I Built 3 Apps to $35K/Month With This Playbook (DropMagic AI Breakdown)

I'm a French guy that was lucky enough to build three successful SAS in the e-commerce industry.

>> This is Loic, a founder from France who's built three separate successful SAS apps to over $50,000 a month. But

it's important to note that it did not start this way.

>> I spent the first 5 years building an app nobody used. 5 years of building in the dark with zero users and zero revenue until something happened that changed his entire outlook on what makes

a successful idea.

>> If I was starting over, this is what I would do.

>> I asked Lo to come onto the channel to break down his playbook for finding ideas that win. And in this video, we'll go over exactly how he builds his initial MVPs, what specific platform he

uses that drives over 60% of his sales, and his exact playbook for what he would do if he had to start over from scratch today. All right, this one is going to

today. All right, this one is going to be fun. Let's dive in. I'm Pat Walls,

be fun. Let's dive in. I'm Pat Walls, and this is Starter Story.

>> All right, Luick, welcome to the channel. Tell me about who you are, what

channel. Tell me about who you are, what you built, and what's your story.

>> Thanks, man. So, yeah, my name is Loick.

I'm a French guy that was lucky enough to build three successful SAS. I've

actually launched more than 10 SAS companies. Most of them failed except

companies. Most of them failed except three that basically worked with the same playbook. All of them reaching at

same playbook. All of them reaching at least 35kmr uh within their first like month of activity. All 100% bootstrap and this is why I'm show here. I'm

really excited to share with you this same playbook that was super successful for me.

>> Okay, I'm really excited to talk about that playbook. First, I want to

that playbook. First, I want to understand what were these SAS companies you built? You said you had three

you built? You said you had three companies that made over $35,000 MR after starting. Can you break these down?

>> Yeah, so basically the first one is Infuspy. It's it's not working anymore,

Infuspy. It's it's not working anymore, but basically it was the best tool to really help e-commerce businesses to spot the best influencers on Instagram and Snapchat to promote their product.

So, Infy, we hit 20K MMR in two months.

And then, yeah, the next one was Minia.

Mine is actually a SAS business to help other e-commerce businesses to just find products. So basically, MineA helps drop

products. So basically, MineA helps drop shippers and e-commerce businesses to detect opportunities uh currently in the market. And Minia actually peaked at

market. And Minia actually peaked at 750K MMR within 2 years. And my third and actually latest uh successful SAS is Drop Magic. And basically Draw Magic is

Drop Magic. And basically Draw Magic is a SAS to create online stores for beginners with AI. And Drop Magic is actually now growing to over 45K MMR within, you know, the first four months.

So, we're really excited.

>> Okay, cool. I mean, three successful apps. That's amazing. We're going to get

apps. That's amazing. We're going to get into the playbook of exactly how you kind of rinse and repeat these and do these over and over. But first, I need to understand your background. How do

you get into this space where you've built three successful [music] SAS apps?

>> So, yeah, I've actually spent the five first year of my professional life developing a SAS that literally no one ever used. I've shipped a ton of

ever used. I've shipped a ton of features, still zero customers, zero MMR for like five years and basically made the all of the bad decisions possible and then an e-commerce uh owner actually

came to to me with a problem and it turned out that actually he wasn't the only one with this problem and from there we just followed you know the simplest path we could with as little risk as possible. We started with a

newsletter that validated the initial traction, then with a no code app at the time that validated the product market fit, and then a real app that I've developed to really scale. But yeah, and

now, you know, I've I've actually left my position of CEO of Mania and being focusing entirely on scaling Drop Magic uh with the same playbook uh that I used on the two other ones.

>> Okay, cool. So, you had this mindset change going from builder to problem solver, which I love. and this was your big turning point. But the main reason why I wanted to have you on is you have this growth [music] playbook which I

think is really really cool and I'm excited to talk about it. Can you first break down real quick what is your approach to growing SAS in 2025?

>> A lot of the issues with current entrepreneurs is that they always focus on the product but they just don't know how to do distribution and you know guess who can do distribution creators.

So basically I've been using the same playbook with all my successful apps.

[music] It's essentially working with YouTube creators as promoters or co-founders. So promoters you basically

co-founders. So promoters you basically pay them with cash or affiliate revenue and co-founders of course you pay them with equity. I'm obviously not the only

with equity. I'm obviously not the only one that does this. I'm thinking about you know Tweid Hunter with Tibo Mark Lou is doing it. Also a lot of big known SAS like Arads N8N uh that are like also

scaling hug usually with creators on YouTube. So yeah, for Minia and Draw

YouTube. So yeah, for Minia and Draw Magic, we actually work with more than 500 of YouTube creators, right? I'm

primarily focused on YouTube for four reasons. First one is it's by far for me

reasons. First one is it's by far for me the best AI positive uh investment you can do as a business. Also, the outcomes are like way more predictable. YouTube

videos have like at least a minimum number of views that you can guarantee.

