Growing a scraping API to $10k+MRR in 12 months

I like the idea of keeping it simple and focusing on one thing.

That's an awesome achievement! Really impressive that you reached those numbers in just a year. I'd love to hear what helped you scale — personal brand, marketing channels, cold outreach, or something else?

Great how do u do it with tools and automation right now can u let meknow

Love this! Turning one killer feature into 10 k ARR is crazy inspiring. I’m itching to whip up a tiny AI-powered tool of my own now—thanks for showing it’s doable!

I especially love the focus on one thing and building an audience first it’s a smart and grounded path that’s easy to respect. Thanks for sharing the journey!

What's the general moral thoughts on scraping? I want to build an app but when I look around most sites don't like it.

Great article! It's inspiring to see how focusing on one product and building an audience paid off. I've been experimenting with building digital tools and your story encourages me to stay consistent. Thanks for sharing your journey!

Congrats on the achievement! You are doing great work man.

I am one of Adrian’s customers. At this point I also consider him a friend. What he doesn’t say in this interview is how customer obsessed he is. If I need anything he responds almost instantly. And he listens and provides the exact features I need. That is the real reason behind his success.

Loved reading this .. the transition from psychology to tech, the bike deliveries, the freelance buffer… it all resonates. It’s refreshing to see someone embrace scraping not just as a tool, but as something they genuinely enjoy. Curious: was there a moment when you really felt “this is going to work”?

first scraping is cool! Second - appreciate the reminder re focus. it's the hARDEST thing for me as an entrepreneur. HOW were you able to foucs on one thing when you have so many ideas James?

Your story about delivering food on a bike while learning to code and freelancing to extend your runway really resonated. It’s a great reminder that success often comes from simply sticking with it long enough and having the courage to say no to distractions.

Amazing story, Adrian! The "focus on one thing" lesson really resonates - it's so easy to get distracted by multiple projects and miss the real growth opportunities.

Love the approach of manually reaching out via DMs on X rather than going full automation. Shows that genuine human connection still works, even in the API business space.

Congrats on hitting $10k+ MRR in 12 months! Turning your scraping expertise into a thriving business is truly inspiring.

This is super inspiring, Adrian! 👏

I’m currently solo-building an AI presentation tool — and your story really resonated with me. Especially the part about focusing on just one thing. I’ve been juggling multiple ideas and freelance work, but this made me rethink my priorities.

Thanks for sharing your journey so openly. It's stories like this that keep us going! 🚀

Love this journey — from psych major to biking for Lyft to building a real business with $10k+ MRR. Super inspiring.

I’m early in launching my own product now, and stories like this give me fuel. Curious — what was the biggest mistake you made before Scrape Creators clicked?

Really inspiring journey! I love how you leveraged your existing skills and interests (scraping) to build something sustainable. The fact that your early audience from your courses turned into customers is a great example of the ‘build in public’ effect.
Curious — what strategies worked best for converting your course students into paying API users? Was it direct outreach, content marketing, or something else?

This hits hard, especially the part about “just reaching out” and not over-optimizing.

I'm currently launching my first solo product (Lifetime AI ), and honestly, the hardest part is feeling invisible. No audience, no traction (yet), and every tweet feels like it goes into the void.

But seeing this reminds me that early growth really can come from simple human effort, not fancy funnels. Just curiosity, offering value, and staying in motion.

That's awesome, I really love the concept. It's also super inspiring. Thank you!

great experiences! and want to now how to grow X fans early stage?

This is really great. I’m building a similar project focused on AI tools for solopreneurs. It’s been tough to balance value and clarity in a small product, an also to grow it up, but I’m learning a lot from these posts.

Incredible journey. Proof that consistency, audience building, and laser focus can really pay off — even in a niche like scraping APIs.

