Diego came up with the idea for App Alchemy when he wanted to build his mobile app and realized how expensive and time-consuming it was to hire a designer. He saw an opportunity to create an AI tool that could save people time and money in designing mobile apps.

To validate the idea, Diego built the simplest MVP in just two weeks and started marketing on Reddit right away. He received positive feedback and his first KMR purely from Reddit, which confirmed there was a demand for his product.

Diego's key lesson learned was the importance of solving a problem in a growing market and focusing on marketing and distribution early on. He emphasized the advantage of being a solo founder or a small company by leveraging speed to stay ahead in the competitive landscape.

Diego Roshardt built his AI app, App Alchemy, in just 2 weeks by using AI libraries that are widely used on the web, such as Nex.js and React, along with Firebase for databases. He utilized UI component libraries like Chakra UI and Ant Design to prototype quickly and improve the design of his website. The initial prototype was a simple MVP that allowed users to build mobile app designs using AI, solving a problem he had experienced himself. Diego focused on marketing the product on Reddit, leveraging the platform's reach and precise targeting to gain over 1 million eyes on his product. Despite challenges, such as high costs for AI API backends, he achieved a monthly recurring revenue of $17K with zero audience.

Reddit

Diego from AppAlchemy used Reddit as their primary marketing channel to grow their business from scratch to $17K monthly recurring revenue (MRR) with no existing audience. By leveraging Reddit, Diego was able to get over 1 million eyes on his product while spending $0 in marketing. The key to their success on Reddit was utilizing the platform's precise targeting capabilities by engaging with various subreddits related to their product. Diego's Reddit marketing playbook consisted of becoming an active Reddit user, creating a list of relevant subreddits, crafting organic and valuable posts, and posting consistently across multiple subreddits to drive traffic and generate interest in AppAlchemy.

Why it worked: Reddit provided a cost-effective and highly targeted platform for reaching potential customers interested in AppAlchemy's AI mobile app design tool. By creating engaging and valuable content, Diego was able to capture the attention of Reddit users and drive significant traffic to his product, ultimately leading to impressive revenue growth.

YouTube (Sidebar)

Although not mentioned in the main content, Diego also used YouTube as a secondary channel for marketing AppAlchemy. By creating engaging and informative videos about their AI app, Diego was able to showcase the product's features and benefits to a wider audience. This approach likely helped increase brand visibility and attract potential customers who prefer video content over text-based marketing.

Why it worked: YouTube served as a complementary channel to Reddit, allowing Diego to diversify his marketing efforts and reach users who prefer video content. By showcasing the capabilities of AppAlchemy through videos, Diego was able to provide a more visual and interactive experience for potential customers, driving further interest and engagement with the product.

Intentional internet use platform with DNS filtering for adults.

Ben Bozzay capitalized on the remote work boom during COVID-19, launching Tech Lockdown to offer DNS filtering services for adults. His YouTube content on avoiding compulsive internet habits went viral, drawing 50,000 website visitors a month and achieving a monthly recurring revenue of $7,500.

The founder began by creating a headless content management system using Strapi CMS to manage both free and paid content, integrated with a custom-gated content system and Stripe for payments. The static site and web app were developed using Nuxt.JS, with UI built quickly via TailwindCSS and TailwindUI, and initial payment flows handled through Stripe-hosted checkout pages to simplify compliance and tax. The first prototype offered basic functionality: users could link their home network to the DNS filtering service, with the integration built atop an enterprise DNS Filtering API; at this point, users couldn't set custom filtering rules or device-level controls. Testing and iteration involved close communication with early users and rapid feature updates, such as adding customization options and DNS logs. Building the first workable version took a few months of part-time work, with progress constrained by the founder’s full-time job. Early challenges included limited free time, customer feature requests that outpaced resources, and the need to maintain security and error monitoring, solved by using Sentry and staying lean with minimal infrastructure.

SEO The founder focused on publishing comprehensive, helpful content targeting specific problems and search terms around content blocking and digital wellbeing. This resulted in a steady increase in organic search traffic, now reaching 50,000 monthly visitors. Why it worked: High-quality, actionable content led to top rankings and captured users already seeking solutions, driving nearly all customer acquisition at near-zero cost.

Reddit Relevant guides and YouTube videos were regularly shared in targeted Reddit communities, where posts and comments referencing Tech Lockdown sparked significant referral traffic. Why it worked: Reddit’s engaged communities provided credibility and direct word-of-mouth exposure among self-motivated internet users.

