Her Site About No-Code Founders Makes $12,000 In Just 10 Months

Hello! Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your business?

Hello, I'm Katrien aka Katt. I live in Leuven, Belgium and I run NoCode-Exits.

I worked for years in a big tourism cooperation in the digital team. I always had this fascination for startups and entrepreneurships. You could find me lurking every day on Product Hunt and Indie Hackers. But I never dared to take the plunge because I can't code. Then I discovered No-Code tools and that is what changed everything for me.

I quit my job 6 months ago and now I'm doing a combination of freelance work and experimenting with my own projects.

When I'm not behind my computer, I like to do active and adventurous things with my husband. It became more challenging with 2 kids but we still manage (camping and hiking through Norway for one month, bikepacking through the alps, skitouring in Switzerland, camping and hiking through West USA for 2 months).

How did you start this business? Take us through the process.

My first little project that I built while learning the ropes was No-Code Guru. I was in some No-Code communities and the question that I always saw returning was:

" I want to build X and it needs to do Y and Z, what is the best tool for this? "

I recognized this problem as the No-Code landscape can be overwhelming when you are just getting started. So I decided to build a simple solution. It took me a few days and my stack was:

• Airtable for the data

• Landbot for the chatbot interface

• Softr for the landing page

• Yep.so for the idea validation page

I launched it on Product Hunt and build in public on Twitter. After lurking for so many years it was such a great feeling to finally build and launch something. And for the small audience I had back then the support and response was amazing.

After a few months I listed No-Code Guru on Micro Acquire and it was acquired. And this lead me to my current main project. When I tweeted about the acquisition my tweet BLEW UP.

I felt there was a lot of interest in the full story so I decided to start a newsletter on Substack about it.

Normally I'm good in overthinking a name, a logo a landing page for days but this time I kept it minimal:

• A simple Substack newsletter set up in 10 minutes

• A free icon logo found in 2 minutes

• And the first name that popped up in my head

How did you get your first initial customers?

I announced my new newsletter in a tweet.

In 24 hours I had 500 subscribers without publishing a first issue. This was so huge for me as my audience was not that big.

I saw that as a good validation (Newsletter market fit? :)) and the next day I published the first story. Then I left on holiday for 3 weeks.

The limited timeframe I had because I was leaving on holiday really helped me in keeping it simple and focusing on the core.

After my holiday I continued publishing a new interview every week. I started repurposing content on different websites, doing cross promotions, building in public on Twitter and being active and form partnerships with communities.

Since launch, what are your marketing strategies or channels to get new customers?

• Teaser on Twitter and LinkedIn before posts go out

• Repurposing content from the newsletter on forums (Indie Hackers, Product Hunt, Reddit, Medium ...) and on social media. I experiment with all kinds of content like lists , mini interviews, summaries, etc.

• Partnerships with No-Code communities or events

• Building in public on Twitter

How does your business make money?

My newsletter exists for one year now and has around 7000 subscribers.

I make money in 3 ways:

1. Since having 1000 subscribers I started doing sponsorships. It started with 50 USD and is now at 99 USD for 1 classified ad. In total this resulted in around $12,000 total revenue in 10 months. Most of the sponsors find me through Twitter.

2. I sell info products (about building with No-Code and finding business ideas), this resulted in 2000 USD in total. I used to promote them in the beginning in the footer of my newsletter, I should start doing it more again.

3. I organize (paid) Build challenges (together with my partner in crime Harold). We help you to build and launch (and even exit) your product in 6 weeks with the help of content guides and a lot of accountability (standups, milestones, checkins, ...). This resulted in 8,400 USD. It is so fun to see people like I was one year ago (lurkers) go for it and finally build that idea that has been in their head for so long.

We will go all in on this last idea in the coming months and change the concept a little bit. We will focus less on the exit (however it will still be in the content guides) and focus more on building and launching. We learned from our current members that they love the accountability and making progress and the exit is a nice bonus but depending on the project not the main goal.

For my newsletter I have 0 costs.

• Substack = free

• Softr landing page = free version

• Tally forms for interviews, feedback etc = free

• Airtable for my operating system = free

• Pika.style for screenshots = free

I try to keep costs low and resist shiny (paying) tools as long as I don't reach ramen profitability. Not always easy for a tool nerd like me ;-).

Take us through a typical day in your life running the business as a solo founder

Every day is a little bit different.

But in general: - I work from home or cowork with a friend. - Since recently I started using the Pomodoro Technique where I do little work sprints of 25 minutes and a small break of 5 minutes. -

During those little breaks I do a small workout (planking), household task (making up the beds) or something healthy (eat fruit, drink water or go outside) - I start at 6AM but stop at 3PM so I can pick up my kids on time from day care and school.

When they are in bed around 7PM it is time for sports or friends. - I try to go most days to bed at 9PM to read and sleep by 10PM

Where can we go to lean more about you and your business?

Here are some links you can go to learn more:

• No-code Exits

• Twitter