My weekend project made $1,000,000 in 1.5 years

When I started building startups in 2016: . I had a grand vision . I was working 12hrs/day . I believed ideas were priceless The results after 4 years? I made $70,000 with a SaaS. Not bad. But with all the sacrifices I made, it's not worth it. And with all the stress, I burned out in 2020...

COVID killed my SaaS. I had $0, no idea what to build next, and no motivation to restart. I spent a year wondering why I was an entrepreneur in the first place... So I got a job as a software engineer for 9 months. But it didn't take long for Mr. Freedom to call me back.

In November 2021, it was time to restart entrepreneurship. I did it differently this time: • Weekend projects w/ a paywall • Share everything on Twitter • Launch and quit fast • Prioritize sleep (no overwork) The goal? Build a massive portfolio of websites (something I control). The results after 12 months? Nothing sexy.

I made $10,000 with my SaaS and grew an audience of 5k people on Twitter. It's decent but my life was centered around work and I was in the game for 5 years already... But it didn't matter, because I was having fun! I shipped 10 mini startups and had no intent to slow down. So I built myself a tool that changed everything...

I launched ShipFa.st on 31st, August 2023. It's a codebase for developers to build websites faster—a tool I needed to fulfill my goal of building a massive portfolio of websites. - 48 hours after, it made $6,000 - 18 months later, it made $1,000,000

I still can't believe this is happening... On paper, it was (yet) another $0 project. No business plan, no marketing strategy, no big dream. But it taught me something crucial: A great startup idea isn’t found—it’s crafted from your own story. Instead of waiting for a good idea to strike, do this:

Fuck around and find out: Build stuff. Do it fast. Tweet. Repeat. Make it different. Don't quit. Create as much noise as possible. When it's time, the signal will find you. Keep creating 🫡

Everything I learned as a solopreneur: How to find startup ideas, launch fast, and get profitable ↓ marclou.beehiiv.com