Dan Rowden Profile Banner
Dan Rowden Profile
Dan Rowden

@dr

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53,257
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620
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⚽️ Building a new play-along football game 👨🏻‍💻 Ghost host ✉️ Developer Experience Engineer at

Brit in Finland
Joined September 2006
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 days
⚽️ I'm building a new play-along football game! If you like football, please sign up and help perfect the gameplay 🙏 How it works: Pick teams to earn points across 5 categories (shooting, passing etc), playing against people around the world 🌍
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
My side project income from March will be about 132% of my salary. I like where this is heading.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Excited to say I recently gave notice at my job 🎉 For a while now, my projects have been making more than my salary. It’s time to take them full-time and grow them even bigger. Adventure awaits! 🛣
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
You can have a job and run multiple profitable side projects with kids and +8 hours sleep.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
After working on my startups all day, I like to wind down by working on my startups all evening.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
Decent ideas + OK design + Average code = Lifestyle businesses that let me support my family
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Officially “unemployed” 🥳 The future is bright.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Today I signed a purchase agreement for one of my projects. My first ever exit. Mixed emotions! 🤯😭🥳 More details soon.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
Level complete 🚀 My SaaS products have reached $8k MRR. $0 ■■■■■■■■□□ $10k
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
DesignJoy is at $90k MRR (!). A one-man design team, working with clients on $2.5k/m and $3k/m subscriptions. Only needs ~30 customers for $1m ARR. Already past it. A really ballsy business (unlimited designs and revisions, forever!) that's paid off big time.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
After working on my startups all day, I like to wind down by working on my startups all night.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
I'm not going to make my $10k MRR goal by the end of the year. After I sold Tolta in May, I adjusted it to $100k ARR / $8.33k MRR. I won't make that either. But I'm free, waking up to build whatever I want and supporting my family at under $7k MRR. I made it.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Level up ✨ ■■■■□□□□□□ $4k My four SaaS side projects have reached $4k MRR.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
12 years after I started building web applications, I've hit $100k ARR 🥳 My first paid app launched 5 years ago. Most revenue now comes from the apps I launched in the past two years: Cove, ilo, Gloat and Refermo. Not a rocket ship by any means, but steady, stable growth 👌🏼
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
Most of my brain energy this week has been sucked into the question “If this random person can be making $20k a month, why aren’t I”
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@dr
Dan Rowden
1 year
I got my first-ever subscription signup for my agency 🥳 +$2k MRR with one customer 🚀
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Another step closer ✨ My four SaaS products have reached $6k MRR. ■■■■■■□□□□ $10k
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
Level complete ✨ My SaaS products have reached $7k MRR. $0 ■■■■■■■□□□ $10k
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Build your SaaS so you never have to hire a support person. • make a sensible, simple UI • use micro-copy to explain how things work and what will happen as users use the product • write self-serve documentation for everything else, and update it after every question you get
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Found an amazing work spot. Remote cabin, lake and late evening sun 👌🏼
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Startup life without Twitter would be very different and very difficult.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
1 year
Proud and excited to announce that I’m joining Lemon Squeezy @lmsqueezy as Head of Developer Relations 🍋 I’ve been a customer since launch and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to join an amazing team building an amazing product and to help grow it in the developer community 🙌🏼
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
By 8:12am my apps had collected me $265. This is the freedom I’ve been wanting for 10+ years
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
At 36, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
6 hours of work 8 hours of sleep 10k per month
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Learn on the web. Work on the web. Earn on the web. Live anywhere.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
1 year
I start my new job today! ✨🍋
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Make a side project.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
Mondays are not like Mondays any more
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
I did this
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
Screw tasks, code reviews, complicated deployment processes. As an indie maker you can code in your main branch then FTP or git pull and restart. No need to complicate things. If it works, it works
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
$8,319 MRR 😳
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
My crypto investments have made more money than I did working 40+ hour weeks this month.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
I haven’t done a full day of work since early November, and I’m earning more than I did at all of my previous development jobs.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Gloat, my mini Ghost host, just hit $500 MRR 😎 Now all four of my SaaS are over $500. Currently about $4.25k total. Onwards to $10k!
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
Every solopreneur is a CEO. Chief Everything Officer
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@dr
Dan Rowden
1 year
Who else is OK shipping stuff like this?
