$533K ARR - Simple Analytics tool

SimpleAnalytics is a privacy first analytics solution doing $533K ARR

And it has a very simple growth strategy -

• Word of mouth
• SEO
• Social

Even in a competitive market, it doesn't have to be complicated 🤷‍♂️

Angles

You can build a product that does everything for everyone. But then it will be a product that does nothing for no one.

The simplest way to make sure your product matters, and can stand out in a crowded market, is to make it for someone.

Someone very specific - 1 ideal user.

To make sure it’s for someone very specific, you have to introduce angles in your product based on what the ideal user cares about.

So SimpleAnalytics is an analytics solution.

But..

It’s for a user who cares about the privacy of their users, and simplicity of use.

2 angles - Privacy and Simplicity

As Adriaan (the founder) mentions here, the angles came from what he himself deeply cared about.

So you can definitely build something for yourself. But to grow, you just need to make sure that there are enough other people in the world who care about what you care about.

Transparency

Word of mouth and social media have been the top growth channels for SimpleAnalytics since the initial days.

And these channels work best when you can build trust with your audience.

The best ways to build trust?

Be open!

Be transparent with how you operate your business, about how you build your product, how you do marketing, and even how much money you make.

That’s exactly what Adriaan has been doing since the beginning.

He’s been building in public for the last 5 years!

This post is from 2018 -

Simple SEO

SimpleAnalytics has a simple SEO strategy.

Write content that solves problems for your ideal users.

This is a great way to start with SEO -

As I tweeted a while ago, if you’re a low ticket SaaS, then SEO is your best strategy to grow sustainably in the long term.

Especially because you can’t invest in expensive growth channels like paid ads or 1:1 sales.

The SimpleAnalytics blog is a great example of how to get high intent, organic traffic to your product.

Ahrefs data checks out -

I have done a detailed breakdown of Simple Analytics SEO strategy inside the Indie Masterminds community.

And here’s a brief version you can read on the blog -

https://superframeworks.com/blog/simple-analytics-bofu-seo-strategy

Top Lessons -

Top Lessons from SimpleAnalytics -

• You CAN take on large incumbents, but to stand out your product needs angles
• It’s okay to scratch your own itch, build for yourself. But to grow, make sure there are enough people in the world who share your pain.
• Word of mouth and social media are a great way to grow early on. SEO is crucial for long term traffic.
• You need trust for WoM and social media to grow.
• Trust comes from transparency!
• Simple SEO strategy - Write content that solves a problem for your ideal users.

Further Reading -

• SimpleAnalytics on Indie Hackers
• Simple Analytics hits $100k ARR
• Here is a breakdown of our 24K MRR SaaS: Revenue, Profit & Costs | Reddit

Make sure you follow the SimpleAnalytics founders Adriaan and Iron on Twitter.

Cheers 🙌

First 3 months checklist

Made a rough "first 3 months checklist" for anyone starting out with their first startup idea.

Follow this step and step and you reduce your odds of failure.

One caveat -

IF you have a huge audience, you can skip the first 2 steps probably.

Your audience can tell you the pains + gaps.

But that is the only thing an audience can do.

Everything else we all have to do.

Doesn't matter if you have 100 followers or 100K.

More in this tweet.

From the vault -

3 random post from the Superframeworks archives -

• $19K MRR with a simple OCR app
• The “G/B/B” pricing framework
• Simple Build In Public Strategy

🔗 Super Links

Useful links you don't want to miss -

• Hot take on AI and SEO by Jordan O’Connor
• How Coca-Cola launched Diet Coke in 1982 - Trung Phan
• The Midwit Meme: Guide To Life - George Mack
• The Business to Prosumer (B2P) model - Justin Jackson
• 10 most common marketing mistakes from 1st time founders - Andrea Bosoni

Last week’s top link -

• Quality software deserves your hard-earned cash. A brilliant piece about indie app monetization from Kepano - CEO of Obsidian.

🤗 How can I help?

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The goal of this newsletter is to inspire and motivate you, but the goal of the community is to help you take action and go to the next level in your journey.

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