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23 Comments

Reached $2000 MRR

Well that happened faster than I thought it would. I think there's a lot of truth to the adage that "the first X customers are the hardest to earn".

Insert whatever value for X you like - the point is that growth seems to get easier the more you grow. The first 20 customers took a few months to earn. The last 20 customers were all earned in a single month.

I'm not going to get complacent though, I know there are still tons of challenges to go, and growth can slow down at any time. But it was very nice to experience a few weeks of decent growth after a loooong time slogging it out.

While I'm on the topic of slogging it out... I posted this tweet which really highlights some of the realities of bootstrapping a product.

The last Quarter of Bannerbear growth has been really great. 500% growth.

But the story that you don't see is everything that has led up to this quarter. I started building SaaS products 2 years ago. They all failed. Everything began to change when (1) I focused on one thing, and (2) I chose a space I'm passionate about.

Focus, passion, and perseverance. Those are the 3 things you need to get your business off the ground.

I'm convinced more than ever that the primary advantages you can have as an indiehacker are simply a commitment to a long-term horizon and a personal, passionate fit with your product (also known as Founder-Market fit).

  1. 6

    Yo this is crazy a youtube channel I follow was showing open startups and he showed this product and your website as an example to motivate others, at the time this was early January. Congrats on your recent and upcoming success its amazing seeing how its grown now

  2. 2

    congratz maan, I agree on that founder market fit article 🙂

  3. 2

    First off—congrats! You only get that lucky by getting your hands dirty. Well deserved.

    I really admire the level of craftsmanship your product and landing page has. That's where I want my own product to be in the future. Oh, and I'm planning to use Bannerbear for a pretty fun and different use-case in the not-so-distant future. Fingers crossed I get time for it sooner rather than later!

  4. 2

    Well done on that hard-earned cash flow. Your transparency at every step has has been inspiring. Enough so, that it's brought me to this community to share in the same vein for my next startup. Please do share your progress to the next $2k.

  5. 1

    This is so inspiring! Thanks for sharing and congrats on your success!!

  6. 1

    Thanks for sharing! I've been floundering going on and off on new product ideas for the past 3 years. I've finally worked on ForAPiece for a full year and I'm proud of what I've done but that is also coming to an end. I'm realizing although there may be a market for the product I'm not passionate enough to keep working on it.

    I'm realizing the importance of "passion" to help me push forward even when the MMR is flat for a long time.

    Keep growing!

  7. 1

    How did you get the first few customers?
    I'm trying reaching out cold prospects with a "free sample" and got only 1 paying customer so far. I'm curious to hear how other folks like yourself did it.

    well. the paying customer I got was actually acquired not be reaching out cold but by shaming their CEO on twitter 🤣

  8. 1

    Congrats on this great milestone @yongfook. Keep up the great work my man. I also came across BannerBean Tweetagram yesterday. Love the concept.

  9. 1

    This is inspiring. Thanks for sharing Jon

  10. 1

    Thanks Jon this is a beacon of light that I need. I’m early on, made a couple of sales and hoping confound effects is going to makes this easier as time goes on. Can you quantify why it got easier? Is it brand building and recognition?

  11. 1

    Congrats on the milestone! Perseverance is key 🙌

  12. 1

    I love the image. And your logo. :)

  13. 1

    I love that image. Keep doing what you're doing!

  14. 1

    This is great news! Hoping to accomplish these milestones with Jemsplash.com

    Thank you for the authentic information!!

  15. 1

    Congrats !!!it's very inspiring

  16. 1

    Congrats!!! That graph gives us all hope :)

  17. 1

    Great job @yongfook!
    I really like your product. The landing page precisely describes what I can gain as a user. I am not surprised you achieved this milestone!
    I would be very happy to see your tool and other milestones on my small side project
    Good luck with Bannerbear!

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    This comment was deleted a year ago.

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    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

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