Rezi: a Reddit resume template that became an AI resume builder with verified $240K MRR

What it is

Rezi helps job seekers build resumes that pass Applicant Tracking Systems, using AI to write and tailor content (TrustMRR). It has a free tier, Pro at $29/month and a $149 lifetime plan (TrustMRR).

Timeline

• May 2015: Jacob Jacquet posts an ATS-focused resume template on Reddit; the idea becomes Rezi (Rezi blog). He says the resume got him interviews at Google and Goldman Sachs despite a 2.2 GPA (Starter Story).
• 2016: moves to South Korea at 23 and teaches English to get a visa while building Rezi (Starter Story).
• Sep 2019: after about three and a half years, relaunches Rezi as a SaaS with accounts and a Pro plan, using outsourced development (Rezi blog).
• 15 Jan 2021: launches a GPT-3 resume builder "28 days after being accepted from OpenAI" (Indie Hackers).
• Jul 2023: 1,000,000 sign-ups, with 65% acquired in the previous three months, per the founder (Rezi blog).
• Aug 2024: founder reports $215K MRR (self-reported) (Starter Story).
• 3 Nov 2026: $240,785 MRR and $10,477,376 all-time revenue, verified with a Stripe API key (TrustMRR).

Why it worked

• A clear, painful problem. Resumes that don't parse get filtered out before a recruiter sees them (TrustMRR). The product philosophy: "make it impossible for a user to build a resume incorrectly" (Rezi blog).
• Tiny MVP. The first version simply reformatted input into his template, "without any authentication, database or other helpful features" (Rezi blog).
• Early on AI. Rezi adopted GPT-3 while it was "a small team of two," and when ChatGPT arrived it was "at exactly the right place at the right time" (Rezi blog).
• Brand and story. Jacquet credits his "bad student, great results" story on Reddit with the first wave of interest (Starter Story).

What to learn

1. Start with the smallest thing that proves value. A template and a guide came years before the SaaS.
2. When a new technology fits your product, ship it quickly. Being early on GPT-3 gave Rezi a head start before ChatGPT made AI writing mainstream.
3. Patience matters: this was a long build, not a viral weekend.

Risks and what didn't work

• Jacquet calls his biggest mistake "giving too much equity to a non-deserving employee in the early days" (Rezi blog).
• General-purpose chatbots can now write resumes for free, which pressures any paid AI writer.
• Job-search demand rises and falls with the hiring market.
• User and MRR figures before TrustMRR are self-reported. TrustMRR lists Rezi as VC-backed, so it isn't a pure bootstrapped story (TrustMRR).