Scaling revenue with Free tools not Freemium

Neil Patel, Bootstrappers, Instantly AI, Exploding Topics

Author

Okerosi Davis
February 10, 2024

Hello and welcome to 1,2,3 Product Weekly - read by startup founders, creators, and product marketers looking to learn constantly. Support on Patreon and get weekly resources directly in your inbox.

To new subscribers, welcome onboard, and thank you.

Here is what to expect in this Saturday’s newsletter:

  • Neil Patel on scaling with Free tools

  • Instantly and Exploding Topics insights

  • SaaS Bootstrappers on Building Startups

1. Neil Patel on Scaling with Free Tools

I am listening to Neil Patel the other day present on SaaSOpen on how to build a 9-figure company giving software away for free.

By free, Neil does not mean Freemium, it means offering a feature(s) of your premium product free. Think of it this way using these examples:

  • Think - HubSpot grader.

  • Consider - Answer the public.

  • Add - Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator

By the way, Neil acquired Answer the Public for $8.6m. UberSuggest is another free tool acquired for $120k and now is a multi-million dollar SaaS business.

As a start-up founder, you can acquire these free tools from scratch instead of building them as Neil did. These solutions drive massive organic traffic, and users sign up, and you can retarget them for your premium products.

2. Exploding Topics and Instantly AI

How Exploding Topics is scaling to $83k+ MRR

On Wednesday I wrote about Brain Dean building Exploding Topics on the back of SEO and 1-weekly newsletter.

One interesting framework is the Email Launch Formula that Brian employed and added $10k/MRR - an 8.6% revenue to Exploding Topics. Here is the excerpt;

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The Pre-launch

The messaging of the product you want to release. You need to build anticipation. Brian mentioned the new plan in their weekly newsletter.

It was simple and to the point. It said:

The all-in Business Plan for Exploding Topics Pro Launches Tomorrow

The Launch

In the case of the new payment tier, Brian added a story to showcase the work that went into deciding on the Business Plan launch.

Brian mentioned having done beta testing. Make the launch sound like a big deal. On D-day, they added scarcity to the launch - like offering a Free upgrade to the existing customers to jump on board.

Also, instead of offering discounts consider adding a form of scarcity to the launch.

The Deadline

Here is giving the first reminder, and offering the scarcity element. Brian’s team made it interesting by going into details by offering the added features.

The last message -the second reminder, is to daily up the scarcity event. Brian included a message like: ‘ This is the last message we will send on the launch before getting to our normal weekly newsletter ‘

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

How Instantly AI Scaled to $2.4m in 9 Months

Instantly AI is cold email outreach at scale SaaS company launched by Raul Kaevand. He was on Nathan Latka's channel to discuss their genius growth strategy.

I shared my takes on LinkedIn, including the way they are building a community on the Facebook group.

3. Bootstrappers on Building SaaS Startups

On scaling with a self-service onboarding process

The co-founder of Metro Retro, Jamie Hanratty shared the reason their premium software offering scaled slowly at first.

A major obstacle was that their customer onboarding was still a manual process. Jamie had to send invoices and set up new client accounts himself. So, the next step towards growth was introducing self-service plans. 

”It was only as of April this year that we launched self-service signup and payment inside the product. Now a customer can sign up for a free trial, enter their credit card, and get going by themselves. Within a month, we were profitable and able to pay ourselves properly for the first time,”

Jamie says. Since then, Metro Retro has acquired entire company departments, won multi-year contracts, and upgraded existing customers.

When a compelling affiliate program scales revenue

Flick a social media management platform before pivoting into a SaaS model from an agency. The team struck a code when they launched an affiliate program with influencers on Instagram and YouTube and now does over 2m+ ARR.

The Instagram influencer or YouTuber would get a 20 percent recurring commission on monthly sales. For example, if the influencer made Flick $100,000, they’d keep $20,000.

“That was a compelling offer for influencers. The product was so niche and matched perfectly with content creators because they used it themselves. This launchpad helped us grow, and we didn’t have to pay any upfront cash for it.”  - Co-founder Sam King.

On thinking your startup ideas are secrets

Marc Louvion, the founder of ShipFatst doing $50k/MMR and 15 other startups he has built shares his thoughts on business ideas. Not anything new but worth remembering.

“Some entrepreneurs think ideas are secrets to be jealously guarded.I’ve learned that it’s the opposite. Ideas don’t matter. Execution does. And the earlier you share your idea, the better. Then you’re going to shape a product for customers and not for you.”

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Thanks for reading!

God’s speed.

Okerosi