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u/Medium-Importance270

Beyond Product Hunt: I found 4 overlooked channels that actually convert for early SaaS
▲ 2 r/buildinpublic

Beyond Product Hunt: I found 4 overlooked channels that actually convert for early SaaS

We all know the drill. You launch on Product Hunt, get a nice spike of attention, maybe even a few early users. It feels great, right? But then the buzz dies down, and you’re left wondering: now what?

I spent months chasing that next big launch, convinced that if I just found the 'right' platform or the 'perfect' viral hack, everything would click. Instead, I was burning through time and energy with diminishing returns. The truth is, relying solely on big launch platforms often leaves you with a feast-or-famine cycle.

So I pivoted my thinking. Instead of looking for the next big splash, I started digging for consistent, high-quality lead channels that others might be overlooking. Channels where I could genuinely connect and add value, rather than just shouting into the void. And honestly, it’s been a game-changer for my early-stage SaaS.

Here are 4 channels that have actually delivered for me, far beyond the initial Product Hunt hype:

  1. Niche Forums & Slack/Discord Communities: Forget the generalist groups. I found hyper-specific forums and private communities where my target audience hangs out. These aren’t always obvious, but a quick search for "[your industry] + forum" or looking at what tools your users integrate with often leads to gold. The key is to genuinely participate, answer questions, and only very occasionally hint at your solution if it's 100% relevant and helpful. This takes patience but builds incredible trust.
  2. Micro-Influencers & Complementary Tools: Instead of chasing huge influencers, I looked for people with smaller, highly engaged audiences who already serve my ideal customer. Think indie makers, consultants, or even other SaaS founders with non-competing products. A simple, honest outreach offering a mutual benefit (e.g., cross-promotion, integration) has led to some surprisingly warm introductions and leads.
  3. SEO-Optimized Content & Community Engagement (Virtual/Hybrid): While Product Hunt is global, sometimes the best leads come from people actively searching for solutions, or engaging in a very specific virtual 'room'. Creating SEO-optimized content (like blog posts, guides, or webinars) or even engaging in relevant online communities puts you directly in front of people facing the problem your SaaS solves. It’s a fantastic way to get direct feedback and build rapport through valuable content and authentic online engagement. Outrank is a tool that does Link building and Relevant Content generation on auto pilot
  4. Targeted Reddit Engagement: Okay, I know what you’re thinking: "Reddit for leads? Isn't that just a spamfest?" And honestly, for a long time, I thought so too. It felt like a massive time sink trying to find relevant posts, craft a non-spammy reply, and constantly worry about getting banned. I'd spend an hour sifting through subreddits, write a careful comment, and still feel like I was walking on eggshells.That's why I started using a tool like Karmo. It changed everything about how I approach Reddit. Instead of me manually sifting through feeds, it actually watches my chosen subreddits, identifies posts with clear buying intent, and even helps me draft replies that fit the community's tone and rules. It turns what used to be a frustrating, unpredictable chore into a manageable lead-gen channel that takes me minutes a day. It lets me focus on being genuinely helpful and present, which is what Reddit communities truly value, and the leads have been surprisingly high quality.

It's easy to get caught up in the hype cycles of big launches, but sometimes the most effective growth comes from consistently showing up in these less obvious, highly targeted places. You might not get a massive spike, but you'll build a much more sustainable and engaged user base.

u/Medium-Importance270 — 4 days ago
▲ 58 r/GrowthHacking+9 crossposts

I almost gave up on Reddit, until I cracked the code to growth (and avoided bans)

For months, I saw other founders talking about Reddit as this goldmine for early traction, but every time I tried, it felt like walking through a minefield. I'd spend hours scrolling, trying to find relevant threads, carefully crafting replies, only to either get ignored or, worse, instantly flagged for self-promo. It was frustrating, inefficient, and honestly, a bit intimidating. The fear of getting banned from a valuable community was always lurking.

I realized the problem wasn't Reddit itself, but my approach. Most of us just dive in thinking "I need to market my SaaS here," when really, Reddit is about communities, solving problems, and being genuinely helpful. You can't just pitch; you have to earn the right to even hint at a solution.

So, I shifted my mindset. Instead of pushing my product, I focused on:

  • Deep Listening: Really understanding the pain points people voiced, not just keywords.
  • Community Rules: Treating each subreddit like a unique country with its own laws.
  • Authentic Engagement: Participating in discussions where I could genuinely add value, even if it wasn't directly related to my SaaS.

This started to work. I built karma, made connections, and found a few legitimate opportunities to share my insights. But here's the kicker: it was still incredibly manual and time-consuming. Identifying threads with real buying intent among thousands, then drafting a reply that was both helpful and compliant with obscure subreddit rules? That was the biggest bottleneck.

That's why I started using a tool called Karmo. It basically turns Reddit from a time sink into a predictable lead-gen channel. What I love about it is how it watches my chosen subreddits, scores posts by buying intent, and surfaces only the high-value threads. Then, for each, it generates an on-brand reply in the subreddit’s native tone, while checking rules so I don’t get banned. It compresses discovery, drafting, and compliance into one pass, making Reddit actually usable as a growth channel. It even helps generate ban-proof posts for different goals, whether it’s sharing ideas, optimizing for SEO, or making a gentle pitch.

It’s been a game-changer for consistently finding and engaging with potential users without the constant fear of the ban hammer. If you're struggling to make Reddit work for your SaaS, I highly recommend adopting a community-first approach, and tools like Karmo can seriously streamline the most challenging parts.

What strategies have you found most effective for engaging with Reddit communities without crossing the line?

u/Medium-Importance270 — 17 hours ago
▲ 5 r/startup

Make $150K/Month From 20 Tiny Apps

Katie Keith, the founder behind Barn2 Plugins, who quietly built a portfolio of small WordPress/WooCommerce plugins that now generates around $150K/month. Thought it was worth breaking down the how in a practical, operator-focused way.

Who is Katie & what did she build?

