This is super inspirational. Long read but well worth it. Also his blog is great and he posts very frequently there and on Twitter [@alexwestco](https://twitter.com/alexwestco)

*"There is no epic launch. No epic event. No going absolutely viral.*

*I built the website with a no-code tool and launched it on ProductHunt out of the blue. If people did indeed subscribe, I would rush and create it before by the 1st of the next month and deliver them the list, as my website stated.*

*No pretend work this time.*

*Even those mockups, soft launches, Reddit posts and cold emails had started to feel like "pretend work" now.*

*Just launch already.*

*The launch went well, and I got ten paying customers. Just like that. With a $29/mo price tag, I was at $290 MRR!*

*Some subscriners had business emails as well. I had officially built a B2B product at last!*

*All and all, I went from no idea to $290/mo in two weeks."*

Alex West (getcyberleads.com, $500k/yr) - Two and a half years of building products [2020]

I've been building a Notion clone + publishing tool. Here I'll post dev updates (as well as on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/jeremybernier)).

Site: <http://mindgarden.app>

**2023-08-08** Just added Stripe payments and created landing page for <http://mindgarden.app>, my Notion clone (note-taking app) + publishing tool

Next I will prob make a video for the landing page showing what this is + how to use it b/c I don't think it's very clear. Then will try to get it in front of people to get feedback to validate the idea and/or refine the product/marketing.

I know the landing page is ugly because it's not a separate page, but a file directly in the app. I thought it'd be cool to immediately load the app and allow people to instantly start using the product (also I personally hate landing pages, but maybe I need to get over that). This makes it tough to style this page, but perhaps can figure something out later.

I'm building out some sites using <http://mindgarden.app>. Currently <http://codefire.dev> (built a couple days ago) and <http://jbernier.com> use the MindGarden API, and planning to build out those sites + more to show what it's capable of.

Will this succeed? Who knows. In any case I use the product myself, so at least there's one happy customer. We'll see if I can turn this into something useful for others as well.

Let me know what you think / open to feedback. I'm new to the whole entrepreneurship thing - this is actually my first time adding payments to anything I've made (wish I'd done this sooner).

<http://mindgarden.app>

<https://twitter.com/jeremybernier/status/1688814645598208000>

Build In Public - MindGarden

Hi I'm Jeremy. I'm building this site because I'm not satisfied with other online community type websites and their lack of innovation (see the /about page). The goal is to make a superior, more open, and more decentralized online community.

The site is still in early stages in active development (see the dev masterthread here: https://zsync.xyz/p/zsync-dev-update-masterthread)

Join us if this sounds interesting! Feel free to send me any feedback or reach out directly!

Built this today: <https://codefire.dev> (work in progress)

Plan is for it to be a no-BS site for useful code snippets, boilerplates, and dev resources. No unnecessarily long-winded tutorials and SEO whoring, just straight to the point.

Backend API will be powered by my other app <http://mindgarden.app>, so it's simultaneously an excuse for me to battle test my own product + serve as a demo.

Currently just my content, but down the line will be publicly editable (eg. like Wikipedia) 

Tech stack: Next.js, Tailwind, MindGarden (API), Cloudflare Pages

Will post updates here

Build In Public - CodeFire.dev

This thread is for all the solo entrepreneurs, artists, etc. who are building things, and looking for others to help hold them accountable.Anyone posting in this thread should post their goals along with a deadline (eg. complex X, Y, and Z by end of week), and then follow up with an update.When we have enough people, we can do a weekly calls / demo sessions.Goal here is to get you to actually build your thing, and to connect with others also on the same journey. Let's go.

