I built my 1st mobile app in January

2. January — Sold my 1st startup for $4,300

Marc Lou@marclou · Jan 30, 2023In 2021 I build and grew a startup to $80 MRR... I JUST SOLD IT FOR $4,300 🎉 Thank you @acquiredotcom & @agazdecki

3. February — Built GamifyList

Marc Lou@marclou · Feb 6, 2023My new startup Gamify List is live on @ProductHunt 🎉 ➡️ Find the best apps to gamify your life Would love your support👇 producthunt.com/posts/gamify-l…

4. March — Built HeroFit live on YouTube

Marc Lou@marclou · Mar 13, 2023My new startup is live on @ProductHunt 🚀 🏋️ HeroFit: Gamify your fitness, grow workout avatars Would love your support ❤️👇 producthunt.com/posts/herofit

5. March — Quit my main startup (Habits Garden)

Marc Lou@marclou · Mar 21, 2023My startup @HabitsGarden just hit 100k visitors 🎉 ...but it's time to quit ❌ $4k revenue for 1 year of work is not worth it 😞 Back to shipping more products 💪

6. March — Built NavalAI

Marc Lou@marclou · Mar 20, 2023AI FOMO is real... so I built Naval AI 🤖 🙇Get practical advice from GPT-ized @naval Available on WhatsApp & Telegram 👇producthunt.com/posts/naval-ai

7. March — Took a few days off in Vietnam

Marc Lou@marclou · Mar 17, 2023Indie hacking from Hanoi 🇻🇳 for 6 days

8. April — Built LandingAI

Marc Lou@marclou · Apr 6, 2023Just finished the first version of Landing-AI.com 🤩 For $19, you get 3 unique landing pages with: 📸 1 logo 🖼️ 3 illustrations ✍️ copywriting 💻 code to export Comment & RT → I'll make 6 variations instead 🎁 (plz send your brutal feedback 🙏)

9. May — Built Fake It Till You Make It

Marc Lou@marclou · May 15, 2023I'm launching Fake It Till You Make It 🦄 now! Get fake Stripe notifications to prank your friends 🤑 Build a unicorn overnight → producthunt.com/products/fake-…

10. May — Built MakeLanding

Marc Lou@marclou · Jun 29, 2023Launching MakeLanding on @ProductHunt now 🚀 → Build an entire website with 1 prompt Would love your support: producthunt.com/posts/makeland…

11. June — Built IndiePage

Marc Lou@marclou · Jun 12, 2023Launching IndiePage on @ProductHunt now 🚀 → A new way to build startups in public (and pay the bills) Would love your support: producthunt.com/posts/indiepage

12. June — Ditched freemium for good

Marc Lou@marclou · Jun 29, 2023Fuck it No more free plans on MakeLanding 6,000 visitors = $20 revenue This is not sustainable Also, need a few days off before moving on

13. July — Married @wonjitos in Korea

Marc Lou@marclou · Jul 9, 2023I got acquired by my Korean wife 👰💍

14. August — Built WorkbookPDF

Marc Lou@marclou · Aug 13, 2023I'm launching my new startup now on ProductHunt 🚀 WorkbookPDF: AI-generated workbooks to learn any language with your favorite topics 🤩 - French with Cheese - Korean with Kpop - Spanish with.. ? 👉 Would love your support: producthunt.com/posts/workbook…

15. August — Built ShipFast

Marc Lou@marclou · Aug 31, 2023I'm launching a new project 🚀 ⚡️ ShipFast: The NextJS boilerplate to launch your startup in days, not weeks. $50 off for the first 50 customers 🎁 → producthunt.com/posts/shipfast…

16. September — Met 𝕏 IRL

Marc Lou@marclou · Sep 20, 2023Come shoot indie hackers at our Indie Paintball next Saturday 💥 Max 25 spots. Details below 👇

17. September — Started a newsletter (Just Ship It)

Marc Lou@marclou · Sep 29, 2023I brought 100,000+ visitors to my sites with Reddit, without spending a dime on ads and no followers. Tomorrow, I'll share everything I know about launching a startup on Reddit: Get my next newsletter issue → marclou.com

