Undefined
October 10, 2022•Startup

BannerBear Journey to $1MM ARR Recap Notes

$0 MRR

  • Saved up money as senior level employee (end of corporate career)
  • 12 startups in 12 months (launched 7)
  • Got good at sharing in public (blog, newsletter, tweets, PH launch)
  • Didn’t care about the problems enough. Lacked urgency. Too complacent.
  • Necessary: How much do you care about the problem? Personal level of interest required, or relevant to you as a founder.

$488 MRR

  • Launched Banner Bear - evolved from the 7 startups stage. Was interested in automated image generation - taking away mundane design work.
  • Saw the problem in a previous job (grinding to create product banners).
  • Launched on PH. Made a little more revenue.
  • Realized Twitter is an amazing promotional tool for any kind of tech products (lots of exposure and people visiting product website).
  • What went right: Good product-founder fit. (if poor fit, get bored and distracted + get outcompeted).
  • What went wrong: Priced too low.

$6,109 MRR

  • Reached milestone just in time (burned through savings).
  • Switched to a strict cycle of 1 week coding, 1 week marketing, repeat (for 7 months straight)
  • Codingweekmarketingweek.com
  • Marketing week:Tweet something of interest to your target marketParticipate in forums where your customers areImprove your marketing site / docsCreate a free tool that complements your appWrite a blog post aimed at your target marketWrite a weekly / monthly newsletter (recap what you did) with tips / adviceWhat workedConsistencyDo more of what works (Documentation for Jon).

    $10k MRR

    $21,504 MRR

    $35,232 MRR

    Plan to $83,333 MRR

    • Celebrated wins on Twitter
    • Tweaked positioning - find your customers Jobs To Be Done.
    • Changed from “Automate your designs” to “Automate & Scale Your Marketing”.
    • Automate and Scale became a core part of the website - everywhere on the website. Customers know which bucket they’re in “Automate” or “Scale”.
    • Upgrade your user, not your product.
    • Continue 50/50 split code + marketing
    • Continue expanding documentation
    • Continue Tweeting
    • Hired full time customer support (2 people)
    • Increased Prices
    • Continue to invest in documentation
    • 50/50 continuation
    • Fully remote team (2 full time CS) 2 full time marketing, 1 full time designer.
    • 150+ article Knowledge Base
    • Start targeting larger customers - get better at telling the story how we help those companies.
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