The article talks about the five-year journey of the Starter Story website. Pat, the founder of Starter Story, shares how he turned this side project into a real business with a team. The website serves as a platform where entrepreneurs can share how they built their businesses. 

As of September 2022, the website made $91K in monthly revenue and over 1.5M web visitors per month.

Pat explains the revenue streams of Starter Story

Memberships

The website generates around 38% of its revenue from premium memberships. Members pay a yearly fee to access all the case studies, databases, and other benefits. Advertising and sponsorships account for around 57% of revenue. 

Advertising

Companies pay to advertise their products on the website and newsletter. 

Affiliates

Finally, affiliate revenue accounts for about 5% of revenue. The website earns money when a reader clicks an affiliate link, signs up, or purchases something.Pat provides more details on each of the revenue streams. Significant changes have been made behind the scenes to turn Starter Story into a successful business.

Revenue Streams of Starter Story Website

Starter Story is a platform where entrepreneurs can share their business stories, and readers can learn from them. The website generates revenue from various streams, which are explained below.

Starter Story Premium Membership (~38% of revenue)

Starter Story offers a paid subscription that allows unlimited access to all the case studies and access to some databases, such as the business ideas database. Similar to the New York Times, a limited number of case studies are accessible on the website. As of September 2022, there are about 2,500 active members, generating around $30k/month on average.

Ads & Sponsors (~38% of revenue)

Starter Story is a niche website attracting entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts. Therefore, companies approach the website to advertise their products in their articles or newsletters to get in front of their audience. The website also pitches brands for advertising opportunities.

Affiliates (~5% of revenue)

The case studies and content on Starter Story often mention the tools used by the founders, such as Shopify, Klaviyo, and thousands of other tools. If a reader clicks on an affiliate link and makes a purchase, the website gets a cut of the sale. While this is a smaller part of the revenue, the website aims to grow in the future.

Early traction and celebrating all wins

Starting a side project while having a full-time job is challenging, and it is even harder to keep going and not give up. Finding early traction can be difficult, but celebrating the smallest wins is essential. Early traction does not have to be significant. It could be getting a few dozen people on an email list or receiving a note from a happy customer.

Finding early traction requires trying many things and pivoting your idea, strategy, and market multiple times. 

Reddit was a solid distribution channel for Starter Story in its early days. 

Posting case studies on Reddit and reaching a wider audience validated that the case studies with founders were exciting and valuable to Redditors. These Reddit posts helped Starter Story find its first "sponsors" (advertisers) and more businesses to interview on the site. The key takeaway is that distribution beats the product 99% of the time.

In the early days, creating unique and impressive content was also essential.

Starter Story's in-depth case studies provided information on how people built their businesses, which takes thousands of words. Unlike competitors who focused on 500-word promotional articles, Starter Story provided unique and fresh content that caught people's attention. 

Moreover, sharing how much money people made was also rare then. It helped set Starter Story apart from other blogs and websites. The key takeaway is that unique and exciting content allows a brand to stand out. People are likelier to share it with their friends and on social media.

‍Documenting the journey is also critical.

Writing monthly progress reports, blogging, tweeting, and creating videos about what you are working on and the results you got after trying different strategies can help build a better business. Sharing this can also help make friends and connections online and build a small personal brand. The key takeaway is that writing or sharing your journey can help you understand your priorities and attract like-minded people into your corner.‍

The five key things that led to the growth of Starter Story

We found a more reliable distribution channel: SEO

When Starter Story was first monetised, it was only making about $5,000 per month. The novelty of their case studies had worn off, and their primary distribution channel, Reddit, needed to be more scalable. So they began to look into other content distribution methods, eventually settling on SEO as a more reliable channel. They began creating content geared toward high-level search keywords, such as business ideas for golfers. This strategy resulted in 10x organic traffic growth over the next year. It ultimately allowed them to reach over 1 million visitors to their site per month.

The key takeaway is that finding a genuinely scalable product distribution method is critical for growth. Finding the right channel(s) may take some experimentation, but it's essential to keep testing until you find what works. Some good distribution channels include SEO, social media, YouTube, direct sales, and partnerships.

Go all in + a stroke of luck.

Early on, Starter Story's founder tended to work on multiple unrelated projects simultaneously. While there's nothing inherently wrong with trying many different things, building two successful businesses simultaneously is nearly impossible. 

So, in early 2020, he decided to drop all other projects and go full-time on Starter Story.

Around the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which resulted in more people than ever looking for ways to make money online. This increased interest in entrepreneurship created a boom for Starter Story, allowing them to capitalise on the opportunity and grow faster than they might have otherwise.

