Funding a new project by selling $500k in lifetime deals

Vedran Rasic sold his $1M ARR business, then started LeadDelta.

After selling $500k worth of lifetime deals to keep the lights on, he built his recurring revenue to $25k/mo. And he recently secured $800k in seed funding to take the next step.

I caught up with him to understand how he did it. He shared his growth and funding playbooks. 👇

10 years of failure

James: Were you a success from day one?

Vedran: No, it took me precisely 10 years to make visible progress. And if I can do it, so can anybody.

James: What was this "visible progress"?

Vedran: I bootstrapped a business to $1M ARR.

James: Yep, that's pretty visible.

Vedran: Then I sold it in 2020 for 7 figures.

James: Your new business is also quite successful.

Vedran: LeadDelta has made $500k in lifetime license, and it's at $25k MRR.

I also have a design agency making about $60k/year. And my masterclasses and speaking gigs bring in about $40k/year.

James: Tell me about one of your failures along the way.

Vedran: I teamed up with my ex-outsourcing clients from Canada to start MyShop, a marketplace for vehicle owners and repair shops. I moved from Belgrade to Toronto.

And, to make a very long story short, our app was a killer, but our business model sucked.

James: So what happened?

Vedran: Eventually, we had to shut down. This setback was real, leaving me broke and battling severe health issues upon my return to Europe.

Four months later, I managed to pick myself up. I gathered a few thousand dollars and flew back to Toronto with my girlfriend to join the founding team of Autoklose.

James: Was that the one that got acquired?

Vedran: Yes. It wasn’t life changing, but it was game changing.

James: How did that get you to LeadDelta?

Vedran: I spent a year fulfilling my contractual obligations, post-acquisition, then turned my attention to a massive B2B gap: leveraging companies' social capital for improved sales, hiring, fundraising, and marketing.

Using proceeds from Autoklose, I began acquiring small software startups. This led to the creation of LeadDelta.

James: What was your first acquisition?

Vedran: The first test was a Chrome extension that I managed to put in front of 500 early users in month one. It really took off in late 2021.

I joined full-time after selling $500K in lifetime licenses and gaining some subscription traction in late 2022.

Self funding with LTDs

James: That’s a lot of life-time deals (LTDs). Let’s dig into that.

Vedran: That’s the cash that really got us started, outside of the $50k that I personally put down to purchase products.

Self-fund through sales!

James: Interesting approach. Walk me through it.

Vedran: LeadDelta is the second product that I offered in lifetime software communities and AppSumo. So when I released V1 of my LeadDelta, I immediately went to AppSumo to launch it and collect some money.

I figured they knew me, we had already made some money together, and they’d just accept it.

James: Not so much?

Vedran: They deemed the product “not ready”.

James: Bummer.

Vedran: But I had an idea… I went to their biggest affiliate and made a deal for his group. That went so well that we started collecting massive payments.

Then, I just did a loom video and went back to AppSumo and this time around, they said, “Yes!”

James: Should everyone pursue LTDs?

Vedran: If your variable costs are not growing by a lot with additional units purchased and you are in year one of your startup journey, you should pursue it.

James: Just for the cash? Or is there more to it?

Vedran: I’ll start with some context. According to Geoffrey Moore’s technology adoption life cycle, your early users are “innovators” and “early adopters.”

No matter their budgets, demographics, or location, they are coming from your “innovators” who are tech enthusiasts. They are happy to trade time to give you feedback to try something new and tell their friends about it (“early adopters”).

They want to feel like they own the product. They want to be the first. But they won’t break the bank on you.

James: Hence starting with LTDs?.

Vedran: Exactly. So, with that in mind, you gain:

1. Traction: We gained 6K or so users in those first months. That’s insane volume.

2. Feedback: We had a super active product roadmap.

3. Necessary cash: We managed to fundraise from our users and not give up our ownership.

And your “innovators” gain:

1. Time with the founder and a direct impact on the roadmap.

2. Software with a pay-once model (with updates!).

3. The thrill of betting on something new and being the first.

James: Win-win. What’s the downside?

Vedran: Lifetime users come with challenges:

1. Many requests for new features. And they might not work alongside your long-term vision.

2. Support tickets and sometimes unreasonable requests (email changes, resale, etc.).

3. If you don’t have an option to upsell later, you might get stuck there.

James: How do you advise that indie hackers mitigate these downsides?

Vedran:

1. Find a way to syndicate feedback and reduce noise. Introduce roadmaps, user-led community, etc.

2. Know your vision and politely say “no.” Ask for a use case and more details, dance with your users, and eventually, they will get it. Or not. But at least you won’t get bad reviews for not fulfilling unreasonable requests.