Solo Entrepreneur Public Accountability Thread

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1610275857561538561.html">https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1610275857561538561.html</a>Thread by <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-1dbjc4n r-1loqt21 r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs r-1ny4l3l" href="https://twitter.com/volodarik">@volodarik </a>copy &amp; pasted below:"There are many multibillion dollar companies that started out as tools for internal use only. Here are 10 that will surprise you:1/ <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/SlackHQ">@SlackHQ</a> In 2011, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/stewart">@stewart</a> (&amp; his team) built it to communicate with each other while working on a game. The game failed, but he launched the internal messaging app as a team communication tool. Today, it makes $1B/yr in ARR, &amp; recently Salesforce acquired it for $27.7B.2/ <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/basecamp">@basecamp</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/37signals">@37signals</a>, a design consultancy, developed it as an internal tool to manage projects and communication. Later, clients continuously asked the founder, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/jasonfried">@jasonfried</a>, about his project management tool—so he launched it. Today, it has 75K+ companies as customers.3/ <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/segment">@segment</a> - customer data platform. It started as a classroom lecture tool allowing students to flag any confusion to the professor, but it failed. Then, it pivoted to a web analytics tool. It, too, failed due to competition. Now, the company only had $100K in the bank.@mentionsFinally, the founders launched the internal programming tool they had created to build their previous products. It blew up on GitHub and became the company’s main product. In 2020, Twilio acquired it for $3.2B. Here is announcement from (maybe my cousin)<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1315751163262693376.html">Unroll available on Thread Reader</a>4/ <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/asana">@asana</a> In 2008, two engineers at FB, Dustin Moskovitz and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/rosenstein">@rosenstein</a>, developed a project management tool to improve internal team collaboration. But the tool became so popular on the FB team, they quit FB to work full-time on it. Today, it makes $378M/yr in revenue.5/ <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/hootsuite">@hootsuite</a> Invoke Media, a digital marketing agency, originally developed Hootsuite to manage its customer's social media accounts. The founders later launched it as a separate product. Today, it has 25M+ users and makes $250M+/yr in revenue.6/ <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/intercom">@intercom</a> The founders first developed it to communicate with the users of their existing app, Exceptional. Eventually, Exceptional shut down, but they doubled down on Intercom—developing tools for support and sales platform. Today, it makes $300M/yr in revenue.7/ <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/freshbooks">@freshbooks</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/MikeMcDerment">@MikeMcDerment</a> built it to help him manage the invoicing and billing for his design firm. He later launched the same tool for others and found they loved the product—so he went all in. Today, it generates $50M+/yr in revenue.@mentions8/ Amazon originally built AWS to manage its infrastructure &amp; services. Later, the company launched it as a separate product for outside customers. Today, it generates $80B/yr in revenue. Here's an excellent deep dive on AWS:9/ <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/Mailchimp">@Mailchimp</a> The founders first developed it to help their design agency clients send emails. But in 2007, due to growing demand for the service, they shut down the agency &amp; went all-in on it. Today, it does $700M+/yr in revenue, &amp; recently Intuit acquired it for $12B.10/ <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/MiroHQ">@MiroHQ</a> The founders originally built the visual collaboration tool to communicate with their design agency team &amp; clients. Over time, after realizing the demand for it, they decided to build a company around it. Today, it has 45M+ users &amp; generates $400M/yr in revenue."<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1610275857561538561.html">Unroll available on Thread Reader</a>

10 Multibillion Dollar Companies that Started as Online Tools

How BuiltWith generates $14 million a year while having zero employees

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1571495273997664258.html">https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1571495273997664258.html</a> (thread by <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-1dbjc4n r-1loqt21 r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs r-1ny4l3l" href="https://twitter.com/realjondavids">@realjondavids)</a>"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 - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="entity-mention" href="https://twitter.com/labnol">@labnol</a> - who lives in uttar pradesh, india • amit is the only employee Still with me? Let's dig in 👇1/ THE BASICS Amit 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 MONEY Here'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 PART Amit 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+ downloads With 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"

1-man company making $13m/yr with Google plugins (gmail, docs) - Amit Agarwal of Digital Inspiration

