API bill made me close down my app! Need a technical co-founder.
A month ago I got an API bill from Elleven Labs for $1100!
So I had users, but also a big bill to sort.
About 6 months ago I hired a developer via Upwork to make my MVP, I then sent traffic from my site and got almost 300 users.
I have now diverted all users (new and old) to a waiting page while I figure out a solution.
The app helps students prepare for the IELTS English test, and my main business sells courses and classes to help these students.
I'm looking for a developer with experience in Next JS / Vercel. Ideally they could help set up a soft paywall, and build out more features (determined by data, users and feedback).
I am open to a revenue share agreement to get started then possibly sweat equity later. We can discuss this before getting started.
I can send more traffic to it instantly because I get over 6K daily visits from the main site.
I'm a former English tutor who enjoys online marketing and generating traffic but my coding and technical knowledge is poor.
I am on an accelerator in Manchester UK, and have access to VEUP, Innovate UK, AWS credits, Azure credits etc and plenty of other resources, just not a coder!
Seeing a dev shut down an app because of an API bill hits close to home. API costs can kill a product if you don't catch them early.
The real challenge here is: how do you keep user access open while controlling costs? That's exactly what I'm working on — using an API gateway to route between providers intelligently, cutting costs without breaking the user experience.
Hope you find a good technical co-founder! For an education app like yours, a soft paywall with free credits that roll over when users hit a threshold seems like a solid path forward.
Hi @mcwwwkke. That really is an expensive bill! I would love to help you out, I'm a full stack developer currently running 3 applications. They are receiving ~10,000 visits per month and the cost is for all of the Google Cloud Platform services is less than $25. Please let me know the best way to contact you. Thanks
Hi @pralakk16 $25?!?! That's amazing!
My bill came from Elleven Labs, and was for using the voice I cloned.
I think Linkedin would be the best way forward.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benworthingtonielts/
Hey @mcwwwkke - that's insane, and could definitely put a dampener of the fun of getting 300 users!
I run a little indie hacker business too, our cloud cost is less than $3 day and it's super scalable. Big data storage, analytics, logging, payment processing, global redirects, multiple websites, user authentication, etc, etc
I run it on Google Cloud Platform and couldn't speak more highly of it.
We co-incidentally need some marketing advice so I'd be happy to trade some knowledge 😂
(Can you share emails on this site?) If so, feel free to hit me up here on the platform or email me at joel@zerodesign.ai
Hi Joel!
I just emailed you :)
Hey @mcwwwkke
This sounds interesting! What's the best way to reach you to discuss further ?
I'm a full stack developer based in the UK
Hi @daniels3
Based in the UK? This could be worth a lot when I go for the Smart Innovate UK grants.
Could you add me on Linkedin and we can take it further:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benworthingtonielts/
Thanks :)
So all your users were not paying?
A month ago, I received a $1100 API bill from Eleven Labs. My app helps students prepare for the IELTS test, and I need a developer experienced in Next JS and Vercel to implement a soft paywall and add features. I'm open to a revenue share agreement and can drive instant traffic with over 6K daily site visits. Despite my marketing skills, I lack the technical expertise and need help to move forward.Similarly, using CapCut for video editing can greatly enhance content creation.