Profitable Founder

Florian Darroman

Twice a week (Wed/Sun), I interview the best indie hackers and tech founders so you can steal their playbook and apply it to your own journey. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@asyncr0ne?sub_confirmation=1 Join the Newsletter: https://floriandarroman.com/newsletter Find me on: Website: https://floriandarroman.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=floriandarroman Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/floriandarroman/

  1. I made $46K in 35 days with OpenClaw 🦞

    24/03

    I made $46K in 35 days with OpenClaw 🦞

    🔷 Try Distribb for Free: https://distribb.io?utm_source=yt-nevo Nevo David built Postiz, an open-source social media scheduler, and grew it from $0 to $66K MRR. It took him 3 years to go from 0 to $20K MRR. The last $46K took 35 days. Thanks to one viral article and the OpenClaw wave. In this episode, he breaks down every growth hack he used, how he made his SaaS agentic-first, and why this is the biggest blue ocean for founders right now. Try Postiz:https://postiz.com/ Follow Nevo: https://x.com/wickedguro 🦞 Join the OpenClaw Community: https://openclawlab.xyz Chapters: 0:00 - $2K/day from a SaaS nobody expected 0:50 - "When you're lucky so many times, it's not luck" 2:41 - How Postiz started as a completely different product 5:17 - His first Reddit launch got 250K views 6:29 - Why open source (and why it's not for everyone) 8:33 - "Open source got very AI sloppy" 9:56 - Why contributors work for free 11:33 - The 9 growth hacks that got him to $20K 12:31 - How he wins Product Hunt every time 15:46 - The "gray area" growth tactics 16:57 - [Distribb] How to automate your distribution 18:15 - Start now or it's too late for mid-tier SaaS 19:16 - Riding trends: N8N, MCP, and Starter Story 22:41 - Don't be the hype, ride the hype 23:42 - How he deals with failure 25:55 - Finding your real ICP (it wasn't who he expected) 29:04 - The OpenClaw story begins 31:45 - 200 followers, 7 million views, 700 trials 33:42 - X articles are the new Reddit 36:42 - Paying 200-follower accounts to write articles 37:41 - "LLMs are starting to recommend my tool" 38:12 - How to make your SaaS agentic-first 40:55 - You just need a skill, a CLI, and an API 43:40 - "Postiz doesn't even need a dashboard anymore" 46:40 - "When everybody can do everything, nobody makes money" 47:21 - Why enterprise SaaS is in trouble 50:36 - Managing virality as a solo founder 52:20 - "Being overwhelmed is the worst thing for a founder" 54:11 - Automating support with AI agents 56:09 - Burnout and context switching 57:27 - His daily priority system: bugs first, marketing second 1:00:42 - The personal chat assistant era is here to stay 1:03:06 - Who should go all-in on agentic as a service --- Find me on X: https://x.com/floriandarroman Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ Get customers from Google and AI on autopilot: https://distribb.io Join 300+ founders building with OpenClaw: https://openclawlab.xyz Website: https://floriandarroman.com All podcast episodes: https://profitablefounder.xyz

    1 h 8 min
  2. I built a $1M Startup in 117 days (I had 16 followers)

    16/03

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

    🔷 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 --- Find me on X: https://x.com/floriandarroman Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ Get customers from Google and AI on autopilot: https://distribb.io Join 300+ founders building with OpenClaw: https://openclawlab.xyz Website: https://floriandarroman.com All podcast episodes: https://profitablefounder.xyz

    1 h 1 min
  3. How I got 1,000 paying users for my SaaS with only 2 videos (copy me)

    9/03

    How I got 1,000 paying users for my SaaS with only 2 videos (copy me)

