How One Developer Built a $5K/Month Boilerplate Business

Jakob here 🖐

In my newsletter Fake Mayo I share stories (interviews) of how founders got their first customers.

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Piotr Kulpinski is a 37-year-old developer from Kraków with over 15 years of programming experience. After starting his career in a software house, he transitioned into freelancing to gain more independence - something he later amplified by building his own products.

His first meaningful online income came from a WordPress theme for directory websites. That early success sparked a long journey of experimentation, including freelance work, failed SaaS ideas, and side projects. His breakthrough came with OpenAlternative, a directory of open-source alternatives that he built in just 48 hours. The project quickly went viral, reaching 100,000 users in its first week and eventually generating over $6,500 in monthly revenue.

Building on that momentum, Piotr launched Dirstarter in 2025—a Next.js boilerplate designed to help others launch profitable directory websites quickly. Instead of resisting copycats, he embraced them, packaging his proven codebase into a product.

Today, Dirstarter has over 180 customers and generates around $5,000 per month. As a solo founder, Piotr continues to grow the business through affiliate partnerships and SEO, demonstrating that execution and distribution matter more than protecting code.

Read the full story
https://www.fakemayo.com/p/how-piotr-turned-copycats-into-a-5k-month-boilerplate-business

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