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Last week I sold Tolta ( @tolta_co ), my platform for analysing and sharing social and sales data ✨ Today I started the handover. Some back-story, why I sold and some details of the acquisition…
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
I got asked what I do for a living yesterday and I totally bumbled my way through it. I still don’t know what to say to non-tech people 🙃
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
Start a side project
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
I'm one away from 500 paying customers across my little suite of web apps 💥
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
I can’t wait to sit down on a Monday morning and only work on my own stuff all week. It’s the dream.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
9 months
First time putting an app behind CloudFlare. Feels pretty solid so far. Are there any downsides? If not, everyone should be doing this.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
For years I’ve wanted to build a SaaS and grow to +$10k MRR. But after the recent sale of @toltaHQ and other enquiries, I think my future may end up being building + selling SaaS way before they reach $10k. Selling at $3k MRR and a 4x multiple is $144k. Do that once a year…
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@dr
Dan Rowden
7 months
I'm proud and excited to announce that I'm now the Developer Experience Engineer at @loops ! I've been talking with @frantzfries in DMs for years about building and growing products, and have been using Loops in my projects for a year. Pumped to be a part of the team! 💌
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@dr
Dan Rowden
1 year
My new desk setup is coming together!
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
I need to buy a new M1 MacBook. Do I need a MacBook Pro for my main three activities of web dev, Sketch and video editing? I'm thinking the 16GB model. Or will I be fine with a 16GB MacBook Air?
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
You can build good side projects in 30 minute intervals in your lunch break, during your kid’s nap, after school, on your train commute, after your evening Netflix session, … Find the gaps.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
Sometimes I wonder if I’m getting too old to build meaningful wealth and that I’m running out time. Then I think about KFC’s Colonel Sanders only making millions in his 70s after only starting his franchise business in his 60s. Not everyone makes it in their 30s.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
New project ✨ tolta is an idea that's been brewing in my head in the past week. Yesterday it spilled out into Sketch, and now it's also spread into my code editor 😆 Hoping to finish an alpha version in the next week or so! Super early homepage draft ⤵
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
🎯 Freedom and health
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
How to make a decent income in 2021. • Start a blog+newsletter on a topic you know well or are eager to learn about. • Capture emails. • Write regularly. • Offer a low-cost ad slot at ~200 subs. • Offer higher-cost slots at 500, 1k, 2k... The only hard part is the content.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
With Tolta launching this coming week, this is my sixth launch in 10 months. 4/20 6/20 6/20 7/20 11/20 2/21 Feeling in my groove.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
10 months
What’s the best office chair that doesn’t look like an office chair? I hate this aesthetic
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
I build and design everything on a 13” MacBook Air. It’s not ideal but it’s the bare minimum (cheapest Mac laptop) I need to work and is everything I need.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
I turned 36 today 🎈 And I just discovered a life hack: spoil your close ones on your birthday rather than expecting the day to be about you. Absolute game changer ❤️
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
ilo revenue is up 80% this month. Quite a pay rise 👍🏼 And I didn't have to ask a boss.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
“The first $1k MRR is the hardest” Today passed $1.5k MRR. It feels like things are starting to click into place and momentum is kicking in. Exciting times ahead! 200 days to $1k 45 days to $1.5k Not a rocket ship. But a healthy business.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Just bought a $3.98 domain from @Namecheap . I'm planning to turn that $4 into six figures within a year or two.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
My key tips for running multiple side projects successfully 💪🏼 • small tasks (break things down) • don’t stress • keep fresh (multiple projects) • enjoy it • focus (on the macro *and* micro) • hands-off projects (they can’t need you 24/7) • say no (protect your time)
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
Some days we talk about moving back to Europe. And some days we ask ourselves why.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
If you’re at $3–4k MRR after two years, is that product worth continuing with? When’s the cutoff when you decide a product is not going to be the success you hoped it would?
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Dan Rowden
2 years
My MRR growth is just $3.1k over the past year. This is not good enough. It’s actually embarrassing. Something isn’t working, or I’m building the wrong things. I need to do something different, but when you’re in the weeds, it’s hard to figure out what needs to change
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
We all know @levelsio does “alright” with his apps, but $200k MRR is just insane. Seeing that is mind blowing. Credit where credit is due 👏🏼
@levelsio
@levelsio
2 years
💻🚕 2014-10-25: $3,239 MRR $82,920 valuation 💻🚕 2022-02-04: $242,698 MRR $20,784,690 valuation
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@dr
Dan Rowden
1 year
Never leave a job to start working on side a project. Do them both and wait until you’re confident your project is working first. You don’t want your fun idea to become a source of stress
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@dr
Dan Rowden
4 years
Big news from Mauritius! They’ve announced a new “Premium” visa for remote workers: • 1 year, renewable • permit to work (remotely) • can bring dependents with Only big requirement is to have travel and health insurance for the year. Come live in a COVID-free paradise! 🇲🇺
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
2021 was wild. After years of dreaming, I left my job to go full-time on my side projects. Twitter (i.e. you) fuelled everything I accomplished. I finished the year with +177% MRR growth and +276% follower growth. MRR: $2,583 → $7,159 Followers: 7,856 → 29,508
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Only 7 work days left at my job! 🎉 I’m really looking forward to this new chapter.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Plan Plan Plan Plan Execute or Plan Execute Execute Execute Execute ?