    Get 50% off your first month on Velio using the code « florian »: https://velio.co/?ref=florian59 In this video, Marcus shares the best SaaS marketing strategy to get your first 1000 customers without ads. Marcus Jones grew one of the biggest YouTube education channels to nearly 500K subscribers and launched his SaaS, Velio, to 1000 paying users in just 60 days with only 2 YouTube videos. In this conversation, he breaks down his complete playbook: - The 6 things that actually matter on YouTube - How to find video ideas with built-in demand - Why most founders make "solution aware" videos instead of "problem aware" ones, - The exact video structure that has generated over 7 figures in sales. Whether you're a SaaS founder, app builder, or indie hacker trying to grow without paid ads, this is the roadmap. Marcus Jones' YouTube Channel: @Marcus-Jones Join OpenClaw Lab: https://openclawlab.xyz Find me on X: https://x.com/floriandarroman Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 1:05 - Why start YouTube as a founder? 2:00 - The real problem with YouTube advice 3:51 - The 6 things that actually matter 4:28 - #1: How often should you post? 6:24 - #2: What makes people choose you? 10:33 - How to find your X factor 15:10 - #3: The consistency trap 19:00 - When quitting is smart 21:33 - Aristotle's rule for YouTube 25:07 - #4: Retention isn't production quality 30:17 - #5: Why your packaging is broken 32:44 - How long to spend on thumbnails? 34:14 - His team behind the scenes 34:50 - A/B testing that actually works 38:09 - When to start hiring 40:43 - #6: The one thing that trumps everything 44:02 - Finding ideas with built-in demand 47:03 - The metric nobody talks about 52:44 - You don't need data skills for this 55:31 - How he got 1000 users with 2 videos 57:36 - Problem-aware vs solution-aware videos 1:01:12 - The video structure that made 7 figures 1:06:45 - Starting from zero: the exact plan 1:13:38 - Stealing formats from other niches 1:18:09 - The biggest mistake to avoid 1:20:15 - The mindset that keeps you going --- Find me on X: https://x.com/floriandarroman Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ Get customers from Google and AI on autopilot: https://distribb.io Join 300+ founders building with OpenClaw: https://openclawlab.xyz Website: https://floriandarroman.com All podcast episodes: https://profitablefounder.xyz

    1 h 23 min
  4. I Built a SaaS From 0 to $83K MRR in 7 Months

    2/03

    I Built a SaaS From 0 to $83K MRR in 7 Months

    🔷 Download Loic's Playbook: https://floriandarroman.com/loic-berthelot Loic spent 5 years building SaaS products nobody used. Then he cracked the code: partner with a creator, focus on the problem, and scale with a playbook he can repeat. His first real SaaS (Minea) went from $0 to $750K MRR. 100% bootstrapped. No VC. Just a small team and a YouTube creator as co-founder. 7 months ago he left to start again from scratch. Today he just hit $1M ARR with Drop Magic. In this episode he breaks down every plateau he hit ($0, $30K, $100K, $300K, $500K, $750K) and the specific strategy he used to break through each one. You will learn: • Why having a creator as co-founder is the ultimate cheat code in 2026 • The exact playbook he used 3 times to scale SaaS products • How he went from $0 to $1K MRR in 5 days • Why he almost burned out at $300K and how hiring C-levels saved him • The "wow moment" framework that makes products sell themselves Loic Berthelot: Find Loic on X: https://x.com/LoicBerthelot Try Dropmagic: https://dropmagic.ai/?ref=florian Find me: On X: https://x.com/floriandarroman On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:56 Breaking the $0 plateau 2:46 $30K: creator partnership unlock 3:32 5 years coding for nobody 5:04 Why he never gave up 6:13 Luck vs putting in work 8:35 What is Minea (the SaaS) 10:09 Breaking the $100K plateau 13:45 $100K to $300K with YouTubers 15:17 $300K: webinars that scaled 16:52 When ads actually worked 17:52 $500K to $750K: raising prices 19:33 $60K MRR in 24 hours 20:36 Key lessons at $750K MRR 22:11 Almost burned out at $300K 23:24 Team evolution by revenue stage 25:19 Hiring C-levels changes everything 27:25 Letting go as a founder 29:04 Shopify-style release cycles 30:21 Why he left Minea 31:48 Drop Magic hits $1M ARR 33:09 Why every SaaS needs a creator 35:25 Back to coding with AI 38:25 Aligning incentives with equity 39:35 First $1K in five days 40:40 The wow moment that sells 42:36 Build slow when distribution is locked 43:18 Building in public benefits 44:56 Blime: the creator outreach tool 45:48 The exact playbook to repeat 49:23 Make your customers successful 51:39 Team over project, always --- Find me on X: https://x.com/floriandarroman Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ Get customers from Google and AI on autopilot: https://distribb.io Join 300+ founders building with OpenClaw: https://openclawlab.xyz Website: https://floriandarroman.com All podcast episodes: https://profitablefounder.xyz