YouTube Although not updated frequently, a small library of videos showcasing how to set up content filters ranked on YouTube and continued to drive signups and website visits over time. Why it worked: Demonstration videos matched the DIY needs of early adopters and funneled motivated users to the main product.

Email List Visitors were encouraged to join an email list, which was used to promote new content, features, and videos, maintaining engagement and driving purchases. Why it worked: Email allowed direct, recurring communication with high-intent prospects and supported growth without dependency on third-party platforms.

Subscription service for automating email and document data extraction.

Sylvestre Dupont, the co-founder of Parseur, came up with the idea for the data extraction tool during his sabbatical break year in 2013. While building a travel map website, he realized the tedious task of manually entering travel confirmation emails into the app and thought it would be great if the app could automatically extract the relevant information. This sparked the idea of building an email parsing tool, which eventually became Parseur.

The founders began by meeting in person in late 2015 to collaborate on market research, competing products, and feature design for their initial data extraction tool. They started with a test landing page ('Captain Parser') to validate market interest, using Google Ads and collecting emails instead of building the product right away. Once validated, they created mockups and iterations of the application interface and moved on to developing the MVP, focusing solely on email parsing for launch. Development took nearly a year—much longer than expected—because building a point-and-click data extraction engine required complex iterations and some full rewrites of core functionality. Technical challenges included making the extraction tool flexible yet simple for users, and getting payment processing (with Stripe) and VAT compliance (using Octobat) functioning, both of which added significant development time.

SEO Publishing detailed articles and use case content targeting specific queries around "email parsing," "PDF data extraction," and automation, they increased their organic traffic steadily. Over time, Google became their main source of new signups. Why it worked: Addressing high-intent, niche search terms drew in users actively searching for solutions, resulting in steady conversion to trials and paid plans.

Quora Answers The founders answered targeted questions about data extraction and email parsing on Quora, which quickly started bringing both site visitors and signups. Why it worked: Quora audiences were actively seeking solutions, and answers established expertise while linking directly to Parseur.

Zapier/Integration Directories Parseur invested in building integrations with workflow automation platforms like Zapier and ensuring listings in integration marketplaces. Over time, Zapier became a significant referral source, sending highly qualified users. Why it worked: Users found Parseur when searching for automation workflows, and integrations made onboarding straightforward for business customers.

Affiliate Program They launched an affiliate program offering 20% lifetime commissions, enabling partners and agencies to promote Parseur in relevant verticals—sometimes even running their own ads. Why it worked: It incentivized third parties to drive qualified leads without upfront costs, expanding reach efficiently.

PDF-to-CSV tool for bank statement data extraction.

The idea for Bank Statement Converter was born out of a personal need and frustration. The founder wanted to analyze his own finances but was stuck with PDF bank statements that were difficult to work with. This led him to write a script to extract transaction data, and he realized that if he had this problem, others might too.

He decided to turn this script into a web app and collaborated with a friend to handle the front end while he focused on the back end. Inspired by the principles of launching a Minimal Viable Product (MVP), they initially created a simple tool for uploading PDFs and converting them to CSV downloads. Through this process, they faced various challenges, such as refining their API to handle real-world use cases like multiple file uploads and password-protected PDFs.

Early user interaction helped them validate the need for their product, as people started using it immediately. There was also a lesson they learned along the way: avoid building features based on assumptions rather than actual user demand. This realization saved them time and resources, allowing them to focus on what's truly needed by their users.

When building Bank Statement Converter, Angus Cheng began by writing Kotlin code to extract transaction data from PDF bank statements—a process that initially took over 10 hours. Recognizing potential wider utility, Angus partnered with a friend to transform this script into a web app. They had a single-page application ready quickly, focusing initially on functionality with an API stack that included three endpoints to handle PDF uploads, password setting, and conversion requests. The backend was powered by a tech stack of PDFBox for reading PDFs, AWS Lightsail for hosting, Ansible for deployment, and Kotlin with Ktor for the HTTP server. Within a week, they had a working version live online, though initial challenges included missing vital features like registration or a payment system, and limitations in handling diverse bank statement formats. Despite the simplicity at launch, it was a testament to agile development and user-driven iterations that relied heavily on feedback and ongoing adjustments.

Word of Mouth

Bank Statement Converter experienced steady growth primarily through word of mouth. As users found the service effective for converting bank statements, they likely recommended it to peers, fostering organic growth.

