Ben had been running a marketing agency for 7 years, during which he created content about growing on Instagram. He naturally became a go-to "Instagram support person" for his audience, fielding constant questions about unfollowers and account bans caused by third-party apps. He identified that the root cause was apps violating Instagram's Terms of Service, and researched a compliant alternative method he called the "compare lists method." He made a YouTube video about this safer method and it received over 1 million views. That single video drove massive organic traffic — accidentally sending users to a third-party list-sorting tool in the process — and validated the demand for a proper product. This viral video and the audience trust built through his agency content effectively seeded the first wave of users before the app even launched. After chewing on the idea for ~4 years and finally finding a price point on Upwork that made it feasible (~2 years before the interview), he built the product and immediately applied his YouTube search SEO playbook to the branded Follow Buddy channel, targeting high-intent keywords like "unfollower app Instagram."
Follow Buddy
App that safely shows who unfollowed you on Instagram using export data
7 moves, in order
- Pre product / Idea validationYoutube organic
Published a YouTube video about the 'compare lists method' — a safe, TOS-compliant way to find Instagram unfollowers. The video went viral and drove over 1 million views, validating massive demand for the solution.
1M+ views; proven demand; accidentally sent traffic to a third-party tool that built someone else a business - Pre launch / Idea developmentFreelance marketplace upwork
Spent ~4 years checking Upwork annually for development cost estimates. Once cost dropped to an affordable price point, hired a full-time developer to build Follow Buddy using React, MongoDB, AWS, and RevenueCat.
Product launched approximately 2 years before interview - Launch / Early growthYouTube SEO
Created a dedicated branded YouTube channel for Follow Buddy. Built a keyword list of 10–20 target search terms using Keywords Everywhere, mapping them to the customer awareness ladder (aware of problem → aware of solutions → ready to buy). Made short, direct videos confirming the search intent immediately on click.
Channel generating 40,000 views per 28 days predominantly from search - Ongoing growthYouTube SEO
Published 'best Instagram unfollower tracker apps' — a 20-minute-to-make comparison video targeting bottom-of-funnel buyers. Ranked #1 for 'unfollower app Instagram' and 'best Instagram unfollower tracker.' Used video to both educate on why competitors get accounts banned and position Follow Buddy as the safe alternative, boosting conversion.
25,000 views in 7 months; consistent views every 48 hours from high-intent searchers - Ongoing growthYouTube SEO
Applied a 4-step repeatable SEO system: (1) map awareness ladder keywords, (2) record concise videos that confirm the search click immediately, (3) optimize title/description/tags with keyword variants written for both humans and YouTube's algorithm, (4) monitor performance and stack variations of the same keyword with multiple videos to dominate multiple top-5 rankings.
Ranking #1 across multiple high-intent keywords; $0 ad spend to reach $20K MRRMRR $20k Users 82k users - Ongoing growthMulti platform search seo
Extended the same YouTube search strategy to TikTok and Instagram search, targeting the same high-intent unfollower-related keywords across all three platforms to maximize surface area and ensure Follow Buddy appears whenever a user searches any variation of the problem.
All organic traffic attributed across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram searchMRR $20k - MonetizationIn app subscription funnel
Offered free trial converting to weekly, monthly, or yearly plans. Aggressively pushed the $50/year plan as the anchor option. Used RevenueCat for payment processing (~1% fee). Free trial lowered friction while the yearly push maximized LTV.
3,128 paying users; 2,752 active subscriptions; 484 active trials at time of interviewMRR $20k Users 82k users
Ben had 7 years of experience doing YouTube SEO for SaaS companies through his marketing agency, making YouTube his highest-converting channel for multiple clients before applying it to his own product. He also had an existing content presence in the Instagram growth niche, a built-in audience that trusted him as an "Instagram support person," and a viral 1M+ view video that had already proven massive demand for the exact problem Follow Buddy solves.
youtube_search_seo
Paid ads — the entire business runs on $0 ad spend. Ben explicitly contrasts his approach against paid acquisition. Building a broad audience (as opposed to targeted search content) is also called out as a waste of time compared to intent-based search traffic.
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