I'm also a solo SaaS developer, and I constantly need motivation from posts like these.
If I suggest a way to help you generate more leads for your SaaS, would you use it?
If not, how can I improve it so others would be happy to use my product, LeadBuddy?
- tryleadbuddy[dot]com

I’d really appreciate your honest opinion.
Thanks for sharing this with the community!

Loved this story. The "focus on one thing" part really hit home — so many of us try juggling ideas and end up stuck. Super cool how you built the product around what you already enjoyed (scraping) and how your audience naturally turned into customers. Inspiring journey, Adrian! 🔥

Really needed to read this today. I'm definitely guilty of shooting myself in the foot with too many side projects and distractions. Your point about "The best business idea is the one you started 3 years ago" and the power of compounding effort is a powerful reminder to just pick one and stick with it. Congrats on your success with Scrape Creators!

Hey Adrian, thank you so much for posting about your past experience and journey. I found it to be really insightful and inspiring to new aspiring tech founders who may not have a technical background. I, personally, am a new aspiring tech founder as well and am currently trying to validate an idea for an AI tool that makes identifying pain points in markets much simpler. I would love to get your perspective as a founder and ask you some questions. Would you be open to a quick 10-15 min chat with me at your convenience? Thank you so much!

Loved this post — especially how you structured pricing around credits. That “just enough complexity” model feels like the sweet spot.

Curious — have you run into customers who wanted more structure (like tiered plans or SLAs)? Or has usage-based been smooth across the board?

Asking as we’re working on something similar in the AI x workflow space where pricing clarity can get tricky.

It's amazing, love the idea. And very inspiring too. Thanks!

Keep up the good work.

can u explain how u grew it on google ? via ads or via google business ?

"What matters is that you start and you focus on it. Because your effort compounds."

This is very inspiring to me; thanks for this.

This is inspiring. Getting your first customer is usually a random thing that isn’t exactly predictable.

Great work!

What you’re building looks super useful ... especially for teams seeking insights from public X data.
It’s kind of like Tweet Hunter in spirit, but focused more on scraping for leads, trends, or research than content scheduling or audience growth.
Different use case, but definitely some overlap depending on the goal.

Very inspiring!

Keep up the good work Adrian

Love seeing growth like this. Curious what unlocked the biggest traction: SEO, dev forums, or a key integration?

Like it a lot, interesting domain and a healthy no drama shift to focusing on one thing.

Really enjoyed this! Super refreshing to see a focused, technical product grow organically without chasing hype. Loved how you stayed lean, used clear metrics, and built around real usage. Especially liked the insights around pricing evolution and customer feedback loops -feels very applicable. Thanks for sharing the journey!)

Wow, Adrian’s story really hits home especially the part about juggling freelance work and side projects while trying to build something sustainable. That focus shift he made toward just one product is such a game-changer, and honestly something many of us (myself included) need to hear more often.

What stood out most to me is how “unscripted” his growth path was — no elaborate launch strategy, just showing up, being public, DMing people, and staying consistent. And it worked. That’s a great reminder that you don’t always need a polished playbook to get traction just a real product and a real connection to the people who need it.

Also love the reminder that you don’t need thousands of customers for an API business to work. That mindset alone makes it feel way more attainable.

Big respect to Adrian for sharing the whole journey ups, pivots, and all. Subscribed to his updates for sure. Thanks man!

This article provides a compelling narrative of building a data scraping business. Drawing on my own experience with data scraping, I agree that focusing on specific challenges, such as handling complex website structures and ensuring data accuracy, is vital. However, I believe incorporating the ethical and legal aspects would further enrich the discussion, as these are critical considerations for sustainable data scraping practices.

Really inspiring journey — scaling to $10k MRR in just a year is no small feat, especially in such a competitive space like APIs. It reminds me of how certain consumer apps, like Remini Video Enhancer Mod APK, also focus on solving a clear pain point and grow quickly by delivering real value. Great insights here on keeping things lean and customer-focused.

Great read! Astrology and psychic insights truly enhance everyday life. Tapping into the wisdom of a spiritual psychic or spiritual reading specialist in California brings clarity and positive energy to daily routines.