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1551281069202083840.html">https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1551281069202083840.html</a>Author: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/TaschaLabs">@TaschaLabs</a><hr>Note: 1. These aren’t the only ways to do web3/tokenization. They’re example ideas. 2. Some of these are already being implemented. Others are harder to execute. But use these as inspiration if you’re a founder.<hr>1. Amazon logistics Instead of having large distribution centers, Use decentralized mini warehouses (e.g. your backyard) for storage &amp; drivers pick up merchandises from closest storage location. Delivery fees paid in warehouse tokens are earned by warehouse owners.2. Meta / Facebook Users earn the platform token by posting and commenting. Amount earned is based on popularity of content posted. Advertisers pay for ads in the platform token.3. Google If the search engine / browser records any user data—e.g. demographic, behavioral— into its database, user earns the platform token. Advertisers pay in platform token to access the database.4. Costco Customers purchase store membership in NFT. They can rent out the NFT on 2ndary mkt to others who want access to Costco discounts but don’t shop frequently. Members get rental incomes. Costco gets more customers.5. Pepsi Pepsi owns dozens of food &amp; beverage brands &amp; regularly acquire new ones. A PepsiCo utility token— which customers can earn when buying from one brand &amp; spend on another brand— could help Pepsi grow new brands by leveraging customers from existing brands it owns.6. Comcast / Xfinity Comcast operates a public WiFi network, which consist of hotspots in public locations, businesses &amp; home gateways. A utility token supported by network revenue, which users can earn when providing hotspot service would improve WiFi coverage &amp; user loyalty.7. Netflix Airdrop Netflix tokens to users-&gt; Let users “stake” tokens on pilot shows they like-&gt; Users earn partial streaming revenue from those shows. Now users have more incentive to help promote their favorite shows which attract more subscribers.8. American Electric Power Company User tokenization to incentivize development of distributed renewable power generation from small hydro, biomass, solar, wind &amp; geothermal generators, w/o upfront cash investment from the company.9. PayPal PayPal already lets users buy crypto in their app. Next step is to evolve into KYC-ed DeFi. E.g. let users contribute their crypto balances to liquidity pools hosted on PayPal to facilitate token swaps &amp; earn a txn fee.10. Mercado Libre Use tokenization to drive traffic &amp; give marketplace vendors more incentive. Vendors earn tokens when the customers they attract to platform make purchases. Vendors can then give the tokens to customers as discount or use tokens to pay for platform commissions.11. Zoom Switch the video transcoding process from centralized servers to allow individuals to transcode from their own computers. Instead of paying subscription fee, users pay in tokens directly to transcoders when they have a video call.12. Airbnb Hosts &amp; guests earn Airbnb tokens when they receive good reviews. They can use tokens to pay for future booking fees, or lower commission charges, or sell tokens on 2ndary mkt to monetize their rewards of being good participants on the platform.13. Lululemon Athletics Social media influencers post pictures in Lululemon outfits &amp; earn Lulu tokens according to popularity of their post. They can give tokens to their audience to redeem for products. Part of company revenues are used to buy their own tokens on 2ndary mkt.14. Starbucks Allow customers to monetize their loyalty by earning Starbucks points in tradable token format. Customers can stake tokens to get tiered discounts in future.15. DocuSign Users earn utility tokens when the person they send a document to also signs up for a DocuSign account. The utility token can be used to pay for subscription fee at small discount.16. McDonald’s A franchise DAO where the DAO token represents pooled resources from members, allows members to vote on new franchise locations &amp; receive yields from profits of the DAO’s portfolio of franchises.17. Disney Customers earn upgradable Disney NFTs whenever they make purchase or interact w/ the brand’s array of products. Different tiers of NFTs in wallet unlocks different future perks &amp; discounts.18. Nike NFTs matched one-to-one w/ limited-edition shoes maintain rarity even after physical shoes are worn out &amp; gone. A collection of rare sneaker NFTs becomes a store of value, which gives more incentive for customers to buy rare sneakers &amp; allows higher price premium.19. Illumina Anyone that has their genome sequenced &amp; contributes to the global DNA database gets an airdrop of DNA token. Medical companies &amp; research orgs pay to access database. Revenues are used to market-buy the DNA tokens.20. Activision Blizzard Gamers earn the platform token whenever they play the company’s portfolio of games or participate in player communities. Earn rate is higher for new games. Part of revenues from all game sales are used for token buyback.21. Fidelity Create a marketplace for mutual funds of tokenized assets. Anybody can set up a fund &amp; anybody can invest in fund tokens. Performances are transparent w/ data tracked on blockchain. The platform curates, filters &amp; helps users discover funds.22. Monster Beverage Energy drink is a commodity. 