Founder stories
$100K ARRin 9 months
4 milestones
From landing page to paying customer in 4 days
Founder
Joel Gascoigne
Solo Founder•Technical•UK
Commitment
Side ProjectExperience
First-timeProduct
Social media scheduling and analytics tool.
Type
SaaSIndustry
MarketingModel
SubscriptionMarketing Strategy
How Joel acquired customers
Primary Channel
Twitter / X
Also Used
Communities
Tech Stack
Tools used to build Buffer
PHPTwitter APIStripeIntercom
The Full Story
I validated Buffer with a landing page before writing any code. Within 4 days of tweeting about it, I had my first paying customer.
The Validation
I created a two-page website. First page explained Buffer. Click "Plans and Pricing" to see the second page with prices. If someone clicked to sign up, I knew they'd pay.
MVP Launch
After validation, I built the simplest possible version in 7 weeks. Launched it on Hacker News and got my first customers.
Early Growth
I was obsessive about talking to users. Every piece of feedback shaped the product. I blogged about everything - total transparency.
- Landing page: Oct 2010
- First customer: 4 days later
- $1M ARR: 9 months
- Now: $20M+ ARR
Key Takeaways
1
Validate with a landing page first
2
Tweet about what you are building
3
Talk to every early user
4
Transparency builds trust
Originally published onJoel.is Blog
Inspired by Joel's journey? Generate a business idea in the Marketing space using AI and real founder data.
Milestone Journey
Joel achieved 4 milestones on the path to $100K ARR
First Customer
$5
4 days
November 2010
96% faster
vs avg 3 months+3 months to next milestone
$1K MRR
$1,000
3 months
January 2011
73% faster
vs avg 11 months+3 months to next milestone
$10K MRR
$10,000
6 months
April 2011
72% faster
vs avg 1 year+3 months to next milestone
$100K ARR
$1,000,000
9 months
July 2011
77% faster
vs avg 3 years9 months
Total journey time
4
Milestones achieved
Joel's Path to $100K ARRPremium
The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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