Mykhailo Poliarush

Tech entrepreneur

- manage software testing
- test automation services
- dev services
- QA community

[Ankit SaaS @ankit_saas]

I'm gonna teach you how to grow your startup in 2025.

most founders get stuck building things nobody wants.

here's my proven framework to build a profitable startup in 2025:

[Finding your golden idea]
> analyze top 100 products on product hunt
> look for products with 1000+ upvotes
> identify common pain points in comments
> spot gaps in features/pricing
> build something 10x better

you can do the same with reddit comments or fb closed communities to find your niche.

[Validation hack that saved me $25k]
> create a landing page
> run $500 in ads
> target ideal customers
> measure email signups
> aim for >20% conversion
> if you hit this, you've struck gold

[30-day MVP sprint]
> week 1-2: core feature only
> week 3: user feedback + iterations
> week 4: polish + launch prep
> remember: done > perfect

[Growth Engine (how i got 10k users)]
> join 3 communities where your users hang out
> help solve problems (no pitching)
> share progress publicly
> get 10 beta users from each
> turn them into vocal advocates

[Scaling Playbook]
> optimize conversion (aim for 3-5%)
> build in public on twitter
> launch on product hunt
> cold dm 100 potential users daily
> leverage micro-influencers

[Retention Gold (87% of startups fail here)]
> weekly user interviews
> implement feedback in 48hrs
> create a community
> reward power users
> build in public = compound growth

[Pricing Game]
> start with premium pricing
> offer yearly plans (2.3x more revenue)
> partner with complementary tools
> build multiple revenue streams

[If you're an existing startups]
> kill features nobody uses
> double down on what works
> raise prices by 20%
> launch affiliate program

That's all.

------
I keep sharing startup growth hacks on @ankit_saas

Follow my journey, cheers!

PS - lmk what other topic should i cover?
♻️ Repost for good karma 😃

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

What is your actual CAC Payback and LTV:CAC?

#SaaS

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

Who said fundraising is easy?

Only 37 investors out of 1604 are actually ready to talk to founder. And only 5 from 1604 are ready to go further. #money #Startups

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

In 2013, at 23, I felt on top of the world.

I'd just sold my company for $5M. Well, kinda.

I'll tell you the story of how I lost it all.

The $5M was in stock in a VC-backed company. But not just any stock.

This company wasn't just any company.

The company was doing $35M in revenue, with 70% gross margins.

It was backed by Silicon Valley's who's who. I was living the dream. Or so I thought.

My thinking was simple: Worst case? We'd cut staff, print $20M/year.

And that rate, I'd easy be able to get my $5M of stock out, maybe even more.

How could it go wrong?

Spoiler alert: It did. Lol.

Slowly, then all at once, we became a zombie company.

Revenue started declining. Growth stalled. VCs lost interest.

Here's the thing about the VC model. They care about growth and the next big unicorn.

We looked like a donkey with a party hat.

Suddenly, no one wanted to fund us. We had to sell. Fast.

We found a buyer. People congratulated us. But I knew the truth: This wasn't a success.

The outcome? We got nothing. Zip. Nada. My $5M paper fortune? Gone with the wind.

But here's the silver lining: I learned this lesson at 23, not 43.

Fast forward to today:

I run a different kind of company. We're profitable. We grow steadily. No VC money. No paper valuations.

The best part of my job now is sending out profit shares. 2x a year.

Our team's reaction is priceless: "Wow, thank you! This is real?"

They're used to VC-backed startups:

1. Equity worth millions (on paper)
2. Promises of future riches
3. Reality - 90%+ of the time worth nothing

I've been there, worn the t-shirt. VC equity is just gravy. Maybe it pays off, probably not.

But profit shares? That's real money.

In your bank account. Buy a car. Put a down payment on a house. Live your life now, not in some hypothetical future.

This is why we're seeing the rise of the dividend startup.

More and more people are choosing real money over paper unicorns.

Here's my lesson learned:

Build a business that prints cash, not promises.

Focus on profitability, not vanity metrics.

Grow steadily, not at all costs.

Your team will thank you.

Your stress levels will thank you.

Your bank account will definitely thank you.

Your family or future family will thank you.

Am I grateful for my $5M lesson? Absolutely. It shaped who I am today.

So here's to failing young, learning fast, and building businesses that matter.

Real value. Real profits. Real impact.

I'm not saying you can't build a VC-backed business and build wealth. You totally can.

But the odds are stacked against you. And in 2024, easier than ever to build and find customers, building a "small business" like a micro-saas or niche marketplace could be quite the adventure and retirement plan in its own way.

And most employees think when they join a VC-backed rocketship, that their stock is as good as gold.

It usually isn't.

Sharing this story in case it's useful to someone.

The rise of the dividend startup isn't just coming.

It's here.

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

Incredible performance 👏

[Marc Lou @marclou]

I made $131,520 in May 2024:

⚡️ ShipFast —$123,400
🍜 Indie Page — $3,600
💨 Zenvoice — $1,500
🎞️ YouTube — $1,100
💩 PoopUp — $718
🚀 LaunchViral — $663
🐥 Twitter — $325
🛡️ByeDispute — $166
📚 WorkbookPDF — $57

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

True entrepreneurship!