90% of company value is intangible brand equity. Many ways to use DAO &amp; NFT to encourage participation in brand. E.g. Monster DAO to let customers vote on new flavors / designs &amp; earn tokens, which are used to redeem products.23. Digital Realty Trust Use token sales to finance investments in new data centers. Customers of the data centers need to pay for usage in the said token.24. Visa Inc. Interchange fees on credit card txns are high partly to cover fraud/chargeback costs. Blockchain wallet txn data is open &amp; free. Analyze the data to determine credit worthiness of a user &amp; offer cards w/ lower interchange fees to quality users.25. Equifax Inc. Equifax collects &amp; sells consumer credit data to b2b customers. A web3 competitor can give tokens to individuals it collects data from &amp; buy tokens on 2ndary mk w/ revenues from data sales. Token incentive encourages self reporting &amp; help build database quickly.26. Southwest Airlines Tokenize airline miles to allow 2ndary mkt exchanges. Token price serves as “automatic stabilizer” of airline demand. When demand drops-&gt; token price is lower-&gt; encourage more token redemption for plane tickets-&gt; increase demand. Vice versa.27. Ulta Beauty Create a governance token that lets customers vote on which brands to introduce / kick out of Ulta stores. Voting customers get perks &amp; discounts from brands they chose. Organic marketing &amp; increased customer engagement.28. Estée Lauder Companies Instead of paying Kendall Jenner top advertising $, give customers tokens to try new products &amp; buy tokens back w/ product profits. P.S. Cosmetics biz disrupter of future would be customer-owned to share high biz margin w/ users to grow faster.29. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://Match.com">Match.com</a> / Tinder Incentivize users to input personal data w/ token airdrops. Data is used to improve platform algorithms to increase chances of matches. Additional airdrops if user invites friends. Tokens can be applied towards paying subscription fees. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://match.com/">Match | Start Something GreatMatch has created millions of stories. Start yours today.</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://Match.com">http://Match.com</a>30. Etsy Inc. Merchants earn Etsy utility tokens when they attract new customers to the platform. Tokens can be used to pay future platform fees. Staking tokens gives merchants rights to vote on certain operation decisions of platform.31. Planet Fitness Gyms make $ by having members who don’t go to gym. Industry disruptor would do opposite. Charge higher fee. Reward members w/ tokens for actually working out. Partner w/ health agencies &amp; insurance companies to support token price.32. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://Booking.com">Booking.com</a> Use tokenization to increase repeat customers &amp; lower advertising cost. Grant users tokens when booking hotels through the site. Tokens can be used to get discounts on future bookings. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://Booking.com">Booking.com</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://booking.com/">: The largest selection of hotels, homes, and vacation rentalsWhether you’re looking for hotels, homes, or vacation rentals, you’ll always find the guaranteed best price. Browse our 2,563,380 accommodations in over 85,000 destinations.</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://Booking.com">http://Booking.com</a>33. Public Storage Instead of running centralized self-storage service, create mkt place to match storage demand w/ users who have extra space in home/office. To bootstrap growth, users on both sides get token allocations, the value of which is supported by platform txn fees.34. Zillow Advertisers pay partial fees in Zillow tokens. If users end up renting / buying a property they found via the platform, they get a rebate in tokens. Creating listings also earns tokens. I.e. tokenization supports growth of both sides of mkt place.35. DoorDash Restaurants earn tokens when they direct customer traffic to the platform &amp; use platform for payment processing. The higher a merchant’s token balance, the lower commission they pay. Use savings on ad spending to reduce fees for both merchants &amp; customers. • <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/TaschaLabs">@TaschaLabs</a>'s newsletter: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://taschalabs.com/newsletter">taschalabs.com/newsletter</a>

Startups

t/startups