This is a continued part of our practice of user growth, as in previous post: Got First 500 Users for your AI product as an Indie, we grow our user base from 0-500. Now we are starting Monetization.
Considering Monetization: Version 1.0
First thing to do on Monetization was different from what I thought. It was SEO/GEO which is to attract a larger user base (because just posting ourselves has very limited reach)
This was the toughest month. The reason is: Beyond basic SEO work (adding backlinks, internal links, writing blogs, etc.), we needed to convert our frontend code to SSR to make pages more search-engine friendly.
Since my partner and I both lacked SEO experience, we initially used VUE as the frontend framework. But we discovered *the best practice for SEO-friendly SSR is React + Next.js. *
Initially, we tried Claude Code, Cursor, Antigravity to refactor the code to a different framework. However, none seemed to handle this well. We almost planned to start from scratch again.
Then, OpenAI Codex launched. We tried it and found Codex is ideal for refactoring. So our current AI tool stack is:
- Codex — Refactoring god, perfect for framework migrations of existing code
- Claude Code — Architecture god, perfect for greenfield projects
- Antigravity — Aesthetic god, perfect for frontend with great visual design capabilities
Finally, by mid-January, we launched version 1.0.
(If you want to study our SEO implementation, just open our website and right click any page and copy the html source code, send it to any AI tools to teach you. Of course, we're still constantly improving.)
As our user base grew, so did our API token consumption, reaching a level we couldn't sustain.
We started Buy Me a Coffee on our website, and we promised 10x credit toward future paid tiers.
With this approach, we gradually received dozens of "coffee", totally $495. This was our biggest encouragement.
Payment System Coming Soon
After receiving these small tips, we confirmed: people are willing to pay for this.
We're currently debugging and testing the payment flow. While waiting for Stripe approval, I'm writing this to document our journey, hoping it helps others.
Yes, after almost 6 months, we finally came to monetization. Here I will summarize as blow. Hope it helps for all of you who wanted to start your own business.
What We Learned
1. Real needs matter more than imagination
AlphaWiseWin wasn't something I dreamed up — it was something a friend asked for. This ensured from day one we were solving real problems, not chasing technical concepts.
2. MVP isn't just "functional"
You need to make the core value immediately visible on top of functionality. Going from pure text reports to visual dashboards changed everything.
3. Ride the wave
That AI crypto trading experiment had nothing to do with us, but it educated the market for us. Learning to launch at the right moment saves enormous effort.
4. Don't chase flexibility for its own sake
Not all flexibility is good. Sometimes making choices for users is more valuable than giving them a bunch of options. Users want answers, not questionnaires.
What's Next
1,000 users is just the beginning. We have many ideas:
Like AI stock backtesting — seeing what returns would actually be if people followed our recommendations. That's the most hardcore validation.
Like deep financial and research report analysis — having AI truly understand those technical documents and provide analysis regular people can grasp.
Like having AI self-reflect based on historical data — constantly optimizing its analysis framework and judgment criteria.
One feature I'm really excited about: Investment Masters Roundtable. Building different AI personas like AI Warren Buffett, AI George Soros with different investment styles, having them debate the same stock. That'll be interesting.
Final Thoughts
0 to 1,000 users in less than six months. This journey isn't a huge success, but it's not a failure either.
As an indie developer, seeing something you built being used and needed — that feeling is solid. While 1,000+ users is insignificant on the internet's scale, to me, each one is real.
Our next goal is to build a better product and achieve healthier monetization.
We'll keep going. If you're doing something similar, or interested in AI investment analysis, come try our stock analysis tool or just reach out to chat.
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