  • Founder: Katie Keith, runs a fully remote team
  • Product portfolio: ~19 WordPress plugins + 1 Shopify app
  • Niche: Small, focused plugins (e.g., product tables, protected categories, document libraries)
  • Scale: ~$1.7–1.8M/year in revenue, ~17,000 active subscription customers, used on ~90,000+ sites

How she found winning product ideas 

  • Started from real demand, not brainstorming:
    • Used the old WooCommerce Ideas Forum to find problems with lots of upvotes
    • First hit: a plugin that simply password-protected WooCommerce categories
  • Leveraged client work:
    • Turned a custom feature from a client project (listing content in tables) into a generic plugin, Post Table Pro
  • Let customers “hand her” new product ideas:
    • Feature requests often revealed needs better solved by a separate plugin rather than a bloated feature
    • She listened closely and spun off new plugins when a use case repeated

How she grew from 1 plugin to a portfolio 

  • Did NOT plan 19 apps from day one:
    • Started with a single plugin, validated it, then expanded based on feedback and patterns
  • Sequential, not scattershot:
    • Built and launched one product at a time, gave each proper marketing focus before moving on
  • Used overlapping markets on purpose:
    • New plugins targeted the same types of customers (WordPress/WooCommerce site owners)
    • This made cross-selling natural instead of forcing unrelated products together

Her main growth channel: organic search 

  • Dominated specific, problem-focused keywords:
    • Example: “password protect WooCommerce categories”
    • Wrote detailed tutorials and blog posts on the exact problems her plugins solved
    • Find your buyers on reddit - Karmo
  • Unique, focused solutions ranked fast:
    • Early on, her plugin was the only one solving certain problems → easy to hit top of Google
  • Content matched product perfectly:
    • Articles weren’t generic SEO fluff; they were “how to” guides that naturally led to her plugins
    • SEO/GEO on Autopilot along with Link building - Outrank

How she uses multi-product strategy to compound growth 

  • Built-in cross-promotion between plugins:
    • Each product is paired with a closely related “companion” plugin that gets upsold
    • Settings pages show banners and links to relevant add-ons
  • Bundles to increase average order value:
    • Sells plugin bundles for related use cases, not random collections
  • Lifecycle and promo emails:
    • Sends post-purchase emails (e.g., 3 days after purchase, offer 50% off a second plugin)
    • Segments Black Friday campaigns for existing vs potential customers, and pitches “your next plugin” to current buyers
  • Everything centers on the same customer:
    • The strategy is essentially: build multiple simple tools for the same user, then cross-sell intelligently

Her playbook if she were starting in 2026 

Katie shared a clear step-by-step approach she’d use today:

  1. Stay in a domain you already understand
    • If you build WordPress sites → build WordPress plugins
    • Use your existing context to spot gaps and annoyances
  2. Generate and validate multiple ideas in parallel
    • Start with a long list, research each idea, and narrow down
    • Prioritize ideas with overlapping markets so cross-promotion becomes possible later
  3. Pick one “highest potential” product and go all-in
    • Choose the idea with the largest reachable audience + clear marketing angle
    • Launch it as your only product initially
    • Invest real time into marketing and iterating with early users
  4. Only then launch product #2 – and cross-promote hard
    • Treat it as a standalone product, not just an add-on
    • Cross-sell via:
      • Website links between products
      • Emails to users of product #1 (discounts, beta invites)
      • Documentation pages that reference related plugins
      • Post-purchase email flows
  5. Repeat without spreading yourself too thin
    • Keep adding products until you have a “portfolio of winners”, not a graveyard of half-baked apps
    • Each product should be meaningful on its own and fit naturally into the ecosystem

Tools & stack she uses to run the business 

  • Project & team ops: ClickUp (project management, time tracking, internal chat)
  • Code: GitHub for all repositories
  • Automation: Zapier for connecting tools and workflows
  • Site & sales: WordPress + Easy Digital Downloads to sell plugins, manage licensing, and deliver downloads

Her advice to new builders 

Katie’s core message is simple but powerful:

  • “Just do it” — ship the first product.
  • Real progress started when she shipped something and put it in the wild.
  • Even if the first product doesn’t hit, you:
    • Learn the full loop (build → launch → support → market)
    • Get real user feedback
    • Discover better ideas and spin-off products from actual requests
  • If you don’t launch, none of those compounding effects ever start.

For anyone building plugins, SaaS, or small apps, this is a solid example of how a portfolio of simple products aimed at the same customer, combined with boring but effective SEO + cross-sell, can quietly stack into a serious business.

Curious how others here are approaching multi-product strategies. Are you going deep on one product or starting to branch into a portfolio?

reddit.com
u/Medium-Importance270 — 5 days ago
▲ 54 r/StartupMind+3 crossposts

Built 4 SaaS Apps to $100K MRR: Here's Exact Playbook

Tibo (the founder behind tools like Revid.ai, Outrank.so, SuperX, Post Syncer, and Feather) broke down exactly how he repeatedly takes micro‑SaaS products to $100K+ MRR.

Here’s a structured breakdown of how he does it, framed as a repeatable playbook rather than just a success story.

Who is Tibo and what did he build? 

  • Founder profile: Indie builder from France who has launched dozens of products over the last few years.
  • Current portfolio:
    • Revid.ai – AI video creation SaaS, ~$400K MRR and still growing.
    • Outrank – AI + SEO SaaS, recently crossed $200K MRR.
    • SuperX – Audience growth tool for X (Twitter), >$10K MRR.
    • Post Syncer – Cross‑posting social scheduler, currently early stage but profitable.
    • Feather – Notion → blog publishing tool, acquired for $250K and grown to ~$10K MRR.
  • Portfolio outcome: Combined portfolio at ~$700K MRR, growing ~20% month‑over‑month with ~50K paying customers.

How he actually builds winning SaaS products (step‑by‑step) 

1. Build the MVP in days or weeks, not months 

  • Take shortcuts: No‑code (e.g., Bubble), boilerplates (Best one in town - AnotherWrapper), skipping non‑critical engineering polish.
  • Reasoning: He assumes a ~90% failure rate for new ideas; the only way to win is to run many attempts quickly.
  • Goal: Ship a new project fast enough that failure only cost weeks, not years.

