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Researched profile. Starter Story's AI research system compiled this page from 17 public sources — the founder didn't write it. Automated research can misread or misattribute a source, so treat figures as best-effort. How this works →
Lunch Money logo

How Lunch Money Grew

Personal budgeting web app with multi-currency support and bank syncing

How did Lunch Money grow?

Summary of the sourced claims below

Lunch Money grew in part through a Hacker News launch, where it spent about 24 hours on the front page and then became a full-time focus for its founder. The founder built an audience by building in public through a blog and Twitter, and by sending a welcome email and newsletter to users introducing the one-person team behind the product. Word of mouth and community involvement also contributed, with enthusiastic users acting as external validators, a developer API and user-built plug-ins, and an existing Slack community supporting the product.

Channels

8 channels · grouped by how Lunch Money grows

  • Organic social media

    · 2 mentions · 2 sources
    “I wrote an article on my personal blog that would link Lunch Money to me, but it would only be discoverable by those eager enough to read the origin story. After some initial feedback, I decided to implement an About page and start sending a welcome email to new users introducing myself as the on...”
    high
    Show 1 more quote
    “Finding my niche within the Twitter community of other folks building tiny businesses. Amassing an audience for my blog where I was building in public.”
    high

  • Hacker News

    · 2 mentions · 2 sources
    “By an interesting turn of events (24 hours on the front page of Hacker News), Lunch Money turned into a viable business overnight and became my full-time focus for the next number of years.”
    high
    Show 1 more quote
    “We launched via Show HN on Hacker News in late August 2019. Readers upheld Lunch Money’s standing on the front page for nearly 24 hours!”
    high

  • Online Community

    · 2 mentions · 2 sources
    “In large, my one-person support team and the existing Slack community of users kept everything afloat while I slowly pieced my life back together.”
    high
    Show 1 more quote
    “even throughout like the online community, a lot of people have reached out with like marketing tips and resources. And so it's just like it's just so awesome that even though I have no experience in marketing at all, like there's this awesome community full of people that know that and they're w...”
    medium

  • Building in public

    · 1 mention
    “Amassing an audience for my blog where I was building in public.”
    high

  • SEO

    · 1 mention
    “I met someone who is really, really well versed in SEO, and he basically demystified it for me and kind of allowed me to see SEO in a different light. And then that night I went home and I just read all these blog posts about different, you know, methods of SEO are all about backlinks and keyword...”
    high

  • Community Contributions

    · 1 mention
    “we are leaning into our existing developer ecosystem and inviting folks to contribute to the longevity and evolution of the platform. Our developer API was one of the very first major features we ever released due to popular demand. Since then, we’ve seen a lot of really cool plug-ins and apps ma...”
    medium

  • Word of mouth

    · 1 mention
    “I would say that right now, since I have a lot of users and they are very enthusiastic, they are my external validators. And I do get regular emails and messages from people telling me that I'm doing a great job and stuff. And so it's you know, I love getting those emails and those messages. Very...”
    high

  • Email List Growth

    · 1 mention
    “Also, I sent out a user survey recently and 20% of responses cited me as an indie developer as a reason why they love Lunch Money. All of this was incredibly heartwarming and I learned to embrace my story more. So much ❤️ from our users! … I send monthly-ish emails with updates on my solopreneurs...”
    medium

How 3,091 businesses grow

Of businesses with mapped growth channels, the share using each — Lunch Money’s highlighted.
  • Referral/Word-of-mouth
    66% ◀
  • Social media
    64% ◀
  • Search/SEO
    58% ◀
  • Email
    48% ◀
  • Community
    37% ◀
  • Content/Inbound
    35%
  • Partnerships
    33%
  • Events
    25%
  • Paid ads
    24%
  • Outbound/Sales
    19%
  • Press/PR
    18%
  • Marketplaces/App stores
    12%
  • Podcasting
    4%
  • Building in public
    3% ◀
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