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The Startup Series

The Startup Series

@thestartupseries.bsky.social

190 followers 920 following 110 posts

The Startup Series is a digital magazine spotlighting real stories from early-stage founders, creators, and innovators. From scrappy beginnings to scaling strategies, we break down how businesses actually get built.

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The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · Jul 15

🚀 Get your weekly fix of real startup stories, founder journeys and business ideas, straight to your inbox.

No ads, no spam, just one or two emails a week with real stories from real founders. Subscribe here:

https://the-startup-series.beehiiv.com/subscribe

🚀 Get your weekly fix of real startup stories, founder journeys and business ideas, straight to your inbox.

No ads, no spam, just one or two emails a week with real stories from real founders. Subscribe here:

https://the-startup-series.beehiiv.com/subscribe

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 1h

Elliot Boucher started coding as a kid, built e-commerce stores as a teen and now runs Edusign, a SaaS business bringing in $6M ARR.

https://startupseries.io/elliot-boucher-edusign-6m-arr/

How Elliot Boucher Edusign Grew Edusign to $6 Million

Discover how Elliot Boucher built Edusign from a small student idea into a $6M ARR SaaS.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 5h

What if being broke was your biggest advantage? Discover how Simon Squibb flipped that script to build a $10k‑a‑month business and what he learned along the way.

https://startupseries.io/simon-squibb-10k-business-lessons/

Simon Squibb's 10 Brutally Honest Ways to Build a $10K a Month Business

From using fear and pain as motivation to owning equity and treating customers like gold, these Simon Squibb's lessons to build a business.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 22h

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 1d

📈 Facebook’s average CTR for lead-gen ads = 2.53%
📉 For traffic campaigns = 1.57%

Only a few industries (arts, real estate, restaurants, travel) break the 2% mark consistently, so if you’re below average, tweak your copy. If you’re above it, scale it.

📈 Facebook’s average CTR for lead-gen ads = 2.53%
📉 For traffic campaigns = 1.57%

Only a few industries (arts, real estate, restaurants, travel) break the 2% mark consistently, so if you’re below average, tweak your copy. If you’re above it, scale it.

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 1d

From $500 in revenue to $200K a month, how Fini AI turned boring customer support into an automation powerhouse.

https://startupseries.io/how-deepak-singla-built-a-200k-a-month-ai-support-app

How Deepak Singla Built a $200k a Month AI Support App

How Deepak Singla scaled Fini AI into a $200k a month business by automating support for fintechs, ecommerce stores, and health apps.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 1d

AI search isn’t killing SEO, it’s evolving it. Here’s how smart founders are adapting their content for ChatGPT, Perplexity, and beyond.

https://startupseries.io/how-do-you-optimise-your-website-for-chatgpt-and-ai-search-engines

How Do You Optimise Your Website for ChatGPT and AI Search Engines?

Explore how AI SEO is reshaping the way businesses get found online. Discover the future of search and ranking.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 1d

He built Savewise to stop wasting time hunting deals, now it’s a $25K a month business helping thousands of shoppers stack cashback and rewards automatically.

https://startupseries.io/how-one-founder-turned-a-deal-hunting-app-into-a-25k-a-month-business/

How One Founder Turned a Deal Hunting App into a $25K a Month Business

Discover how solo founder Avneesh built Savewise, a tool that combines shopping portals and credit card offers, into a $25K a month business by targeting travel hackers and focusing on smart, persistent growth.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 2d

From banking boardrooms to bootstrapped success, how Chiara Operto built EDGE Skills into a $58K/month AI coaching platform giving underrepresented students a real shot at elite careers.

https://startupseries.io/how-edge-skills-grew-into-a-58k-a-month-ai-coaching-platform-in-3-years/

How EDGE Skills Grew Into a $58k a Month AI Coaching Platform In 3 Years

Chiara Operto created EDGE Skills to help students break into finance using AI-powered coaching and real mentoring, now it earns $58K a month with no funding, no ads, and a fast-growing community.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 2d

By building with, not just for, his peers, Simon Hamp turned NativePHP into a $100K success story that redefined developer first products.

https://startupseries.io/mobile-app-builder-made-100k-in-three-months/

How Simon Hamp Built a Mobile App Builder & Made $100K in Three Months

In late 2022, Simon Hamp walked away from a stable salary at a startup where he'd spent almost six years, building something new, a way for PHP developers to create native mobile apps without learning new languages or frameworks.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 2d

High engagement, low costs, and killer targeting, Snapchat Ads quietly outperform Facebook and Instagram for Gen Z and millennial audiences (and will give you $375 to try them out).

https://startupseries.io/how-to-use-snapchat-ads-for-business/

How to Use Snapchat Ads (and Why They’re Not Just for Teenagers)

Learn how to use Snapchat Ads for business with our step-by-step guide. Target Gen Z, boost sales, and claim $375 in free Snapchat ad credits today.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 2d

Another great graphic from Ale Estner - 10 actionable tips for founder-led sales success.

Another great graphic from Ale Estner - 10 actionable tips for founder-led sales success.

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 2d

Paying half the price for your email marketing sounds nice.

