Idea Validation (Pre build)
Discord community lurking
Used discboard.org to find niche Discord servers. Searched for keywords like 'niches' in the moneymind server and observed recurring pain points (people repeatedly asking 'how do I find a niche?') to confirm demand before building anything.
→ Confirmed strong demand for a niche/channel research tool
MVP Build (Week 1)
Ai coding tools
Built first MVP in ~1 week using ChatGPT (voice mode) to generate code, initially copy-pasting into Notepad then VS Code, later switching to Cursor. Shipped a broken MVP hosted on Heroku that threw application errors but core features still worked.
→ Working MVP shipped in ~1 week with zero prior coding experience
First Users (Weeks 1 4)
Discord voice chat screen sharing
Joined Discord voice chat rooms in niche servers, muted mic, and silently screen-shared himself using Algrow. Did not pitch or speak — just let curiosity build. When users asked what he was using, he casually mentioned it was his own tool. Did this for ~1 week straight.
→ Attracted organic interest including an unprompted promotional YouTube video made by the server owner
Pre Launch Waitlist
Discord community chat
Posted a simple waitlist link in Discord server chats with a low-pressure message — 'if you want to try the tool, sign up here and we'll email you when it's released.' No hard sell, no spam.
→ Built initial email waitlist of early adopters
Early Launch
Word of mouth via free access
Gave all early waitlist/validation users completely free access to Algrow. Free users would demo the tool to skeptical friends, who would then pay for access. Deliberately structured this as a referral loop: free user shows tool → friend converts to paid.
→ Word of mouth drove a significant portion of early growth; users reported 'my friend told me' as their source
Growth (Months 1 6)
Discord community expansion
Continued joining multiple Discord servers in adjacent niches (drop shippers, influencers, not just faceless YouTube creators). Used discboard.org to find new communities, joined voice chats, and replicated the screen-sharing strategy across servers.
→ First 400 users acquired entirely through Discord
Users 400 users
Month 6 (Current)
Organic product led growth
Product expanded beyond original ICP (faceless YouTubers) to influencers and dropshippers organically. Maintained Heroku hosting, Mailerlite for email, and added AI video generation (Sora 2) and image generation (Nano Banana) features to increase value.
→ 10,000+ total users, £10,000+ (~$13-14K USD) revenue in last 30 days, 480 new paying customers in last month
MRR $14k Users 10k users