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I've reached $1k MRR in 8 months, AMA

Hi founders! I’m Jim Raptis.

I’m a 25-year-old designer who codes from Greece. I've co-founded & grown a VC-backed startup in the past but since last summer, I'm a full-time indie hacker and self-employed.

Last August, I officially launched MagicPattern. Back then, MagicPattern was a simple geometric pattern generator. A fancy cool side project.

One week before my launch, I was almost ready to quit the project, open-source it & move to the next one. I challenged myself to launch on Product Hunt in a week & test whether people are willing to pay for a fancy new design tool.

The launch went insanely good and I got almost 50 LTD customers in a day. It was the best kind of validation I needed. Great feedback as well.

For the next couple of months, I've focused all my efforts on scaling the MRR which was a huge challenge. Especially when you build a unique product in an unexplored market.

Last week, I've reached $1k MRR which is a special milestone for me.

Finally, I'm ramen profitable from a project of mine & I feel like I'm on the right track to sth much bigger.

On the side, I'm building info product related to launching on Product Hunt like Phigma Templates and The Launch Checklist

During the past 8 months, I've grown a product from 0 to $1k MRR. Handled over 200 customers on my own. Pivoted multiple times. Dealt with annoying copycats. Learn the ups & downs of bootstrapping. Tested multiple marketing channels (SEO, Twitter, Product Hunt, etc).

And I'm excited to help fellow founders with my insights!

AMA!

  1. 4

    Congratulations in your awesome milestone.
    Did you have any exposure before Product Hunt, or you just went for it?

    1. 3

      Not really. I had 30-40 signups via Twitter but no active user. Also, my audience back then was small both on Twitter (~500 followers) & Product Hunt.

      The initial PH launch boosted traction tremendously.

  2. 3

    How did you “deal” with copycats?

    1. 1

      It's the most annoying thing with building in public! Especially when they ripped off even your copies & typos.

      Initially, I used to complain publicly & expose them (without sharing their apps/names ofc) but I understood that it didn't worth the effort/time.

      Most of the copycats do it because they believe they'll become rich in a week or month. The reality is different though.

      Building a successful business is a tough daily process & if you're not passionate about what you're building you'll never succeed.

      That's why I don't care too much about copycats now. In the end, almost all of them quit after a week/month.

      PS. Funny story: on my previous startup another company copied every single action we made. Once we announced fake features to just make fun of them although we knew that the market was dead. They copied it as well! (obviously not recommend it, but it was funny)

  3. 3

    Hey Jim, congrats on reaching the milestone, it's impressive. Hoping I can do the same too soon! I'd love to learn if launching on Dribbble helped a lot? Probably a good way to get in front of your target audience

    1. 1

      Good question David! I've tried Dribbble but didn't see any actual boost. My best post with 50k views didn't convert many people. Maybe it would be better if I created a brand account instead of personal one.

  4. 1

    Μπράβο!

    The greek ecosystem is really booming, I run a tech business in London but would like to try and build my tech team in Athens one day.

  5. 1

    Great milestone! Good luck.

  6. 1

    Congratulations Jim on this Milestone! An amazing product you made! You earned it very well!

    1. 1

      Thank you so much for the kind words. Really appreciate it :)

  7. 1

    No question here, but what a great milestone Jim. Rooting for you!

    1. 1

      Wow thanks man, really appreciate the support! Happy to chat & help anytime though. :)

  8. 1

    I've seen you around on Twitter but never properly looked at MagicPattern. It's so cool!

    I love:

    • The underlying concept
    • Your pricing page: 4 months off
    • Your cookie consent modal

    Congratulations!

    1. 1

      Thanks for the warm support Louis! I'm in love with adding these small UI flairs 😅

  9. 1

    Just wanted to say this is AWESOME - I've been looking for something like this for my own project :) Definite gap in the market with this.

  10. 1

    Nice milestone! Great validation on the first day, that must have felt really great!

    1. 1

      It felt awesome indeed. I still remember the excitement from my first Stripe purchase email 🤩

  11. 1

    Congratulations Bro 😍

    1. 1

      Thanks mate!❤️

  12. 1

    Looks sold Jim.

    Do you have stats on who becomes a paying customer?

    Bigger Co's vs Starts vs freelancers etc?

    1. 1

      Right now, it's a combination of them but >70% are individuals. Need to focus more on team plans in the future.

  13. 1

    Congrats, it's all a rollercoaster but good on you for persevering.

    1. 1

      SaaS is a crazy rollercoaster indeed. All the stats fluctuate daily and the continuous ups & downs can devastate you.

      I'm handling this by focusing on the future vision with more long-term goals (like $Xk MRR until X months).

  14. 1

    I'm curious to find out what customers are looking for tools like this and what's the problem it's solving 🤔

    Who's your target customer?

    PS: Nice landing page design!

    1. 1

      The spectrum is huge. From people without any design skills who need good designs to professional designers who need to speed up their workflow.

      I prefer to target people who don't know how to design or struggle with creativity. In that way, I can add more value to them.

      1. 1

        Have you tried approaching companies that do UI/UX or even companies that create a lot of websites? There might be some interests there to buy a company-wide pack

        Maybe companies that do small websites(but many) might be interested in something like this. Or even freelancers?

