The latest articles on DEV Community by Alex (@alexress). https://dev.to/alexress https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3264840%2F295cf1e2-29b5-4685-801c-973ebf3830f9.png https://dev.to/alexress en Alex Sat, 14 Jun 2025 07:19:39 +0000 https://dev.to/alexress/my-1-year-journey-to-the-first-paid-customer-1785 https://dev.to/alexress/my-1-year-journey-to-the-first-paid-customer-1785 <p>Hey Devs!</p> <p>I'm Alex. I'd like to share my experience building Foldwrap, a web tool that automatically generates banner animations with AI or from Figma designs, along with how I landed my first paying customer.</p> <h2> The Concept </h2> <p>As a developer with design experience, I've always been drawn to where programming meets creativity. My background in animated banner creation covers everything — from GIFs in the mid-2000s through Flash and into HTML5.<br> After Steve Jobs discontinued Flash in favor of HTML5, I began systematically automating my banner workflow, taking advantage of the HTML's open nature. By the late 2010s, I had developed a Python script that validated banners against platform specifications and uploaded them to a server for professional client presentations. This automation tool dramatically improved my efficiency.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fvye221pv91tny9moq2i9.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fvye221pv91tny9moq2i9.png" alt="Design prototype" width="800" height="762"></a><br> Design prototype in Figma</p> <h2> Life Changes </h2> <p>In 2022, I made the decision to leave my country, which left the agencies I collaborated with in disarray. My project pipeline completely disappeared. For a while, I stepped away from work entirely, focusing instead on adapting to my new environment.</p> <h2> Full Commitment </h2> <p>One year ago, I began dedicating myself entirely to developing my SaaS product, without taking on any other paid projects or freelance assignments.<br> From my perspective, progress feels sluggish at times. Some days involve wrestling with a single frustrating bug for 48 hours, while others see the rapid development of exciting features using cutting-edge technologies. I enjoy this variety! 😊 Within a few weeks, I had core functionality working: converting Figma documents to HTML5 and applying animations. However, I ended up completely rebuilding the entire foundation multiple times. Over time, the website gained additional pages and a blog, and I also developed a Figma plugin.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F7l2l9pxwcqilwd3yvqot.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F7l2l9pxwcqilwd3yvqot.png" alt="Github activity" width="800" height="224"></a></p> <p>At some time, I decided to launch on Product Hunt. Unfortunately, this launch failed to attract genuine users — instead, my launch page was overrun by bots posting AI-generated comments for unknown reasons 🤷‍♂️, which quickly dampened my initial enthusiasm.</p> <h2> Initial Users </h2> <p>My first authentic users — those who actually tested the tool and provided meaningful feedback — came from Reddit. I configured F5Bot to track mentions of competitors or related challenges, then occasionally contributed helpful, contextual responses to relevant discussions, which brought in a small number of real users.</p> <p>While having users was encouraging, they were all using the free tier with no apparent interest in upgrading. So I pushed past my imposter syndrome and implemented a paywall that activates when users attempt to save animations longer than 5 seconds. The very next day, I acquired my first paying customer!</p> <p>I now have 6 paying users, but I'm acutely aware of my marketing limitations, which I expect will present ongoing challenges 😁<br> I consistently find myself getting absorbed in coding rather than focusing on marketing activities.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F5n8eanma9wv5yoi17i3q.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F5n8eanma9wv5yoi17i3q.png" alt="Foldwrap creative editor interface" width="800" height="623"></a><br> Banner Editor interface</p> <p>To those of you who are hesitant about launching or charging for your product: start small! You don’t need to have everything figured out. Test the waters 😁</p> <p>Now I'm working on my <a href="https://foldwrap.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Creative automation tool</a> full-time and enjoying design and animation automation process and results.</p> <p>Let's keep pushing forward 💪</p> banner product webdev automation