Vidovo

We Bootstrapped Our Creator App to $1M/Year

September 4th, 2025

save

About
Business

Elijah Khasabo

Founder, Vidovo

$83.3K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Vidovo

vidovo.com

from Boston

started July 2023

$83,333

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools recommends to grow your business!

Discover what books Elijah recommends to grow your business!

Want more updates on Vidovo? Check out these stories:

Who are you and what business did you start?

I’m Elijah, the co-founder of Vidovo. We help DTC and retail brands connect with 10,000 vetted creators to scale authentic UGC and influencer content. Our customers range from fast-growing startups to household names like Forbes and Notion.

What makes Vidovo different is we built it from scratch, bootstrapped the whole way, and focused first on creators instead of chasing investors. That creator-first approach is why brands stick with us. We’re forecasted to close out the year with $1M in revenue, and that’s just off our current growth.

My image

How do you come up with the idea for Vidovo?

The idea for Vidovo came from my e-commerce grind. One UGC video I purchased blew up with over 15 million views and drove massive sales, which showed me the real power of creator content. I had tried multiple business ideas before, but most felt like I was pushing something people didn’t really need. This was different because the demand was obvious. My background was growing Discord communities through TikTok, so I already understood how strong short-form content could be. To validate Vidovo, I sold to small brands and dropshippers, cold-emailed hundreds of creators, and watched videos take off with brands coming back for more.

How did you launch Vidovo and get initial traction?

Vidovo actually started as a tech agency, and it flopped right away. We kept the name but shifted into what Vidovo is today. When we first launched, we told the world by posting here and there, joining Discord communities, and sending out cold emails. The truth is it was mostly crickets, hardly anyone knew what UGC was back then, and we weren’t posting enough to explain it.

Three weeks in, a health and wellness founder replied to one of our cold emails and gave us a shot. That deal was five videos for $750, which was our first dollar and the moment we knew we had something. Our first few clients all came through cold email because it was cheap and direct.

Looking back, we’d post sooner, talk with more founders right away, and show up at events earlier. The biggest lesson we learned was to drop the ego, stay curious, and treat business as a game of conversations and relationships.

What was the growth strategy for Vidovo and how did you scale?

We grew Vidovo through every scrappy move we could think of. Cold emails, cold DMs, LinkedIn posts, Reddit threads, Twitter networking, you name it. Cold outreach gave us our very first customers because it was free and direct. But what really helped us scale was leaning into community and content.

LinkedIn became a natural channel because founders and marketers scroll there every day. Twitter has been good for connecting with other founders. Reddit turned into a surprise growth engine since creators were already talking about platforms and sharing their experiences. When people started mentioning Vidovo in those threads, it created a flywheel effect that we didn’t have to pay for.

The biggest growth driver though was creator acquisition. Every platform promises brands content, but since we bootstrapped we didn’t have to follow investor playbooks that put brand acquisition first. We flipped it around and asked ourselves how to get the best creators. Once you have that, brands follow naturally. That bet paid off. Now creators post about us on Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook on their own, and we’re adding over 100 creators per day organically.

My image

One thing readers can take away is that people talk about products that make their lives easier. We didn’t spend big on ads, we built something creators wanted to tell each other about. If you’re starting out, my advice is simple. Post content even if it feels cringe, and build community wherever your audience spends time. Growth is just consistency, conversations, and trust stacked day after day.

My image

What were the biggest lessons learned from building Vidovo?

The best advice I can give from building Vidovo is to stay curious and open. The people who helped me most weren’t the ones I planned on meeting, they were the ones I bumped into because I showed up, asked questions, and actually listened. Networking isn’t about handing someone a card or pitching them, it’s about being genuine and building relationships over time.

I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. I sat on content for too long because I thought it was cringe, which slowed down momentum. I missed chances to double down on creators posting about us because I didn’t realize how powerful organic buzz could be. I also underestimated how hard it would be to balance school, work, and building a company at the same time.

Some of my best decisions came from getting into the right rooms. I used to LITERALLY sneak into events when I wasn’t old enough or didn’t have a badge, just to be around founders and marketers. I never tried to sell people, I focused on relationships. That mindset has paid off, because now I get invited and even host events myself.

There were also forces I couldn’t control that worked in our favor. UGC exploded right as we doubled down on it. Short-form content became the standard for every brand, TikTok kept booming, and suddenly everyone was talking about creator-driven marketing.

The biggest lessons I’ve learned are simple. Post content even when it feels awkward, because attention compounds. Show up to events, because you never know who you’ll meet. Talk to your customers, because they’ll tell you what to build if you actually listen.

Discover Similar Business Ideas Like Vidovo

	Idea	Revenue
Betterpic Build This	AI-powered platform for professional headshots ... AI-powered platform for professional headshots from selfies.	$274K monthly
Aceternity UI Build This	Component library streamlining web developers' ... Component library streamlining web developers' landing page creation.	$80K monthly
Live Tourney Build This	Golf tournament management and live scoring SaaS.	$3K monthly
ShipFast Build This	NextJS boilerplate to build your SaaS and make ... NextJS boilerplate to build your SaaS and make your first $ online fast.	$50K monthly
Style DNA Build This	AI-powered personal stylist for sustainable war... AI-powered personal stylist for sustainable wardrobe management.	$223K monthly
Mailbird, Inc. Build This	Email client unifying inboxes on Windows and Mac.	$170K monthly
ThemeSelection Build This	Premium and Free and Admin Templates for your W... Premium and Free and Admin Templates for your Web Development	$40K monthly