You're not just looking for Tik Tok to go viral. Second thing is it's a long

go viral. Second thing is it's a long form video so the creator has like time to show to his audience how he uses the app which is [music] just the major difference here. The third reason is

difference here. The third reason is also it stays over time where we still got conversion from you know videos that are like 3 years old and also helps for your organic traffic. [music] And the final reason is that you can also

repurpose the long form videos in short forms and ads. So you can really start with long form and then if you really want to do short forms yeah you can actually do it. I actually see a lot of businesses that are doing a lot of short

forms uh and trying with creators on Tik Tok but you know it's it's nice to always have like views because I think Tik Tok is really good good form for like burner awareness but it doesn't convert whereas YouTube is just machine

for conversion like for ourself I think more than 60% of our new customers come from YouTube.

>> I think one reason Loic is successful is because he follows a specific playbook.

He knows exactly what apps can make money and then he just builds them quickly. Clearly, this works because

quickly. Clearly, this works because he's done it three times already now.

And this is not him just getting lucky.

And this kind of got me thinking. The

Loix playbook is very similar to what we teach at Starter Story Build, which is our boot camp where you will learn the fundamentals of building with AI so you can launch over and over again, just

like Loic. In just a few short weeks,

like Loic. In just a few short weeks, you will learn how to build apps with AI and ship them to the real world. But the

best part is that we lay out the whole playbook for you. what tools to use, how to write prompts, and how to use AI to ship the product living in your head right now into the real world. So, if

you are ready to build and you've been looking for the builder's playbook, then Starter Story Build might be for you, just head to the first link in the description to check it out. Our next

boot camp is starting soon. So, if you are ready to get off the sidelines and build something real, just click that link to learn more. All right, let's get back to the video. Okay, YouTube. more

than 60% of your customers come from YouTube because you partner with creators, people who have distribution.

This is exactly why I wanted to bring you on the channel. I believe obviously YouTube is the future. YouTube is the best place to get customers. So, I want you to get a little bit more detailed on this. When you start a SAS business, how

this. When you start a SAS business, how do you go about finding hundreds of creators to partner with that ultimately market your SAS for you so you [music] can focus on building?

>> So, yeah, to find a really good creator, I actually have this four-step uh system. So step one uh I actually need

system. So step one uh I actually need to find a creator. So what you need to do is just go on YouTube, type keywords, look [music] at all the videos of your creators, see who are talking about

what. Look at the competitors. So are

what. Look at the competitors. So are

they pushing with micro influencers, big influencers, uh you know what topic are they like making a long trend video or like more of a integration. [music] And

then once I found actually a creator, I actually look at these two metrics. So

the first one is engagement rate. Uh so

basically it's like views uh divided by followers. It should be over 10%. I I

followers. It should be over 10%. I I

think that's a good number. And also a minimum of like 100 comments per video.

And the second thing I actually look is basically you know how long has you been working with brands. So usually if it's just a one-off deal it means that the brand was not profitable. Um so you

shouldn't really go with them. Usually

what I try to look is did the creator worked at least with uh the brand three times. So step three uh reaching out.

times. So step three uh reaching out.

Basically, I have a seven email campaigns. So, basically, for each

campaigns. So, basically, for each email, uh you try to have like a different marketing angle and I also blast them on Instagram and Twitter. So,

you you can look on my Twitter. I'll

I'll share all of this. Uh and the fourth step actually the deal making part. Uh usually it's a fixed fee and a

part. Uh usually it's a fixed fee and a commission. Always lowable the initial

commission. Always lowable the initial offer by 30% and then offer two package.

So, with different strategic approach.

So, the first package is a bit more risky for you. So basically means that you put a bit more upfront cost uh but with the lower commission and then the second uh package would be less risky uh

which has like a lot more commission but less upfront cash. So basically what I typically do is I just make a deal for first video. Um the first video is a

first video. Um the first video is a test see you know if the audience is responsive if it's engaging see if you break even after a month and then if all the all the numbers are green and then

deal for a package like three four videos you know more like the mid run.

So you get like a discount per video and you know a bit go deeper into your partnership.

>> Okay, cool. Well, thanks for sharing that playbook on how to work with lots and lots of creators. This seemed to work out so well for you that you even took it to the next level and you actually asked creators that were really

successful in the space to become your co-founders. I think that's really

co-founders. I think that's really really smart as a builder to have someone with equity that's really really focused on distribution, knows how to create content and knows the customer.

