Two failed startups. 250K euros in debt. Stuck in Paris with a sick baby and no plan. Tibo Louis-Lucas walked away from a stable CTO job and shipped 11 products in 4 months on unemployment benefits. Today TMAKER is a bootstrapped SaaS startup portfolio doing $1M a month across 5 products with a team of 10.

Tibo breaks down the exact signal that told him Tweet Hunter was the one after 10 failures, the JK Molina equity deal that took it from $3K to $20K MRR in 3 weeks, why he regrets selling Tweet Hunter and Taplio for $8 million, and the co-maker model that powers his bootstrapped SaaS startup today.

Plus: why Tibo says SEO is the most durable distribution channel for a bootstrapped SaaS startup, even as LLMs reshape search.

TMAKER is a bootstrapped SaaS startup studio of 5 products. Outrank crossed $200K MRR. Revid does over $600K a month. The portfolio crossed $1M a month a few weeks before this conversation.

This episode is brought to you by:
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🔑 Key Lessons
<ul>
<li>🚀 Distribution is the reusable bootstrapped SaaS startup asset: Tibo built one SEO playbook, one ads pipeline, and one influencer network and reuses them across all 5 TMAKER products. Each new product launches with traffic from day one.</li>
<li>🎯 Validate with revenue, not downloads: Tibo shipped 11 products in 4 months and only kept the one that pulled paying customers. Recurring revenue past month two is the only signal he trusts.</li>
<li>🤝 Equity beats commission for distribution partners: JK Molina got 25% of profits and exit proceeds tied to active work. That tripled Tweet Hunter revenue from $3K to $20K MRR in three weeks.</li>
<li>💰 An earnout can sell you the company twice: Tibo took $2M upfront and earned $8M total against $8M ARR. He calls it selling an $8M business for $8M, and the post-exit void hit harder than the payday felt good.</li>
<li>🛠️ Switch from maker to distribution as you scale: Tibo flipped from builder to distribution operator and partners with co-makers. One distribution operator can power a 5-product bootstrapped SaaS startup that 5 solo founders could not.</li>
<li>🧠 Real PMF is when demand outruns you: Tweet Hunter PMF showed up as overwhelming DMs, feature requests, and signups he could not keep up with. Comfortable growth is not the signal - chaos is.</li>
<li>⚡ AI makes building cheap, so distribution is the moat: Outrank, Revid, and TMAKER survive copycats by owning audience, SEO real estate, and partner networks that compound long after the code ships.</li>
</ul>

Chapters
<ul>
<li>What TMAKER does today</li>
<li>Crossing $1M monthly across a bootstrapped SaaS startup portfolio</li>
<li>Two failed VC startups and 250K euros in debt</li>
<li>Sick baby, COVID, stuck in Paris</li>
<li>Shipping 11 products in 4 months</li>
<li>Why Tweet Hunter felt different</li>
<li>The JK Molina 25 percent equity deal</li>
<li>Launching Taplio for LinkedIn</li>
<li>Selling to Lempire for $8M and why he regrets it</li>
<li>The co-maker model explained</li>
<li>SEO as the most durable distribution channel</li>
<li>Lightning round</li>
</ul>

Resources
<ul>
<li>Full show notes: <a href="https://saasclub.io/482">https://saasclub.io/482</a>
</li>
<li>Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: <a href="https://saasclub.io/email">https://saasclub.io/email</a>
</li>
</ul>

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