So @yongfook has hit $100k ARR - but how did he get his first $1k MRR?

I pulled his early BannerBear tweets to show you in this thread 👇 https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1344061930902700033
In Nov 2019, he launched PreviewMojo, the early form of Bannerbear, as part of a @levelsio-esque 12 startups in 12 months plan. https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1190165808711790592
Launching on @ProductHunt, he got ~200 signups, but no paying users. https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1190551202963976192
It took 4 days to get that first customer at $9/month, a far cry from the lowest tier of $49/month now. https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1191641306939871232
The early plan was to go after Shopify/ecommerce stores. Makes sense! Ecommerce brands would likely benefit from great social images. https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1202557626178887685
Knowing he was going after bigger businesses and not just indiehackers, he raised his pricing from $9 to $49 a month https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1206501794018258944
He didn't hit his end of year goal of $1k MRR. At this point, he's about 2 months in. Shopify integration is shut down as it seems to not be fruitful.

(I can attest how hard it is to make sales this time of year for b2b saas!) https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1206573493992607744
He starts to pivot into an area he hears his potential customers need that he's passionate about.

In one of the subtweets, he says "I’m either going to make previewmojo work, or fail spectacularly. No in betweens, no starting other projects" https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1209438617757597697
His Christmas Eve wish (which is now fulfilled) is the last tweet I have about his progress until 3 weeks later... https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1209452345811062785
...when he rebrands officially to BannerBear.

2.5 months later, bannerbear has come out of PreviewMojo. https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1217356488206774272
His process seems clear from the outside:
- build new features
- build content about using features
- talk to users about it
- iterate, repeat https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1220940306348003328
About 3 months in, he gets some press! https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1222076519918424064
And then ANOTHER huge pivot 1.5 months after the first one.

Bannerbear is going to be an API based product. https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1229258162496163840
Here's that launch: https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1237273441784356864
Continuing his process, he keeps building demos + tutorials that equate to content marketing https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1240249663107653635
4-5 months in, he's at about $650 MRR. This is only 9 short months ago. https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1238028404139511808
Continues to experience existential crises...

(after my own heart) https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1242003523937529858
Continues to build great demos... https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1245264081478549504
Continues to build integrations... https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1247781537107464193
Continues to speak to users... https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1248436414221389825
Continues to explore distribution channels... https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1255342093632966656
The first tweet where I can tell he broke $1k MRR is this one, 7 months after starting, and 7 short months ago. https://twitter.com/yongfook/status/1262219676618088449
This is where this thread ends because it's more of the same, but I hope it's as helpful for you as it was for me.

In hindsight, everything @yongfook does is simple.
- release new features weekly
- release new content weekly
- speak to users and pivot
But he also endured the existential crises that come with building and didn't start making pretty pennies for a long time.

That's probably the hardest part, the mental game.
Starting to learn that myself. http://magicsalesbot.com  is at ~$130 MRR after a few weeks and I'm already ready for a beach vacation 😅

Hope you enjoyed this!
@yongfook, apologies for blowing your notifications up or if anything's out of context. Too interesting and inspiring a story not to share!
You can follow @Ryan___Doyle.
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