These Tailwinds Helped Him Build & Sell For 6-Figures

Hazel Lim recently profiled Daniel Ch, a 26-year-old startup founder who’s built multiple software businesses.

One of them was Simple.Ink, a Notion website builder, which Daniel sold for 6 figures 💰

He has since acquired ThumbnailTest and runs SignHouse and r/SaaS.

📝 Hazel writes…

One of his first successful startups, Legit Check is a productised luxury brand authentication service for items like watches and sneakers…

As he had a knack for being able to tell a genuine branded sneaker from a fake one (as you do at 19!), he created a project to share guides to help others spot imitation brands…

So Daniel basically started with some simple guides, shared them for free online, and attracted a ton of people to his site 👀

Then he offered a related service and made $200,000 in the first year.

Given that experience, Daniel strongly believes that…

You should build your distribution first, before writing a single line of code (or no code).

In other words, build an audience first – or figure out a reliable way to attract eyeballs – before you go to the trouble of crafting a product or service.

Hazel adds 👇

[Daniel] said something interesting – that his second startup, Simple.Ink, succeeded only because he was building on top of a tailwind…

A tailwind is an external advantage that accelerates your progress and success. It could be a growing market trend, tech adoption changes or anything that means the market you’re operating in is growing fast.

🏄‍♂️ Daniel was riding a few tailwinds with Simple.Ink…

1. No-code was growing. Technical and non-technical people alike were all exploring no-code tools.

2. Everyone was building side hustles post-Covid.

3. His personal Twitter account blew up, going from 300 to 10,000 followers in 9 months.

4. But most importantly, Notion was taking off. People love using Notion to build simple websites.

So Daniel bet on the rise of Notion back in 2022 and eventually sold Simple.Ink for that six-figure sum 🥳

Not that it was a walk in the park, but…

With tailwind behind him, every effort he put in was multiplied by the simple fact that the market was growing.

With that in mind, what are the current tailwinds or popular trends in your niche?

Could be related to…

• AI
• Automation
• Short-form video

Could you leverage those somehow? 🧐