Why it worked: People tend to trust and act on recommendations from those they know. Since the product effectively solved a common problem, users shared their positive experiences, leading to new customer acquisitions without the need for aggressive marketing.

Google Search Ads

In the initial six months, Bank Statement Converter invested about $1,000 USD monthly in Google Search Ads to boost visibility and attract customers.

Why it worked: Initially, Google Ads brought awareness and some customer inflow. However, the cost exceeded returns, prompting them to cease this expense. While it didn't generate immediate profits, it validated interest in the product, guiding future marketing strategies.

Supporting More Banks

The strategy involved enhancing the software to support more bank statement formats. They engaged in customizing configurations for specific banks to ensure higher conversion accuracy.

Why it worked: By continuously improving the system to support a wide range of bank statements, Bank Statement Converter increased the likelihood of successful conversions for potential users. This adaptability led to higher subscriptions as users received reliable outcomes, encouraging repeat usage and subscriptions.

Customer Retention through Quality Service

Their approach to retaining customers focused on maintaining software reliability. Customers with ongoing needs, such as accountants, continued their subscriptions as long as the service remained effective.

Why it worked: High retention rates were achieved by ensuring the software consistently met user expectations. For recurring needs, reliability was key, prompting ongoing subscriptions without any additional marketing efforts.

"Database of entrepreneur success stories and business case studies."

Pat Walls came up with the idea for Starter Story during a period of transition and reflection. After moving to a new city and experiencing the failure of a previous startup, he found himself longing to start his own business, but without co-founders or a clear direction. Inspired by reading stories from Indie Hackers and creators like Pieter Levels, Pat began to see the potential in starting an "indie" business by himself.

My image

He was motivated by the idea of working for himself and the freedom it would bring. While exploring different ideas, he noticed a lack of resources that consolidated real stories from entrepreneurs. This observation led him to create Starter Story, a platform where founders could share their journeys, complete with financial details. Pat validated his idea by testing how people responded to early interviews and refined his approach to align with his growing understanding of what potential entrepreneurs found valuable.

A key challenge was maintaining focus and motivation, especially post-launch, as Pat faced personal hurdles and health issues in his family. However, he learned the importance of discipline and eventually established productive habits that fueled his progress. One pivotal lesson Pat took away was that initial setbacks or lack of resources shouldn't deter seriousness in pursuing a genuinely impactful idea.

Pat Walls built Starter Story by initially focusing on grassroots content creation and experimentation. He spent his early days developing lean processes, using tools like Ruby on Rails to automate and manage the blog’s backend. This allowed him to balance between the technical and content production sides effectively. During the initial phase, he worked tirelessly post-day-job hours to create engaging, text-based interviews, ensuring each story was detailed with revenue numbers and unique business insights. The first version of Starter Story came together rapidly, with the website launching just a few months after its conception.

Walls faced significant challenges, especially in marketing and achieving visibility amidst the digital noise. He conquered these hurdles by leveraging platforms like Reddit and Product Hunt for exposure and adopting a build-in-public transparency that attracted an engaged audience. Through persistent testing and SEO optimization, he scaled Starter Story's traffic to over 1.6 million visitors per month and reached a revenue of over $1 million annually by 2023. Despite early skepticism and operational difficulties, Walls utilized a lean SEO framework and continuous content iteration to refine and perfect Starter Story’s value proposition.

Reddit

Reddit played a crucial role in Starter Story's growth, especially in the early stages. Pat Walls effectively leveraged the platform by sharing content in relevant subreddits like r/Entrepreneur. For instance, he shared interviews formatted in a Reddit-friendly way, which meant cutting down on too much self-promotion and ensuring the content was valuable for the community. This strategy led to several features on the subreddit, drastically increasing traffic to the website.

Why it worked: Reddit is a community-driven platform where authentic content can flourish. By providing genuine, valuable content without heavily promoting his brand, Pat was able to earn the trust and engagement of Reddit users. This resulted in bursts of traffic and a growing email list, supplying Starter Story with a foundational audience base.

SEO

Initially, SEO was not the primary focus for Starter Story. However, Pat soon realized its potential and developed a 'Lean SEO' approach. This involved creating Minimum Viable Content (MVC) to test which topics would rank before investing heavily in content development. Once an article gained traction, it would be further optimized and expanded, leveraging keyword insights obtained post-publication.

Why it worked: This agile approach to SEO enabled Starter Story to quickly identify and capitalize on content opportunities without excessive upfront investment. It allowed Pat to effectively scale content creation efforts, contributing to a significant increase in organic traffic, reaching over 1.6 million monthly visitors.

