Mickey built a V1 in a single weekend, integrated Stripe directly into it, and immediately started running Google Ads targeting high-intent API-related keywords — specifically "Meta API", "TikTok API", "Twitter API", and "YouTube API". He launched roughly 4–5 ad campaigns from day one, sending all traffic straight to the main landing page with no dedicated landing pages or funnels. The ads were set up once and left running with minimal day-to-day management, freeing him to focus on product. Within the first few weeks, Mickey was comparing conversion rates against his two prior projects and saw meaningfully better numbers. The first paying subscribers came through these Google Ads campaigns. He judged early traction not by LTV/CAC ratios (which were initially unfavorable) but by whether signups and conversions were trending in the right direction relative to his previous projects. This signal was enough for him to start deprioritizing those older projects and focus entirely on this one.
Zeronel (Deal Neil / Zenevy)
Social media API aggregator letting SaaS apps add social features without direct platform integrations
8 moves, in order
- Pre launch / Day 1Google Ads
Built V1 in a single weekend, added Stripe, and immediately launched Google Ads campaigns targeting high-intent keywords: Meta API, TikTok API, Twitter API, YouTube API. All traffic sent directly to the main landing page. Campaigns were set up and left running with minimal ongoing management.
First paying subscribers acquired within first weeks; conversion rates visibly better than prior projects - Months 1–3Google Ads
Continued scaling ad spend while iterating on the product based on support tickets and customer feedback. Kept team costs low (solo founder) to maintain ad budget. Did not obsess over CAC/LTV early — focused on MRR and cash in bank as primary metrics.
Reached ~$10K MRR within first 3 monthsMRR $10k - Month 3–4Team building
Made first hire — a developer — to avoid bottlenecking growth on product quality. Followed up with a second developer focused entirely on support/bug fixes to handle the volume of ~150 daily support conversations and maintain low churn.
Enabled simultaneous investment in product quality and growth without founder burnout - Months 3–6SEO content
Began parallel SEO effort targeting the same high-intent keywords performing in Google Ads, plus long-tail variants. Initially used AI to generate large volumes of blog content. Strategy later shifted to fewer, higher-quality pieces after mass AI content failed to rank for competitive branded terms.
Some long-tail keyword rankings achieved; competitive/branded keywords did not rank organically - ~Month 6 (March)Product Hunt launch
Launched on Product Hunt as an additional acquisition experiment alongside existing channels.
No meaningful revenue attributed to Product Hunt; all growth continued from Google Ads and SEO - ~Months 6–8Google Ads
Doubled ad spend month-over-month in parallel with MRR doubling. Targeted doubling of funnel signups each month mathematically. Moved from self-managed campaigns to an agency, added dedicated landing pages per campaign segment, and improved creative targeting.
MRR grew from ~$40K to ~$80K in approximately 2 monthsMRR $80k - Scaling / OngoingEnterprise sales
Focused on closing larger software companies with many end-user accounts. These clients create deep integration lock-in: migrating away requires disconnecting all user accounts, making churn structurally difficult. Prioritized this segment over small individual developers.
Overall churn kept near 0% for enterprise tier; MRR acceleration increased as larger deals closed - Current / FutureYouTube creator partnerships
Beginning to explore YouTube and partnerships with creators in the dev tools space as a third acquisition channel, while maintaining Google Ads and SEO as primary growth engines.
Not yet measurable — recently initiated
Prior experience running paid ads at a VC-backed company (Ucademy, ~100 employees) gave Mickey the confidence and practical know-how to run Google Ads from day one — unusual for a solo bootstrapped founder. He also had prior revenue-generating SaaS projects (5K and 7–8K MRR) giving him a small financial buffer and product development experience before starting this venture.
google_ads
Product Hunt launch did not generate meaningful revenue — all revenue continued to come from Google Ads and SEO. Early SEO strategy of mass AI-generated content targeting competitive/branded keywords (e.g. "Meta API") failed to rank. Trying to do too many things at once (SEO + ads + social media) was identified as a mistake; Mickey said he'd focus on just one channel if starting again.
I make $1M/year selling access to APIs I don't own
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