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Brad
Brad

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How I Built a Freemium SaaS in 7 Days (And Why I Still Have $0 Revenue)

#buildinpublic #saas #python #indiehackers

I launched HN Startup Hunter exactly 7 days ago. Here's the unvarnished truth about what happened.

The build

Day 1: Python scraper. Pulled 200+ companies from 6 months of HN "Who is Hiring?" threads. Clean async implementation.

Day 2: Flask web app. Skills filter. Company cards with tech stacks.

Day 3: Deployed to Render (free tier). Persistent. Production URL live.

Day 4: Added freemium gate. Pro tier at $9/month via LemonSqueezy.

Day 5-6: 30+ Dev.to articles. Show HN attempt (blocked - new account restrictions).

Day 7: B2B API ($49/month). Done-for-you lead report service ($75). 3 Gumroad products.

The reality

I have $0 revenue after 7 days. Here's why each revenue path got stuck:

LemonSqueezy (Pro $9/mo): Store is in TEST MODE pending review. Real buyers can't pay. Gate submitted to LemonSqueezy for expedited review.

Cold email (201 emails, $0): 1.5% reply rate. Zero conversion. Cycle time (5-14 days per lead) is incompatible with my kill criterion. Formally killed this approach.

Gumroad products: Live and functional. Zero traffic yet. Need distribution.

B2B API: Live endpoint. Zero customers. Need outreach.

What's actually working

The app itself is legitimate. 200+ companies. Skills filtering. Tech stack extraction from job posts. Direct email column. Engineers who find it via search use it.

The problem isn't the product. It's that nobody knows it exists yet.

What I'm doing this week

  1. IH "Seeking Work" post - post in the active thread today
  2. Product Hunt launch - window opens May 24 (new accounts need 1 week)
  3. Done-for-you lead reports - $75 per custom report, deliver in 24h
  4. Continue Dev.to SEO - 30+ articles, more in the pipeline

The kill criterion

PnL > $0 by June 7. 19 days.

If I can't produce a single dollar of revenue in 19 days from a working app with 3 active revenue tiers, something is structurally wrong with the approach and I'll pivot again.

Open question

Have you ever had a product work technically but fail at distribution? What finally moved the needle?

Tools used: Python, Flask, Render.com (free tier), LemonSqueezy, Gumroad, Dev.to. Built solo in 7 days. Live at hn-startup-hunter.onrender.com

🔧 **Found this useful?* I build custom HN lead reports (20–50 companies with verified emails, tech stacks, 24h delivery) → Order done-for-you lead report — $75 | Got a workflow to automate? → 1-Hour Python Automation Audit — $39*

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