10 business principles that generated us $32 000 in 6 months
MakerBox journey in 10 lessons.
1) Better done than perfect
Our landing pages are not masterpieces.
We could spend months running interviews and changing copy.
But why delay the revenue?
Ship early. Get feedback. Iterate.
2) Distribution > Content
Our blog articles are okay. Some of them are even good.
But it doesn't matter this much.
What is important — how many people read them.
That's why we spend more time distributing content than creating it.
3) Trends come and go
We didn't tweet about Twitter Free University.
We didn't launch a paid Slack community.
We didn't build an AI tool to create profile pictures.
We stick to the plan. Even if it's not hype right now.
Sorry, shiny syndrome object.
4) Start with the bottom of the funnel
Getting tons of users is dumb if you can't convert them to customers.
Website visitors don't pay the bill.
That's why we focus on the Activation and Revenue steps of the marketing funnel.
Conversion is our holy grail.
5) Let people judge for themselves
We don't call ourselves "best" or "most popular".
It's cheesy and lame.
Instead, we show the part of the product for free and spotlight social proof from our customers.
Transparency sells.
6) Educated users buy more
Getting 1000 likes on listicles with free startup tools is cool.
But you know what's cooler?
Creating content that boosts your authority and makes users smarter for free.
Newsletter, Blog articles, Threads. Don't forget to insert a CTA button.
7) There is life beyond video courses
Sorry, but people have more exciting things to do than watching you head for 10 hours.
There are cheatsheets, templates, SOPs, databases, challenges, productized services, and frameworks.
Try them before recording another video course.
8) Accept failures
Founders have an always-up mentality.
Each product will get more $ than the previous one.
Each week we will get more followers than before.
But here is the truth.
You will fail.
And not every failure is a learning opportunity. Sometimes you just fail.
9) Start with a problem-solving
It's so charming to start working on new ideas right away...
... and fail them due to poor execution.
That's why we spend one hour on problem-solving new ideas.
Answering tough questions minimizes the risk of dumb mistakes.
10) Be patient
Audience building takes time.
SEO takes time.
Word of mouth takes time.
The good part? Being consistent pays off.
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Couldn't agree more. Thanks for sharing this!
Sometimes you just fail without having to learn anything resonated with me. Would love to hear more from you on some of the key things to keep in mind while focusing on distribution.
Appreciate you 🥰
Check Sveta's great thread about distribution — https://twitter.com/sveta_bay/status/1583007326478344193
Loved that thread. Thanks :)
This is great thank you! Im recently launched www.getmangoo.com a simple google analytics alternative that is privacy first we are GDPR compliant and no need for cookie banners! Will leverage you advice as I grow Mangoo Analytics. Thanks
good luck 🤝
What a great start and finish to this article
I also experienced that there is a trend that will never gone. Being consistent always pays off for whatever you're doing.
Another great article Dan!
Love your works. Good luck!
Back to basics.
Appreciate you 🤟
Great points! I am a newer founder, about to start talking with my potential users and figure out market fit. The first point is incredibly important I learned, as I finally push myself to actually ship. I find that the overwhelming amount of "former" founders I personally know got stuck in the infinite loop of learning or just flat out never completed a project "just good enough" because they wanted it as perfect as their vision (or what they think is perfect). The reality is that statistically, our initial vision is just a starting point that will evolve as we talk with our users. So, ship and start getting feedback earlier before it's too late!
I bookmarked this post because it serves as a valuable reminder about what's really important as an early startup founder. Thanks for the dose of reality!
glad that this post helped you 🤩
thank you for the kind words!
Great post , in this moment i have a newslleter about begginers programmers , the points 10) and 8) are where i fail , but its okey , fail fast and cheap is the key
rooting for you 🙌
Thank you for sharing
🤝
I love your story; you two have proven that info products can truly generate a solid income, even if you're not Arvid Kahl or Justin Welsh.
hope that it will inspire creators to build and grow more products 🔥
I love this - straight to the point and all excellent points.
