My partner Danielle was an online English teacher. Every day after teaching, she'd spend hours writing personalized feedback for each student. I watched her do this repetitive work and thought "there has to be a better way."

Finding the Niche

Online English teaching was booming, with platforms like VIPKid connecting Chinese students with native English teachers. These teachers were required to write detailed feedback after every class, but there were no tools to help them.

Building for the Community

Instead of building in isolation, I embedded myself in teacher Facebook groups. I'd ask questions, learn their workflows, and understand their pain points deeply. When I finally built FeedbackPanda, it was exactly what they needed because I'd listened first.

Viral in a Closed Community

Teachers are incredibly generous with each other. When one teacher found a tool that saved them time, they'd share it in the groups. Our growth was almost entirely word of mouth within these Facebook communities.

The Exit

After 2 years, we grew to $55K MRR with 5,000+ paying customers. We sold FeedbackPanda to SureSwift Capital for a life-changing amount. The whole journey taught me so much about building businesses that I now write and podcast about it full-time.

• $0 to $55K MRR in 2 years
• 5,000+ paying customers
• $0 spent on paid acquisition
• Sold to SureSwift Capital