Founder stories
$100K ARRin 1 year
4 milestones
Shipped 11 products in 4 months, then built $3.5M ARR tool
Founder
Thibault Louis-Lucas
Co-Founders•Technical•USA
Commitment
Full-timeExperience
ExperiencedProduct
LinkedIn growth and scheduling tool for creators and professionals.
Type
SaaSIndustry
MarketingModel
SubscriptionMarketing Strategy
How Thibault acquired customers
Primary Channel
Twitter / X
Also Used
Product HuntCommunities
Tech Stack
Tools used to build Taplio
Next.jsLinkedIn APIStripeOpenAI
The Full Story
Before Taplio succeeded, I shipped 11 products in 4 months. The key was speed and willingness to move on from failures.
The Shipping Mindset
I repurposed code from Tweet Hunter for Taplio. Same concepts, different platform. This let me launch fast and validate quickly.
Partner with Influencers
We partnered with LinkedIn influencers for distribution. They used the product, loved it, and shared it with their audiences.
The Exit
Both Taplio and Tweet Hunter were acquired in the $10M-$15M range. The whole journey took about 18 months from first product to exit.
- Products shipped before success: 11 in 4 months
- Time to $3.5M ARR: 18 months
- Exit range: $10M-$15M
Key Takeaways
1
Ship fast and iterate
2
Replicate successful models across platforms
3
Partner with influencers for distribution
4
Reuse code across products
Originally published onThe Bootstrapped Founder
Inspired by Thibault's journey? Generate a business idea in the Marketing space using AI and real founder data.
Milestone Journey
Thibault achieved 4 milestones on the path to $100K ARR
First Customer
7 days
93% faster
vs avg 3 months+23 days to next milestone
$1K MRR
$1,000
1 month
91% faster
vs avg 11 months+3 months to next milestone
$10K MRR
$10,000
4 months
81% faster
vs avg 1 year+1 year to next milestone
$100K ARR
$3,500,000
1 year
54% faster
vs avg 3 years1 year
Total journey time
4
Milestones achieved
Thibault's Path to $100K ARRPremium
The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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