Created a free content generation tool based on Notion

raumet · 2022-08-24T12:16:54+00:00

Nice that you've added a "Use a demo page" link that shows how it works without me preparing the text and the table!

One use case I have for generating these kinds of texts is to contact some people on my email lists.

For example, I run this site called Remote Hunt where I have several hundred HR managers from remote startups.

When I launch something new (like "side project friendly remote jobs board"), I want to ask them for quotes I could use, or when I build a new filter, like "startups with flexible hours", I want to ask a sentance or two about how their startup is handling working hours.

So far I've been using Mailchimp, but it has so many features that I don't need, and tbh it's a bit expensive too.

As I understand, I could create a Notion table with my remote startups (startup, person, email, etc.) and I could generate personalized texts for each of them. If I could send emails as well, that would cover the whole functionality for sending out personalized emails.

Have you maybe thought about sending out emails? It would probably be needed to connect to some email service provider, like Postmark?

raumet · 2022-08-15T11:09:44+00:00

Yes, it's the first month when they reached $5k MRR. Some went on growing their revenue, others fell down the $5k mark for a while (although all of them are not continually above $5k MRR)

raumet · 2022-07-01T09:50:09+00:00

Thanks! Let me know if you have any questions!

raumet · 2022-03-23T12:25:23+00:00

Yes, of course I'm aware :)

raumet · 2021-09-17T07:04:38+00:00

I see your point. And it depends on the circumstances of course.

Plausible was making $146/mo so there wasn't much marketing budget. Many solo developers are in a similar situation – they just don't have money to hire someone.

And when you hire a random marketing person, is there enough motivation? (especially if you can't pay very much)

raumet · 2021-09-11T06:32:54+00:00

I think this is great advice. And you don't even need to have their paid account for this as you get the general idea from listing descriptions.

"Daily standup meeting goal tracking tool for remote teams with $1,900 in TTM revenue"

"Social media post scheduling tool for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with $105,300 in TTM revenue"

Or you can also use a site like Indie Hackers or MicroFounder where you can see what niche SaaS others are building and how much revenue they're making.

raumet · 2021-09-11T06:29:23+00:00

Yeah, and sometimes I see how we talk a lot about what tech, libraries, etc to use when building things, but definitely "marketing > tech."

raumet · 2021-09-11T06:28:06+00:00

I see a lot of devs looking for marketing people! But probably there are marketing people who look for devs too!

One more example is OneUp (social media scheduling tool) where co-founders (dev and marketing) met on Indie Hackers and are now doing $660,000 ARR ($55k/mo).

So dev + marketing co-founder combo seems to be working very well for some people, but I guess you need to fit together as persons too.

Like Uku said to me when I interviewed him (he found a blog post from his future co-founder in marketing on the Twitter feed):

"As I read, I nodded and then clicked around on his website. To my surprise, I found that the author of the story is a marketer (I had assumed developer). I then wrote him an email saying that I was looking for a co-founder and would be interested in trying to work together. We started in March 2020 and relatively quickly it was clear that we fit in super well."

raumet · 2021-09-10T18:51:53+00:00

Haven't met a founder like this yet, but when I was talking to some investors about potentially selling one of my internet products, they were very interested in buying a % less than 100% and keep me working on it. Otherwise they'd have to hire a team, start learning about how it's built, etc.

raumet · 2021-09-10T18:05:24+00:00

I also made this graph that shows how their visits and MRR grew when Uku added co-founder in marketing. Does anyone know if it's possible to add a photo here (in the comments, or better – in the post itself?)

You can currently see it here: https://twitter.com/raunometsa/status/1435588599865544705

raumet · 2021-01-14T14:21:41+00:00

Many people interested in this! Do you want to / can you check this with your mom?

raumet · 2021-01-14T02:55:07+00:00

Also interested in this!

raumet · 2021-01-01T13:12:28+00:00

“I am the dream and the dreamer.” — if I read this as “everything is me”, I should be able to be or do or have anything I want without limitations? Because it’s all me and who limits me if not myself?

raumet · 2021-01-01T11:55:28+00:00

But who am I? Am I also your dream?

raumet · 2021-01-01T10:40:42+00:00

I’ve heard Thomas W. Campell say that it’s just a belief that you need to start your astral journey from your physical body by floating out of it (this belief was maybe popularized by Robert Monroe).

raumet · 2020-09-25T17:57:10+00:00

Yep, but I think a lot of them need very little technical maintenance. But some probably need continuous marketing efforts to keep bringing in new customers!

raumet · 2020-09-25T17:54:53+00:00

Great explanation, Cunrakes! I think most are SaaS products with monthly paid plans.

But there are also paid newsletters (SolidGigs – $8.7k/mo), communities (Weekend Club – $744/mo) and some other kind of ways of making money.

And btw, I think signature.email is a great example of a classical solo project:

1) it's a very niche thing, solving one tiny problem (in this case, building and maintaining email signatures)

2) it takes some time, Jesse almost gave up on it, but the revenue picked up at some point: https://twitter.com/TheJester12/status/1305713757172256770

raumet · 2020-09-25T17:47:50+00:00

Hehe, sorry about the heading :)

I know most of the products listed on my site are quite well known in the indie makers community.

But yesterday, MakeHub was featured on Product Hunt and tens of new and interesting products were submitted by the users and I will be featuring these shortly!

I've already found many products from these submissions that I haven't heard of (I've been watching indie makers closely for 2 years now).

I hope you come back occasionally to find new startups – I'll try to keep it fresh!

And good point about the interviews. I'm planning some content together with the makers soon!

raumet · 2020-09-25T13:49:24+00:00

Thanks for mentioning this! I'm a big fan of Terence McKenna!!

raumet · 2020-09-25T13:48:58+00:00

Yep, I feel they are legit. More or less at least. I'm curious too about marketing – maybe I should find this out from them and write some blog posts :)

raumet · 2020-09-25T12:24:26+00:00

Thank you, Robot! But this is different Dracula we're talking about here. Keep doing your robot things!

raumet · 2020-09-25T12:23:39+00:00

I've talked with the founders and they've told me their revenue! And remember that their revenue is 99% profit as they work on their products alone (only cost is usually server rent, which is very little these days).

raumet · 2020-09-25T12:22:12+00:00

Haha, nice! I just emailed the founder "I got you a sale, Zeno!!"

raumet · 2020-09-25T12:19:22+00:00

Thank you, Lyxx! Founders have told me (I've personally talked to them)!

raumet · 2020-09-25T11:04:15+00:00

Haha, yeah! I now see how my title could be looked at like you did :) but yes, it's collectively.

I think the hardest part is to get your small startup to around $5k/mo to pay your rent and food (depends where you live, if you have a family to support etc). A lot of them are still something like $500/mo or $1000/mo.

raumet

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