Pre launch / Origin
Organic directory submissions
Built a niche directory of front-end developer tools to experiment with Next.js. Added a submission form and let products accumulate passively. When the form SaaS hit its free limit, Thomas recognised latent demand and began manually adding one product per day, creating a waiting list.
→ Waiting list grew to 2–3 months long, signalling strong organic demand
First monetisation
Paid waitlist skip
Charged $30 for founders to skip the 2–3 month waiting list and get their tool published immediately. This was the first revenue mechanism and required zero marketing — demand already existed from the queue.
→ First revenue generated; approximately $2K MRR reached before the pivot
MRR $2.0k
Pivot to launch platform
Twitter trend surfing
Spotted a viral tweet from Nikico criticising Product Hunt and immediately pivoted the directory into a Product Hunt-style launch platform targeting indie hackers. Repositioned the existing catalogue as launch history and rebranded the value proposition.
→ Revenue dropped from ~$2K to ~$400–500/month post-pivot as the product was rebuilt
MRR $500
Early growth — Twitter as primary acquisition
Twitter — organic
Used Twitter/X consistently as the main acquisition channel, posting regularly to build personal brand and drive awareness of Uneed launches. At this stage Twitter accounted for approximately 70–80% of all traffic.
→ Twitter became dominant traffic source (~70–80% of all visits)
SEO build up
Seo programmatic
Built SEO pages leveraging the growing product catalogue: alternative/comparison pages (e.g. 'best alternatives to Screen Studio'), detailed product pages, and an internal backlinking structure. Also implemented a badge system (similar to Product Hunt's) so launched products place a backlink on their own websites, compounding domain authority over time.
→ SEO became ~20–30% of traffic; comparison/alternative pages rank well on Google
Community retention / gamification
Product gamification
Identified a core segment of daily returning users who treated Uneed like a game. Introduced a 'karma' system: logging in and upvoting products earns karma, and higher karma grants an upvote multiplier — making active users' votes count more. This differentiated Uneed from Product Hunt and rewarded loyal community members.
→ Direct/returning traffic grew to become the #1 traffic source (>50% of visits); top daily products are now driven by active community members rather than random visitors
Newsletter launch
Email newsletter
Launched a weekly newsletter highlighting the best products of the week and month. Grew to 12,000 subscribers with a 40% open rate (list cleaned weekly). Monetised with ad spots at $90/issue, sending 4 issues/month. The newsletter also drives more traffic to featured products than their actual launch day on Uneed.
→ 12,000 subscribers, 40% open rate, ~$360/month in newsletter ad revenue
Users 12k users
Black Friday push — month of $20K
Black friday promotion
In November, Thomas shifted to approximately 80% marketing / 20% development. Ran a Black Friday campaign that was the direct catalyst for hitting $20K MRR for the first time.
→ Hit $20K MRR for the first time
MRR $20k
Community feature (Uneed Community)
Owned community
Reached out to highly active but low-social-media-presence users and offered to build an internal social feed (Twitter-like) within Uneed so they could share their journeys without algorithm pressure. Built basic posting features tied to product profiles. Goal was retention/fidelisation, not new user acquisition.
→ Reached 7,000+ posts in first month; increased daily engagement from core user base