2. Talk only to relevant users, not friends or family 

  • Find 5–10 “perfect fit” users for the initial version.
  • Acquisition channels: X (Twitter), subreddits, email, small DMs.
  • Key idea: Feedback from non‑target users is noise; it doesn’t help with product‑market fit.
  • Find Validated Painkiller Ideas - Sonar

3. Build real relationships with early users 

  • Deep discovery, not shallow surveys: Understand their workflow, daily life, and the real pain behind their request.
  • Outcome: This context guides which problems to solve and which features to completely ignore.

4. Talk to users every single day 

  • Objective: Understand why they do or don’t come back to the product.
  • Tactic:
    • Until a product hits $10K MRR, the support link points directly to his Twitter DMs.
    • He replies quickly, fixes issues in minutes or hours, and turns users into evangelists.
  • Effect: Faster iteration, higher retention, and extremely “human” support for early customers.

5. Understand the user’s ultimate goal 

  • Think beyond the feature: He focuses on what users ultimately want (e.g., more traffic, revenue, audience), not just the immediate function of the tool.
  • Why it matters: When the product directly moves the ultimate metric that matters to the user, perceived value (and willingness to pay) increases 10–100x.

6. Build features that solve their problems, not the founder’s 

  • He is a heavy user of his own tools, but still prioritizes real users’ pains over his own preferences.
  • Execution style:
    • Fix small UX issues immediately.
    • Ship requested features in 1–2 hours when possible.
  • Result: Users feel “heard” and start advocating for the product publicly.

7. Iterate in public and stay close to your users 

  • Use social media as a feedback + relationship loop:
    • Share progress, ship logs, and updates.
    • Watch what users ask for in replies and DMs.
  • Benefit: Continuous demand‑driven roadmap, instead of guessing in isolation.

8. Don’t scale acquisition until people can’t live without it 

  • Focus on retention first:
    • If new users churn instantly, acquisition is a leaky bucket.
    • Complaints are treated as a strong signal of commitment (only invested users bother to complain).
  • Checkpoint: Only when users are “stuck” to the product does he start pushing growth hard.

How he approaches distribution and scaling 

9. Go broad on acquisition channels (then measure) 

  • Early growth tactics:
    • Product Hunt launches.
    • Building in public on X.
    • General social promotion.
  • Goal: Find which channels actually move the needle for that specific product.
  • Typical pattern: These free/organic efforts are often enough to reach the first $1–10K MRR.

10. Turn the company into a media engine 

  • Content is non‑optional:
    • Social content, SEO content, email, or cold outreach – pick one strength and lean in.
    • Publish case studies, testimonials, and practical content around the problem space.
  • Reason: A repeatable content pipeline keeps fueling all other acquisition channels.

11. Double down on scalable channels: SEO, ads, affiliates 

  • He focuses on three main scalable levers:
    • SEO (long‑term, compounding).
    • Paid ads (scalable budget if unit economics work).
    • Affiliate programs (partners drive customers in exchange for revenue share).
  • Example: Outrank went from $0 → $20K MRR by building in public, then $20K → $200K MRR after adding SEO, ads, and an optimized affiliate program.

12. Ruthlessly scale what works and kill what doesn’t 

  • For each product, only 1–2 growth channels truly matter.
  • Once those are identified:
    • Scale them hard (more content, more ad spend, more campaigns).
    • Drop or minimize everything else that doesn’t show clear ROI.
  • Mindset: Growth is about deep focus on a few effective channels, not doing everything.

Why he runs a portfolio instead of just one SaaS 

  • Risk management: Multiple products = resilience against platform and AI shocks.
  • Real example: When Elon changed X’s policies, it almost killed Tweet Hunter at ~$200K MRR.
  • Today: If one product gets disrupted by a new AI feature or platform change, the rest of the portfolio keeps the company and his family financially safe.

Main takeaway for builders 

Tibo’s core message is simple: the “secret” isn’t a niche hack or a magic tech stack. It’s:

  • Building fast and expecting many projects to fail.
  • Talking to users daily and letting their real pains drive the roadmap.
  • Delaying “growth hacking” until retention and stickiness are obvious.
  • Then going very deep on 1–2 acquisition channels that clearly work.

For anyone building SaaS or micro‑SaaS right now, his process is a concrete, repeatable how‑to rather than just a motivational story.

u/Medium-Importance270 — 9 days ago
▲ 4 r/micro_saas

Tibo (the founder behind tools like Revid.ai, Outrank.so, SuperX, Post Syncer, and Feather) broke down exactly how he repeatedly takes micro‑SaaS products to $100K+ MRR.

Here’s a structured breakdown of how he does it, framed as a repeatable playbook rather than just a success story.

Who is Tibo and what did he build? 

  • Founder profile: Indie builder from France who has launched dozens of products over the last few years.
  • Current portfolio:
    • Revid.ai – AI video creation SaaS, ~$400K MRR and still growing.
    • Outrank – AI + SEO SaaS, recently crossed $200K MRR.
    • SuperX – Audience growth tool for X (Twitter), >$10K MRR.
    • Post Syncer – Cross‑posting social scheduler, currently early stage but profitable.
    • Feather – Notion → blog publishing tool, acquired for $250K and grown to ~$10K MRR.
  • Portfolio outcome: Combined portfolio at ~$700K MRR, growing ~20% month‑over‑month with ~50K paying customers.

How he actually builds winning SaaS products (step‑by‑step) 

1. Build the MVP in days or weeks, not months 

  • Take shortcuts: No‑code (e.g., Bubble), boilerplates (Best one in town - AnotherWrapper), skipping non‑critical engineering polish.
  • Reasoning: He assumes a ~90% failure rate for new ideas; the only way to win is to run many attempts quickly.
  • Goal: Ship a new project fast enough that failure only cost weeks, not years.

2. Talk only to relevant users, not friends or family 

  • Find 5–10 “perfect fit” users for the initial version.
  • Acquisition channels: X (Twitter), subreddits, email, small DMs.
  • Key idea: Feedback from non‑target users is noise; it doesn’t help with product‑market fit.
  • Find Validated Painkiller Ideas - Sonar

3. Build real relationships with early users 

  • Deep discovery, not shallow surveys: Understand their workflow, daily life, and the real pain behind their request.
  • Outcome: This context guides which problems to solve and which features to completely ignore.

4. Talk to users every single day 

  • Objective: Understand why they do or don’t come back to the product.
  • Tactic:
    • Until a product hits $10K MRR, the support link points directly to his Twitter DMs.
    • He replies quickly, fixes issues in minutes or hours, and turns users into evangelists.
  • Effect: Faster iteration, higher retention, and extremely “human” support for early customers.

5. Understand the user’s ultimate goal 

  • Think beyond the feature: He focuses on what users ultimately want (e.g., more traffic, revenue, audience), not just the immediate function of the tool.
  • Why it matters: When the product directly moves the ultimate metric that matters to the user, perceived value (and willingness to pay) increases 10–100x.

6. Build features that solve their problems, not the founder’s 

  • He is a heavy user of his own tools, but still prioritizes real users’ pains over his own preferences.
  • Execution style:
    • Fix small UX issues immediately.
    • Ship requested features in 1–2 hours when possible.
  • Result: Users feel “heard” and start advocating for the product publicly.

7. Iterate in public and stay close to your users 

  • Use social media as a feedback + relationship loop:
    • Share progress, ship logs, and updates.
    • Watch what users ask for in replies and DMs.
  • Benefit: Continuous demand‑driven roadmap, instead of guessing in isolation.

8. Don’t scale acquisition until people can’t live without it 

  • Focus on retention first:
    • If new users churn instantly, acquisition is a leaky bucket.
    • Complaints are treated as a strong signal of commitment (only invested users bother to complain).
  • Checkpoint: Only when users are “stuck” to the product does he start pushing growth hard.

How he approaches distribution and scaling 

9. Go broad on acquisition channels (then measure) 

  • Early growth tactics:
    • Product Hunt launches.
    • Building in public on X.
    • General social promotion.
  • Goal: Find which channels actually move the needle for that specific product.
  • Typical pattern: These free/organic efforts are often enough to reach the first $1–10K MRR.

10. Turn the company into a media engine 

  • Content is non‑optional:
    • Social content, SEO content, email, or cold outreach – pick one strength and lean in.
    • Publish case studies, testimonials, and practical content around the problem space.
  • Reason: A repeatable content pipeline keeps fueling all other acquisition channels.

11. Double down on scalable channels: SEO, ads, affiliates 

  • He focuses on three main scalable levers:
    • SEO (long‑term, compounding).
    • Paid ads (scalable budget if unit economics work).
    • Affiliate programs (partners drive customers in exchange for revenue share).
  • Example: Outrank went from $0 → $20K MRR by building in public, then $20K → $200K MRR after adding SEO, ads, and an optimized affiliate program.

12. Ruthlessly scale what works and kill what doesn’t 

  • For each product, only 1–2 growth channels truly matter.
  • Once those are identified:
    • Scale them hard (more content, more ad spend, more campaigns).
    • Drop or minimize everything else that doesn’t show clear ROI.
  • Mindset: Growth is about deep focus on a few effective channels, not doing everything.

Why he runs a portfolio instead of just one SaaS 

  • Risk management: Multiple products = resilience against platform and AI shocks.
  • Real example: When Elon changed X’s policies, it almost killed Tweet Hunter at ~$200K MRR.
  • Today: If one product gets disrupted by a new AI feature or platform change, the rest of the portfolio keeps the company and his family financially safe.

Main takeaway for builders 

Tibo’s core message is simple: the “secret” isn’t a niche hack or a magic tech stack. It’s:

  • Building fast and expecting many projects to fail.
  • Talking to users daily and letting their real pains drive the roadmap.
  • Delaying “growth hacking” until retention and stickiness are obvious.
  • Then going very deep on 1–2 acquisition channels that clearly work.

For anyone building SaaS or micro‑SaaS right now, his process is a concrete, repeatable how‑to rather than just a motivational story.

reddit.com
u/Medium-Importance270 — 13 days ago
▲ 1 r/nocode

Tibo (the founder behind tools like Revid.ai, Outrank.so, SuperX, Post Syncer, and Feather) broke down exactly how he repeatedly takes micro‑SaaS products to $100K+ MRR.

Here’s a structured breakdown of how he does it, framed as a repeatable playbook rather than just a success story.

Who is Tibo and what did he build? 

  • Founder profile: Indie builder from France who has launched dozens of products over the last few years.
  • Current portfolio:
    • Revid.ai – AI video creation SaaS, ~$400K MRR and still growing.
    • Outrank – AI + SEO SaaS, recently crossed $200K MRR.
    • SuperX – Audience growth tool for X (Twitter), >$10K MRR.
    • Post Syncer – Cross‑posting social scheduler, currently early stage but profitable.
    • Feather – Notion → blog publishing tool, acquired for $250K and grown to ~$10K MRR.
  • Portfolio outcome: Combined portfolio at ~$700K MRR, growing ~20% month‑over‑month with ~50K paying customers.

How he actually builds winning SaaS products (step‑by‑step) 

1. Build the MVP in days or weeks, not months 

  • Take shortcuts: No‑code (e.g., Bubble), boilerplates (Best one in town - AnotherWrapper), skipping non‑critical engineering polish.
  • Reasoning: He assumes a ~90% failure rate for new ideas; the only way to win is to run many attempts quickly.
  • Goal: Ship a new project fast enough that failure only cost weeks, not years.

2. Talk only to relevant users, not friends or family 

  • Find 5–10 “perfect fit” users for the initial version.
  • Acquisition channels: X (Twitter), subreddits, email, small DMs.
  • Key idea: Feedback from non‑target users is noise; it doesn’t help with product‑market fit.
  • Find Validated Painkiller Ideas - Sonar

3. Build real relationships with early users 

  • Deep discovery, not shallow surveys: Understand their workflow, daily life, and the real pain behind their request.
  • Outcome: This context guides which problems to solve and which features to completely ignore.

