Meet Marc, a 30-year-old entrepreneur living in Bali. Launched 20 startups; most didn’t work out, but 7 made money. His biggest hit? ShipFast, earning about $55,000 a month. Let’s learn the way he did it.
What’s your story and the way did you provide you with this concept?
I graduated in computer science in 2016 and didn’t apply for a job. As a substitute, I feel I used to be Mark Zuckerberg and spent a yr constructing a secret app. I never got it began.
I felt terrible, so I moved to South Korea and began a VC-backed startup with a friend. We raised $100,000 to predict airline ticket prices (reverse engineering ticket pricing). It was one other flop.
Tired of big ideas, in 2018 I began mini-projects that I hoped could be aimed toward making a living online. I created a SaaS that remains to be paying the bills after 5 years (about $600/month).
I moved to Bali and continued working on small projects, but the corporate was not growing. In 2020, I made about $1,500.
At the top of 2021, I discovered Indie Hackers and my life was transformed. I all the time felt lonely constructing apps in the dead of night. Discovering a community of makers who construct publicly was an enormous turning point.
I even have been shipping startups like crazy within the last 2 years (16 startups). After doing the identical thing over and yet again, I noticed I could sell the starter code base to hurry up shipping. That is what I created ShipFast.
Describe the means of starting and growing an organization.
Now I even have over 50,000 followers on Twitter, product launches get more attention, but the method is all the time the identical
1. Make a singular launch video, e.g this.
2. Create a Product Hunt launch
3. On launch day, post a tweet with a video and a link to Product Hunt.
4. On launch day, launch anywhere else (Reddit, Indie Hackers, Hackers News). I even have made several guides for these platforms in my newsletter.
Nothing cool. Rinse and repeat.
What helped attract recent customers?
1. Virus startup videos just like the one above
2. Engineering as marketing: free tools without registration that promote the foremost product
3. A rattling good landing page headline
What are your plans for the long run and what are you currently working on?
I work full time ShipFast AND Hello, disputes. I’m also preparing the so-called course to assist creators create viral videos.
What platform/tools do you utilize in your organization?
My $60,000/month sole proprietorship costs $183/month:
– Hosting → Vercel $20/mo
– Database → MongoDB $7/mo
– Analytics → Likely $30/mo
– Newsletter → Beehiiv $99/month
– Assistant → Co-pilot USD 10/month
– Marketing → Twitter + Typically $17/mo
Do you’ve gotten any advice for other entrepreneurs who are only starting out or want to begin?
1. Avoid SaaS, subscriptions and free plans
2. Construct a really small version of your startup and launch it with the Buy button, users will construct the remainder of the product
3. Document all the pieces on Twitter, because in case your startup fails, you may still grow your audience. It will aid you in future projects.