    54 min
  5. How I Make Money with OpenClaw (+Free Skill)

    23/02

    How I Make Money with OpenClaw (+Free Skill)

    🔷 Get the Free Larry Skill: https://floriandarroman.com/larry/ Oliver built Larry, an OpenClaw agent that automates his entire marketing funnel from a recycled gaming PC. TikTok slideshows, conversion tracking through RevenueCat, app onboarding optimization. In this episode Oliver gives the full Larry funnel, how he actually made money, security mistakes to avoid, the Claude Max vs API debate, and how to install his free skill today. 🔗 Oliver's article: https://x.com/oliverhenry/status/2022011925903667547 🔗 Oliver on X: https://x.com/oliverhenry 🔗 Join OpenClaw Lab: https://www.skool.com/openclaw-lab Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:54 Discovering OpenClaw on a gaming PC 4:03 Why WhatsApp over Discord 5:45 One agent, no sub-agent names 8:28 How Larry got his name 9:04 The 7M impression article 12:00 How Larry actually makes money 25:15 The free Larry skill explained 32:07 AI slideshows and video content 38:58 RevenueCat full funnel tracking 43:04 OpenClaw replaces entire teams 46:06 The next 5 years of AI 49:58 The OpenClaw addiction is real 53:34 War rooms and agent collaboration 57:26 Biggest mistakes to avoid 59:31 What is SSH and why you need it 1:00:50 Security: skills, VPS, and API keys 1:06:50 Claude Max vs API costs 1:10:03 Anthropic almost banned OpenClaw users 1:14:00 Advice for beginners --- Find me on X: https://x.com/floriandarroman Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ Get customers from Google and AI on autopilot: https://distribb.io Join 300+ founders building with OpenClaw: https://openclawlab.xyz Website: https://floriandarroman.com All podcast episodes: https://profitablefounder.xyz

    1 h 16 min
  6. 39 OpenClaw Use Cases to Automate Your Business (and Life)

