I Ditched My AI SaaS and Found Unexpected Success

In recent times, I embarked on a journey to create an AI-powered landing page generator using GPT-4 and Stable Diffusion. Initially, the venture seemed promising, raking in $15,000 in a few months. However, growth stagnated, leading to the decision to sell the project for $35,000.

Conceptualizing the AI Tool

With the AI wave gaining traction, I plunged into developing AI tools. Given my experience as a solo developer with about 20 websites under my belt, I aimed to create a tool where one could simply input text and receive a fully-fledged landing page in return — ideal for portfolios, yoga studios, or software tutorial sites.

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Rolling out the Initial Version

I began development, creating a simple product where customers would fill out a form describing their preferences — voice tone, color choices, product description, and target audience. For $19, they received a fully generated landing page, with larger packages offering more variations and images.

Here’s a demo landing page from the initial version. Though the components were basic and the images weren’t always top-notch, GPT-4’s API filled titles, descriptions, and matched site colors based on customer inputs.

Enhancing the Product

Although the results were satisfactory, I aimed for better. Launching on Product Hunt resulted in a third-place ranking of the day. Additionally, my Twitter following of 15,000 boosted the launch’s visibility. Despite minimal traffic and engagement from Hacker News, I was content with the recognition.

Within two months, the product generated around $8,000. Notably, I had to rebrand from “Lending AI” to “Mech Lending” upon realizing a name conflict with a larger software company. This shift dropped the AI tag to be more inclusive.

Revamped Launch

The new version featured a demo and samples of actual landing pages created by the tool. The price per landing page increased to $29. A major update was the user dashboard, allowing comprehensive landing page edits — from headlines to images and site sections — ensuring greater customization.

I also integrated analytics, giving users insights into performance. The polished product’s relaunch drew decent traffic despite not earning a Product Hunt badge. Subsequent mentions in AI newsletters spiked monthly visits to 10–15K, bringing in close to $9,000 within three months.

The Decision to Exit

Although the revenue covered my Bali lifestyle, gaining traction against giants like Framer and Webflow proved daunting. Realizing I couldn’t scale further, I listed the startup on Acquire.com. The response was overwhelming, with multiple offers on the first day.

The acquisition process involved asset transfer agreements covering the domain, codebase, customer base, and database. After a few discussions, I sold the startup for $35,000. The entire transaction occurred without a single phone call.

Reflecting on the Journey

This was my third startup sale of the year. While not life-changing, the cumulative $50,000 earnings afforded me two years of financial freedom in Bali. This clarity and peace of mind propelled my small internet businesses to $50,000 in monthly revenue.

My advice? Build daily. Find a problem you care about, create a solution, launch it, and see where it leads. You might discover the unexpected success I did.