4. Talk to users every single day 

  • Objective: Understand why they do or don’t come back to the product.
  • Tactic:
    • Until a product hits $10K MRR, the support link points directly to his Twitter DMs.
    • He replies quickly, fixes issues in minutes or hours, and turns users into evangelists.
  • Effect: Faster iteration, higher retention, and extremely “human” support for early customers.

5. Understand the user’s ultimate goal 

  • Think beyond the feature: He focuses on what users ultimately want (e.g., more traffic, revenue, audience), not just the immediate function of the tool.
  • Why it matters: When the product directly moves the ultimate metric that matters to the user, perceived value (and willingness to pay) increases 10–100x.

6. Build features that solve their problems, not the founder’s 

  • He is a heavy user of his own tools, but still prioritizes real users’ pains over his own preferences.
  • Execution style:
    • Fix small UX issues immediately.
    • Ship requested features in 1–2 hours when possible.
  • Result: Users feel “heard” and start advocating for the product publicly.

7. Iterate in public and stay close to your users 

  • Use social media as a feedback + relationship loop:
    • Share progress, ship logs, and updates.
    • Watch what users ask for in replies and DMs.
  • Benefit: Continuous demand‑driven roadmap, instead of guessing in isolation.

8. Don’t scale acquisition until people can’t live without it 

  • Focus on retention first:
    • If new users churn instantly, acquisition is a leaky bucket.
    • Complaints are treated as a strong signal of commitment (only invested users bother to complain).
  • Checkpoint: Only when users are “stuck” to the product does he start pushing growth hard.

How he approaches distribution and scaling 

9. Go broad on acquisition channels (then measure) 

  • Early growth tactics:
    • Product Hunt launches.
    • Building in public on X.
    • General social promotion.
  • Goal: Find which channels actually move the needle for that specific product.
  • Typical pattern: These free/organic efforts are often enough to reach the first $1–10K MRR.

10. Turn the company into a media engine 

  • Content is non‑optional:
    • Social content, SEO content, email, or cold outreach – pick one strength and lean in.
    • Publish case studies, testimonials, and practical content around the problem space.
  • Reason: A repeatable content pipeline keeps fueling all other acquisition channels.

11. Double down on scalable channels: SEO, ads, affiliates 

  • He focuses on three main scalable levers:
    • SEO (long‑term, compounding).
    • Paid ads (scalable budget if unit economics work).
    • Affiliate programs (partners drive customers in exchange for revenue share).
  • Example: Outrank went from $0 → $20K MRR by building in public, then $20K → $200K MRR after adding SEO, ads, and an optimized affiliate program.

12. Ruthlessly scale what works and kill what doesn’t 

  • For each product, only 1–2 growth channels truly matter.
  • Once those are identified:
    • Scale them hard (more content, more ad spend, more campaigns).
    • Drop or minimize everything else that doesn’t show clear ROI.
  • Mindset: Growth is about deep focus on a few effective channels, not doing everything.

Why he runs a portfolio instead of just one SaaS 

  • Risk management: Multiple products = resilience against platform and AI shocks.
  • Real example: When Elon changed X’s policies, it almost killed Tweet Hunter at ~$200K MRR.
  • Today: If one product gets disrupted by a new AI feature or platform change, the rest of the portfolio keeps the company and his family financially safe.

Main takeaway for builders 

Tibo’s core message is simple: the “secret” isn’t a niche hack or a magic tech stack. It’s:

  • Building fast and expecting many projects to fail.
  • Talking to users daily and letting their real pains drive the roadmap.
  • Delaying “growth hacking” until retention and stickiness are obvious.
  • Then going very deep on 1–2 acquisition channels that clearly work.

For anyone building SaaS or micro‑SaaS right now, his process is a concrete, repeatable how‑to rather than just a motivational story.

reddit.com
u/Medium-Importance270 — 14 days ago
▲ 10 r/startup

Tibo (the founder behind tools like Revid.ai, Outrank.so, SuperX, Post Syncer, and Feather) broke down exactly how he repeatedly takes micro‑SaaS products to $100K+ MRR.

Here’s a structured breakdown of how he does it, framed as a repeatable playbook rather than just a success story.

Who is Tibo and what did he build? 

  • Founder profile: Indie builder from France who has launched dozens of products over the last few years.
  • Current portfolio:
    • Revid.ai – AI video creation SaaS, ~$400K MRR and still growing.
    • Outrank – AI + SEO SaaS, recently crossed $200K MRR.
    • SuperX – Audience growth tool for X (Twitter), >$10K MRR.
    • Post Syncer – Cross‑posting social scheduler, currently early stage but profitable.
    • Feather – Notion → blog publishing tool, acquired for $250K and grown to ~$10K MRR.
  • Portfolio outcome: Combined portfolio at ~$700K MRR, growing ~20% month‑over‑month with ~50K paying customers.

How he actually builds winning SaaS products (step‑by‑step) 

1. Build the MVP in days or weeks, not months 

  • Take shortcuts: No‑code (e.g., Bubble), boilerplates (Best one in town - AnotherWrapper), skipping non‑critical engineering polish.
  • Reasoning: He assumes a ~90% failure rate for new ideas; the only way to win is to run many attempts quickly.
  • Goal: Ship a new project fast enough that failure only cost weeks, not years.

2. Talk only to relevant users, not friends or family 

  • Find 5–10 “perfect fit” users for the initial version.
  • Acquisition channels: X (Twitter), subreddits, email, small DMs.
  • Key idea: Feedback from non‑target users is noise; it doesn’t help with product‑market fit.
  • Find Validated Painkiller Ideas - Sonar

3. Build real relationships with early users 

  • Deep discovery, not shallow surveys: Understand their workflow, daily life, and the real pain behind their request.
  • Outcome: This context guides which problems to solve and which features to completely ignore.

4. Talk to users every single day 

  • Objective: Understand why they do or don’t come back to the product.
  • Tactic:
    • Until a product hits $10K MRR, the support link points directly to his Twitter DMs.
    • He replies quickly, fixes issues in minutes or hours, and turns users into evangelists.
  • Effect: Faster iteration, higher retention, and extremely “human” support for early customers.

