Founder stories
$10K MRRin 5 months
3 milestones
From Zero to $20K MRR in 163 Days with All-in-One AI Tool
Founder
Dustin W. Stout
Solo Founder•Technical•USA
Commitment
Full-timeExperience
ExperiencedProduct
All-in-one AI content creation suite.
Type
SaaSIndustry
AI / MLModel
SubscriptionMarketing Strategy
How Dustin acquired customers
Primary Channel
Twitter / X
Tech Stack
Tools used to build Magai
OpenAI APIAnthropic APIStripeAWS
The Full Story
After following the #BuildInPublic journey of many indie makers, I decided this was the approach I was going to take.
Slow and Steady
I didn't want to acquire massive amounts of users immediately - I wanted to grow slowly and steadily to ensure I could sustain the product.
Explosive Growth
At one point, Magai was sitting at $200K MRR and growing at a rate of 70-90% per month. The platform has attracted over 50,000 users.
- Time to $20K MRR: 163 days
- Peak MRR: $200K
- Users: 50,000+
Key Takeaways
1
Slow and steady growth can be more sustainable than viral explosions
2
Building in public attracts supporters and creates accountability
3
Leverage existing audiences across multiple platforms
4
Tiered pricing allows you to capture different customer segments
Originally published onIndie Hackers
Inspired by Dustin's journey? Generate a business idea in the AI / ML space using AI and real founder data.
Milestone Journey
Dustin achieved 3 milestones on the path to $10K MRR
First Customer
$50
7 days
January 2023
93% faster
vs avg 3 months+23 days to next milestone
$1K MRR
$1,000
1 month
January 2023
91% faster
vs avg 11 months+4 months to next milestone
$10K MRR
$20,000
5 months
June 2023
75% faster
vs avg 1 year5 months
Total journey time
3
Milestones achieved
Dustin's Path to $10K MRRPremium
The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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