Founder stories
$1K MRRin 1 month
2 milestones
From $0 to $1K in Revenue in 30 Days by Validating Before Building
Founder
CM
Chris Mason
Co-Founders•Technical•USA
Commitment
Side ProjectExperience
First-timeProduct
WooCommerce plugin for post-purchase upsells to increase average order value.
Type
SaaSIndustry
E-commerceModel
SubscriptionMarketing Strategy
How Chris acquired customers
Primary Channel
SEO / Content
Also Used
Communities
Tech Stack
Tools used to build One Click Upsells
WordPressWooCommercePHPStripe
The Full Story
TL;DR
Chris and his co-founder validated demand first by talking to WooCommerce store owners, then built One Click Upsells to $1K in 30 days.
Chris Mason and co-founder Bogdan took their very first product, One Click Upsells for WooCommerce, from $0 and no product to $1K in revenue in 30 days.
The Validation First Approach
The key was ensuring revenue before putting in the effort. Without starting capital or investors, they needed to make sure people would not only be interested but also purchase.
The Process
They validated the idea by talking to WooCommerce store owners and understanding their pain points. Once they confirmed people would pay, they built the MVP as quickly as possible and launched.
The Distribution
They focused on SEO from day one, optimizing for "WooCommerce upsell" and related terms. The WordPress/WooCommerce ecosystem provided built-in distribution through their plugin marketplace.
- Time to $1K: 30 days
- Validation: Customer interviews first
- Distribution: WordPress plugin marketplace
- SEO focus: From day one
Key Takeaways
1
Validate that people will pay BEFORE building the product
2
Talk to customers first to understand real pain points
3
Platform marketplaces (like WordPress) provide built-in distribution
4
SEO from day one compounds over time
Originally published onIndie Hackers
Inspired by Chris's journey? Generate a business idea in the E-commerce space using AI and real founder data.
Milestone Journey
Chris achieved 2 milestones on the path to $1K MRR
First Customer
14 days
February 2019
85% faster
vs avg 3 months+16 days to next milestone
$1K MRR
$1,000
1 month
March 2019
91% faster
vs avg 11 months1 month
Total journey time
2
Milestones achieved
Chris's Path to $1K MRRPremium
The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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