3. Understand your audience! They are happy to give you time, so go crazy on reviews, case studies, referrals, webinars, etc.

4. Finally, go multi-product. It is only fair not to charge for the second product, and now you know the exact problem you are solving, you know your customers' needs, and you can upsell.

James: What do you mean by “multi-product”?

Vedran: It’s the holy grail of SaaS: Account expansions and upsells.

$800k in three months

James: Okay, so you’re funding yourself with LTDs. What happened next?

Vedran: I realized there was a much greater opportunity here, so I raised a $800K pre-seed from angels.

James: When was that?

Vedran: In early 2023.

James: What was the new opportunity that you saw?

Vedran: In fixing CRMs. We want to help companies flip their CRM script from deals to people.

James: What was the funding process like?

Vedran: It only took three months.

James: How?

Vedran: We focused on our network and geographical region, and stopped there.

Focus on a market where you are known and go niche!

James: What did that look like?

Vedran: I found a lead investor, and we both managed to pull a list of very specific, successful people from a specific community.

When you go into a niche, the word spreads fast. You instantly get word-of-mouth working for you. So we managed to create a high-quality campaign and attract the best people.

James: Sounds easy. What about the legal stuff?

Vedran: We used Y Combinator standard SAFE agreements, and it was a breeze from there.

James: Any interesting terms?

Vedran: We set it up so that we don’t have a babysitter. Regular quarterly reports and annual meetings are scheduled to discuss progress, maintaining transparency and investor engagement without the burden of frequent check-ins.

This framework ensures that we can concentrate on the core activities of developing and selling our product.

James: How has it helped?

Vedran: Overall, it’s a great derisking and acceleration strategy.It’s helping me to invest more in the product and make fewer compromises.

James: How has it hurt?

Vedran: Funding hurt me because I was used to bootstrapping. So, even though every single book says not to, I rushed to hire and overdeliver on my promise to my investors.

But I think that’s the right way to do it. When the bank is full, it is time to rethink and recalculate your way forward.

James: Does it make things more stressful?

Vedran: The typical saying is, “The clock starts ticking” when you get funded, but that’s so wrong. It’s ticking before you raise. It’s always smart to set a deadline and strategize.

James: Will you keep raising?

Vedran: Moving forward, we are dancing around being profitable and we do not plan to keep on raising unless it makes sense to seize a much greater opportunity.

De-risk, raise some, but remember profitability is KING.

Growth tips

James: How did you grow LeadDelta?

Vedran: I leveraged my personal network, AppSumo, Product Hunt, LinkedIn, SEO, and the Chrome Web Store.

James: I want to explore a few of those, but first, give me your learnings from your journey from $0 to $25k MRR.

Vedran:

1. Community is everything. You can play that game either via social media or by building your own community. Do what’s easier in the beginning.

2. Don’t sleep on AppSumo, Product Hunt, and Indie Hackers.

3. Copywriting will get you far. Master it!

4. Don’t forgo cold outreach. It’s quick, cheap, and effective.

5. Be social. But do it in a group; not on your page. Nobody cares (until they do).

6. Penetrate communities, podcasts, etc. Remember that it’s cheaper for you to be a guest than a host.

7. Leverage affiliates. All you need is Stripe and a spreadsheet — you don’t need fancy tech early on.

8. Do product-led growth. Build hype around releases and referrals.

9. Do what you promise; don’t be an asshole.

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Product Hunt checklist

James: Tell me about Product Hunt.

Vedran: Product Hunt is one of the best places to launch a new product. But most people still don't understand how to use it.

My Product Hunt playbook has gotten me #1 app of the day three times in a row, and #1 SaaS of 2022.

James: I’m intrigued.

Vedran: Here is a checklist that all successful Product Hunt launches tick off:

Tip #1: Have a clear objective:

Vedran: The most important thing is to decide on a campaign objective. It will dictate how you prepare, for how long, when you should launch, what offers to give, etc.

It's so basic, but in my experience, it's essential. So:

• If your aim is feedback on proof-of-concept, the equation is: Launch on the day with the most traffic + remove all barriers to conversion. Your focus should be on great copy.

• If your aim is paid conversions: Launch on the day with the most traffic + a time-limited offer + your customers should be there leaving reviews and requests. Mind you, this doesn't work for all types of products.

• If it's the "badge" you’re after: It's probably best to launch on Sunday. Fair traffic. Less competition.

Other potential objectives: Increase traffic, get leads, get users, personal branding, or social signaling.

