set up recurring appointments. It was designed to do more than just schedule time; it was designed to run the business behind the scenes.
The journey of building Bookura was as valuable as the software itself. I bootstrapped the entire thing with my own money, taught myself everything about product design, and worked with developers to make my ideas real. It started out as a simple idea: “What if small businesses had a tool that just worked, without paying $99 a month?” I wanted a one-time payment model that felt fair and gave owners control. That thinking set the tone for everything I’ve built since.
Financially, Bookura taught me what growth actually costs. We hit around $8,000 in monthly recurring revenue, but I was running into high personal expenses and reinvesting almost everything back into marketing and support. I eventually made the decision to sell it not for a life-changing amount, but enough to validate that it was a real, sellable product with real customers. It was officially acquired, which felt like both a win and a lesson in how lean I needed to run my next projects.
Looking back, Bookura was my foundation. It showed me the blueprint for SaaS how to package a product, find early customers, and build something that people rely on every day. It’s also why I’ve been able to move so fast with Sky Schedule. Bookura was where I learned the hard parts: how to ship a product, how to talk to users, and how to make something simple but powerful.
