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Hey IH! My name is Dani and I'm a totally accidental founder of the CaaS (content as a service) Scribly.io.

I am originally from the UK, but 4 years ago I left it all behind to move to Copenhagen with my husband and better half.

After working as a freelancer copywriter for some months, I decided to try and create a productised service to deliver amazing content affordably and at scale. At just over a year into the process, I now have my first full-time employee, and hit the $20K MRR mark.

Everything I have done has been bootstrapped and built without a line of code. I never imagined that I might be able to start my own 'thing', and the NoCode movement has been instrumental in making this all possible.

I have tons to share on:

  • being a female founder that definitely doesn't fit the mould.
  • how to keep yourself healthy and happy when you're running your own business (anxiety, burnout and extreme fear became a big part of my life for a while until I put measures in place to stop them).
  • where to start if you're looking for NoCode solutions to get your idea off the ground.

I'll be here on Monday 25th of November at 14:00 CEST time. AMA!

  1. 2

    Hey Daniella, I love the idea. At such a high price point (judging by your website) $20,000 is I'm guessing between 15-25 customers which is amazing!

    How do those customers find you? What's the main acquisition channels.

    1. 1

      Hey @harrydry! Thanks for your question ☺️ So I would say that a huge part of Scribly’s early growth came through word of mouth. I was working as a freelance copywriter before launching Scribly, so I first started by reaching out to my client list. Then from that point I found that those early customers started referring us to their networks, and so in the first year things grew really steadily quite naturally.

      I’ve also done a fair few interviews on websites and podcasts, in places like Sales For Founders, StarterStory, MakerPad and IndieHackers. These have also generated quite a bit of interest and trust in Scribly as a service, and we get a lot of organic referrals from those.

      I’ve still yet to spend a penny on advertising, but it’s something I’d like to test out. I am about to launch an online resource hub with downloadable ebooks, so I’ll perhaps try out retargeting ads using those ebooks as gated content.

      All of this is super new to me so it’s been a lot of trial and error. But the key thing has been to really focus on providing an amazing service above all else, as this has then turned customers into loyal advocates, which in turn has generated new business.

      Hope this helps!

      1. 2

        @Eli2 this also relates to your question ☺️

      2. 1

        Definitely does help. Thank you for such a detailed reply. Just reminds me that there's no silver bullet in this game. Well congrats on your year anyhow!

  2. 1

    Hello @DaniMancini,

    So your story so great and inspired by me.

    What is the No-Code solutions you apply to your works? Can you share something around them?

    Thanks

  3. 1

    You mentioned in another interview that it really helped when you found a great editor. Besides editing content, what other roles is she involved in in your business? Where did you find her?

    1. 1

      Hey @Astronaut! We now have a full time Head of Content (called Lauren) who has full editorial responsibility for each and every piece of content that goes out. Lauren is also the key project and account manager for current clients, meaning that she briefs articles to writers, assigns the right writer for each task, maintains contact with clients about any ongoing or new tasks etc.

      Since Lauren has come on board, my role has now shifted into a growth role. I’m very much focused on sales and marketing, which has been a game changer for the business as I can now focus on growth, rather than factoring it in as an after thought.

  4. 1

    I'm curious to know the financial model behind CaaS (and behind PaaS in general).

    What do you need to invest in to make it work?
    How much does, for example, 2500 words cost you?
    And what types of people do you hire to make it all viable as a business?

  5. 1

    How did you get started especially getting your first customers, getting the next 10 and retaining them?

    1. 2

      Hi @Eli2 I’ll tag you in an answer above where I cover this :)

  6. 2

    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

    1. 1

      Hey @alxcnwy! Such a great question.

      I think it would be naive to think that AI won’t have an impact on written content. Soon enough, I’m sure that technology will be sophisticated enough to produce really convincing content that performs pretty well (if SEO is your key focus). That said, technology is a long way from being able to replicate the delicate nuances of what it takes to produce great writing. So much of our culture, social structures, history and consciousness goes into what we write, and AI doesn’t (yet) have the emotional intelligence needed to be able to replicate humans when it comes to this. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time though.

      So, I guess my answer is that I don’t yet know how AI will affect Scribly. But I’m sure that it will :)

      1. 1

        This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

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