Nate

20 • Founder
Building a tool to automate TikTok SlideShows that drives conversions for your app/SaaS called ViralSlide

[Nate @nate_zelts]

bro just AB test it #wabey

[Nate @nate_zelts]

never imagined "building in public" as "building in McDonald's" 🤣

[Nate @nate_zelts]

🍔 McShipping my SaaS today 🍔

Day 3 of building in public.

Today I refactored my core system

separated functionality into related files and tied things up

I'm preparing for coding features that touch the TikTok accounts automation itself, which is really important to get right.

The code is now good enough to ensure flexibility but not too polished.

It's not all about features, sometimes you need to do some cleaning to progress faster

[Nate @nate_zelts]

@_itsRachid Too bad you can't schedule tweets from your phone :(

[Nate @nate_zelts]

@_itsRachid idk what you talking about

[Nate @nate_zelts]

$2,500 MRR is just 10 users paying $25 a month

[Nate @nate_zelts]

@WhiskyToad @hustle_fred it becomes more the more you see it

[Nate @nate_zelts]

@hustle_fred hmm you might be right

[Nate @nate_zelts]

@moladukes 100%

It's a must to deeply understand the system, so when it crashes in production, you can instantly solve it.

[Nate @nate_zelts]

As founders, we care more about getting things done ASAP, not really about the technicals behind it

Day 6 building my SaaS in public

when it comes to engineering complicated core systems, not getting things right at the start could be critical when scaling

today was one of those days I felt that the most. I had to design a core algorithm, with multiple sub-systems that interact with each other

tried to design it with AI first, tried using Codex / Claude but they produced something unreadable that I didn't understand.

So I went to my Google Docs and started drafting

Got to something I was happy with that made sense and was easily flexible and scalable

Implemented that, made a quick code draft with AI, refactored, and it worked!

Sure, it still had some bugs, but it was way better than my initial solution

It's really important for me to actually understand what I do rather than code something blindly with AI and let it be "just because it works"

[Nate @nate_zelts]

This is a really good example of using the 80/20 Pareto law

a simple extra feature that will bring in a lot of revenue

[Will @athcanft]

jarvx waits until my post hits 50 likes then adds my consulting CTA

got a booking overnight so it’s defo working!!!

[Nate @nate_zelts]

Day 8 building in public

The more I work, the more I understand how complicated the tech behind it. So many edge-cases, many complicated problems to solve

close to no open source information about the algo's implementation

but one thing for sure, if it was easy - everyone would do it

it's the hard solved problems
the sleepless nights
the grind

that actually makes it worth something.
without it - it won't bring any value, and any revenue.

[Nate @nate_zelts]

@arthursbuilds Those numbers are crazy, what made you improve these? Did you track these actions times from the beginning?

[Nate @nate_zelts]

So true, though building is the easier part now, marketing is the real challenge

[An Nayal @consumerxai]

we’re living in the app goldmine era of our times. if you missed the drop shipping era, time to build and distribute and print with mobile apps.

you are your only barrier 🫡

also great story brother @benaratame

[Nate @nate_zelts]

@seraleev Simplification is key

[Nate @nate_zelts]

This is the way to go!
Verify the demand first - then create the supply for it

[Alex Nguyen @alexcooldev]

I like this way of thinking:

Don’t build something just because you’re passionate about it while users don’t actually need it.

And don’t blindly build random apps either.

Find the distribution angle first.

My workflow:

> Find viral content in a specific niche
> Study the hooks, formats, pain points, and comments
> Identify what users are already interested in
> Check whether the niche can monetize through subscriptions or one-time purchases
> Test different content angles before building
> Build the simplest app that solves the problem
> Create content using the formats that already proved they can go viral
> Track views, installs, conversion, retention, and revenue
> Improve the product based on real user behavior
> Scale the best-performing channels with more organic content or paid ads

Distribution first. Product second.

Build the product around a proven path to users.

It reduces risk and significantly increases your chances of success.

[Nate @nate_zelts]

Making money from consulting is genius
All you do is give honest feedback to someone on a call about their product

[Will @athcanft]

last month i made ~$9-10K from consulting, sponsorships, payouts, and b2b apps i purpose built for builders in the space

no ad spend. just time

it's allowed me to go from having 1 revenue stream (mobile apps) to 5 rev streams - not only am i earning more money, i feel more secure

GROW YOUR PERSONAL BRAND! ESPECIALLY ON X!

[Nate @nate_zelts]

Day 7 building in public

Today I worked on tuning the automation algorithm

boring work but it's the small consistent progress that gets you there, step by step

I didn't really feel like tweeting today, but gotta get the streak going for the consistency, day by day

On another topic, I built under fire today, I live in Israel 🇮🇱 and we just had rockets from Iran 🇮🇷

hopefully this won't hurt productivity too much

we'll see how things progress in the next few days I guess

[Nate @nate_zelts]

building in public. Literally 🤣

[Nate @nate_zelts]

🍔 McShipping my SaaS today 🍔

Day 3 of building in public.

Today I refactored my core system

separated functionality into related files and tied things up

I'm preparing for coding features that touch the TikTok accounts automation itself, which is really important to get right.

The code is now good enough to ensure flexibility but not too polished.

It's not all about features, sometimes you need to do some cleaning to progress faster

[Nate @nate_zelts]

One word, $100 mistake.

Today I bought a new phone for my SaaS

Day 5 of building in public

as usual I chatted with my supplier and discussed all details

no issues besides wear and a small WiFi problem

he kept saying the phone was "low" in between sentences - I didn't understand cuz of his strong accent but proceeded with the purchase anyway

I got the phone, got home, only to find out it's actually LOCKED remotely with an account, making the phone useless for me.

Apparently that's what he's being saying to me this whole time, a small but a *very important* detail I missed.

Can't believe how ignorant I was, but I guess that's a part of the game... Mistakes WILL be made along the way.

It sucks but I've documented it to ensure it doesn't happen again, and now we move to solving the next problem.