Super inspiring, Adrian. The “focus on one thing” lesson really resonates, I’ve been guilty of spreading myself across too many projects, and your journey is a sharp reminder that compounding only happens when you stick with one path.

I’m building Coupyn right now (referral code platform), and even though it’s a totally different space, the idea of leaning into what you already know + have an audience for really clicked. You turned your scraping knowledge and community into real traction, that’s gold.

Curious, do you think the usage-based model was a growth unlock from day one, or did you ever test a more traditional tiered pricing structure?

If you don't mind sharing, could you tell what your profit margin is?

Cool to see that ! Keep going !

Cool to see how your existing knowledge (scraping + audience) lined up with the business idea. Makes me think leverage is often more important than chasing a brand-new space.

Wow

Well done, good luck in the future.

this is such a great example of how niche mastery + focus beats chasing trends.

You didn’t just “build a product” — you leveraged your existing skills, audience, and credibility to create something your market already trusted you to deliver.

That focus — cutting distractions, going all-in — is exactly what turns an idea into $10K+ MRR in 12 months.

#SaaSFounders #FocusToScale #BootstrappedGrowth #API

Impressive growth in such a short time — especially in a competitive space like scraping APIs. It really shows the power of niche focus and consistent iteration. I’m curious, what was the single biggest lever that took you from a few users to your first $5K MRR?

What a clever setup, this seems just as easy as apify, and I really love how you've made a custom n8n node.

Have you considered sponsoring n8n content creators (they have MASSIVE reach right now), and getting them to use scrapecreators instead of apify?

Similar to adobe - if new people LEARN how to use YOUR product, you become their comfort.

Being active on social media is very important, and data scraping is the way to automate processes online.

Using niche targeting, efficient infrastructure, customer feedback, and consistent marketing, James Fleischmann describes how he scaled a scraping API to $10k+ MRR in 12 months.

That’s awesome progress! Out of curiosity, what was the one thing you think moved the needle the most for growth?

Congrats on 10k MRR — that’s huge.
What actually moved the needle: SEO “how to scrape X” content, integrations, or cold outreach?
Also curious how you handle Cloudflare/protected targets without spooking legit customers (and ToS concerns).
Last one: what’s your activation → first-value path that made trials stick?

Moral of the story: drop the side projects, speak your nerd‑truth online, and don’t be shy about DM’ing strangers. You might just scrape your way to $10K MRR.

This is awesome James! I host a podcast that features technology startups. I checked out your company and wanted to ask if you'd like to be featured on one of our episodes!

Love this kind of builder energy. I work with startups and indie founders on streamlining their funnels and brand — mostly using GoHighLevel for automation and Figma for design. If anyone’s trying to polish their flows or site UX, happy to chat.

This is super insightful — thanks for breaking down both the numbers and the challenges so transparently.
Loved the “build once, monetize over and over” approach with the scraping API — it’s a great reminder that solving unsexy but real problems can be more powerful than chasing shiny tech.

Quick question: did you consider productizing this as a broader automation layer for non-dev users, or is your ideal customer always technical?

Congrats on the growth — following to see what comes next!

Molto interessante , seguo queso sviluppo dall'italia.

very inspiring story !

cheer up bro!

great!

Really

Impressive growth, especially given how competitive scraping APIs have become. Two quick questions from a founder working on automation (but more people-facing):

1. How did you balance adding features vs keeping the API simple in the first few months?

2. Curious how your pricing evolved — was $10K MRR mostly self-serve or did you start adding custom tiers/sales?

Thanks for sharing the journey transparently. Always good to see indie tools win on precision and focus.

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) fans have a lot to celebrate with the rise of platforms dedicated to enhancing their gaming experiences. One of the best places to get all things related to GTA is you're a long-time fan or new to the franchise, this website offers a wealth of information, resources, and updates that every GTA player can appreciate.