I built a $1M Startup in 117 days (I had 16 followers)

About this episode

🔷 Try Distribb for Free: https://distribb.io?utm_source=yt-yasser Yasser Elsaid built ChatBase from 0 to $1M ARR in 117 days with just 16 followers on X. No funding, no sales team, no connections. In this episode, he shares the mindset that got him there, how he stayed locked in during the chaos of early growth, why he didn't sell at $1M, and what he believes separates founders who burn out from those who break through. Now ChatBase does $8M ARR and serves thousands of companies worldwide. Find Yasser on X: https://x.com/yasser_elsaid_ Try ChatBase: https://link.chatbase.co/florian-darroman Join 3,000+ readers: https://floriandarroman.beehiiv.com/ Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:50 The Hardest Milestone 2:11 What Tesla and Meta Didn't Teach Him 3:51 From Side Project to Chatbase 6:21 Posting With 16 Followers 7:45 Where Self-Belief Comes From 9:42 Managing Virality 10:22 Staying Locked In During Hypergrowth 12:07 Sleep and Balance? Not Yet. 13:49 Why He Didn't Sell at $1M ARR 16:16 Finding a Clear Path 17:52 Reaching Out to Peter Levels 19:18 Best Founder Advice He Got 21:13 What Makes a Perfect Product 24:02 PLG Explained 27:02 How to Build a Product That Sells Itself 28:52 Launching Features to Capture New Markets 31:42 The Shopify Partnership 34:41 Influencer Marketing: What Stopped Working 36:26 Best Channels for B2B SaaS 39:29 Why a Developer Started Doing Video 41:13 When to Stop Making Every Decision 43:05 Why Most Agencies Failed Him 44:16 Hiring Rule: 100% or Nothing 46:04 Cutting Churn From 27% to 8.8% 48:32 The $100M Vision 49:45 The Future of AI Agents 52:38 Why Founders Should Embrace Boredom