How Did My First Side Project Achieve a Cold Start and Earn My First $100?
I hit a major milestone this year: my first side project [TailwindResume](https://tailwindresume.co), officially launched. It is a modern resume builder with TailwindCSS templates and advanced AI features to help developers stand out.
To cut to the chase, I used a cold-start approach and gained 50 users in two weeks, earning $100. It’s not a mind-blowing amount, but it’s real and totally replicable for any indie developer. Here’s the full rundown of the process.
Data
Let’s start with the final numbers. As of February 15th, over two weeks, I made $110 in total revenue, with 50 users, 5 paying customers, and a 10% conversion rate—pretty high, just like my domestic site. That said, it could be a bit skewed since the sample size was so small at the start. The breakdown: 3 monthly subscribers ($10/month), 1 quarterly subscriber ($20/quarter), and 1 yearly subscriber ($60/year).
Cold-Start Strategy
This time, I went all-in on a pure cold start—zero followers, relying entirely on the product’s quality and traffic from various communities to attract users.
The simplest approach? Post about it on different platforms to draw people in. I found a great resource that lists sites friendly to cold starts:
It’s just a simple list, but super practical.
Posting
My strategy was straightforward: following LaunchPointZero’s recommendations, I posted one or two times a day on different platforms, using AI-generated copy tailored to each site’s style to see what worked.
Reddit’s a powerhouse community with tons of subreddits, kind of like Baidu Tieba. Anyone who’s heard of going global knows Reddit—it’s a must for cold starts. It offers so many subreddits to choose from. I saw a foreign user on X share some [tips](https://x.com/constantout/status/1848680828991111202):
If you’re unsure where to begin:
1. Pick a subreddit.
2. Sort posts by “Hot” > “This Month/Year/All Time.”
3. Note which post types perform well in that subreddit.
4. Post your content (don’t promote your product if it breaks the rules).
5. Engage with everyone who comments.
6. Repeat for each subreddit. Post once a day, no spamming.
Stick with this, and you’ll land your first customers!
I followed this playbook, making a checklist. Every night at 11 PM (8 AM US time, supposedly the best posting window), I’d pick a subreddit, post according to the checklist, keep it to one post a day to avoid breaking rules, then hit the sack. I’d check results the next morning. Reddit’s got strict mechanisms—spamming can get you banned or shadowbanned, where your posts vanish unnoticed. So, I played by the rules and engaged genuinely with everyone.
I posted across many subreddits, and here are the top performers, ranked for your reference. Note that bigger subreddits aren’t always better—high activity can bury your post. Aim for moderately active ones.
- [r/IndieHacker 55K members](https://www.reddit.com/r/indiehackers/comments/1iibcnl/i_built_a_modern_resume_builder_with_tailwindcss/)
Got 28 upvotes, 13 comments, and 29K views.
- [r/microsaas 51K members](https://www.reddit.com/r/microsaas/comments/1iib9jk/i_built_a_modern_resume_builder_with_tailwindcss/)
Got 17 upvotes, 4 comments, and 4.1K views.
- [r/thesidehustle 136K members](https://www.reddit.com/r/thesidehustle/comments/1ij4o0h/i_built_a_modern_resume_builder_with_tailwindcss/)
Got 4 upvotes, 4 comments, and 3.3K views.
- [r/SideProject 304K members](https://www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/comments/1ihje8c/i_built_a_modern_resume_builder_with_tailwindcss/)
Got 3 upvotes, 1 comment, and 1.4K views—the biggest subreddit, but the weakest results.
You can also check LaunchPointZero and the X user’s shared screenshot for more subreddits. I tried most of them, mostly getting 500 to 1K views—worth testing if you follow the plan.
[IndieHacker](https://www.indiehackers.com/)
A veteran community for indie devs where people share their products. Traffic is decent, but the quality’s high. I posted the day after launch:
[Launching Tailwind Resume - A Modern Resume Builder for Tech Professionals](https://www.indiehackers.com/post/launching-tailwind-resume-a-modern-resume-builder-for-tech-professionals-R1Jm0lg9jlw9GJCTmBKh)
It got 7 likes, 9 replies, and over 700 views. The responses were professional and friendly, with solid feedback, and it even ranked 5th on The Build Board. That said, it also showed the site’s traffic isn’t huge, though the users are top-notch.
HackerNews
You can post on [Show HN](https://news.ycombinator.com/show). With so many posts daily, it’s hard to hit the front page. I tried twice:
[Show HN: TailwindResume – Modern Resume Builder for Tech Professionals](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42864806)
No upvotes to speak of, but trust me, HackerNews still drives solid traffic even without likes. My post got about 1.5K visits the next day, mostly from programmers—great results. If you’re thick-skinned, tweak the title and repost after a few days for similar traffic. No review process means you can post freely.
Other Sites
Following LaunchPointZero’s list, I hit up some smaller sites when I had time. Results were meh but better than nothing:
- [Launching today](https://launching.today/)
- [Make.rs](https://make.rs/)
- [Microlaunch](https://microlaunch.net/)
- [Insanely Cool Tools](https://insanelycooltools.com/)
- [BetaList](https://betalist.com/)
Some charge for better rankings, so not worth it. But submitting to multiple sites does boost backlinks, which is gold for SEO. Each link to your site is like a “vote” for its quality, especially from relevant, high-authority sites. These small sites might not carry much weight individually, but combined, they lift your search ranking for steady long-tail traffic.
That long-tail traffic isn’t as flashy as the initial launch spike, but it’s stable and key for long-term growth.
What’s Next
That’s it for today—this is just the first step. I’ll keep updating on the product’s progress. Next plans:
- Launch on ProductHunt.
- Learn to boost SEO.
- Keep posting on different sites.