Tip #2: Optimize

James: Check. Number two?

Vedran: Now that you know your objective, you can align with it. Build a landing page and grow an email list. Then partake in group messaging, surveys, and polls.

Tip #3: Incentives

James: What’s next?

Vedran: Your offer should help you achieve your objective (tip #1). But you also have to know your audience. If the objective is to sell, then you have to sweeten up your offer…

Remember that Product Hunt people are your early "innovators". They are not geo-specific or budget-specific. They do like new tech, and most are happy to trade time for something cool, and to meet the founder. Use that to your benefit and in setting the expectations right.

Tip #4: Write killer copy

James: Go on.

Vedran: The 'secret' to a winning launch page is great copywriting.

James: What does that entail?

Vedran:

• Create a hook with a strong headline.

• Describe the problem and solution.

• Explain the benefits and features.

• Present a compelling offer.

• Provide a clear call-to-action (but only one).

Tip #5: Do not launch without supporters

Vedran: Then build and warm up a list of 100+ users (peers) who care about your product.

Create your list from your professional peers, email waitlist, existing email list, and partners.

Without supporters, 95% of launches will fall flat. Period.

Tip #6: Work the timezones

James: Number six?

Vedran: Each Product Hunt launch kicks off at midnight US Pacific Time, and gaining early momentum is crucial. However, if your supporters are not awake during these initial hours, your launch may not succeed. Therefore, having supporters in Europe and Asia is essential for a successful and impactful start.

Tip #7: Engage the community

James: Smart. Anything else?

Vedran: Product Hunt is fundamentally a community, not merely a passive website listing. It’s crucial to actively participate and interact with the Product Hunt community before, during, and after your launch.

If engaging with Product Hunt isn't your preference, that's perfectly fine. However, pretending to be an active community member won't serve your interests. Instead, consider finding someone who can represent your product on the platform. This approach might require more time and effort, but it will likely yield better results in the long run.

James: Quite a checklist.

Vedran: I went deeper in my masterclass. It’s 50% off for indie hackers. Code: INDIE50

SEO starts with positioning

James: Let's talk SEO.

Vedran: SEO starts with positioning! First, you must understand where your product fits on a “Supermarket” shelf. That is a topic in itself, but simply focus on the following:

1. Who is it really for? Be as specific as you can. Remember that Amazon first focused on books, Facebook on Harvard, and Tesla on ultra-expensive roadsters.

2. Do not bad-mouth competition, but say, "We are more about..." and "We are less about...". This is key.

3. Have a perfect alignment between your product and the copy.

James: And if you’re positioned well, then what?

Vedran: Then, your best friend becomes keyword research and making strategic moves on the terms you can actually win.

Go build great articles. We had an amazing in-house Marketing lead with SEO super skills, but we also built partnerships with writers and link builders to expand our capabilities.

Not all user-friendly articles are also search-friendly. So optimize between the two, and then build partnerships and link them in places where it really makes sense.

A LinkedIn playbook

James: How about LinkedIn?

Vedran: I wrote a playbook here. It’s free.

And remember, consistency is key!

The Chrome Web Store is a channel

James: And you mentioned the Chrome Web Store.

Vedran: For many months, we were #1 for “CRM” and “LinkedIn” keywords

That got us some wins, some copycats, and some threats. Now we are ranking among the top 10.

James: How did you make it to the top?

Vedran: The Chrome Web Store is just another channel. Treat it that way.

You can win any channel by:

1. Understanding incentives. Yours, the channel’s, and users’.

2. Building trust with stories, reviews, and people.

3. Finding the right fit between price and product.

James: So how did that work for you in practice?

Vedran: For LeadDelta, we were very clear on our positioning - we were the only LinkedIn-first CRM and inbox. Everyone else scraped or did some sort of automation.

We focused on the title and first description lines, as they matter greatly. Same goes for reviews.

And the number of active users and growth rate plays a major role too.

Stay tiny

James: Phew, that's a lot of growth nuggets. Is there anything else that has been crucial to your success?

Vedran: Ship fast, sell fast, talk fast, meet fast — in the early days, your enemy is wasting time and inaction. In other words, in order to get done, everything has to be tiny.

James: Tiny, how?

Vedran:

• Tiny talk: 30 min meetings, 3 topics

• Tiny messages: Only digestible requests

• Tiny spending: <$5k/mo

• Tiny everything: Otherwise, it won’t get DONE.

Anything that does not directly contribute to building or selling in the early days is unimportant.

Your only job is to ship and sell.

James: Where can people find you?

Vedran: I'm on X and you can check out LeadDelta.

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