Zero to 7 Figure Exit in 8 Months with Headlime - AMA

Nice questions Raz! 🙏

1. I wasn't expecting to sell it, but I've always build Headlime (code, documentation, helpdesk etc) with a potential acquisition in mind. This was even if I wouldn't sell it, it would make onboarding new hires much easier because everything was documented well.

2. I read a great book a few years ago. It said that if you have a wish to be acquired, always build with one or two potential companies in your mind who would want to buy you.
   Build something that fits perfectly with this bigger company and could be worth acquiring for them in the future.
   For Headlime, I had two companies offering me an acquisition. One of them was a company that I've always had in mind to be acquired by (but did not end up with in the end)

I can't learn from books/courses.

What worked for me is building something and learning in the process.

I didn't know how to code 2.5 years ago but really wanted to.

So, I set myself a challenge. I picked a framework and started to build.

I chose to rebuild Landingfolio.com.

I needed a server, a database, user authentication, image uploading etc etc.

Every time I ran into something I didn't know yet, I started to learn it.

This way I really understand it.

Nice question!

Let's start by saying that the tech stack does not matter at all. What matters is what feels comfortable for you.

For me, I chose Vue because it looked the most like normal HTML to me. It was easier to comprehend to me.

Now, for successful indie hackers, I believe the most important part is knowing how to sell your product, followed by how your product looks, feels and works.

Now, to build it you can go with either programming or no-code.

For me, I do not like no-code because I want full control over how something works. But thit is personal preference.

Depending on what you want to build, one works better than the other.

If you want to do something in ecommerce, learning to program is not needed.

If you want to build your own SaaS, definitely learn to program!

For me, I was a designer from 16 till 21.

Marketeer from 21 till 25

And programmer from 26 till now (almost 28).

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My advise for you on how to start. Pick a small, fun idea that you'd want to use yourself and just start building it. You'll learn a ton in the process. And, if no one uses it, you're still using it yourself so it has a great purpose!

I started Landingfolio.com in 2015 purely for myself to collect inspiration. I got super lucky that for some reason Google picked it up and started ranking it.

I was shocked at how easy the acquisition went. Mostly because of me and Conversion.AI just wanted to get it over with quickly so we could move on again.

Took about 1 week for the due diligence process where I shared all information.

Then about 2 weeks for the finalizing of the APA (Asset Purchase Agreement). Mostly it was waiting for the lawyers to make the update. Don't skip this step, missing some important parts or words can definitely bite you later on.

After that about a week or 2 to transfer the assets and release the funds from Escrow.

Honestly, Dave and the team of Conversion.AI are a dream to work with. All contact was friendly banter via Slack 🙏

At that time, and I still have, a two days a week freelance job for a Dutch client.

I used the money I earned with that gig to fund my startup/indie hacker journey.

I would recommend anyone to do this until you got enough revenue to go full-time on it.

So, money was never really a problem because I had a solid base income.

The biggest difference between successful and not successful people is:

Successful people push through the boring, shitty last 5% of the project to get it out there.

Push yourself to finish something instead of starting something new.

I absolutely HATED the last 3 months of building Headlime V2. Fixing super small bugs all the time. But, without pushing through that, I would not have been here.

Also, limit your scope. Launch a super minimal MVP and add new features afterward.

I built Headlime V1 in about 3 weeks.

For now, I think I'm not less inspired, but less motivated.

My brain wants to build something new, but also doesn't want to go through the whole rollercoaster again 3 months after the sale.

I cannot wait to ship something new, but I'll chill a little first haha.

Regarding the podcast, one of my biggest wishes since 2019 has been to be interviewed by @csallen. Fingers crossed! 🤞

Honestly, I think they're both the same if you do it fast.

I talk to my audience by showing them a product. One I built in 2 weeks, not 2 years. That way, I either stop working on it, or based on customer feedback I iterate it.

Headlime went from a headline generator, to a fully copywriting solution only because of the early customer feedback I got.

Facebook Groups , Twitter & Word of Mouth were my main acquisition channels. Still shocked how powerful Facebook is in the MarTech world.

The acquisition journey that works the best for me is:

Free usage (no trial) -> run into the feature you want to use but is part of paid product -> upgrade to small plan -> upgrade to a bigger plan.

This way you'll get a lot of emails that you can contact and reactivate at a later moment.

I would do limited-time deals quite often, which had a super high conversion rate.

I was hugely frustrated with copycats for a month or two. But, in the end, it was totally not worth it.

Best thing you can do is issue a DMCA if it's a 1:1 clone. Otherwise, if it's partly a copy, copy some smart stuff back yourself ;)

Yo James, crazy right! Started it during deep lockdown in Bali around May/June 🤯

Best decision was raising my prices from $9 per month to $29 and again to $59. Thanks for the advise @yongfook

Second best would be pivoting from a templates-based tool to an AI-based tool, basically throwing away thousands of dollars of investment for templates I made someone write.

Worse decision might have been to add sooooo many different features. It made it way harder to market Headlime or describe what it exactly did. Also made the onboarding harder to do, as there's so much to do in the app.

Boring answer, but honestly not that much.

I think I was already living a life that I worked hard to design pretty well.

The biggest change though is that my mind finally, after years, feels calm again.

I think toward the end of February I was nearing a burn-out.

I've been sleeping well again and have way less stress.

Not being on 24/7 anymore, always immediately answering emails or customer support for example. Or worrying about competitors or that my tool would go offline.

This is something I really want to protect for the future and my next company. Making sure it's a healthy work-life balance.

What's up next is a good question. Currently I'm focussing on getting back in shape again. I quit smoking beginning of this year and with all the stress gained quite some weight.

I'm working out 7 days a week now, so will mostly focus on that for the next few months. Hopefully I'll come up with a great new idea in the process.

