Zero to $40K/Month With One Marketing Channel

This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.

Chapters:

0:00 - Zero to $40K in 7 months

0:50 - Need an app idea?

1:09 - App overview

2:41 - Founder background

3:40 - Distribution overview

4:44 - Is your app compliant?

5:44 - Deep dive on Google

6:50 - The SEO (Organic) Strategy

8:00 - The Paid Ads Strategy

9:20 - Find your $1M idea (free template)

10:06 - Google Playbook for 2026

13:28 - Late demo

14:55 - Tech stack and costs

15:21 - Advice to young founders

16:16 - Pat and Gus reflections

17:31 - Is SEO really dead?

19:19 - Time to build your idea!

Chapters

Stack

Transcript

Chapters

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No tools listed for this business.

This is how every indie hacker should grow their apps

This is Mickey a guy from Spain who launched his app just seven months ago

And today he's already making over 40 000 a month

This app was profitable from day one

But here's what he did different

He didn't chase TikTok trends or spend years building a personal brand

He did it all through a single channel Google

Google still works today if you take this approach

So I brought Mickey onto the channel to break it all down for us

And in this episode we'll dive into what every builder gets wrong about distribution

the right combination of organic and paid Google search

and the exact five step playbook he used to hit 40 000 MRR in less than a year

This one is going to be fun

Let's dive in

I'm Pat Walls and this is Starter Story

All right real quick before we dive in

Mickey is about to break down how he broke 40K a month using Google search

But if you're watching this and thinking

I want to build something but I don't have an idea yet

Well I've got a free template that will help you find one

Link is right down there in the description but more on that later

All right Mickey welcome to the channel

Tell me about who you are what you built and what's your story

Hey Pat I'm Mickey

I'm the founder of Late a social media API that helps brands

schedule and automate content across multiple platforms

We went from zero to 30K MRR in just seven months by focusing on Google search ads

All right cool

I'm really excited to talk about it

We're going to talk a lot about Google today which I love and I'm very excited about

But first before we do that I want to understand what did you build

What's your product

What's the pricing model

How does it work

So Late is a social media API

What we do is wrap around the official APIs Facebook Instagram Twitter LinkedIn

We go through all the platform permissions

We basically pay for the highest plans so that you have access to all the features available

hand it to you in a single API that basically has access to everything and without limits

We charge our users for connected accounts

Basically we have three plans

We have to build so the users can just start building their integrations

We go through accelerate for more accounts

Then our unlimited plan allows you to connect as many accounts as you want

So currently we just crossed 40K MRR

We started around seven months ago

So we have been growing pretty fast

And well the first clients started landing around August last year

And today we just crossed 40K MRR

So our total signups are 50K since launch

We have more than 700 paying users for now

And our churn rate is less than 10

That is pretty amazing

You were able to do 40K MRR in really less than a year

That's really really impressive

I'm excited to talk all about Google and how you did that

But before we do I want to understand how you get here

What were you doing before

Why did you decide to build a SaaS business

How do you get here

Yeah before late I spent over five years experimenting with startups

I started an online tech company called Ucademy here in Spain

We raised venture capital and today has more than 100 employees

So around a year ago I got deeper into building SaaS products

and recognized a gap in the market

There was no simple affordable API for social media automation

And while most tools were either too expensive

too complicated or lacked good documentation which is essential for developers

So while this led to the idea of building Late

an API first platform designed to be a developer friendly

I started spending my time on proven channels like SEO and paydads

which is basically what has allowed us to hit 40K MRR in seven months

Okay cool

So we're not even going to talk today much about how you built or anything like that

