One of my videos is trending 🤩🥹🤯 Doubled subs in just 2 days.

Be sure to subscribe to my channel now. Then in 5 years, you will be able to brag "ha I watched this guy when he had just 1K subs 😎".

The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUAuu8bbVuo

I made a new youtube video 🙂 You can watch it right here 🙂

https://youtu.be/pomNc4Upwxw?si=pU7NeZZwummicJ4u

The open rate of my newsletter has been decreasing stably 🥺

Is it seasonal? Or the problem is me 😭

Add a real face. Have x265 more views. Source: Harry Dry’s newsletter.

My 14 simple life rules that keep me sane and productive:

1) Wake up at 6:00 am, go to bed at 10:00 pm. No exceptions.
2) Do 1.5+ hours of sports every day (GYM/cardio).
3) Walk 10k+ steps every day.
4) Meet at least 1 friend every day.
5) 1+ hugs every day.
6) 400mg caffeine per day max, taken 10 hours before sleep.
7) 150g of protein per day.
8) Never work if not in the mood.
9) Work on weekends if in the mood.
10) Never use elevator.
11) Never open tiktok/reels.
12) 0 processed food (except for why protein).
13) Green vegs everyday.
14) Hike/trail run in a forest 1/week (google "Mycobacterium vaccae").

This is my bare minimum to survive. I want to add more things (reading fiction books, piano classes, gardening, learning languages, traveling) but atm I feel anxious that non of my projects bring me money. So full focus on building awesome Internet things.

Photos: https://x.com/alexanderisorax/status/1792499106146812108

The new subreddit for makers I created gathered 233 members in 3 days!!!🤯

People come to R*ddit for 6 reasons:

1) Reddit's potential is growing because Google displays links to Reddit instead of SEO junk blogs.
2) 𝕏 algo is unpredictable. Yesterday it was cool, today it is a tiktok. You want diversity.
3) Post on 𝕏 has the potential to get maybe 50k-200k views. Post on Reddit has a chance to be put on the frontpage and your servers will melt (NomadList story).
4) Redditors read and discuss thoughtfully, people on 𝕏 mostly scroll and have fun.
5) An 𝕏 post shelf-life is 6 hours. A Reddit post brings traffic for years.
6) OpenAI partnered with Reddit and started to openly train LLM on the data. If you want ChatGPT to know about your brand, you want to be on Reddit.

If you were scared of Reddit but always wanted to try, welcome to /r/BootstrappedSaaS/!

2/2

Both were produced by the video generation app I'm coding rn, @paracastorg

The first video was generated by the 2 weeks version of my app.

After I finished the "MVP" I looked at the result and... I just disliked it 😕 Then I spent 4 months updating the MVP of my app. Now it produces sexy videos like the second one 😗

Both versions are considered MVP. But look at these two products. 

Would you consider the first MVP sellable? Did I do wrong by not starting selling the initial MVP? 

I believe not.

Why?

I just do not want to be ashamed!!!

I want to build and sell only cool things.

From a practical perspective, cool tools are easier to sell. Not only because people buy cool tools more. But also because as a maker I have better motivation to sell them and it will be less stressful to me. Those are big factors too.

I'm not a machine, I'm a human. I do not want others to think of me as a maker of shit things. It will give me stress and make me less productive or even depressed.

Why is every startup book written for sales machines and business sharks? Every business theory is based on tables and numbers, not on human brain possibilities and limitations. It is just stupid to follow them blindly!!

Earned my first $100 CONSULTING 🤯

Feelings? Free money is awesome. But honestly, it's my last consulting ever. Impostor syndrome gave feeling that I can't deliver. It drained all my energy, and I had to nap to recover.

The story short: the guy read my article about website builders. He had an urgent need to embed a website builder into his platform (digital graveyard 😮) and advice on how to do it from the product perspective.

Usually, I help for free asynchronously, but since he said it was urgent I agreed on his offer to have a paid ASAP call. The guy is supper happy though. We found a solution together.

So how to learn marketing? Why no one tells me what EXACT THINGS to do??!?!?! 😤😤😤

Well, it is because of learning marketing ≠ learning coding.

