Introduction
Discover how Omar Ashu built TradeZilla, a trading journal platform, into a $10M+ month SaaS business despite having no technical background. In this exclusive interview, Omar shares his journey from being a professional trader to creating a successful software company that helps traders improve their performance through data analysis and journaling.
Founder Success Story QnA
Is trading actually a skill or is it gambling?
Trading is a probability game, just like everything else. Even if you start a business, it’s a probability game of you picking the best markets, building the best product, serving customers the best way. If you’re able to do all of those things at the highest possible way, your probability of succeeding in that business is higher. Same thing with trading – if you’re able to identify an edge, manage that edge, take high quality trades, manage your risk and manage everything around that, you have a higher probability of succeeding. The idea of gambling exits when you’re able to get edge on your side over a long consistent period of time.
How should someone approach trading from a serious, competent perspective?
The number one thing is identifying a way of trading – identifying a way of trading in terms of what’s your viewpoint on the market, how do you think the market operates, and then from there establishing a set of strategies. For example, for me the way I look at the market or the way I think the market operates, it’s essentially an auction. It’s a transaction between buyers and sellers into the marketplace and the market is kind of transacting those transactions. The idea there becomes to identify where the opportunities lie in supply and demand.
How do you look at the market differently from others?
My way of looking at the market is not creating or adding filters that create a lot more noise. I’m not really a fan of indicators because they’re very easily sold, but they’re just a reflection of price action. What’s happening in the chart is a reflection on the indicators, so indicators are essentially lagging. I look at the market as an auction place with buyers and sellers. When you look at it from that perspective, you start looking at behaviors – at critical times in the market, who is transacting, did new buyers step in, did new sellers step in, who’s active, who’s present.
What is your general approach to picking trades?
I have a few different strategies, but those strategies are from one way of looking at the market. It’s like with anything else with business – you have one business with different playbooks of understanding how you should market that business, grow that business and so on. With trading, I have that one way of understanding the market dynamics and then within those market dynamics, I have strategies that work on trending days when the market’s moving up, I have strategies for when market is selling off, I have strategies when the market is moving between specific times. But those strategies align with one way of looking at the market.
How did you develop your current trading strategy?
When I first started till how I trade now, my trading has completely evolved. The way I even traded six years ago is very different than now. It’s just over time as you kind of educate yourself more and more on a particular topic, you start looking at things from a different perspective. You start gaining more knowledge, more experience, and as that happens, you start seeing what works and what doesn’t. A lot of it was just kind of learning from an intentional point of view and then applying what I’m learning and then also observing what the market is giving me after years and years and years.
How does journaling help in trading?
There are two types of things that I’ve learned from journaling trading – one is from a psychological point and one is from a technical point. From a technical point, seeing how the time frames my strategies work best under. Over a course of 100 plus trades, once I start tagging them into what strategy they are, I’ll start seeing this strategy works really well only the first hour, I have a 70% win rate. I noticed after the first hour two hours it has a 20% win rate, I noticed the first hour I have a 3 to one R multiple on this strategy. When you start seeing it over a larger number of trades, you can see your percentages of winning trades, losing trades, when it’s working, when it’s not working. From a psychological point of view, I realized like very early on, like Mondays, why am I red on Mondays? I realized that on Mondays because we have a long weekend, I’m so excited I go in with more size and I’m more blinded by the risks in a trade.
What led to the idea for TradeZilla?
The idea essentially started formulating from years ago where when I started journaling, I’m like let me put this in Excel. When I put it in Excel, then I’m like oh it’d be great if this was automated. There were competitors that existed and I would use them. When I would use them, I would realize that they’re missing a lot of different features and after realizing the features and the flows they’re missing, I’m like well this is built by a developer not a Trader. I’ve reached out to these companies in like 2017 and said hey can you guys add this, can you guys do this, and they never would listen. Then in 2018, 2019 I was like why don’t I build my own? I have no idea how to run a software company, I have no idea about anything.
How did you build TradeZilla without a technical background?
Because I don’t have a technical background it makes things a little bit more difficult. I was like okay well this is my weakness, what is my superpower – marketing and trading. At the end of 2019, one day I was like you know what screw it, I’m just going to do it, what’s the worst that’s going to happen? I had a friend who had an agency so I went the agency route. That was not the best experience I’ve had. They gave me a really shitty product, it was broken, slow, not working well. Then I worked with this guy, really good friend of mine who has an agency. I was able to form a partnership with him, get some engineers from his team over to us and work out an agreement. We started with one person from his team who helped us refactor the whole code, stabilize the platform, and then we started adding more people to the team.
What exactly is TradeZilla?
We started off as just a basic journaling tool, now we’ve evolved into the all-in-one trading tool that has journaling, backtesting where you can go back in time test the strategy, so I can go to Tesla in 2021 and see how Tesla traded for that particular day and then I can start testing out different strategies from 5 years ago, 10 years ago. We have a notebook section where you can write out your pre-market game plan, aftermarket game plan. You can see all your reporting – how do you do Mondays, how do you do between this time period. We have a replay feature where you took a trade two weeks ago on Amazon, you can click that trade and it’s going to replay the action that happened two weeks ago, see the chart second by second where you got in, where you got out. We’re building an AI feature into it where you can input your data and press a button and it will give you feedback for your data.