The key takeaway here is that, eventually, you'll need to pick one idea and go all in on it. This focus will help you capitalise on opportunities and ensure you're dedicating the necessary resources to grow your business.

Pat hired someone

In 2020, Starter Story made its most crucial hire, largely by accident. The founder's sister was laid off due to the pandemic, and he asked her to help write a few articles for the site. She quickly became an integral part of the team, pushing forward projects that helped take the company to the next level in terms of revenue and potential.

The key takeaway is that hiring smart people to work on ambitious projects is essential for growth. Letting these individuals become "mini-founders" and giving them room to learn and grow will ultimately benefit your business.

They diversified their revenue with a paid membership.

Starter Story used to rely solely on sponsorships and ad revenue for revenue. But as a bootstrapped company, it's not a good idea to rely on a single source of income, especially since that source could be pulled at any time. So they began working on diversifying their revenue streams.

Three years ago, they started putting together a paid subscription version of their product (Starter Story Premium) and have refined it ever since. 

They began with a paywall and added more premium products like their Business Ideas and Case Studies databases.

The key takeaway is that having more reliable revenue streams is essential, even if that comes at the cost of growth. As a bootstrapped company, you don't have the luxury of millions sitting in the bank in case something goes wrong, so diversifying your revenue streams can help protect your business.

We built systems and processes for everything possible.

As a developer, Starter Story's founder built countless small tools and automations that have allowed the team to scale operations as a super lean team. They've automated every piece of the business possible and hired or outsourced for anything that couldn't automate.

Pat's growth levers for success

Pat used four main growth levers to build Starter Story to where it is today. These growth levers include SEO and Content Creation, Experimentation, Automation and Systems, and Building in Public.

1. SEO and creating a tonne of content

After realising its potential, Pat invested heavily in optimising search engine content. He now gets 1.6 million people to his site every month. 

2. Experimentation and AB testing

In addition, Pat is constantly experimenting with A/B tests and has done several impactful experiments.

3. Smart automation

Pat uses smart automation to help him run a massive content business, from building custom tools to creating templates for similar types of content. He has a process for figuring out how to automate things and keeps an eye out for something that could be automated.

4. Building in public

Lastly, Pat has been building in public since the beginning, and it has helped connect him with thought leaders and attract more founders for his interviews. Being open and honest about what he's sharing has made a significant impact, allowing him to get customer feedback and ideas on improving the site.

1. A look at Pat's SEO framework

Pat is now bringing over 1.6 million visitors to his website, mostly from SEO. However, his approach is quite different from the typical SEO strategies commonly seen online. Rather than just finding keywords he wants to rank for, he uses a framework called "Lean SEO."

The Lean SEO framework comprises five steps: research, create, test, decision, and scale. 

The first step is to identify opportunities for content through quick research. Then, Pat creates Minimum Viable Content (MVCs) to test if his site will even rank for the chosen topic. 

For the next 30 days, he does not touch the content but keeps an eye on the traffic and rankings for those pages. Based on the performance of the content, Pat iterates on it and scales it by optimising the page and spending more time fleshing out that piece of content.

This framework provides many "small bets" to find one that works instead of taking the time to build out the best piece of content and never having it rank well. Pat's keyword research method is also different, as he needs to follow the traditional process of using SEO tools to find keywords. 

Instead, he teaches people how to find good topics and formats to replicate rather than focusing on a larger keyword they probably won't rank for. Once a page is ranking, he can see what it's ranking for and back into the keywords that make the most sense to go after.

Pat has created a course called Lean SEO to teach others how to get the same traction he has with SEO. His course is built around his unique approach, and it is an excellent resource for anyone looking to improve their SEO strategy.

2. Experimentation and AB testing

Pat, the founder of Starter Story, is a constant experimenter regarding his website and newsletter. He always seems to have a list of things to try out. 

Here are a few experiments he has conducted:

Pat experimented with adding a table of contents in the sidebar to make navigating his website easier. 

His theory was that this would increase the "dwell time" on the site, which is a positive signal for SEO and Google rankings. The results were impressive - visitors spent twice as much time on the place, visited more pages and were more likely to sign up for the email list.

Add Content Upgrades to Get More Subscribers

Rather than simply asking people to subscribe, Pat wanted to add a content upgrade - offering a free digital product. In this case, he provided a document with 1,000 business ideas. After running this test for a few weeks, he saw his conversion rate increase from 1.95% to 2.53%, so he scrapped the test and went with the content upgrade.