Built fast, ship fast.

If a product doesn't take off, start another one.

I got lucky my 4th startup was the big winner. For some it takes more than 10 to find the perfect one.

For coming up with ideas. I mostly build products that I need myself.

I suck in copywriting. Headlime was literally built to help myself. And luckily I wasn't the only one that needed it ;)

For sure! I've noticed I haven't been able to sit still after the acquisition haha.

Though for the last few months, I really had some issues coming up with a new idea, so until I got the golden one, I'll keep building and learning with some new small ideas.

Let me know if you have a good one ;)

A few big ones I'm bullish on.

1. Paircoding/automatic programming Github Copilot
2. Automated customer support. (Feed helpdesk documents and you can answer 95% of the questions)
3. Automated dialogues in video games for NPCs (this is going to save massive amount of time)

No strategy at all. I kept increasing the price, to see which was the total top I could go, but growth didn't slow down 😅

Social media and direct visitors (which is probably mostly word of mouth).

Facebook Groups were a totally unexpected one that brought a lot of conversions.

Thanks Dennis! 🙏

One of the main reasons to sell was that, at the age of 27, I could use the money to invest and compound massively in the future.

I invested a big chunch in Index funds and some stocks I liked.

I didn't invest too much yet as I believe we're in a massive bubble and would like to buy on discount ;)

Not planning on living off the gains. I looking to build another few startups that would provide passive income to live off.

Testing, lots and lots of testing. I ran multiple A/B tests on the prompts I used to see which one received more likes/favorites. That the one I would than retest again.

Cost is a lot, but can't go into specifics.

Regarding selling, I had 3 options:

1. Get funding, work 80 hours a week.
2. Bootstrap, but hire employees
3. Sell for a life-changing amount of money

My goal was never to get filthy rich, but enough to never have to worry about. Option 3 fits the best with the future plans I've always had in mind.

I tried a few times. FB worked best, AdWords and Reddit never got successful.

Definitely an early advantage + the overall speed of how quickly I launched new feature, always being in front of the competition while building what customers really wanted.

Scarcity, lots and lots of scarcity tactics. A few:

• Limited free credits if you converted after signing up within a few days.
• Price increased with email campaigns to let people know they had 24 hours to get the old price.

Lots of tricks from the book Influence by Robert Cialdini.

Dutch Sole Proprietor. Great to start with, but definitely not ideal for the long run.

Don't overthink this too much in the beginning though, you can always switch later.

Super glad to hear that!! 🤗

Don't be afraid to break things. It's easier to revert things than to test test test.

Also, don't overthink or make things too fancy. Go the most basic route and improve later when needed.

I also have the brain quirk where I cannot stop thinking about something until I finish it. So better to finish it quickly, than have it block my brain for days.

The first sales were for my limited lifetime deal, which I launched on Twitter & Producthunt.

Thank you Ryan, godspeed to you and MagicSalesBot. You'll get there! 🔥

1. Lots of learnings, one important one: Build something you love yourself, it's a long journey and you won't last if you hate what you're building.

2. Stop building and doubting and start shipping. That's the only way you'll find out if people want your product.

3. Read this book if you haven't. It will make marketing more easy.

Solving problems I want to have solved mostly.

As for Headlime, in April 2020 I made a list of products I could make quickly, based on products I already build. I and a friend wrote an ebook with headline templates years ago. We sold it for $19. I thought to myself, if I'd turn that into a MicroSaaS I could charge that price per month instead of once.

Than, after launching it, I iterated based on customer feedback.

1. Work in the open. Talking about your product opens so many doors. It's how Headlime got shared on FB to a huge audience, and how I eventually got acquired. After that, when you get signups, send them emails with limited deals to get them to upgrade.

2. In the last few months: ignore them, but borrow interesting features (with your own twist) they've to build and you'd think would be good for your own product.

Thank you, Oan! 🙏

Mental health is definitely the most important aspect to optimize.

The same way I did for Headlime. Work in the open and ship quickly. You'll notice if you've hit gold or not. You can feel it in the way people talk about your product or how they engage with it. Don't waste years on trying to grow a product. Move on.

I've been a designer since I'm 16, so been designing nice stuff all my life basically.

Honestly though, for Headlime I cut a LOT of corners design-wise because I just had to ship quickly.

Most to all elements on the app and landing page are from TailwindCSS.com. Their components made my life so much easier!

During most of the time, I struggled with imposter syndrome.

"What if everyone realized this tool sucks and cancelled?" is what I thought often.

My friends here in Bali were really good support and helped me out to handle it. Special thanks to @dinkydani for the good talks about this topic 🙏

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The biggest failure must be changing my domain name 5 minutes before my Product Hunt launch, which meant that for a few hours the DNS wasn't working properly 🤦‍♂️

1. The app itself is hosted at either Heroku or Digital Ocean. The database is hosted by MongoDB Atlas. Super happy with both of them!

2. GPT3 cost was definitely a major part of the monthly costs, can't say how much exactly though.

3. NuxtJS (Vue) for frontend. NodeJS/Express for the server. MongoDB for database. But honestly, tech doesn't matter at all. Use what you're comfortable with.

GPT-3 by OpenAI + DeepL for multi-langual support

I think my biggest mistake was the drama surrounding Headlime being 1:1 copied multiple times. It's part of the journey, I know that now.

Regarding marketing campaigns, I never ever ever had success with Google Adwords. I've put hundreds of dollars into it, but never with any product got solid results out of it.

🤐🤐🤐😅

Can't go into specifics as this is I guess confidential, but:

• Twitter
• Facebook Groups
• ProductHunt
• SEO
• Landingfolio.com referrals
• Affiliate marketing