Can you tell me a little bit more about why you went that route? Yeah, having a a creator in your co-founding team actually has three really good positive impact. The first one is actually to

impact. The first one is actually to derisk the distribution especially when you're early when you're launching a SAS you have basically two big risk. You

[music] have the first one which is the product risk and the second one which is the distribution risk. It's really hard to do you know both product and distribution. For example, with

distribution. For example, with Batistan, which is the co-founder of Dram Magic, we knew that it would secure 10K MMR because he had like this impact.

And with 10K MMR, you can actually now spread with other creators. You can

actually do some ads. You can really also develop your activity. The [music]

the second reason, and for me, it's actually currently the most important is the product insights. So, basically, you want to have a creator that is a power user of your solution, and this will just provide key insights for the

product direction and vision. He's

actually the one selling it. So he's the one you know like you know explaining the features and and talking about it on on on this platform. So he will really have like this front row man where he will get you back feedbacks from his

community and these are like super important. The third reason is actually

important. The third reason is actually marketing insights. So, one thing that

marketing insights. So, one thing that is so undervalued is that you can actually with a creator in your founding team, you can really iterate super fast on scripts, on funnels, on pricing, on

marketing angles, and you can actually ship a lot of videos, obviously for free because he's a co-founder. And then this will actually get you knowledge on your secret sauce. From there, you will have

secret sauce. From there, you will have your economics, and you [music] can just replicate with other creators uh with a proven system, right? So, you can actually know how much you can spend on on on a creator.

>> Okay, cool. Well, I want to switch topics a little bit and I know you build all these products. You build the MVPs.

What is your tech stack? What do you actually use to build an MVP and build it really quickly?

>> So, I use Superbase for database, [music] uh, Nex.js and Versell for front end and hosting, uh, Sentry for debugging, uh, Trigger Dev for big compute, cursor and cloud code to

actually develop the solution, [music] Nanobana to actually generate images with AI, and then Gemini and OpenAI for the copyrightiting. Uh then for the

the copyrightiting. Uh then for the marketing part I actually use you know blime to detect the best creators and opportunities. I [music] use tools to uh

opportunities. I [music] use tools to uh handle the tracking and payments of my creators. I actually use as a CRM uh and

creators. I actually use as a CRM uh and I use loops for email marketing.

>> Okay. And on that note let's talk about costs and profit. What do the costs and margins typically look like for your SAS businesses?

>> So you have server and compute you have like 100 bucks per month and then for all the AI. So we use a lot of LM of course. So we pay like 1.5K because we

course. So we pay like 1.5K because we actually offer uh five AI images for every free user. So that scales pretty much. Then for the ads and creator, um

much. Then for the ads and creator, um currently we're really scaling hard, but I think on the sweet spot, especially for Mania, we had like a 80% margin. Now

for Dram Magic, we're a bit lower because we're just testing a lot. But

yeah, I think the the sweet spot will be between 70% and 80% margin.

>> Well, thanks for sharing that, being transparent about the numbers. The last

question that we ask everyone who comes on Starter Story, if you could give yourself advice for when you were starting out or for anyone who's watching this who wants to build many successful SAS tools like you did over

and over, what would be your advice?

>> So, I personally struggle with it, but yeah, just don't get emotionally attached to a project. [music] Just use simple deadlines and milestone as the only source of truth to carry on or not.

I've wasted so many years to just, you know, believing in something that had no traction just because I was emotionally attached to the logo or the project or the team members. So yeah, you're just

wasting time and it [music] will hurt.

Well, I agree 100%. Drop your ego. Don't

get emotionally attached to what you're building. Pivot when necessary and good

building. Pivot when necessary and good things will happen. Thank you, Loick, for coming on and sharing everything. I

love what you built. Thanks for coming on and sharing with us.

>> All right. Thanks, man.

>> All right. Thank you to Loick for coming on to the channel. Stories like these are insane, right? This is the power of building on the internet. We [music] are in this small pocket of time right now where you could just come up with an

idea prompted with AI tools and get it in front of real users using it right now and build a business off of it.

Look, these things don't happen overnight and not every idea that you build is guaranteed for success. But I

promise you that if you try just like Loic did in this video, double down when things were working and stopped working when things weren't, good things will happen. If you are ready to get off the

happen. If you are ready to get off the sidelines and start building something today, please check out Starter Story Build. I'll put a link in the

Build. I'll put a link in the description down there. [music] Just

check it out. See if it's right for you.

I promise it's something that you don't want to miss. All right, thank you guys for watching. We'll see you in the next

for watching. We'll see you in the next one. Peace.

one. Peace.