47
48 Comments

Just crossed $1k in revenue AMA 😂

After 8 years, 2 startup flops, several years paying a debt, having a break down going through YC, and countless half-baked side projects I've finally made something (nocodery.com) that entered the $1k club.

Ask me anything.

  1. 7

    After 8 years, congrats! I'm on 2nd startup and 2 years in so can't imagine how you feel right now. For questions:

    1. What is the main revenue source on your job board?
    2. How have you gone about sourcing your users?
    3. How many users are needed to get to a point where the job board is useful for people? (assuming you've reached that already)
    1. 3

      Thanks.

      1. The main source of revenue has been advertisement. We had little paid job posts but we've had a good amount of course sales.
      2. Most of the users come from my posts on twitter, job posts on nocodery's twitter, the two PH launches, and other no-code communities such as nocodedevs.com
      3. The job board was useful since day one (with few people) because we aggregate no-code job posts from other sources, so the users don't have to go through several platforms and that is valuable to our users.
      1. 1

        This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

  2. 2

    Congrats Gonçalo! If you can make $1k, you can make $10k and $100k. Don't give up.

    1. 1

      Thank for the support 💪

  3. 1

    Congrats man! I've been following you on Twitter for a while now and love how you're pioneering the no-code space. Inspired me to build my mvp off of Bubble 🔥

    1. 1

      That is so cool 🤗 don't be a stranger and send a DM on twitter if you need any help.

  4. 1

    @Gonelf What are your key learning points after "8 years, 2 startup flops, several years paying a debt, having a break down going through YC, and countless half-baked side projects"?

    Congrats on the milestone. Keep it going.

    1. 3

      Thanks :)
      The main takeaways are

      • Focus more on user feedback and less on your idea.
      • Build less and test more.
      • Experience.
  5. 1

    Congrats Gonçalo!

    What made things click with this project vs your previous attempts?

    1. 1

      Thanks :)
      I guess it was

      • More focus on user feedback.
      • Build less and test more.
      • Experience.
  6. 1

    How did you find the clients? In other words, what were your strategies for reaching clients?

    1. 1

      Twitter, be a person a reachable person on Twitter (and in life I guess).
      Also, I made a post explaining how I got the first customers https://www.indiehackers.com/product/nocodery/first-paying-customer-for-nocodery--Ly6BHTOZhkW8yqojCUP
      I hope it helps :)

      1. 1

        Thanks! I will take that advice 😄

        1. 1

          It works for me It might not work for you, it's only my experience :D

  7. 1

    no questions-- just great to see you and your story here!
    congrats!

  8. 1

    Congrats!! Did you take any steps before launching the job board to validate that it's needed? For example, did you look at any google search trends and other such signals?

    1. 1

      Thanks :)
      Yes, I did search for no-code job offers in other platforms to see if there was a big volume, and for which no-code tolls. I've also looked for people looking for no-code help in social media like Twitter and Reddit.

  9. 1

    Argh! I love no-code, it's the perfect way to validate your idea before pouring money into something. You should spread the word around women in tech and SaaS founders communities, there's a lot of talking about no-code and visual programming these days :)

    1. 1

      Thank you for the tips :) I'll check those communities. Are you In any of those that you could invite me in?

      1. 1

        I can email you some links. Would that work?

        1. 2

          That would be perfect, thanks 🙏

  10. 1

    Congrats @Gonelf 👍Would you mind sharing what keeps you being motivated in the past 8 years with so many failed projects and having debts?

    1. 2

      Thanks.
      I had my ups and downs. I always liked to build new stuff and solve problems. Sometimes I build stuff for fun other times I tried to build a business, so I get motivated when something gets good feedback and something goes bad I don't get any motivation.
      In the bad cases, I just take some time, relax, remember that not everything in life is bad, and give grace for the good things I have in my life. Sometimes this takes a few hours other take months.
      The worst time was when I got the debt to pay from an investment I got for my 2nd startup. I really went down and thought I'd never try anything again, but then life turned around, and here we are.
      Also, I have an amazing girlfriend that has been with me since the beginning that helped me a lot during the dark times.

      1. 1

        What a journey! Glad you found the silver lining after being persistent for 8 years. You deserve the success! Btw, marry to your girlfriend, don't let her wait too long 😜

        1. 2

          These are happy days for sure :D.
          We both want to marry each other so, there's no rush in that :D

  11. 1

    Congratulations @Gonelf

    It's inspirational for other people that are going through this as well

    How did you find your first customer?

    1. 1

      Thanks :) I'm glad that it helps you out in some way <3
      Regarding the first customer, I have a post explaining it in detail https://www.indiehackers.com/product/nocodery/first-paying-customer-for-nocodery--Ly6BHTOZhkW8yqojCUP
      I hope it helps :D

  12. 1

    Nice niche job board! Any special methods you took to grow this , and what was your stack?

    1. 2

      Thanks :)
      The only special method I used is the one I still use, connect to people, and don't be greedy.
      As for the stack we use PHP + MySql and automate.io to post the job offers on twitter and FB.

  13. 1

    How does it feel?! 😛 Will you stick with this idea?

    1. 1

      It does feel awesome I'm not going to lie :D
      Yes, we have some plans for version 3.0 and the value proposition is changing a bit to be more aligned with what our customers look for.

      1. 1

        Re: to be more aligned with what our customers look for

        Do you mind sharing what the customers look for?

        1. 1

          We have 2 types of customers. The experts and the rookies.
          The experts want to show their work and get more work.
          The rookies want to learn and become an expert.

  14. 1

    Congratulations, what was the YC project? What is the most important thing that you learned in YC?

    1. 2

      Thanks :)
      The project was impraise.com I was the iOS developer for the team there, not a founder. On the good side, I learned is that you really need to know why you're making something and that a good supporting community is key for success. On the bad side, it was a way super intense journey of 18h of work per day for 3 months that led to burnout and me quitting the project.

  15. 1

    Congrats! Any stories to share about ideas you thought would generate revenue but did not? Also curious to hear if there was a time where you failed a customer/potential customer interaction?

    1. 1

      Thanks :)
      Great questions :D

      When google canceled its RSS reader I developed an alternative that never got any reactions and Feedly came along. I tried to launch some products on product hunt that also go no traction like this https://www.producthunt.com/posts/filmer. I was an advisor of this project that went through the Web Summit and failed right after https://www.producthunt.com/posts/thoughts-2. just to mention a few.

      When I started nocodery I begin to pitch a premium tool profile version to no-code tools and failed miserably with the first tools, the price and the value was completely wrong. Fortunately, I adjusted it and got some of my first customers that way.

  16. 1

    Many congrats! What are you using to develop your web app? Bubble?

    1. 1

      Thanks. We're using code PHP + MySQL. We have some automation for the social post where we use automate.io.

  17. 1

    Congrats on reaching $1k and Nocodery is a great idea.

  18. 1

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

  19. 1

    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

  20. 0

    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 48 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 28 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments My Top 20 Free Tools That I Use Everyday as an Indie Hacker 13 comments Use Your Product 13 comments