        1. 1

          You're right. Design agencies can definitely be great customers for me.

          I'm planning to add a team membership feature before reaching out them. In that way, I'll be able to upsell them more members and charge them based on their team size

          1. 1

            Oo, you could add a custom plan to your pricing page(nothing more), reach out to them, and see if anyone is interested.

            By doing this you can check the level of interest first and might get money in your pocket faster. Maybe "hack" your first custom plans :)

            Really curious about where your project will be in 1 year. Good luck on your road!

  15. 1

    Great work! Aside from the tool itself, which is Incredible, I have to say that I'm really impressed with the website. Were you inspired by any particular website/s?

    1. 1

      Thanks a lot! I've put a lot of effort into the website to make it look nice because of the product's niche (design).

      I've been inspired by many products/websites. Both large companies & other indie creators. eg. Stripe, Headlime, Bannerbear, Briefbox, Avocode

      You can check these websites for landing page inspiration:

  16. 1

    Congrats! What were your thoughts/learnings in terms of convincing people they need a new type of product? I'm building something that doesn't seem to have many competitors and I'm struggling on how to position my tool!

    1. 1

      I'm not gonna lie. It's tough & risky. You need to spend a lot of time on user education. Tutorial, articles, how-to guide & onboard people on your product.

      Depending on an established market, it allows you to worry less about the value you provide.

  17. 1

    Congrats! All three products are fantastic!

    1. 1

      Thanks for the kind words Dustin 😁

  18. 1

    Congrat Jim. Thanks for doing this AMA.
    Hats off to you for selling a very niche design tool with a pro subscription that's more expensive than Figma :p

    I'm more interested in knowing :
    Who are your main users ? (are most of them designers ? devs ? individuals ? agencies ?)
    How do you explain the not so satisfactory results from Dribbble ? A design community seems to be the perfect place to market a design tool.

    and do you have advice on how to market design tools/assets ?

    1. 1

      Designers are a tough audience. I learned that with my previous startup. They have the technical knowledge to create graphics (even apps) by themselves & they've learned to pay nothing for their most precious tools (Figma for example)

      The magic formula is to build a product for people you don't have the technical expertise to replicate your solution.

      That's why I target people who need nice graphics but don't have the essential design skills to create them by themselves.

      About selling design assets, I've noticed that the most successful creators have a huge audience behind them. And they sell their resources on the side of it.

  19. 1

    "During the past 8 months, I've grown a product from 0 to $1k MRR. Handled over 200 customers on my own. Pivoted multiple times. Dealt with annoying copycats. Learn the ups & downs of bootstrapping. Tested multiple marketing channels (SEO, Twitter, Product Hunt, etc)."

    Hey! I would appreciate any suggestions on how I could supercharge my own journey? I built a cryptocurrency app but have struggled to get anywhere on Twitter. I don't have any business model implemented as yet (looking to add subscriptions for PRO features and/or a private membership area) then launch on Product Hunt if things go well with the small amount of users I do have.

    I am also lost on how to build a following on Twitter.

    The site is https://moonfactor.com (for finding early cryptocurrencies before they mature).

    1. 1

      In my early days, being an active member on https://getmakerlog.com/ helped me a lot to meet like-minded people who still support my journey (and I support them ofc). Twitter can be hard. I only saw actual results when I took it seriously & started to provide value daily. It can be a great acquisition channel for anything (especially for crypto apps) but you need to start engaging with like-minded people & share tips about your niche before seeing actual results.

      I'm not a crypto enthusiast then I'm not the right person for feedback, but the overall design, functionality & positioning looks good.

      For me, time framing my PH launch was the best decision ever. I told myself I'm going to launch in 7 days, no matter what the landing page/product looks like. It helped me focus on the important thing & build a useful MVO

      1. 1

        Thanks very much for the insight!

        One of the best things about crypto research is the constant data being generated through new currencies and updates. This is perfect for such things as Twitter/Telegram bots which I think I may work on before I try to manually build an audience there.

        Once I have subscription options setup and a few more crucial features I'm definitely going to release onto PH :) looking forward to making that jump! I just want to make sure I have the opportunity to capture actual subscribers at that point rather than waste the initial launch.

  20. 1

    Boom!!! So happy to see you here Jim!

    Thanks for sharing your knowledge on our very own /r/SaaS the other day

    1. 1

      Thanks, man! It was a pleasure joining & sharing my learning on your amazing community 🤩

  21. 1

    Congrats!

    How do you have any tips for SEO? :)

    1. 1

      Thanks Emir!

      Free side projects relevant to your main paid product help a lot. Apart from that focusing on valuable content that solves your ideal customer's problems is the top SEO advice for anyone.

      Of course, you need to have a fast website, sitemap.xml & set up a Google Search Console account as soon as possible.

      Last month, I spotted a huge fail through Google Seach Console, fixed it immediately, and show a great boost in my organic traffic.

  22. 1

    Great work Jim! As I've mentioned to you on twitter already, Magic Pattern is an awesome product! I'm curious to see what you do with it in the future!

    1. 1

      Thanks so much for the support here & on Twitter as well :)

      Having too many ideas is always my biggest problem lol. I'm planning 3 major updates for the next couple of months that will unlock many possibilities.

      Looking forward to share more info in the future

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