Cometly: two agency founders turned an ad-tracking spreadsheet into $10M verified revenue

Q: Why did Cometly work?

Founders who had the problem. As agency owners they "noticed tracking issues with their ads, so they decided to create Cometly" (Markademics). Validated by hand first. "Cometly actually started out with a spreadsheet with links to dashboards with accurate data coming in. They saw that this actually worked so they decided to turn it into a software" (Markademics). Good timing. Apple's iOS 14 privacy changes made Facebook ad attribution harder, the topic the co-founder was invited to explain (Markademics). Sell to people who measure money. The pitch is "Tie every ad dollar to closed-won ARR" (TrustMRR), easy to justify for teams that spend a lot on ads.

Key takeaways

The co-founders started an ad agency in 2012, exited in 2019, and built Cometly after seeing ad tracking issues even before iOS 14.
It began as a spreadsheet of links to dashboards with accurate data, then became software.
TrustMRR (Stripe-verified, 4 Nov 2026): $198,248 MRR, 276 active subscriptions, $10,177,744 all-time revenue.

What it is

Cometly is marketing attribution for SaaS companies: it ties ad spend to closed-won revenue and sends accurate conversion data back to ad platforms, with an AI chat over your ads data (TrustMRR). It started as software to "track, analyze and scale your Facebook ad campaigns" (Markademics).

Timeline

2012: Matt Pattoli and Grant Cooper start an advertising agency together (Markademics).
2019: they exit the agency and keep working on other projects; they notice ad tracking problems "even before IOS 14" (Markademics).
Oct 2020: founding date on TrustMRR (TrustMRR).
4 Nov 2026: $198,248 MRR, 276 active subscriptions and $10,177,744 all-time revenue, verified with Stripe (TrustMRR).

Why it worked

Founders who had the problem. As agency owners they "noticed tracking issues with their ads, so they decided to create Cometly" (Markademics).
Validated by hand first. "Cometly actually started out with a spreadsheet with links to dashboards with accurate data coming in. They saw that this actually worked so they decided to turn it into a software" (Markademics).
Good timing. Apple's iOS 14 privacy changes made Facebook ad attribution harder, the topic the co-founder was invited to explain (Markademics).
Sell to people who measure money. The pitch is "Tie every ad dollar to closed-won ARR" (TrustMRR), easy to justify for teams that spend a lot on ads.

What to learn

Service businesses are idea factories: the pain you fix for clients by hand can become the product.
A spreadsheet or manual dashboard is a valid MVP if it proves people want the result.
High-value B2B customers mean fewer subscriptions can still add up; here about 276 subscriptions carry $198,248 MRR (TrustMRR).

Risks and what didn't work

Attribution depends on ad platforms' rules and APIs, which can change with little notice.
The category is competitive, and ad platforms keep improving their own measurement.
Agency history details come from a podcast write-up (Markademics); revenue figures are Stripe-verified on TrustMRR (TrustMRR).

FAQ

Short answers drawn from the sections above.

What is Cometly?

Why did Cometly work?

Founders who had the problem. As agency owners they "noticed tracking issues with their ads, so they decided to create Cometly" (Markademics).
Validated by hand first. "Cometly actually started out with a spreadsheet with links to dashboards with accurate data coming in. They saw that this actually worked so they decided to turn it into a software" (Markademics).
Good timing. Apple's iOS 14 privacy changes made Facebook ad attribution harder, the topic the co-founder was invited to explain (Markademics).
Sell to people who measure money. The pitch is "Tie every ad dollar to closed-won ARR" (TrustMRR), easy to justify for teams that spend a lot on ads.

What can indie builders learn from Cometly?

Service businesses are idea factories: the pain you fix for clients by hand can become the product.
A spreadsheet or manual dashboard is a valid MVP if it proves people want the result.
High-value B2B customers mean fewer subscriptions can still add up; here about 276 subscriptions carry $198,248 MRR (TrustMRR).

What didn't work for Cometly, and what are the risks?

Attribution depends on ad platforms' rules and APIs, which can change with little notice.
The category is competitive, and ad platforms keep improving their own measurement.
Agency history details come from a podcast write-up (Markademics); revenue figures are Stripe-verified on TrustMRR (TrustMRR).

Sources

Every link cited above, in order of first use.

1.TrustMRR (trustmrr.com)
2.Markademics (markademics.com)