https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1571495273997664258.html (thread by @realjondavids)
"I just discovered a 1-man company that pulls in $13M/yr selling the most basic software you’ve ever heard of.I was curious so I went full Sherlock Holmes to figure this out.Here’s the story 🧵
• the company is called Digital Inspiration• they make niche plug-ins for google apps like gmail and docs• they have millions of customers including big companies like disney and uber
• the founder is amit agarwal - @labnol - who lives in uttar pradesh, india• amit is the only employeeStill with me? Let's dig in 👇
1/ THE BASICSAmit started as a tech blogger in 2004.Then he developed a Gmail plug-in called "Mail Merge with Attachments."
So if you want to send 100 emails with 1 click, but make each one personalized, that's what this plug-in does. Handy right?He promoted it on his blog.
2/ FINDING THE MONEYHere's where it get nuts.You can download that plug-in for free and upgrade to the paid version starting at $39/yr per user.According to Google, it's been downloaded 7.5M times.
So if even 5% of these downloads end up in a paying user, that's $1.5M in annual recurring revenue. And I'm sure it's more than that.He has customers like Uber and Zoom who are paying for 100's of enterprise users. Those licenses are printing money.
This plug-in has to bring in $4M+.But wait, there's more...
3/ HERE'S THE MIND-BLOWING PARTAmit has developed 13 apps (that I know of) and each one is a cash cow.• there's a document mgnt app that starts at $79/yr with 6M+ downloads• there's a notification app starting at $39/yr with 10M+ downloads
• there's a youtube app starting at $79/yr with 8M+ downloadsWith my rough math, this dude is making $13M/yr 🤯And if you told me it was $30M/yr, I wouldn't be surprised.Let's all pause for a round of applause 👏👏
KEY TAKEAWAYS:→ Building an audience gives you massive leverage on customer acquisition→ There's riches in the niches. Who would have thought Google productivity apps were so lucrative?
→ Lucrative products don't need to be sexy. It's actually better if they're boring→ Some businesses don't require lots of employees to make lots of money
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