$0 to $400 MRR in Weeks – The Dumb Thing That Finally Worked

The sneaky move that changed everything after 600 days of failure

Orel

Jun 04, 2025

I built. I polished. I tweeted. I launched.

Then I waiting for them to come. Product after product, idea after idea, nothing caught.

I told myself, "Just one more feature. Just one more redesign. Maybe this time it’ll work."

Spoiler alert: It didn’t.

After 9 failed projects and 600 days, I was stuck at $0 MRR.

Not because I didn’t work hard and not because the ideas were bad. Honestly, I can make at least 4 of them work.

But none of that mattered.

Because I made one stupid mistake over and over again: I built first. Then hoped.

The Wake-Up Call

One morning, I wake up, check my analytics dashboard (again), and realize I’m still at zero.

No money. No active users. No one cares.

What the hell am I doing wrong? I should probably keep on building until something catches fire. Or maybe I change? I should.

So I do something different.

Something dumb.

I go into Substack, find five people who are building newsletters, and message them:

"Hey, I’m building a tool that helps you come up with personalized article ideas and outlines. Can you try it out?"

That’s it. No landing page. No signup flow. No fancy onboarding. Just DMs.

I got a fair share of no’s, but also a few yes. The people who gave it a go also gave me feedback to improve upon.

That was crazy to me. I can finally build something someone needs. It changes everything.

Why You Won’t Just Make It

Looking back, it’s obvious. Seriously.

Why would anything work if nobody knows about it? I mean, yes, I published it on LinkedIn, Tweeter, ProductHunt and Hacker News.

So only if it hits the right pain on the first go and goes viral I would be able to monetize.

And the chances of that are close to 0. But wait, it goes even deeper than that.

Why would anybody in the world pay anything to you, a random indie hacker they don’t know, money for a solution?

They don’t know you. They don’t trust you. You don’t have any testimonials.

It might as well be a ghost website that was built and left a long time ago. And you know you wouldn’t put a dime into something like this.

Why This Dumb Thing Works

On the other hand, instead of guessing what people need, I can ask them.

Instead of building features, I listen to what people say about the current features. I find out what they are looking for.

Most of us indie hackers build in silence, then pray. What I do instead is build trust.

The secret isn’t virality. It isn’t ads. It’s much simpler and cheaper.

Talk to as many people as you can. Show it to them in private. Ask for feedback. Ask them what they wish they had.

Pro tip:

After you found people who would use it for free, ask them this:

“What is a no-brainer price you’d pay for this product? A price that would make you instantly press the buy button”

Usually people would pay more than what they say, but this will give you a ballpark of the pricing tiers you need.

For WriteStack it was sub 20, as ChatGPT costs 20 bucks.

How the MRR Jumps

The first $10 comes from a guy who said:

"Honestly, I’d pay $5/mo for this tool."

That’s when I knew I hit gold. Someone is willing to pay for it. Doesn’t matter that it’s only $5.

It means that I’ve built something useful enough. With enough care, these $5 can become $10 and more.

Now I just need to get more eyeballs.

I send hundreds of DMs. I follow up. I write about the product on Substack. I answer every question my users have. I ask them how they’re using it. I give them my time. I make it obvious I care.

That effort shows. Within weeks: $400 MRR.

I’m not shocked by the number. I’m shocked by how it happens. The opposite of what I thought should work, does.

What I Learn (So You Don’t Waste 600 Days)

1. You Need an MVP. And a Landing page.

For the love of god, you are not a LinkedIn influencer with hundred of thousands of followers. Building a sloppy landing page is a gamble.

And today, there’s no excuse in the world not to build a landing page and and MVP in a few days (or less).

And you do both so you have what to show for and get feedback on.

2. Shipping Fast Isn’t Enough

I ship fast for 600 days and still fail. Shipping with direction is what matters. Direction comes from pain people have.

And to figure it out, you need to talk to as many as you can.

3. Conversations Are Worth More Than Features

If you’re not getting paid, features won’t fix that. People will. Talk to them.

4. You Can’t Sell Ugly

Honestly, the notion is that ugly products sell is completely false.

It works only for creators that are well known and can allow themselves to ship something fast for testing.

But when you first start, you need to build rapport, gather testimonials and make people trust you and your products. An ugly product won’t cut it.

5. You’re Not Selling Software. You’re Selling a Result

Nobody wants "a dashboard" or "a tracker." They want more subscribers. They want more time. They want less friction.

Sell that.

What I Do If I Start Today

Pick a niche I already understand (e.g., newsletter writers)
DM 10 people in that niche and ask what sucks for them right now
Build a solution in a weekend
Iterate the solution with more people and improve as needed.
Am I getting enough users who use it on a consistent basis? Paywall time. No? Repeat 4.

That’s it.

No fancy launch. No Product Hunt campaign. No perfectionism.

P.S. I am starting a new group of indie hackers who are interested in building products the right way and making serious money, fast.

The group is exclusive and has a limited number of spots.

The catch?

Not everybody can join. I’ll have a 30-minute call with you to figure out if you’re the right fit.

If you’d like to be considered: