Project Overview
Over the last year I've been building Influme solo in my spare time, overall reaching $490 MRR. The entire product was built during nights and weekends while working a full-time job as a software engineer.
I did the engineering, marketing, sales and customer support completely solo, learning a lot in the process, mostly about how much I hate marketing.
Product Evolution
I made countless pivots but eventually settled on "helping brands and agencies find UGC Creators". UGC Creators are people who make authentic videos for brands to use in ads. It was a very random niche to go after but I saw a gap in the market.
Market Gap & Solution
It's currently quite hard to find UGC Creators. They're often hidden behind platforms charging extortionate fees. Basically, Influme is a database of UGC creators that allows you to search for specific demographics.
It allows you to work with them directly, massively reducing marketing cost and giving you full creative control.
Technical Implementation
The product is primarily built using Next.js and the data comes from Node.js web scrapers that use facial recognition and AI APIs to build a rich profile.
Growth & Achievements
Current Status & Reflections
It's still up and running but I stopped actively working on it a few months ago. I might give it a go again, we'll see.
I really enjoyed the process of building Influme and I'm currently using the lessons learned on new projects.