Here’s why Brevo is replacing Mailchimp for so many founders:

https://startupseries.io/why-brevo-is-the-best-email-marketing-solution/

The Honest Email Marketing Guide: Why Brevo Might Be Your Best Bet

Find the best email marketing platform in 2025. Compare Brevo, Mailchimp, Klaviyo and more. See why Brevo wins on price, features, and ease of use.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 3d

Tired of fixing his own SEO, Vadim automated it. That simple fix became SEOJuice, now earning $8,000 a month.

https://startupseries.io/seojuice-saas/

How SEOJuice Built an $8k a Month SaaS from a Developer's Frustration

Tired of repetitive tasks like adding internal links and updating image metadata, Vadim created a small backend that could handle those chores automatically. Now SEOJuice makes $8,000 a month.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 3d

Facebook remains the larges platform for advertising, but TikTok isn't far behind.

Facebook remains the larges platform for advertising, but TikTok isn't far behind.

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 3d

They were tired of chasing views so they built an AI tool that helps creators make viral content. Now it’s pulling in $400K a month.

https://startupseries.io/poppy-ai/

How Poppy AI Grew to $400K/Month by Helping Creators Make Viral Content

Poppy AI generates over $400,000 in monthly recurring revenue and serves around 5,000 creators. It’s a collaborative whiteboard powered by AI that allows users to model and generate content using real inputs from Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook Ads.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 3d

Tired of clunky CRMs, Simo Lemhandez built the tool he wished existed now Folk powers 300,000 users and brings in $1.8M a year.

https://startupseries.io/how-folk-is-taking-on-salesforce/

Inside Folk's Journey To A $1.8M/Year SaaS

How Simo Lemhandez built Folk into a $1.8M/year CRM startup by focusing on user experience, smart distribution, and building in a competitive market with a long-term mindset.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 3d

Laid off from NBC, Craig Calcaterra turned his daily baseball habit into Cup of Coffee, a one-man newsletter now earning $280,000 a year.

https://startupseries.io/how-craig-calcaterra-built-a-280k-a-year-baseball-newsletter/

How Craig Calcaterra Built a $280,000 a Year Baseball Newsletter

From newsroom layoff to solo newsletter success, how one writer built a thriving baseball business in his inbox.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 3d

ChatGPT now refers more traffic than Reddit (via Ahrefs).

ChatGPT now refers more traffic than Reddit (via Ahrefs).

ChatGPT now refers more traffic than Reddit (via Ahrefs).

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 3d

Arnaud Touret didn’t want to compete with Shopify, he wanted to reinvent how creators sell. Here’s how that idea became a $10K/month platform.

https://startupseries.io/how-arnaud-touret-built-a-10000-a-month-ecommerce-platform/

How Arnaud Touret Built a $10,000 a Month Ecommerce Platform

How Arnaud Touret built UPPFIRST into a $10K a month e-commerce platform helping creators pre-sell, scale, and simplify how they sell online.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 4d

B2C or B2B? It's a polarising one, but these two college friends found out the hard way after building a stock market app, failing with retail users, then pivoting to B2B. Now Uptrends.ai brings in $30K a year by doing less, not more.

https://startupseries.io/how-two-guys-built-a-30k-a-year-stock

How Two Guys Grew A Stock Market App To A $30k a Year In 18 Months

A stock news startup built by two guys that failed as a B2C app, but after pivoting B2B later became a $30,000 a year business.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 4d

He built a tool that lets you talk to PDFs, now it’s making $80,000 a month. The story of how Damon Chen turned frustration into fortune.

https://startupseries.io/how-damon-chen-accidentally-made-80000-a-month-talking-to-pdfs/

How Damon Chen Accidentally Made $80,000 a Month Talking to PDFs

Discover how Damon Chen built PDF.ai into an $80,000 a month AI startup by teaching PDFs how to talk back.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 4d

Lemon8 hit 10 million downloads in months, before TikTok barely mentioned it, influencer word-of-mouth done right!

Lemon8 hit 10 million downloads in months, before TikTok barely mentioned it, influencer word-of-mouth done right!

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 4d

Tired of overpaying for email marketing? This honest guide breaks down why Brevo quietly beats Mailchimp and Klaviyo for most businesses.

https://startupseries.io/why-brevo-is-the-best-email-marketing-solution/

The Honest Email Marketing Guide: Why Brevo Might Be Your Best Bet

Find the best email marketing platform in 2025. Compare Brevo, Mailchimp, Klaviyo and more. See why Brevo wins on price, features, and ease of use.

startupseries.io

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 4d

Alex Estner created this to help grow your business first to 10 customers, then to a 100.

What do you think? Anything you agree or disagree with?

Alex Estner created this to help grow your business first to 10 customers, then to a 100.

What do you think? Anything you agree or disagree with?

The Startup Series @thestartupseries.bsky.social · 4d

What started as a messy spreadsheet became viral.app, a TikTok analytics SaaS making $5K a month in under two months, built by founders who just wanted better data.

https://startupseries.io/how-we-built-a-5k-a-month-tiktok-analytics-app/

How We Built a $5K a Month TikTok Analytics App

Discover how Felix and his team turned their need for better UGC tracking into viral.app, helping marketers analyze TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels.

startupseries.io