    19/02

    39 OpenClaw Use Cases to Automate Your Business (and Life)

    🦞 Get started with OpenClaw (Free Guide): https://floriandarroman.com/openclaw-starter-kit/ Kitze was one of the first OpenClaw users, and also the biggest tinkerer you'll find on the internet. Combine both, and you get the perfect cocktail for 39 real OpenClaw use cases: from hiring a snow shoveling contractor by venting to his agent, to building a custom Android launcher, a safe email inbox, a dental history visualizer, and a filtered podcast feed. This is the most practical OpenClaw deep dive we've done. Whether you have a business or just want to automate your life, this episode will spark ideas. Links: Tinkerer Club: https://tinkerer.club/ Kitze's YouTube: @TiredOfWebdev Find him on X: https://x.com/thekitze Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:11 Why you should try OpenClaw 2:08 Missed mortgage & 3 appointments 3:50 The #1 beginner mistake 4:16 Tinker Club daily challenges 5:07 Current setup: Discord, Telegram & custom app 8:44 Why Kitze skips memory 9:54 Email bot archives investor email 11:42 Twitter DMs to sponsor to invoice to email 13:21 Taking ownership of your setup 15:20 Skills, slash commands & vibe engineering 19:10 Vienna meetup: 30+ use cases 20:37 Batched refund emails 20:55 Bot gets its own phone number 21:12 5 LLMs judge every email for prompt injection 24:28 Staying safe from prompt injection 27:03 Is OpenClaw worth $200/month? 29:48 Opus for chat, Codex for coding 30:25 Landing page built via Telegram 33:42 Mac Studio vs. Mac Mini 34:20 Self-hosting with Tinker Club 37:00 Snow shoveling deep dive 38:44 Bridge between virtual and physical 41:52 Robots will prompt us, not the other way around 45:15 Autonomous domain buying 45:40 Wise API card with monthly budget 47:08 Automate repetitive tasks, skip simple if/else 48:15 Airport parking auto-booked 48:33 Text it to print anything 48:45 Multilingual cleaning service bot 49:17 Home Assistant via natural language 50:12 Home smartness dashboard 50:17 HTML dashboards cast to any TV 51:21 Router admin 52:09 Weight sensors for room context 52:47 Wardrobe agent 53:41 Smart laundry baskets 54:26 Auto grocery ordering 55:09 Whoop sleep dashboard 55:16 Blood test PDF analysis 55:54 Benji the personal life OS 57:23 It's all one OpenClaw installation 58:14 Dental history visualization 59:23 "If you can't find 3 use cases, you won't survive" 1:00:31 "I feel like I can do anything" 1:02:15 Creativity is the only skill that matters 1:02:24 Agent-written thread, 170K impressions 1:03:18 OpenClaw as a mirror of yourself 1:04:51 OpenClaw for SaaS churn reduction 1:06:02 Parents' tea business via Telegram 1:06:52 Dog care bot 1:07:12 Mac Studio dashboard + mobile app 1:08:31 Skill syncing across devices 1:08:42 Pi-Hole via Telegram in 30 minutes 1:10:07 Self-hosted Excalidraw 1:10:25 N8N deployed in 1 minute from bed 1:10:43 Why Kitze ditched Notion for markdown 1:11:25 Self-hosted Wikipedia of your life 1:12:46 Android tablet bypasses CAPTCHAs via ADB 1:13:30 Bluetooth room-tracking sensors 1:14:08 Custom podcast filter, no politics, no ads 1:14:52 Pebble ring, dictate while biking 1:15:39 Watch complication for OpenClaw 1:16:18 Android phone as OpenClaw extension 1:17:37 Text a request, native app appears 1:18:07 Dynamic Android launcher 1:19:02 Multi-agent management dashboard 1:19:17 Clauser, the agent-only browser 1:19:42 Tamagotchi face for OpenClaw 1:19:53 iPad on a Roomba as mobile camera 1:20:04 Tinker Club: calls, challenges, emergency meetings 1:21:07 When did Kitze start? --- Find me on X: https://x.com/floriandarroman Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ Get customers from Google and AI on autopilot: https://distribb.io Join 300+ founders building with OpenClaw: https://openclawlab.xyz Website: https://floriandarroman.com All podcast episodes: https://profitablefounder.xyz

    1 h 22 min
  7. $10M/Year Founder Shares His Exact Playbook (He Did It Twice)

    16/02

    $10M/Year Founder Shares His Exact Playbook (He Did It Twice)