Coding is a process with a predictable output. If you use CSS “opacity:0” an element disappears. It happens every time for every student.

In contrast, marketing is not a technical science.
It is a dynamic field that combines art, creativity, analysis and science. Unlike coding, marketing outcomes can vary based on 100000 factors: audience, timing, competition, platform, channel, brand perception, cultural context, execution, budget etc.

This is why marketers often speak in principles rather than exact steps. They might say "understand your audience" instead of "use these exact words." The 1st one adapts to various situations, while the 2nd might only work in specific contexts.

This is why effective marketing requires adaptability, critical thinking, and continuous learning rather than following a set of instructions.

This is why no one gives you the answers. Only clues to find them.

And this is why marketing seems so "hard" 🙂

Make a directory!!! 🤓

I advise beginner makers to create a directory website first rather than SaaS. It is a perfect first step. Much better than starting with a SaaS from day 0.

Why?

Because if you begin with a SaaS you will inevitably procrastinate doing the code for months without touching the hardest part — marketing.

Research suggests that people tend to lose motivation and consider quitting a project after 3-6 months of effort without seeing results. This is what happens to the absolute majority of makers: they code, nothing happens, they lose motivation.

A directory can be built within a week or so. Then you will just have to jump to the hardest part — promoting it. After getting 1,000 visitors and a domain rating of 10, you will learn A LOT about growth, SEO, launches, backlink building, partnerships, cross-promo. You will get REAL marketing experience and have confidence. Confidence will keep your motivation up even on dark days.

This way your SaaS journey will have more chances to become successful.

John and I now run a show for indie makers. Check it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UcfhI341v4
https://x.com/alexanderisorax/status/1818522121649172753

2018: The SaaS is the foundation. Marketing supported it.
2025: Marketing channels are the foundation. The product is a monetization tool.

Sounds novel?

Sorry, but it's as old as the hills! 😄

- Nike sells a lifestyle, not shoes.
- Tesla: awful car, splendid marketing.
- RedBull spends 84% of the profits on marketing.
- Coke’s value is in its brand, not the product.

So what?

AI pushes SaaS to the post-industrial era.
The winners won’t be the best builders. They’ll be the best storytellers and the best hype-makers

Serious question to all who wants fast growth:

WHY DON'T YOU JUST BUILD A GREAT PRODUCT?

A great product promotes itself. Take a look at Screen Studio, Typefully, Scraping Bee. They are spreading like a virus.

Wanna that too? Invest hours into what you are really destined to do--build, not in squeezing out enGAgiNg posts on 𝕏 or meaningless bs like listing on countless AI directories.

Obvious, no? 🤔

My personal experience: Unicorn Platform. It was spreading mostly by word of mouth. Why? Because the product was great. Not just fine, great.

It took me 3 years to make it great:

1) 2 years of making websites as a freelancer

2) 1 year of running the html/wordpress themes biz

3) 1 year of coding the SaaS

2 years of researching the market, learning the pains, understanding the UX, talking to clients, building a 100 of sites manually before I understood how to make a great builder of those.

+ 1 year of sweating to turn that idea into a real SaaS.

Why would one expect a success after just 2 weeks of vibe coding and launching it on Product Hunt & co? 😶‍🌫️

My recommendations:

Do what you do the best: build. Invest time in UX. Get inspired by other great SaaS and products. Use them even if you don't need them.

Buy a Teenage Engineering gadget. Use it. Notice the details.

Put a Kinfolk mag on your desk.

Go to museums. Stare at art.

Read non-fiction books of famous authors who died poor.

Watch documentaries.

Inspire by other highly passioned people: Leonardo da Vinci, Richard Feynman, Soichiro Honda, Hayao Miadzyaki, Max Miedinger.

👉 Get obsessed with your product and its mission. Make it your life goal. Your reason to exist. 👈

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AI will populate the world with average products soon. If yours is not a great one, it will be unnoticed. Even if you list it on 500 directories.

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P.S. Building a great product will be the largest and the most interesting chapter of my guide. Pre-order it now for $48 ($148 later). The link: mrr.guide

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Join the discussion on 𝕏.