5. Understand the user’s ultimate goal 

  • Think beyond the feature: He focuses on what users ultimately want (e.g., more traffic, revenue, audience), not just the immediate function of the tool.
  • Why it matters: When the product directly moves the ultimate metric that matters to the user, perceived value (and willingness to pay) increases 10–100x.

6. Build features that solve their problems, not the founder’s 

  • He is a heavy user of his own tools, but still prioritizes real users’ pains over his own preferences.
  • Execution style:
    • Fix small UX issues immediately.
    • Ship requested features in 1–2 hours when possible.
  • Result: Users feel “heard” and start advocating for the product publicly.

7. Iterate in public and stay close to your users 

  • Use social media as a feedback + relationship loop:
    • Share progress, ship logs, and updates.
    • Watch what users ask for in replies and DMs.
  • Benefit: Continuous demand‑driven roadmap, instead of guessing in isolation.

8. Don’t scale acquisition until people can’t live without it 

  • Focus on retention first:
    • If new users churn instantly, acquisition is a leaky bucket.
    • Complaints are treated as a strong signal of commitment (only invested users bother to complain).
  • Checkpoint: Only when users are “stuck” to the product does he start pushing growth hard.

How he approaches distribution and scaling 

9. Go broad on acquisition channels (then measure) 

  • Early growth tactics:
    • Product Hunt launches.
    • Building in public on X.
    • General social promotion.
  • Goal: Find which channels actually move the needle for that specific product.
  • Typical pattern: These free/organic efforts are often enough to reach the first $1–10K MRR.

10. Turn the company into a media engine 

  • Content is non‑optional:
    • Social content, SEO content, email, or cold outreach – pick one strength and lean in.
    • Publish case studies, testimonials, and practical content around the problem space.
  • Reason: A repeatable content pipeline keeps fueling all other acquisition channels.

11. Double down on scalable channels: SEO, ads, affiliates 

  • He focuses on three main scalable levers:
    • SEO (long‑term, compounding).
    • Paid ads (scalable budget if unit economics work).
    • Affiliate programs (partners drive customers in exchange for revenue share).
  • Example: Outrank went from $0 → $20K MRR by building in public, then $20K → $200K MRR after adding SEO, ads, and an optimized affiliate program.

12. Ruthlessly scale what works and kill what doesn’t 

  • For each product, only 1–2 growth channels truly matter.
  • Once those are identified:
    • Scale them hard (more content, more ad spend, more campaigns).
    • Drop or minimize everything else that doesn’t show clear ROI.
  • Mindset: Growth is about deep focus on a few effective channels, not doing everything.

Why he runs a portfolio instead of just one SaaS 

  • Risk management: Multiple products = resilience against platform and AI shocks.
  • Real example: When Elon changed X’s policies, it almost killed Tweet Hunter at ~$200K MRR.
  • Today: If one product gets disrupted by a new AI feature or platform change, the rest of the portfolio keeps the company and his family financially safe.

Main takeaway for builders 

Tibo’s core message is simple: the “secret” isn’t a niche hack or a magic tech stack. It’s:

  • Building fast and expecting many projects to fail.
  • Talking to users daily and letting their real pains drive the roadmap.
  • Delaying “growth hacking” until retention and stickiness are obvious.
  • Then going very deep on 1–2 acquisition channels that clearly work.

For anyone building SaaS or micro‑SaaS right now, his process is a concrete, repeatable how‑to rather than just a motivational story.

reddit.com
u/Medium-Importance270 — 14 days ago
▲ 63 r/saasbuild

Tibo (the founder behind tools like Revid.ai, Outrank.so, SuperX, Post Syncer, and Feather) broke down exactly how he repeatedly takes micro‑SaaS products to $100K+ MRR.

Here’s a structured breakdown of how he does it, framed as a repeatable playbook rather than just a success story.

Who is Tibo and what did he build? 

  • Founder profile: Indie builder from France who has launched dozens of products over the last few years.
  • Current portfolio:
    • Revid.ai – AI video creation SaaS, ~$400K MRR and still growing.
    • Outrank – AI + SEO SaaS, recently crossed $200K MRR.
    • SuperX – Audience growth tool for X (Twitter), >$10K MRR.
    • Post Syncer – Cross‑posting social scheduler, currently early stage but profitable.
    • Feather – Notion → blog publishing tool, acquired for $250K and grown to ~$10K MRR.
  • Portfolio outcome: Combined portfolio at ~$700K MRR, growing ~20% month‑over‑month with ~50K paying customers.

How he actually builds winning SaaS products (step‑by‑step) 

1. Build the MVP in days or weeks, not months 

  • Take shortcuts: No‑code (e.g., Bubble), boilerplates (Best one in town - AnotherWrapper), skipping non‑critical engineering polish.
  • Reasoning: He assumes a ~90% failure rate for new ideas; the only way to win is to run many attempts quickly.
  • Goal: Ship a new project fast enough that failure only cost weeks, not years.

2. Talk only to relevant users, not friends or family 

  • Find 5–10 “perfect fit” users for the initial version.
  • Acquisition channels: X (Twitter), subreddits, email, small DMs.
  • Key idea: Feedback from non‑target users is noise; it doesn’t help with product‑market fit.
  • Find Validated Painkiller Ideas - Sonar

3. Build real relationships with early users 

  • Deep discovery, not shallow surveys: Understand their workflow, daily life, and the real pain behind their request.
  • Outcome: This context guides which problems to solve and which features to completely ignore.

4. Talk to users every single day 

  • Objective: Understand why they do or don’t come back to the product.
  • Tactic:
    • Until a product hits $10K MRR, the support link points directly to his Twitter DMs.
    • He replies quickly, fixes issues in minutes or hours, and turns users into evangelists.
  • Effect: Faster iteration, higher retention, and extremely “human” support for early customers.

5. Understand the user’s ultimate goal 

  • Think beyond the feature: He focuses on what users ultimately want (e.g., more traffic, revenue, audience), not just the immediate function of the tool.
  • Why it matters: When the product directly moves the ultimate metric that matters to the user, perceived value (and willingness to pay) increases 10–100x.