because I don't think it's all that important

You have a really cool approach here where you basically said

I can build this

All I want to do is focus on distribution

focus on how this thing can grow in a dip

It got to 40K MRR in less than a year

What was a high level strategy that you had when you went into this

and you decided to build this

What was your plan to grow it quickly

So basically we saw that social media is noisy it's oversaturated

And while organic reach is dead for most businesses

and it's very very difficult to work on it

there are people that are actively searching for social media scaling API

or Twitter automation tool that they have a 10x higher intent to buy

So we are actually here capturing the intent that already exists

rather than trying to create it through viral content

We focus 100 on high intent channels like SEO and Google Search Ads

because they have predictable unit economics

and don't depend on lag or trends

And we use data from both channels to optimize landing pages messaging

and we reinvest all our revenue into scaling what works

Mickey's story is just insane

Zero to 40 000 a month in just seven months is crazy impressive

But here's what happens when you get to this sort of level

Once you start having to close bigger customers things start to get tricky

It's not just about whether your app works or not

These customers want to know if you're SOC 2 or ISO 27001 compliant

And if you can't say yes the deal is probably dead

This is why we partnered with Vanta on this video

Vanta automates the painful parts of compliance

so you can keep scaling instead of drowning in paperwork

It hooks right into your stack runs continuous checks

and keeps all the evidence clean for the auditors

Vanta handles it so you can stay in growth mode

Over 14 000 companies like Ramp and Writer

already use Vanta to prove security in real time

And right now Vanta is offering 1 000 off for Starter Story viewers

So if you're scaling fast and want to land customers without the compliance headache