❤️
I liked this copy style, straight to the point!
❤️
Thank you for this!
you are welcome 🤩
Great post, awesome points! but the bottom line is still a useful product. Less than perfect, but something of a good value for XXX number of people. Distribution is the king of course, but if you have nothing to distribute, then what?... I know I am stating the obvious, and with all the great 10 points above, the core reasons for your success is your useful product and the flawless execution. Congrats!!!
Thank you!
I would argue that product should be slightly above average to start. You can make it better by focusing on distribution and feedback from paying (!) customers.
Appreciate you 🙌
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I like number 2. Distribution > Content. Thanks for the reminder. Great share!
Goodluck on your future growth.
Hi Dan, I would love to get more details, especially on the points regarding distribution and SEO. Would you be willing to elaborate on the details of how you went about this? What channels did you use? What is your strategy? How long did it take you to get satisfying and significant results in SEO? Are there more tangible numbers or visuals like growth graphs from Google Analytics or similar?
Great post. Stick to the plan.
Awesome post! Thank you for sharing your experience!
Better done than perfect is the golden nugget. Too many people spend way too much time on things that don't really matter (font, logos, name, etc). Just pick it and run with it
As a first-time founder, this post makes a lot of sense. I quickly built a product and launched it. Then I realized that there was no user. So if I read this post before my hustle, I would also focus on the distribution to acquire initial users. Huge thanks.
Definition of Straightforwardness! Really great post, thanks for sharing.
Great post! Short and concise, I liked it.
Great points thank you !
Do you have any tips on finding out which channels are best fitted for your users / potential customers ? (facebook, linkedin, twitter, reddit, etc )
It has been a great help for me, thanks.
Yes, the last one: patience is soooo useful for new startups and founders.
🚀Users need time to adapt to your product, especially the user whose needs do not be found. They compare your product to their problems and match the using area.
These are great points, Dan. Thanks for sharing.
When did you start on the journey of creating content, SEO, and audience building?
Also, on a side note, I completely agree that there is more beyond CBCs and recorded videos now. Shameless plug, but that's why I launched Geeks and Experts so that you don't have to watch lengthy videos or read tl:dr blogs to know what you don't know. Find a geek or expert and ask them!
Nicely written! I am new on gumroad and this feels like a perfect motivation to get going ✌️
this is a perfect quick guide to read when starting a bussiness
feeling guilty about shiny syndrome object.
your website is very beautiful, I was enjoying it for a long time haha
thx for sharing
@kronop, that's a great list, thanks for sharing. Just a short question: you wrote that Distribution > Content. But how can you get conversions (from readers to customers) on low-value content? As I can imagine, the more valuable content – the more trust in the company – the higher conversion rate?
Amazing post! How do you go about distributing your content? I find that the part I struggle with the most. Good subject for everybody
Check out the link Dan shared earlier. https://twitter.com/sveta_bay/status/1583007326478344193
Thanks for sharing, this is great. I recently started a IT Service based company. I looking forward to learn more and share my experiences here.
Hey,
Amazing post! How do you go about distributing your content? I find that the part I struggle with the most.
Dan shared this link which is super interesting https://twitter.com/sveta_bay/status/1583007326478344193
Dan - I found this very useful! what industry are you in? what's the product?
This is great thank you! Im recently launched www.tolltrackingweb.com a simple google analytics alternative that is privacy first we are GDPR compliant and no need for cookie banners! Will leverage you advice as I grow Mangoo Analytics. Thanks
thank you for sharing us informative content no doubt seo taking time we will understand https://newshunt360.com/
Great point! Thanks for sharing.
More power to you! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing the detail!
No doubt SEO takes time, word of mouth takes time and most important being consistent pays off!
Can moly.ai be added to your 🪛📦 (tools box)? 😊
Submit your product here!
https://tally.so/r/waQeGZ
Great points! I'll try to implement these on my SaaS tool ruttl.
Thank you for sharing!
thank you 🔥
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