How my AI-powered news aggregator just reached 6,000 readers and made me $3,000.
Hey hackers,
A while ago, I posted here my launch announcement for Techpresso, an AI powered news aggregator that summarizes from 50+ media the best tech news of the day, which I developped while I was studying.
While the first days after the launch were difficult, since months of work had only enabled me to gain several dozen readers, I had to persevere and face the facts: you can have the best product or content in the world, but if you can't get it out to the people who would love it, then it will never work!
So I asked myself: where are my potential users? Linkedin (many tech professionals are there), Twitter (same) or Reddit.
I then just started to post on Twitter and Reddit (I plan to launch on Linkedin later). The grind started at this point.
I started publishing the same news that my product was sending out on these platforms. And FINALLY, the subscribers started pouring in.
My strategy is simple: I focus on what works, and abandon what doesn't work.
After 4 months, I finally reached 6,000 readers! It's now read by people from OpenAI, Meta, Google, and much much more beautiful companies.
Last monday, I launched the paid version of Techpresso, for those willing to support me. I didn't make that many paid subs (7 to be precise), but it's still $200 for people that love my work. And it doesn't require from me any additional work.
I also started to accept sponsors and was contacted by a reader that loved the product so much that he was willing to sponsor it for... $3,000.
Finally, after all this grind, I've got two things:
1 - people that love what I've made with my own hands
2 - a project making me money :)
Feel free to ask any question!
Congrats! Nice site. Signed up.
Thanks a lot for the support! 🫶
Hey Louis, thanks for sharing this amazing milestone!
Always nice to see wins like this from fellow indie hackers.
I run this site where I feature indie founders on their business and side hustles.
Would you be interested in sharing your story and business?
Hey, yes totally! Could you reach out to me on Twitter so that we can discuss this? @louiscorneloup
Thanks :)
Hey @aj_indiehustle! That's a cool site. I am also working on starting a newsletter https://quickbyte.tech. Would you want to do a cross-promotion?
Hey Louis, this is an incredible journey you've shared! Kudos on hitting 6,000 readers and securing a sponsor. That's the dream, right? 🚀
Your strategy of focusing on what works and ditching what doesn't is spot-on. It's all about that iterative process. I'm particularly interested in the tech stack you used to build Techpresso. Mind sharing some insights on that? Did you use any specific frameworks or libraries that made the development smoother?
Looking forward to hearing more about the tech behind the success!
Cheers!
Hey, sorry for the late reply!
It's all coded in python and I've used ChatGPT to help me with syntax and finding the appropriate libraries (like goose3 to scrape the articles)
Do you mind sharing the tech?
What do you mean by "tech"?
Great, I like it!
Congrats !
Do you plan on monetizing your project (with gated content / features for paying users) or will rely only on sponsors ?
How long did it take on Twitter/Reddit to start seeing some traction ?
And what did you do on the platforms to gain attention ? (Posting only, engaging with others, ads, etc ?)
Thanks and congrats 🙏🏻
Hey Toni, as I wrote I launched a premium offer for those that want to support me and not see ads. For now, I've made $200+ in a week.
I plan to improve this offer with new features!
I try to share good content both on Twitter and Reddit. Sometimes it works really well, sometimes it doesn't. But I just keep doing it.
congratulations, mate😍
Louis, my project is the community builder for such project like yours. Imagine, how a great people from tech industry share and discuss their ideas of how they want Techpresso to be developed. It may work in such way: add a link "chat with community" to email alongside with "unsubscribe" and "update preferences" which leads to your main page and opens a highly structured communication environment. Of course we do not know will it work as intended, will it add value or be ignored, but certainly, if it will work - the whole new universe of abilities will be opened. Because my intention, as dev - make everything for such project like yours to receive max benefits from their
userscommunity.