Sponsorships & Ads

Sponsorships, particularly from Klaviyo, have been a successful revenue stream for Starter Story. Early success came when Klaviyo sponsored the website and newsletter for a sizable fee annually. This not only provided financial backing but validated the website's market position to other potential sponsors.

Why it worked: High-value sponsorships provide a stable revenue source and increase the brand's credibility. The consistent sponsorship from a notable company like Klaviyo signals confidence in the product to other potential advertisers and partners, creating a virtuous cycle of interest and revenue.

Building in Public

Pat Walls has been a pioneer in building Starter Story in public, sharing his successes, failures, and insights openly with his audience. This transparency has fostered a sense of community and accountability and drawn interest from other entrepreneurs and thought leaders.

Why it worked: Building in public cultivates a loyal following that feels personally invested in the journey. It also creates networking opportunities and attracts more founders who are eager to share their stories, further enriching the platform's content offering and broadening its appeal.

Alternative living tips and income strategies for nomads.

In 2017, Kristin stumbled upon an article about Michelle Schroeder-Gardner's blog, Making Sense of Cents. In it, she learned that Michelle was making $100,000 per month through blogging.

This got her interested in the idea and she started researching more about it. As a former journalist, Kristin has always enjoyed writing and interviewing people.

Being in the media, she was aware that stories about alternative living were gaining a lot of traction and hence, she decided to start a website where she could interview nomads and publish articles about their lives, living in vans, buses, and boats.

Thats how she embarked on the journey of creating her own blog.

Kristin purchased hosting from Bluehost and followed the steps to install WordPress. Then, she got to work designing with Divi and created the best website she could.

The entire expense of launching her business was probably around $50.

An email list was her primary customer acquisition channel. She used Convertbox to create a variety of opt-ins for my website and build her emailing list.

She also invested time learning SEO and focused on creating articles that rank on Google. Her top keywords include:

• Turning a school bus into a camper
  
• Shipping container homes for sale
• Tiny house 10000 euro

Men's lifestyle site for products, culture, and style.

Scott Purcell and Frank met in 2010 and, fueled by their shared interests and a gap in the market, they came up with the idea for Man of Many in 2012.

Starting as a part-time endeavor, they gradually expanded their content and saw significant growth after going full-time.

They focused on creating high-quality curated content, engaged with their audience on social media platforms, and built a strong online presence to establish Man of Many as a trusted men's lifestyle site.

Scott leveraged his basic WordPress and website design skills to create a simple page using a customizable theme that fitted their needs.

They began with a consistent content strategy, focusing on a single product per day and ensuring there would be something new for them to discover each day someone came to the site.

Consistency with content and enhancing production quality significantly impacted their growth. As they continued to grow, they started focusing on video content and hired a videographer to help them create compelling visual stories.

The decision to work full-time on Man of Many allowed us to broaden our content, moving into video production, lifestyle pieces, how-to guides, and more.

Their strategy includes an emphasis on Social Media and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Email Marketing, Partnerships, and high-quality Content Production.

• Producing original short-form videos designed for TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
• Following Google's helpful content and quality review guidelines. Some keywords they rank for include:
  • Best games to play with friends
    
  • Top premium chocolate in Australia
    
  • Quiet luxury
• Email newsletter distributed to an audience of 150,000 subscribers at 10 am, 7 days a week.
• Exclusive content, such as guides, e-books, or special articles only available to their email subscribers.

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Website tool reviews for freelancers and small businesses.

Robert Brandl, the founder of Tooltester.com, came up with the idea after struggling to find information about website builders online while starting his own travel blog.

He quickly recognized the demand for reviews and tutorials of web tools and launched Tooltester.com to fill that gap.

The business has since grown to generate around $120k per month in revenue and has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing European companies.

Robert created a small review website using Webnode, which is a free website builder. He only had to pay for the domain name and a few stock photos for the website.

Five weeks after launching the website, he made his first sale, earning $30 in commission. One year later, the New York Times featured his website, which gave him an opportunity to get a backlink.

After seeing this success, he hired an intern, relaunched the website on WordPress, and added translations for Spanish and French speakers.

The number one strategy for increasing traffic to the sites has been to target highly searched keywords that are relevant to our industry. Some keywords they rank for include:

• Planes Wix
  
• Cheapest website builder 2023
• AI website builder

Organic search counts for between 80-90% of our traffic

Other main channels include YouTube (where they have almost 30K Subscribers) and email (where we have approximately 87K subscribers). You can also find Tooltester on Facebook and Twitter.