How are you growing TradeZilla?
We haven’t really leveraged any growth engines fully yet. Up until now, there’s because we don’t support crypto, we don’t support Indian markets, we don’t support a lot of different brokers, so there’s so many different avenues we haven’t even touched. Right now it has been solely through a few partners we have and word of mouth and my socials. That’s all we’ve done to get to the level we’re at. We’re product-led growth company first where it’s like we want to build a great product, a great service, and we want it to be so good that every trader that gets into trading, this is the first tool that pops in their head.
What’s your approach to business and competition?
We’re not backed by VC so we don’t have any pressure of like growing and taking certain routes. We’re not focused on making money, which is a really big superpower we have. We have one simple goal and it’s to make a product that will help traders become successful, period. Retail traders, whatever we need to do, whatever we need to pour into that, keep doing that, be hyper focused on that. As a business, we’re doing well, I’m doing well where I can keep funding this high six figures a month if I need to over and over again for the next couple of years, so it’s like we can keep playing the game with competitors.
How do you maintain your intensity and drive?
I have two characters inside me. I have an alter ego that has this extreme high confidence and like I can do anything I want. I’ve learned to create it, I’ve learned to kind of manage it and I’ve learned to know when to dive into it, turn it on. I’m naturally not I don’t like public speaking, but over the years I’ve developed that character in me where when I have to public speak, I would step into that frame and just be that character. That’s the same character I’ve developed in terms of when I have to take a big bold bet. What works for me really well is music – Jay-Z, Drake, 50 Cent. There’s certain songs that when you listen to them, they ignite that confidence in you. I also have a chip on my shoulder realizing how blessed I am to be in America. I was born in Pakistan, so being born in a third world country and where my parents grew up, I don’t take it for granted the opportunities that exist for me.
Omar Ashu Business Stats
Omar Ashu has built TradeZilla into an impressive SaaS business generating over 7 figures per month in revenue. Starting with no technical background, he grew the platform to serve hundreds of thousands of traders with a team of 7 developers. The company has achieved significant growth through product-led expansion and Omar’s personal brand presence.
- Monthly Revenue: Over $1,000,000
- Year Founded: 2019
- Team Size: 7 developers
- Founder Background: Professional Trader
- Primary Market: Retail Traders
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Monthly Active Users | 100,000+ |
| Paying Customers | Tens of thousands |
| Price Point | $49/month |
| Growth Rate | Month over month increase |
Omar Ashu Method
Omar’s method for building TradeZilla involved leveraging his strengths in trading and marketing while acknowledging his technical limitations. He focused on solving a real problem he experienced himself, then used his content creation skills to build trust and distribute the solution.
- Identified a genuine problem through personal trading experience
- Built personal brand through transparent content creation
- Partnered with technical experts rather than trying to learn coding
- Focused on product quality above all else
- Leveraged organic growth through user sharing and testimonials
Omar Ashu Tools
Omar utilizes a strategic set of tools to manage his trading business, content creation, and SaaS operations. His approach focuses on using tools that complement his strengths while compensating for areas where he lacks expertise.
- TradeZilla – His flagship product for trading journaling and analysis
- YouTube – Primary content platform for building trust and authority
- Social Media – TikTok, Instagram, Twitter for content distribution
- Analytics Platforms – For tracking business metrics and user behavior
- Development Team – In-house technical experts to build and maintain the platform
Key Notes
Throughout Omar’s journey building TradeZilla, several key insights stand out that contributed to his success. These principles can be applied by entrepreneurs looking to build their own SaaS businesses without technical backgrounds.
- Focus on solving a real problem you’ve experienced yourself
- Build trust through transparency and authentic content creation
- Partner with technical experts rather than trying to do everything yourself
- Prioritize product quality over rapid growth or monetization
- Leverage your unique strengths and acknowledge your weaknesses
Get Started in Just 5 Steps
Following Omar’s success blueprint, here’s how you can start your own SaaS business without technical experience. These steps mirror Omar’s journey from identifying a problem to building a successful software company.
- Identify a genuine problem in your area of expertise that you’ve personally experienced
- Validate the problem by discussing with others in your industry and confirming market need
- Build trust and authority through content creation on platforms like YouTube or social media
- Partner with technical experts or agencies who can bring your vision to life
- Focus relentlessly on product quality and solving the core problem for your users
Conclusion
Omar Ashu’s journey from trader to SaaS founder demonstrates that building a successful software company doesn’t require technical expertise. By focusing on solving a real problem, building trust through authentic content, and partnering with the right technical team, anyone can create a thriving SaaS business. TradeZilla’s success story shows that with determination, strategic thinking, and a focus on product quality, entrepreneurs can build multi-million dollar businesses even in competitive markets.