check out Vanta at the first link in the description

Huge thank you to Vanta for this partnership

Let's get back to the episode

Okay yeah and that's a really really good insight is

a lot of people think when they get started

I need to figure out 10 different channels

I'm going to have to do Reddit

I got to do organic social

I got to do a waiting list

I got to do all these things

I think smart founders like you pick one channel

then maybe pick a couple ideas of what could work

But then if something sort of starts working

they go all in on one channel

They get it to 40k MRR

And then like you said you get it to a million ARR

That I think is the right way of thinking about channels

So let's talk about the channel that truly worked for you

which was Google

I know there was a little bit of organic

but then also you were running paid ads as well

Let's do a deep dive into this one channel that worked for you

So for Google basically we create content on a website

that is useful for our users or our target users

And some of these gets on Google and ranks organically

And some of it it doesn't rank

So we run ads for it

Basically the same content that is useful for both purposes

Obviously we prefer it if the pages show up

for the organic Google searches

but sometimes it's not possible

That's when we run ads on it

Okay I like that

So really you're just writing one article

or lots of articles that can organically rank

and then you can run paid again

So you only really have to do one sort of action

Let's dive into the organic stuff

Can you break down what works on the organic side

Basically for the organic side

we just focus on very bottom of the funnel keywords

We use tools like Ahrefs to find keywords

with 300 800 monthly searches that have low competition

but that they are very very high intent

We just target terms like social media API

scheduling API for Twitter and things like that

Then we create content

We write in depth guides that answer the user's intent

For example how to scale on Instagram posts automatically

And we also try and maintain a clean site structure

fast load times and mobile optimization proper metadata

We also do link building

We've built bug links through tools

and also by reaching out manually to other people

and paying them

And we track everything all our rankings

with Ahrefs and Google Search Console

and basically constantly optimize our CTR

based on the results

This has already produced more than 8K MRR

in organic revenue

Okay so you write these articles

they essentially rank for free

through Google's organic search

So this generates around 8 000 in new customers per month

What about the rest of the revenue

How's that happening

So they happen through Google Search Ads

which are our guaranteed revenue engine

So while ICO compounds over time

paid search gives us immediate results and feedback

So here's our strategy

We bid on high intent commercial keywords

the same that we are trying to rank organically for

We create landing pages for each one of them

So each ad group has its custom landing page

tailored to the keyword and the intent

For example Instagram API has a specific page for Instagram

We automate everything through Google Ads

We use automated bidding

which sets a target CPA at 120

which is our average catch threshold

Google's algorithm optimizes bids to hit this target

And on the ad copy we basically focus on value

For example scale 30 days of social media in one hour

reach 100K followers fast with our API

On the testing side we do continuous A B testing

of headlines descriptions and landing pages

everything tracked through Postcode

Currently we spend around 8 000 per month

We get 2 5 in revenue for every dollar spent

Monthly revenue from paid search is around 15K MRR

I love what Mickey is showing us right now

He just found one channel that works

and he's going all in

But here's the thing

Before you get into growth

you still need to build something

And if you're watching this

and still feeling stuck on that step

well I have something for you

I put together our free business idea template

and it walks you through seven proven methods

to find painful problems that people actually want solved

In under one hour

you will map out 21 problems worth solving

and then pick the one that you should go build

Sometimes the best ideas are hiding in plain sight

And this template gives you a simple system to spot them

So head to the first link in the description

grab the template for free

and potentially find your next idea

All right let's get back into the episode

Okay well I mean I like that

It's cool like you can just do the organic thing

and do this 8K and you'd have 8K MRR

but you're sort of again treating it like a math problem

You're pouring a little bit of gasoline on the fire

And when you see certain keywords working in paid

then you're channeling maybe more articles

or more keywords around organic

and then those feed them back

So what I think our audience will love to hear from you

could you break down this strategy step by step

Imagine you have a brand new SaaS it's ready to go

You have an MVP ready to go

It's a decent product

Maybe you got a few customers

What would be your step by step process

to get started on this Google strategy in 2026

So for step one

you just basically find your core keywords

that are high intent

and are very very close to your value proposition

You can use Ahrefs you can use SEMrush

I mean there are some very very core keywords

that you don't have to search for

You already know that they are very related to your product

For example for us it's social media API

It's very very obvious

So you know that these keywords are being searched

and you basically create a spreadsheet with them

the monthly search volume that they have

and the difficulty

And you focus on these keywords and nothing else

and basically try and work towards ranking for them

within three to six months

For step two just focus on creating content

for the keywords that you've found

Make sure that it's high quality content

It can be a blog a landing page or just a free tool

And well just add a big CTA to your sign in page

so that you get sign ups for this traffic

And basically then you can just add internal linking

link to other pieces of content on your site

And you try and do that through the first week

So you try and push 10 to 15 high quality articles

in the first week to build momentum

It's also important that you don't create too much content

And also Google doesn't like that

so it's better to have quality content

For step three you just start launching your ads

ads with the data and the content that you already have

So basically set up a Google Ads account

create some ad groups based on these keywords

that you are also targeting with the organic content

You create three to five variations of the copy

Just focus on value propositions

more than just stating the features

And step four just optimize and scale

scale based on the data that you have

You identify what's working

you identify the keywords that are bringing new customers

and you try and optimize for this

You just can't forget about the rest

rest because the ones that are converting

converting are the ones that really matter to you

You can post the performing keywords

and just double down on the high ROI keywords

And then you can just start testing

Date the headlines date the copy

and add CTAs based on what converts best

Then just try and increase the budget month over month

as long as the return on this ad spend is working

In step five just track and try and improve

your cost of acquisition

So now you can just set a dashboard

either in Google Sheets Data Studio

or any tool that you like

You can start tracking the cost of acquisition

