From an Almost Dead Project to $200 MRR in One Day
A year ago, I began developing Edme, an online classroom for language teachers. Months of effort led to 20 daily users, making me feel I had discovered something valuable.
However, as time went on, I started to feel overwhelmed. The project needed constant attention, bug fixes, and new features. The workload became unbearable, and I started to question the value of my efforts. I was spending $150 a month to keep the platform running, and it didn't seem worth it.
With a heavy heart, I decided to take a break from the project, hoping that I'd find the motivation to continue later. Six months passed, and the platform was still dormant. I started to consider shutting it down for good.
But before I could pull the plug, I had a conversation with the founder of one of the online schools that had partnered with me. She told me how much the platform had saved time for their teachers and that they were willing to pay for it. This was the lifeline I needed.
Instead of diving back into the endless cycle of feature-building and bug-fixing, I decided to focus on what mattered most: getting paid for my work. I set up a simple payment link through Stripe and sent a direct message to every teacher using the platform. The offer was straightforward - $20 per month to continue using Edme.
To my surprise, 10 teachers immediately agreed to pay. Just like that, my almost-dead project became profitable, generating $200 MRR in a single day.
So, if you're on the fence about whether your product is "good enough", don't assume—ask. You might be surprised by what you find.
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This is exactly what Indiehacking is all about, cool story, congrats :)
Totally agree
Certainly is - should be a pinned post or something.
"I decided to focus on what mattered most: getting paid for my work"
And just like that, another indiehacker has seen the light :-)
Keep it up and remember that product is far less important than marketing for a lot longer than you realize.
This!
That part!
True
Yasss, slay queen! You absolutely killed it! Such a valuable lesson, thanks for sharing! Learning from fellow learners is the ultimate way to gain knowledge!
these are the stories we need to hear on podcasts, not those that have accomplished everything and can look back and connect the dots easily haha, I'm in the trenches with you building caspa AI! Congrats and hope it keeps growing 🚀
Hi Andrei, congrats on getting paid! You've reached one of the most important but challenging steps! I hope your user base will grow and you will turn Edme into something big!
I have a few questions if you don't mind:
What percentage of your users are using email login VS facebook VS google?
How was the idea for Edme born and how were you able to get initial users?
What have you been doing for marketing?
Thanks!
Hey!
– Mostly google
– I want this tool to learn English + Direct sales
Well done. There's a valuable lesson in there and thank you for sharing. I always think learning from people who are also learning is the best way, rather than from experts who have forgotten the struggle. Of course both have their merit.
I just discovered this place yesterday and this is my first contribution. Hopefully I can have a story like yours in the near future where I share similar success.
Thanks for sharing and congrats :)
I hope it helps you!
Congratulations! Inspirational to hear about focusing on what users truly want to pay for and doubling down.
“If you’re on the fence about whether your product is good enough, don’t assume — just ask” 😮💨😮💨
Thanks!
I love the story but I don't understand why you are talking about Edme and then you link to a Product Hunt link for a different product?
From my time with Edme, I gathered a few handy tips that might benefit someone around here, even if Edme itself isn't the right fit. Discut, on the other hand, is tailor-made for the folks here.
This is great story and kudos for not dropping it
I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed it!
Excellent to hear! Congrats
Thanks!
Congratulations, the endurance paid off!
Thanks!
Hi! Great story. Curious why you weren't requesting a payment earlier or since the beginning?
This is an inspiring story of resilience and resourcefulness in the face of adversity. It's common for entrepreneurs to feel overwhelmed and discouraged when their projects don't grow as quickly as they'd hoped or when the workload becomes too much to handle. However, this story shows that with persistence and a willingness to pivot, success is still possible.
Cool story, but did you end up quitting Edme? Since you're not promoting that and promoting a different website instead?
Congratulations!
Hey @arey that's a really motivating story. I've been in a similar situation where I've almost quit a project but decided to hang on a little more and then managed to turn a corner. It makes me think how many people have quit too early as a result of a challenge or a problem that seems insurmountable at the time.