6. Build features that solve their problems, not the founder’s 

  • He is a heavy user of his own tools, but still prioritizes real users’ pains over his own preferences.
  • Execution style:
    • Fix small UX issues immediately.
    • Ship requested features in 1–2 hours when possible.
  • Result: Users feel “heard” and start advocating for the product publicly.

7. Iterate in public and stay close to your users 

  • Use social media as a feedback + relationship loop:
    • Share progress, ship logs, and updates.
    • Watch what users ask for in replies and DMs.
  • Benefit: Continuous demand‑driven roadmap, instead of guessing in isolation.

8. Don’t scale acquisition until people can’t live without it 

  • Focus on retention first:
    • If new users churn instantly, acquisition is a leaky bucket.
    • Complaints are treated as a strong signal of commitment (only invested users bother to complain).
  • Checkpoint: Only when users are “stuck” to the product does he start pushing growth hard.

How he approaches distribution and scaling 

9. Go broad on acquisition channels (then measure) 

  • Early growth tactics:
    • Product Hunt launches.
    • Building in public on X.
    • General social promotion.
  • Goal: Find which channels actually move the needle for that specific product.
  • Typical pattern: These free/organic efforts are often enough to reach the first $1–10K MRR.

10. Turn the company into a media engine 

  • Content is non‑optional:
    • Social content, SEO content, email, or cold outreach – pick one strength and lean in.
    • Publish case studies, testimonials, and practical content around the problem space.
  • Reason: A repeatable content pipeline keeps fueling all other acquisition channels.

11. Double down on scalable channels: SEO, ads, affiliates 

  • He focuses on three main scalable levers:
    • SEO (long‑term, compounding).
    • Paid ads (scalable budget if unit economics work).
    • Affiliate programs (partners drive customers in exchange for revenue share).
  • Example: Outrank went from $0 → $20K MRR by building in public, then $20K → $200K MRR after adding SEO, ads, and an optimized affiliate program.

12. Ruthlessly scale what works and kill what doesn’t 

  • For each product, only 1–2 growth channels truly matter.
  • Once those are identified:
    • Scale them hard (more content, more ad spend, more campaigns).
    • Drop or minimize everything else that doesn’t show clear ROI.
  • Mindset: Growth is about deep focus on a few effective channels, not doing everything.

Why he runs a portfolio instead of just one SaaS 

  • Risk management: Multiple products = resilience against platform and AI shocks.
  • Real example: When Elon changed X’s policies, it almost killed Tweet Hunter at ~$200K MRR.
  • Today: If one product gets disrupted by a new AI feature or platform change, the rest of the portfolio keeps the company and his family financially safe.

Main takeaway for builders 

Tibo’s core message is simple: the “secret” isn’t a niche hack or a magic tech stack. It’s:

  • Building fast and expecting many projects to fail.
  • Talking to users daily and letting their real pains drive the roadmap.
  • Delaying “growth hacking” until retention and stickiness are obvious.
  • Then going very deep on 1–2 acquisition channels that clearly work.

For anyone building SaaS or micro‑SaaS right now, his process is a concrete, repeatable how‑to rather than just a motivational story.

reddit.com
u/Medium-Importance270 — 15 days ago
▲ 21 r/B2BSaaS+3 crossposts

A few months ago, I stopped manually doing SEO for Sonar.

Instead, I tried using this tool I was building to automate most of it, content discovery, publishing, and backlinks, and let it run in the background.

No keyword spreadsheets.
No outreach emails.
No “publish when I feel like it”.

Instead, I set up a system that:

  • Finds keyword opportunities competitors missed
  • Publishes optimized content directly to my site
  • Builds contextual backlinks in the background

I limited it to 1 article per day so it looked natural, then didn’t touch it.

This was mostly an experiment to see if automation would get me penalized or ignored.

It didn’t.

Results after ~3 months:

  • ~3 clicks/day → 450+ clicks/day
  • 407k total impressions
  • Average position: 7.1
  • One article now drives ~20% of all traffic by itself

Screenshot for proof 👆

The most interesting part wasn’t the content, it was the backlinks.

Instead of manual outreach, links came from real articles on relevant sites. No obvious exchanges, no spammy placements. Everything stayed contextual, which I’m convinced is why rankings climbed instead of tanking.

I also learned that long-tail keywords are insanely underrated. A lot of the traffic came from queries I wouldn’t have bothered targeting manually because they “looked too small”.

Turns out, lots of small wins stack very fast.

Biggest takeaway:
SEO rewards consistency more than effort. A boring system that runs every day beats intense manual work that stops after two weeks.

Happy to answer questions if anyone’s curious how this was set up or what I’d change if I started from scratch.

u/Medium-Importance270 — 16 days ago
▲ 43 r/startup+1 crossposts

Most indie hackers chase the same audiences: SaaS founders, marketers, dev tools, creators. Jordan Rejaud did something very different.

He built Parakeet Chat, an AI-powered communication and learning tool for incarcerated people in the US. It has:

  • $1.5M in total revenue
  • $300K+ per year
  • ~30,000 users (about 20% of the entire US federal prison population)
  • Zero ads, zero content marketing, all word-of-mouth

Here’s how he did it and what’s interesting about his approach.

Who is the creator?

  • Jordan is a solo technical founder with a background in robotics and self-driving systems.
  • He left a Fortune 100 research job, taught himself to code more broadly and freelanced in San Francisco.
  • Over time he bootstrapped two separate businesses to over $1M in total revenue each.

What is the product?