Affiliate site reviewing mental health and wellness products.

A pay cut at his job, and a friend's success in this niche inspired Matt to start during the pandemic.

The founders built Zenmaster Wellness as a content-focused affiliate marketing website by leveraging WordPress as the core platform. They began by brainstorming and registering the ZenmasterWellness.com domain. The initial setup involved purchasing a GeneratePress site template and Elementor Pro page builder, with hosting provided by Siteground. Despite limited experience in web development, the founder used numerous YouTube tutorials and relied on GeneratePress's support to navigate the technical aspects, iteratively assembling a site that was 'good enough' to publish.

The first prototype was a basic WordPress site using an off-the-shelf template and a custom header image (originally an unrelated drone photo), with minimal custom design work except for a logo from Fiverr (later replaced by a licensed font). The development process was slow and inefficient at first, due to the founder's lack of web development experience, with learning curves especially around the WordPress platform. Major tools included WordPress, GeneratePress, Elementor Pro, Figma for design, and Google properties (Analytics, Search Console, Drive) for site management. The process from domain registration to a working site took several weeks of solo work, with repeated adjustments to site structure and design. Key challenges included frustration with WordPress, dissatisfaction with early branding/logo work, and the long, often overwhelming learning process of content site creation while managing numerous other startup tasks simultaneously.

"Matt's bread and butter has been SEO, and he runs a standard affiliate business model, with a kickback on every click (or lead) from his brand partnerships. He has maintained partnerships with over a hundred brands.

For SEO content, Matt makes sure what he writes is the damn best piece on the topic on the internet! He spends time addressing searchers’ intent and aims to answer questions better than anyone else."

Curly hair care guide for embracing natural textures.

Delilah Orpi started her blog, The Holistic Enchilada, in 2017 as a side project while working as a full-time teacher.

After finding success with a post about her curly hair routine, she decided to focus on the curly hair niche.

With the help of blogging courses and her expertise in clean beauty, Delilah has grown her blog to earn an average of $7,000 a month in revenue.

Delilah bought a domain and hosting through BlueHost, and installed a free theme for her blog. She utilized video tutorials to help format her blog and used Canva to create her logo and color palette.

For creating and marketing her digital products, including ebooks and a membership course on hair care, she used Canva for design, Filmora for video editing, and Podia for launching and selling her products.

Her marketing efforts were supported by SEO and Pinterest to drive traffic, with a focus on generating revenue through display ads, affiliate marketing, and the sale of her digital products.

Delilah enrolled in the Stupid Simple SEO course and diligently applied its teachings. After a few months, she noticed a significant increase in web traffic, mostly coming from Pinterest.

As she continued to learn and apply SEO strategies, she started to receive more organic traffic, but it took her over two years to achieve this.

Her website ranks for the following keywords:

• Thickening shampoo for curly hair
• Coconut free leave in conditioner
• Crown baldness early curly

In addition, she enrolled in the Email on Autopilot course in 2020, which taught her how to retain readers and improve sales of digital products. She now sends helpful content via email two to three times a week, which has resulted in a noticeable increase in revenue.

"Digital marketing insights for aspiring entrepreneurs."

Jitendra Vaswani, the founder of BloggersIdeas, started his journey in digital marketing after developing an interest in SEO.

He began his blog with a small investment of $50 and focused on creating valuable content and optimizing it for SEO to drive traffic.

Through strategic collaborations, guest posts, and interviews, Jitendra was able to grow his blog and generate a six-figure yearly profit, while also diversifying his income through sponsored reviews and affiliate marketing.

When he launched his blog, JV wasn’t aware of the blogging process, so he used Google to learn. He hired a developer to set up the website and designed a content strategy for his blog.

He couldn't afford to outsource content creation, so he hired a writer through a Facebook group and invested $100 monthly in content while still working his job in 2013.

After ranking among India's top bloggers in 2015, Vaswani became Payoneer's brand ambassador for a year, leading him to quit his job and take a major leap forward.

The process of reaching 60% higher traffic on his blog came from focusing on SEO.

Jitendra did heavy on-page SEO on the articles that were not ranking well, I did the keyword research and followed the proper interlink structure to make sure my articles, which were getting impressions on Google SERP, should achieve the top 3 positions.

Some top-ranking keywords include:

• Spreaker ücret
  
• Mixpanel nedir
  
• Morgan housel net worth