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
I love APIs.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
If there's one thing I love about working on SaaS, it's landing pages. I could do this all day.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
I’ve sold more $$ of Ghost themes in the last seven days than in my previous best month 😳 Finally seeing some traction
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
With a new Gloat subscription just now, I passed $90k ARR. Which means the next milestone I’ll hunt down is the magical ✨ $8,333 MRR ✨
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
My favourite marketing channel is just making a good product.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
4 years
ilo just passed 300 users. 10 paying customers so far 🎉
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@dr
Dan Rowden
1 year
Working solo on startups is a great way to get yourself a job
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
Got a first-ever mention on TechCrunch 😇
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
For me, if you’re indie and are earning enough to live, you’ve won at (work) life.  It’s as simple as that.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
APIs are one of my favourite things about the web
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
What's been your number one growth tactic for marketing your SaaS?
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
I've decided on my product studio name: Monday. An ode to never having to have a "Monday" ever again and a reminder to live a less structured, more relaxed life.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
New SaaS product incoming! ⚡️ ☑️ domain ☑️ email address ☑️ Twitter account ☑️ landing page ☑️ email list The basics are in place. Now for some actual building!
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Level complete 🚀 $0 ■■■■■□□□□□ $10k MRR
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
After a long day in front of my computer coding, I really look forward to a quiet evening in front of my computer coding.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
1 year
I've moved all of my digital products (Ghost themes) from Gumroad to @lmsqueezy 🍋 Back to a more normal checkout design, and a stunning admin panel 😍
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
I wonder what it’s like to be a founder who’s too busy building a startup to be on Twitter
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
When the time comes (soon), I’m thinking of streaming or at least screen-recording me building my next product. Probably a series of streams/videos while I make an MVP. Is that something that you’d watch? Would it be useful to you to watch me design and code?
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
I used to freelance and only just make enough to get by. Now I have a few products and earn enough for a comfortable life, but not much more. My next goal is to earn +$5k more than I need each month. That will bring a calm and comfort I’ve never experienced before.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Spent over five hours editing an 8 minute YouTube video.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Late last year, I set a lofty goal to save $20k in 2020. I’d never saved that much in a year and didn’t know how I would do it (especially with 3 kids). I made my goal 🙏🏼 I had no actual game plan but things gradually came together. The five things that made it happen:
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
You will always make money if you sell tools that help other people make money.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
1 year
Some exciting news to share soon! I'm getting a job.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
💯 A mini milestone for an indie maker. now has 100+ paying customers. First time one of my products has reached this number 🥰
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@dr
Dan Rowden
2 years
“The highest form of wealth is the ability to wake up every morning and say, ‘I can do whatever I want today.’” From The Psychology of Money by @morganhousel
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
NFTs should be used as SaaS Lifetime access passes. Sold pre- or at launch, then with limited drops later on. Would be great for early revenue. Re-selling would allow tokens to be passed on to new users and bring in more revenue. Access would be easy to manage via wallets.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Cove just passed $10k ARR 🏴‍☠️ 🥳 It’s a slow burner but only requires a few hours of my time a month. A perfect side project.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
just passed $2k MRR 🥳 My biggest takeaways from this graph are: • thank goodness I kept working hard on ilo throughout the slow first six months • the past three months have blown me away; feeling very happy that people like my little app!
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
passed $400 MRR 🥳🥳 January has been the biggest month of growth since launch. Things are starting to pick up a bit after a slow period Oct–Dec. Slow and steady, keep going.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
Passed 3,000 sign ups for ilo 😲 A project I built quickly in two evenings has turned into a mini business. I just had to keep going.
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@dr
Dan Rowden
3 years
I’m starting a podcast soon. But first, I’m building a podcasting platform to host it.
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