Table of Contents
- Tell us about your product and what inspired you to start it?
- How long did it take you to acquire your first 50 customers, and what was your growth strategy?
- Which technology stack are you using and what challenges and limitations does it pose?
- What are some of the most essential tools that you use for your business?
- What have been some of the biggest insights you've gained since starting your entrepreneurial journey?
- Your recommended books/podcasts/newsletters etc.:
Yossi Segev is the founder of TinyKiwi - an easy to use yet powerful image editor that helps you create beautiful images of your work to share with your social media audience.
Update - January 02, 2023 - TinyKiwi, has been acquired by FeedHive
Tell us about your product and what inspired you to start it?
I initially built TinyKiwi for my personal use. It was never meant to be a public product.
While I worked on other projects, I wanted to share my progress with the world.
I saw that many makers in the #buildinpublic Twitter community are doing the same by sharing beautiful, eye-catching screenshots of their work.
I've tried several screenshot apps, and while they got the job done, I wanted more control over the end result.
I tried using Figma and Canva, but they were too complicated or missed features I wanted to have, so I began building my own tool.
After a while, I noticed I enjoyed working on TinyKiwi much more than I enjoyed working on my "real" projects.
I decided to share it with my Twitter audience, and their response was positive.
At that moment, I decided to focus on TinyKiwi as an actual product.
How long did it take you to acquire your first 50 customers, and what was your growth strategy?
First of all, some numbers: TinyKiwi is 5 months old, with 14 paying customers. My current MRR is $72, and it's growing on average by 47% each month.
I've experimented with several growth strategies.
I've tried running Google ads for a few weeks, but I didn't manage to acquire new paying users.
What I've learned is that running ads is a full-time job. There is so much to learn. So many different experiments you can run. It's a whole thing.
I gave up on ads for the time being. Next time, I'll come prepared.
In the future, I'll try running ads on "visual" platforms like Instagram or TikTok. I think it will be much more fitting for a visual tool like TinyKiwi.
On the other hand, building in public on Twitter has shown excellent results.
Out of my 14 paying customers, 12 discovered TinyKiwi by following me on Twitter or by stumbling upon TinyKiwi screenshots on their Twitter timeline.
Initially, I required users to signup before allowing them to export the image they'd created. Eventually, I realized that the TinyKiwi watermark is a great marketing strategy.
More exported images = more potential users are learning that TinyKiwi exists = more paying users. So, I removed the signup requirement, which proved to be an excellent decision.
Which technology stack are you using and what challenges and limitations does it pose?
TinyKiwi is built with NextJS (frontend & backend).
I use Supabase, an open-source Firebase alternative, for authentication, database, and blob storage.
What are some of the most essential tools that you use for your business?
For analytics, I'm using Plausible to ensure my users privacy.
Payments & subscriptions are being handled by Paddle.
I'm using Crisp to allow visitors and users to contact me through the website.
And, of course, Twitter for marketing & user engagement.
(Most of my users DM me on Twitter when they need help or have a suggestion. I LOVE that.)
What have been some of the biggest insights you've gained since starting your entrepreneurial journey?
First of all, MVP is not just a product mindset. It's also an engineering mindset.
Don't waste time creating beautiful code. You're going to refactor most of it 100 times anyway. Make sure it's solid, bugs free, and move on to the next task.
There's zero value in beautiful code that no one is using.
Secondly, your users are your biggest partners, not assets - partners!
They want you to succeed. Treat them accordingly. Respect them, be patient, and listen to their pains.
Also, don't wait for them to reach out - actively engage with them. Ask for their feedback. You can learn a lot about your product from a 10-minute chat with a user.
Lastly, entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster. Sometimes you'll wonder why you are even doing any of it.
Make sure to remind yourself why you've started constantly. Keeping your "eyes on the ball" will go a long way when things get rough.
Your recommended books/podcasts/newsletters etc.:
The book Zero to Sold by Arvid Kahl was a great inspiration for me.