BTW I co-run Founderoo.co, a website, newsletter and LinkedIn page that shares the insights, learnings and challenges of founders so other founders can learn from them. Our target audience are those with a side hustle who want to transition to becoming a full-time entrepreneur.
I would love to feature your story; there is definitely a valuable lesson in there for our readers. If interested, I can share more details.
Congrats!
Awesome story!
You made it !!! and my wishes to move further...But keep in mind, tracking plays a vital role in all the works we do...
Track your website performance regularly using any of the seo tool, say Serpple and take your successful journey to the next level...
Thats a really great Milestone !! Keep going !!
Really amazing story and Congratulations on the $200 MRR in a single day.
This is truly inspiring. I was in the process of developing a tool myself and started to worry that it might not work. However, just before the Google core update, I updated it and after the update, it started ranking well. Thanks for the motivation!
Love it! Out of interest, how future proof is this? Chegg's earning report came out and lost half their valuation overnight! Definitely look into how you can leverage AI before it becomes heavily.
I'm glad you've stuck with it. It's validated, and now you can take your platform and grow it. Maybe see if those teachers would be willing to provide testimonials for you so when you sell it to other teachers they can see how much others love the product. 😃
Good point
Well done. I'm interested to know why it costs you $150 a month to keep the platform running?
AWS around $40 and $110 Mongo
For 20 users? I don't know if this is helpful to hear, but you could easily host that on the free tier of many cloud platforms or $4 / month on a server.
Great post!
Thanks!
Super encouraging story; glad it worked out, and a great reminder to focus on generating revenue! Congrats :)
Thanks!
Interesting. What gave you the motivation to keep going?
I'm not fluent in English, so I essentially created this platform to provide comfortable, non-PDF lessons for my own learning.
That's perfect. If it helps you then keep going for as long as it does.
Marketing. Cold email. You could even try to go B2B. Selling to schools is notoriously hard but private tutors could be an option.
Congrats on your achievement. Would you mind to tell us how you promoted your app? I feel like the marketing is the hardest stuff when you have almost no investment.
I reached out to two school founders on Instagram for direct sales. I offered them the opportunity to promote the platform in exchange for 20% of future profits from the people they bring in, along with free access for themselves.
Thank you for sharing this. We have a similar situation with our product, Churnfree, which is a customer retention tool. We did our best to make it profitable, but then we hired a person who changed our way of thinking. He made a strong digital marketing plan from scratch, from content creation to activity on different community sites, and boom! We got to the position where we wanted to be.
In this industry, you need to be patient to get results. No one knows about your product or industry, so you need to share your product guides so people can see your product, and then you will get the desired result for your product. We wish you the best of luck for your future product success and for helping people in the education industry.
Hope find the same for Discut now
Wow, congratulations on turning your almost dead project into a success story! It's inspiring to see how you were able to pivot and find a new market for your product. Your approach of listening to your customers and focusing on their needs is a great lesson for any entrepreneur. I also appreciate that you shared your revenue numbers - it's always helpful to see concrete examples of what's possible with a successful product. Thanks for sharing your story and insights, and best of luck with your continued success!
Amazing work. Congratulations!!!!!
Thanks!
Congratulaitons.
Thanks!
I'm really happy for you Andrei! I'm just starting out the journey and always have these concerns. From previous experience of a business I started it was really nice to finally see a purchase from a client after about 1-2 months of literally nothing haha
Best of luck to you Andrei!
Thanks, you too!
Great story. I have a website (ARAM Zone - related to League of Legends) with ~1k daily visitors but make no money from it. I'm thinking about adding a paid version but no good ideas yet on what value it can provide. Google Ads keeps denying me too :(
Hope I can have a similar story to yours soon :)
Maybe there is other ads providers? Even a small profit in the long run will be a nice addition
I looked a bit and even applied to one other but got rejected. Most ad providers I found are focused on blog kind of content, which is different to what my website does. I think I'll just have more luck if I get more users/pageviews
The power of a strong community.
Good Luck for future
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing!
This is encouraging for IHs not reaching success in their first few days/weeks! Hold on and at some point ask for money $$$
You're welcome!
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Thanks!