Testing a Different Format for the Newsletter

In July 2020, Pat changed the format of his newsletter to include more long-form and opinionated content. This change significantly improved open rates, from 17% to 27% and click rates, from 3% to 6%.

Adding Popups to the Website

Despite the reputation of popups being annoying, Pat experimented with adding them to his website in a way that wasn't intrusive. This resulted in an increase in conversions.

Creating a Wikipedia Type Content Structure

Pat even experimented with creating a Wikipedia-style structure where visitors could edit content. He wants Starter Story to be the go-to place for entrepreneurs and startup founders to get information.

Publishing a Book

In August 2019, Pat published the Starter Story Book on Amazon. Unfortunately, it didn't receive any reviews on Amazon, and it appears to have been a failed experiment. Nevertheless, Pat's willingness to experiment and try new things is admirable, even if not every experiment succeeds.‍

3. Pat and his addition to automation

Pat has been using automation to effectively run his business since the beginning. As an Indie Hacker and builder, Pat started with automation as a fun side project. 

However, as a solo founder, he believes automating as much as possible is crucial to free up time for more productivity.

Some of Pat's automation might be challenging for someone without a developer background. However, with the no-code tools and resources available, learning from them is still relevant.

Pat has automated several things, including creating images for social media using tools like Banner Bear or Placid, automatically creating an audio version of each interview using tools like Blogcast or GPT3, and using the Buffer API to queue up new posts on Instagram and Twitter.

He has also automated Reddit posts, collecting each founder's Reddit username with the interview to tag them, writing all stories in markdown format, automatically including an intro that dynamically pulls in the person or company's name and the URL to the new interview, and posting to four different subreddits on a 15-minute interval between each to avoid being marked as spam.

Pat uses Mailbrew to stay on top of social mentions by creating a custom daily email that includes mentions on social, updates from websites, RSS feeds, and even a daily schedule from his calendar. 

He also automates his email process with a custom-coded CRM called Pigeon that keeps track of each project based on where in the conversation they are and reminds him of interviews he needs to follow up on.

While some of this automation requires a developer background, they provide creative ideas for automating parts of your own process.

Pat has a systematic process for automating tasks. He begins by identifying the tasks that take up much of his time. He then gradually automates these tasks by breaking them down into smaller components. In an interview with Steph Smith, Pat described his approach to automation, explaining that he only aims to partially automate a task from the outset.

Pat starts by identifying the first step in the process and then focuses on automating that step. For example, he needs to write a description for an Instagram post. In that case, he builds code that generates the report from the article content. This saves him a few minutes each time he posts on Instagram.

After he has automated the first step, he adds more automation to the process. He repeats this process until he has fully automated the task or until it is as automated as possible. Pat's approach is iterative, allowing him to make minor improvements each time.

He is always on the lookout for tasks that can be automated. This helps him to gradually build a collection of mini-automation. 

These automations save him time and allow him to focus on more critical tasks. Pat's approach to automation focuses on breaking tasks down into manageable pieces and gradually automating each.

4. Pat building in public

The founder of Starter Story, Pat Walls, has been building his company in public since the beginning. While it wasn't always called "Building in Public" like it is now, being open and honest about what he shares has made a significant impact. 

By doing so, he has met some of his digital idols, such as Pieter Levels, and received feedback from customers and ideas on how to improve the site.

You can find a long list of posts he has written about growing Starter Story on the website. Additionally, he has a fantastic blog at PatWalls.com, where he shares numbers, revenue, tests he's tried, and life updates.

One of the coolest examples of how building in public has helped him has been with creating his Lean SEO course. 

He posted a tweet in November 2020, asking people to message him if they might be interested in a course like that. He then tweeted updates about the course every few hours, outlining what it would include and asking customers what would be helpful. 

By December 2nd, he had $10,000 in preorders for the Lean SEO course. He launched it in early December and received impressive results.

Another benefit of sharing in public is that people want to help and share your stuff. In January, Pat posted that he was seeing crazy growth in terms of his email list, bringing in almost 1000 people a day. 

People in the comments asked how he did it, and he said it was a mix of AB tests and other things. Later, Alex Garcia from Marketing Examined wrote a 12-page document post on LinkedIn, breaking down how he achieved these results. Alex has over 160k followers on Twitter and over 55k email subscribers, so this was great exposure for him too.

Building in public allows Pat to return and show that he did the work. It's a fun way to meet people online, share their stories, and help others. Since his Lean SEO course, he has launched a course called "Lean Email" in the same manner, which is set to launch in March. Sharing his wins and getting featured has become a routine part of Pat's Building in Public strategy.

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