return on ad spend the revenue

and the traffic per channel

Then you can just start benchmarking

against what's working

Good CAC is 24 of the lifetime value

and your goal is basically to keep CAC

under 30 of the first year revenue

Every month you can just A B test

link viewers add copy landing pages

based on what worked last month

So that would be my five step playbook

if I would be starting over again

Okay well thank you for sharing that

Great playbook

I love Google

This is awesome

Thanks for breaking it all down for us

Let's switch topics a little bit

and talk about the product that you built

Could you give us a demo

I just wanna see what this thing looks like

how it works and yeah could you show it

Sure

So our app is nothing fancy really

On the UI we just have a social media scheduler

Basically everything that you can do through the API

you can also do through our UI

So it's very very simple

You can just from here create new posts

and yeah basically just select the accounts

that you want this content to go to

We also have here the option to connect all your accounts

and handle all your accounts from the UI

Here you can also create new API keys

So as a developer you can just basically handle

all your APIs from here

We also have here an inbox feature

that basically allows you to handle all your DMs

and comments through the UI

The rest of the platforms you can set up webhooks

You get notifications when a post fails

or when a post succeeds

for an account to get disconnected

You can also check all the logs

from your publishing activity to see

well if you have errors

or you view if everything is working correctly

And then from here you just can access the API docs

which are well very important

because you'll be building an integration

And this is what we try and spend the most time on

so that well it's very very straightforward

for you to learn and start using

Okay cool

And on a similar note how did you build this

What tech stack did you use

What runs the business

How'd you build it

So most important thing that we use is cloud code

So we can code much faster

We also use DataFast

It helps us track what's bringing revenue and what's not

We also use Google Ads spend up to 8 000 per month

We also use Ahrefs which is around 200 per month

And this is essential for us

for insights monitoring on the organic side

Okay cool

Well thanks for sharing that

Last question that we ask all founders

who come on to Starter Story

who built cool stuff like you

what would be your advice to young Mickey

before you got started

Or for anyone watching that wants to get started

and build cool SaaS like this and learn Google

what would be your advice

My advice would be to just stop trying

to be everything to everyone

When I realized that basically picking one growth channel

and getting really good at it

in our case it's paid search

it was a hundred times better

than being mediocre at 10 channels

So my advice would be just pick

your single best level for growth

get obsessed with it and measure it relentlessly

And that's great advice

As I kind of mentioned before

you can win with just one channel right

You can build a million dollar business

You can build a 10 million business

maybe even a hundred million dollar business

with just one channel

So if anyone's watching this

and you take one thing away from that

here's proof of that

Thank you Mickey for coming on

and sharing awesome business

Hope to see you grow

Thank you for having me

Okay producer Gus

what'd you think about that one

I thought it was really cool

I think we talked to someone else recently

like that was very similar

but like it's very systematized right

He has like a super solid system

I think for you know whatever

finding the keywords ranking them

and then running paid search on them

So I thought that was really awesome

just to hear kind of that system

And I feel like so many of the great founders

we talked to like have something like that

where they have like this methodical approach

like we don't get lucky like it's all math

And I was like wow that's awesome

Yeah that's what I like about Google

I think a lot of people are talking about

organic TikTok and these sorts of things

things or AI and you know all this

But at the end of the day

Google is like a very very tried

and true acquisition channel

for a lot of businesses

At the end of the day

this is a great distribution strategy

or marketing strategy for people

that don't want to go on camera

and want to you know

know maybe they're a little bit

more of a finance type

and enjoy putting together

spreadsheets of keywords

and seeing intent

and looking at the numbers

Not everyone is meant to be on camera

and create viral content

This is this is a real solid plan

that he put together

and his playbook was especially good

I think you can really do this

with pretty much any SaaS

specifically B2B SaaS more so

But I really think that this could work

and is a great first channel

Yeah and then the other thing

I was thinking about was like on Twitter

you'll see how many people

are talking about how like

Google search is dead

or like Google SEO is dead

kind of thing

I think we've even done

like some videos on the build channel

on that topic but I don't know

I guess

What do you think about that

Like is this kind of showing

that maybe it's not this as true

Or what do you were like

What do you think

Here's the truth

Google search is not dead

but informational queries are dead

So if you search not dead

but essentially dead

if you search Google

for how to create

a great social media post

that you're probably not going to rank

it's going to be harder to rank for that

And those people are coming

for information on how to create

a good social media post

They're just going to use

chat GPT for that right

To get a more customized

way better answer

But if they're searching for things

like social media scheduler

there may put that into

more so into AI

But at the end of the day

it's still the same

Like they're going to put that into Google

They're going to put that into the AI

They're going to click in through

to your software and buy it

Yeah there's an argument

that one day you'll be able

to put it into AI

and it'll write all the code

and create the whole app for you

But right now

still people need tools

and intent based

There's informational queries

and then maybe you call it

intent based queries

People are still searching things

for like I need insurance

I need a social media scheduling tool

I need some clothing

or something like that

So the SEO is dead

is more around

informational based queries

Yeah I mean I find myself

using like chat GPT

a lot more for search

but sometimes when I

even when I'm still looking for

like a tool or something to buy

I almost still go to Google

Google instead of chat

because I don't know

I feel like Google has something

it'll really show me

versus chat will just like list out

whatever the answer without

not always with like a link

Anyway yeah

I thought that was interesting

to see that that still works

if you do it kind of

in this mathematical way

OK cool

Well SEO and Google still works

but you need to build something

So I will shamelessly plug

a starter story build right here

If you want to find that idea

that you can eventually put

into the Google playbook

check out starter story build

I'll put a link

in the description for that

We will help you come up

with your idea

build it with just AI tools

You don't even need to know how to code

and get it in the hands of real customers

I'll put that link down there

Thank you guys for watching

We'll see you in the next one

Peace

Starter Story

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