[Nick @nickbakeddesign]

This me!
Feb 2023 - May 2024
$300k → $0 → $9 → $1M

- Leaving a $300k/year job at Meta
- Wife is pregnant (March 2023)
- Started a cleaning business
- Then a virtual assistant business
- Sold $9 design kit
- No parental leave
- Made $450 first month
- Burnout +1 (April 2023)
- 12+ projects
- Most of them failed
- Burnout +2 (May 2023)
- $50/m design subscription
- virtual assistant business hits $25k/m
- Launched Baked design
- Made $4,300 first month (Aug 2023)
- Grew it to $120k/month business in 3 months
- Wife has labour pains while I'm on X spaces
- The baby is born the same day! (Dec 2023)
- Hit $160k/m revenue
- Burnout +3 & break (Dec 2023)
- virtual assistant business falls to $7k/m
- Hiring team so I can spend time with family (Jan 2024)
- Consistent $100k/m revenue (6 months)
- Waking up at 1am/ 2am/ 4am/ 5am for 3 months
- Burnout +4 (May 2024)
- Feeling energized!
- $1M revenue (May 2024)

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

@taimurabdaal What is the main difference from competitors?

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

Suggest me a good service to make a simple but powerful #SaaS dashboard to track growth, retention, finance, etc

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

Building #saas without metrics it's like jumping over obstacles at night without any lights 🤔. Measure at least 20% of these metrics will give big boost in business, leadership and personal performance.

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

It seems like @ChartMogul is the best to calculate MRR.

Other interesting options:
@Baremetrics
@ProfitWell
@saasgrid_hq
@FounderpathHQ

What is your preferred choose to calculate #saas #uniteconomics ? Or how do you do it?

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

something like https://t.co/Z43tbfHKqT

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

Building features is not the easy task taking into account many clients wishes. Anyway it was cool journey. Now @testomatio will be much better.

[testomat.io @testomatio]

💡The new release on https://t.co/jM5rzhKmOH features several improvements:

https://t.co/cMwEqO80Kt

✅ Attachments Restore
✅ Pulse Improvements
✅ Trash Bin
✅ New Drag-and-Drop UI
✅ Copy ID Options
✅ Search Queries with URL
✅ Environment Groups
+7 other features

❤️ 🎉

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

something like https://t.co/Z43tbfHKqT

[DHH @dhh]

The Musk biography is really a business book dressed in a personal tale. Easily worth the read alone for the vivid tutorial in how to apply The Algorithm.

[Tibo @tibo_maker]

I got rid of @Calendly a few month ago ..

Old, no update, empty design ...

I tried @lemcalhq and I LOVED the "social first" approach for day 0

Today they are on Product Hunt 👇

Support them if you feel like it ❤️
https://t.co/GXvjSmwdqg

[Tim Bennetto @Timb03]

I've spent:

- 2 years building
- 2 years marketing

Can you guess which years...? 🤣

[Kyle Nolan @_knolan]

My side project just hit $200k ARR! 🥹

Does that mean it should not be a side project anymore?

Even though I'm shocked and elated it could ever get this far, there is an insecure voice in my head that still reminds me it could all go to zero overnight 😬

It took over 2 years of obsession and consistency to bootstrap https://t.co/rDRcQ4D7PG as a solo dev on nights and weekends from $0 to $16,7142 MRR.

→ 9 months to get to $1,000
→ 4 months to get to $2,000
→ 7 months to get to $5,000
→ 6 months to get to $10,000
→ 2 months to get to $16,7142

But evidently that little voice just never goes away!

At first it tells you things like "no one would buy this", or "you don't have enough skill."

Then it tells you "this won't actually scale" and "you'll never get real traction."

At each stage, there are fun new things to fuel the paranoia! 😅

But zooming out, I wonder if it is beginning to look silly that PL is just a side project.

I know folks like @thejustinwelsh and @dvassallo advocate side projects as a de-risking tactic (to a point). But is this the milestone where they and the other solopreneur legends who have inspired me would say "Okay, now you're just being a chicken! 🐔"

If you have any sage advice to spare @levelsio, @dannypostma, @arvidkahl, @tibo_maker, @dr, @yongfook, @damengchen, @tdinh_me, @alexwestco, and @MrNick_Buzz, I would love to hear where you weigh in 🙏

So what does everyone think? At what point is it time to throw caution to the wind?

[Jon Yongfook @yongfook]

The SaaS founder dream 👀

[Mykhailo Poliarush @mpoliarush]

Excited to announce a free virtual summit 🔥 «Software Test Automation 2021-2022. Tools. Approaches. Trends» which will take place on 15-16 December 2021 from 8.45 am EST.

Register now 👉 https://t.co/Z4V5klSFz0

[testomat.io @testomatio]

📢 We're happy to announce new ✨Release✨
From now we officially support 🎭 #Playwright

𝗔𝗹𝘀𝗼, 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱:
▪️ #TypeScript support for #CodeceptJS
▪️ Performance for large projects
▪️ Refactoring, Tracking option

⛓https://t.co/ma3IB4bxG7

Thank for being with Us 🚀

[testomat.io @testomatio]

We are delighted announce🎉new @testomatio release:
✔️Branching and Versioning like git
✔️Autogenerated living #BDD documentation
✔️Jira plugin improvements
✔️CI for GitLab & Jenkins
✔️Confluence Integration
✔️Rerun failed automated tests from UI
See more https://t.co/AFO3uxpFZ8