18. October — Sold Habits Garden for $10,000

Marc Lou@marclou · Oct 10, 2023I just sold Habits Garden, my first indie startup 🎉 - 1 DM - 0 calls - $10,000 This is my 2nd startup acquisition this year but the story started in March 2022... I had 200 Twitter followers and barely any income ($700/month from an old startup). I love games, I love habits. I combined both and created Habits Garden: a gamified habit tracker to grow flowers when building habits 🌱 In September 2022, the app made less than $200/month despite being my full focus 😣 Then I met @DanKulkov (who is now my good friend) and the game changed: He helped me bury the product-obsessed developer I was and turned me into an entrepreneur. I launched many free side projects to promote the habit tracker (engineering as marketing). The most viral one is VisualizeHabits: Three things happened: 1. Habits Garden revenue tripled 2. My Twitter growth tripled too 3. I realized speed is more important than focus (at the beginning) By January 2023, my Twitter crossed 10,000 followers and Habits Garden was paying the bill (~$800/month). So I decided to build the most requested feature: a mobile app. As a web developer, this is daunting. Apple & Google gatekeepers, 15% revenue cut, new programming language… 🥶 But I got lucky AF: @martindonadieu DM-ed me about a new tech called Capacitor. We became friends and.. he flew to my house to help me build the mobile apps. 2 weeks later, Habits Garden was live on the Apple Store & Play Store. I was blown away 🤯 Unfortunately, in March 2023, the app wasn’t paying much more than the bills despite working all day on it. I sat down and decided to move on. It was really hard to turn the page after 1 year of focus. Fast forward to today, I still fix bugs (if any), answer emails, and make sure everything is running well. I don’t add new features and barely tweet about Habits Garden but the revenue is quite steady ($500/month). @ripper234 reached out by DM, offered to buy at my asking price, and… we closed a deal! 🎉 Here’s what I learned from this experience: 1. The people who engage with you in the comments can become your friends and make you a better person. I wouldn’t be here without Dan & Martin. 2. Focusing on a startup without obvious traction is time loss and nerve-breaking. 3. Launching fast creates a shipping muscle and inspires others. Now it’s time for @ripper234 and @RapoportAnat to take my little baby to places I couldn’t 💪

19. October — Turned 30

Marc Lou@marclou · Oct 18, 2023I turn 30 today. What I wish I knew at 20:

19. October — Holidays in Taiwan with my in-laws

Marc Lou@marclou · Nov 5, 2023Solopreneurship is designing your work to fit your lifestyle. I work all day so I can see my family anytime without asking for permission. I'm back from Taiwan recharged, ready to ship like a madman.

20. November — Launched ByeDispute

Marc Lou@marclou · Nov 13, 2023My new startup 🛡️ ByeDispute is live! Prevent disputes before they happen: - Save $15 fee - Don't get banned from Stripe - 1-minute no-code setup Get $20 off for the launch for 24 hours → producthunt.com/posts/byedispu… Would love your support 🙏

21. November — Made $100,000 with a startup and $11,000 in 24 hours (Black Friday)

Marc Lou@marclou · Nov 15, 2023My little GitHub repo made 6 figures in 2.5 months

22. November — Sold MakeLanding

Marc Lou@marclou · Nov 22, 2023I just sold my startup MakeLanding for $35,000 🎉 It's my 3rd acquisition this year—thanks @agazdecki The story ↓

23. December — Prelaunched LaunchViral

Marc Lou@marclou · Dec 5, 2023Life of a Solopreneur — Copycats

24. December — Wrote about my 6-year solopreneur journey

Marc Lou@marclou · Dec 10, 2023In 2018, I was sleeping in the cheapest guest houses I could find. But on Friday 13th, I made the most important call of my life: I sold a SaaS I didn't build, made $1 online, and created a $70,000 startup that pays the bills today. Here's my story: marclou.beehiiv.com/p/my-first-dol…

25. December — Launched LogoFast

Marc Lou@marclou · Dec 20, 2023My new product LogoFast is live now 🚀 Make beautiful logos with AI, fast and free ✨ → producthunt.com/posts/logofast

I share everything I learn as a solopreneur every Saturday morning: How to find startup ideas, launch fast, and get profitable ↓ marclou.beehiiv.com