  • Product: Parakeet Chat
  • What it does:
    • Acts as an AI learning and communication tool for incarcerated people.
    • Lets them send emails to a specific address which are routed through a chatbot.
    • The system talks to models like ChatGPT and returns answers via the internal prison email system.
  • Main use cases:
    • Studying case law and doing legal research about their own cases and rights.
    • Communicating with family when other services are expensive or low quality.
    • Learning and asking entrepreneurial and educational questions.
  • Key nuance:
    • There is no typical “app”. Nothing in the App Store. No downloadable mobile UI.
    • From the user’s perspective it is “just” email. The intelligence lives behind the scenes.
    • The fastest way to launch an AI SaaS - AnotherWrapper

How he found the idea

  • While freelancing on a mobile app project, Jordan’s client was unexpectedly sent to prison.
  • Jordan stayed in touch with him via letters and later learned how bad existing prison services were:
    • Poor quality
    • Overpriced
    • Exploitative in many cases
  • That client explained the pain in detail which revealed a clear, underserved problem:
    • Incarcerated people want to learn, research, and stay connected.
    • The tools they have are limited and often run by rent-seeking vendors.
  • Instead of building for the usual tech audience, he committed to this extremely niche, hard-to-access market.
  • You can find Validated Painkiller SaaS ideas at Sonar

How he validated the idea

  • Prison is a closed ecosystem, so typical idea validation playbooks did not work:
    • No landing page tests
    • No ads to collect emails
    • No quick survey funnels
  • Validation and MVP were effectively the same step:
    • He built a minimal working version that integrated with the prison email system.
    • He presented it to a small group of people inside and collected direct feedback.
    • Within about one month he had around 200 paying users and early profitability.
  • Key point from him:
    • Most founders are emotionally attached to their ideas and avoid true validation.
    • Validation is not a specific framework as much as a mindset:
      • Be willing to have the idea rejected by real users.
      • Be ready to kill it if the market does not care.

How the app actually works

  • From the inmate’s side:
    • They send an email to a specified address within the internal prison email system.
    • The system parses the message, calls AI models and sends back an answer.
    • It can:
      • Answer legal questions
      • Explain case law
      • Look up sports stats
      • Help draft messages to family
  • From the outside world:
    • There is no classic UI or mobile app.
    • It behaves like an invisible messaging and AI gateway that sits between prison email and external AI services.

How it makes money

  • Users vs customers are different groups:
    • Users: People on the inside (incarcerated individuals)
    • Customers: Their families on the outside who pay for the service
  • Business model:
    • Simple SaaS subscription
    • Around 15 to 20 USD per month depending on plan
    • Discounts for annual plans
    • No ads, no content marketing, no influencer campaigns
  • Numbers mentioned:
    • ~$300K in revenue in 2025
    • ~$1.5M total lifetime revenue
    • ~30,000 people have used it so far
    • ~9 million messages processed

How it grew

  • Growth is almost entirely word-of-mouth inside a closed system:
    • A few early adopters shared it with others in the same facility.
    • Those people shared it onward if they found value.
  • They added a simple internal referral mechanic:
    • If a user recruited another paying user, they received free credits.
  • The mindset for growth was:
    • Treat it like a scientist:
      • Run experiments
      • Expect many to fail
      • Use the data to iterate
    • Focus on building a product that creates “zealots” who talk about it relentlessly.

Why this case is interesting for indie hackers

  • Radically niche audience
    • Incarcerated people are not a typical ICP in startup brainstorm sessions, yet the market is real and sizable.
  • Invisible interface
    • The “app” is email and backend logic. No fancy UI, no app store friction.
  • Different payer and user
    • The people benefiting directly are not the ones entering their credit card.
    • This separation is common in B2B and education, but underused in indie projects.
  • Harsh constraints as an advantage
    • Regulatory and infrastructural constraints created a moat and made it hard for copycats.
  • Social impact plus profit
    • It simultaneously:
      • Generates real revenue
      • Helps people study their rights
      • Keeps families connected

Key lessons for builders

  • Look where others are not looking
    • Some of the most durable ideas are in markets that feel unglamorous or hard to reach.
  • Validate with reality, not imagination
    • Get a prototype in front of real users even if the environment is difficult.
  • Speed matters more than tech stack
    • He used a standard stack (TypeScript, React, Postgres, Redis, etc.) and emphasized speed and iteration over obsessing about tools.
  • Be willing to make many small mistakes early
    • His point: there is no overnight success. The reason Parakeet worked is that he had already spent years making and learning from mistakes on earlier projects.

If anyone here is working on niche or “invisible UI” products, it would be interesting to hear how you approached:

  • Finding and reaching your initial users in a hard-to-access market
  • Handling cases where the user and payer are different people
  • Designing growth loops when you cannot rely on typical marketing channels

This story is a strong reminder that there is meaningful money and impact in places most founders never even think to look.

u/Medium-Importance270 — 22 days ago
▲ 54 r/GrowthHacking+17 crossposts

Desmond Co-Founder of Rise App (Changed name to LifeReset) recently shared their journey of growing a bootstrapped app from nothing to $500,000 per month in just a year. Here are 14 key lessons they learned along the way:

Build something that taps into a real human need and genuinely helps people. (Not part of Original - You can Use Sonar.wtf to find market gaps)

Make your users love your product so much that they tell others about it naturally.

Handle all the marketing yourself at first to understand it, then delegate specific tasks as you grow.

Keep learning. Watch tutorials, read articles, and fill in any skill gaps, especially early on—your unique knowledge is a big advantage.

For mobile apps, if your annual revenue is under $10M, marketing is everything. If you’re aiming for over $100M, focus shifts to the product itself. Decide which game you want to play.

Don’t fall into the “organic trap.” Sometimes it’s better to have higher volume with lower margins, because scale is its own leverage.

Stay focused. Networking and location can help, but putting in the actual work is what matters most.

Even at high revenue, keep doing some hands-on work like writing copy, designing, or coding to stay connected to the project.

Don’t panic when things go wrong. It happens.

Personal branding isn’t everything. The product’s success can be independent of your own online presence.

Whether you raise money or not, the fundamentals don’t change: build a good product, market it, and make money. Capital lets you hire, but the wrong direction with more resources just speeds up failure.

Ignore the playbooks and get creative. New approaches can redefine how apps are marketed—don’t be afraid to invent your own.

Live frugally. Wanting things can motivate you, but materialism can distract from real personal growth. Business growth and lifestyle growth don’t have to be linked.

Keep planning for the long term to gain clarity, but also stick to daily routines—consistency builds momentum and leads to compounding results.

Hope these insights help anyone building something from scratch!

u/Medium-Importance270 — 16 days ago