    🔷 Download Andrew's $10M Playbook: https://floriandarroman.com/andrew-gazdecki/ Andrew Gazdecki built Bizness Apps from nothing to a $10M exit with 75 employees across 6 countries. Then he founded Acquire.com, which has now facilitated over $1B in closed deals. In this episode, he breaks down exactly what a $10M startup looks like, why distribution beats product every time, and what he would build if he started over in 2026. Find Andrew on X: https://x.com/agazdecki Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 01:24 - What Separates $10M Founders 03:42 - How Long It Takes (3-4 Years Average) 06:13 - Andrew's Story (Business Apps to Altcoin to Acquire.com) 07:07 - Business Apps: Timing and the Distribution Model 09:14 - Timing is the #1 Factor 11:43 - When He Knew It Was Working (First 30 Days) 13:06 - Scaling from Solo to 75 Employees 14:20 - Mentorship (Christian Freeland and 10X CEO) 16:10 - How to Find a Mentor 18:14 - CEO Peer Groups 20:14 - Plan or Go Day by Day? 20:47 - The Monthly Journal Hack 23:27 - Life After the Exit 25:05 - What Problems Disappear After Selling 26:54 - Relationship with Money 28:06 - Biggest Lie About Entrepreneurship 29:05 - Distribution Over Product (Deep Dive) 31:09 - Finding Unique Distribution Channels 33:38 - Acquire.com: $1B+ in Deals 34:20 - Storytelling as Marketing 38:39 - How to Find Startup Ideas 41:01 - The Data: B2B vs B2C, Solo vs Team 43:04 - Which Industries Get Acquired Most 43:49 - VC vs Bootstrapped 44:23 - Most Surprising Data Point (Competition Drives Multiples) 46:05 - What to Build (B2B SaaS, Lean, Bootstrapped) 46:39 - Red Flags That Kill Deals 49:33 - Non-US Companies (Not a Red Flag) 50:17 - When to Sell 51:55 - If Andrew Started Over in 2026 53:52 - Final Advice --- Find me on X: https://x.com/floriandarroman Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ Get customers from Google and AI on autopilot: https://distribb.io Join 300+ founders building with OpenClaw: https://openclawlab.xyz Website: https://floriandarroman.com All podcast episodes: https://profitablefounder.xyz

    55 min
  8. I Built an AI Agents Army with OpenClaw to Run my $28k/mo Startup

    12/02

    I Built an AI Agents Army with OpenClaw to Run my $28k/mo Startup

    👋 Get the FREE OpenClaw Starter Guide → https://floriandarroman.com/openclaw-starter-kit/ Bhanu built and sold Feather for $250K, grew SiteGPT to $18K MRR, and now uses an army of AI agents running 24/7 on OpenClaw to hit $1M ARR. In this episode, he breaks down: → How to set up a main agent and let it create specialist sub-agents → The dashboard he built just by talking to Telegram → How AI agents collaborate, assign tasks, and manage his entire marketing → Security tips and mistakes to avoid when getting started → Why he stopped hiring and replaced his team with AI agents 🔗 Mission Control HQ: https://missioncontrolhq.ai/ 🔗 Follow Bhanu on X: https://x.com/pbteja1998 🔗 OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai/ Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:01 Feather ($250K Exit), SiteGPT ($18K MRR), Mission Control HQ 1:41 What is Mission Control HQ? 2:48 Why One Agent Wasn't Enough 5:51 The Lead Agent System (Jarvis) 7:42 Florian's First 24 Hours with OpenClaw 9:11 How to Get Started with OpenClaw 10:33 Don't Install on Your Personal Computer 12:49 Security: Run "openclaw doctor" 14:36 When to Build Mission Control 17:06 Brute: The Retention Specialist Agent 20:10 Sub-Agents: Always Stay Available 23:04 Why Use Opus for Everything 24:45 Did It Actually Help You Make Money? 28:37 100K Emails Auto-Analyzed 30:08 Built the Entire Dashboard 33:43 Activation vs Retention 36:13 Treat It Like an Employee 39:57 From Assistant to Marketing Machine 41:15 The Real Bottleneck Is You 43:45 Excitement About OpenClaw 46:44 OpenClaw + Hardware 48:34 It Updates Itself 49:16 It Created Its Own Notion Account 50:38 Final word --- Find me on X: https://x.com/floriandarroman Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ Get customers from Google and AI on autopilot: https://distribb.io Join 300+ founders building with OpenClaw: https://openclawlab.xyz Website: https://floriandarroman.com All podcast episodes: https://profitablefounder.xyz

    52 min

Sobre

Twice a week (Wed/Sun), I interview the best indie hackers and tech founders so you can steal their playbook and apply it to your own journey. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@asyncr0ne?sub_confirmation=1 Join the Newsletter: https://floriandarroman.com/newsletter Find me on: Website: https://floriandarroman.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florian.darroman/ X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=floriandarroman Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/floriandarroman/