I sold my first SaaS, iCodeThis.com, for $50,000! 🥳
In this post, I’m going to share:
- How I went from idea to building the platform
- How I grew it to 56k members
- How much money it generated
- The entire acquisition process
- What’s next for me
Here’s the full story of how I took iCodeThis from idea to reality, grew it, and eventually sold it to Boot.dev!
The Story of iCodeThis
How It Started
Back in December 2022, I wanted to build a daily coding challenge platform for frontend developers. The goal was to create real-world challenges that would help devs improve their skills by building something, not just watching endless tutorials.
The MVP was simple: I started by sharing posts of UI designs on Twitter and asking people to convert them into code. Once I saw the engagement was growing I knew that the idea was validated so I built a basic app that allowed users to log in and post their code to the site. This way I could keep the members on the platform and see how they did.
Over time, I added more and more features on top, shaping it into a full-fledged platform.
Growing the Platform
The platform started as a free challenge site, but I later introduced different paid tiers for users who wanted premium features like access to past challenges, more complex challenges, and additional resources.
Some key growth strategies I used:
- Daily content – New coding challenges every day kept users engaged daily.
- Building a Discord community – Encouraging users to share their solutions, get feedback and engage with each other.
- Building in public – Posted about the process of building the platform on X (Twitter), YouTube and LinkedIn.
- Affiliate marketing – I got some people to promote it by making videos, which helped drive more traffic and sign-ups and in return I paid them a commission.
Eventually, iCodeThis grew to 56,000+ total members, with hundreds of people participating daily.
Tech Stack
Here’s what I used to build iCodeThis:
- Frontend & Backend: Next.js
- Styling: Tailwind CSS
- Database, Auth & Storage: Supabase
- Hosting: Vercel
- Payments: Stripe
Revenue
The majority of revenue came from one-time payments, totaling $67,000 USD in revenue.
Also tried subscriptions but they didn’t scale well (peaked at $300 MRR), so I went back to focusing on one-time payments as the primary monetization strategy.
Using a one-time payment model allowed me to capture a higher lifetime value from each customer, and it also made more sense for the type of product I was offering.
The Sale: Why & How It Happened
Why I Sold It
After running iCodeThis for two years, I started feeling burned out. I wanted to focus on new projects and felt that someone else could take iCodeThis further than I could. Also, having $50k in cash would give me more flexibility for my next ventures.
Finding a Buyer
I didn’t have a clear plan to sell it initially. But after posting about my thoughts on X (Twitter), Boot.dev reached out with interest last year. We haven’t closed a deal at that time because I wasn’t ready to sell yet.
This year, I decided to sell it and reached out to Lane (CEO of Boot.dev) again asking if he was still interested. He was and after a bit of negotiation, we agreed on $50k.
Why $50k?
I based the price on a mix of:
- Revenue potential ($67k in revenue)
- Community & user base (56k+ members)
- Brand & SEO value
- Social promotion
After some back-and-forth, we agreed on $50,000 as a fair price.
The Sale Process
The first step was signing an agreement with Boot.dev. We drafted a contract that covered all aspects of the sale, including the $50,000 purchase price, payment schedule, and specific terms for asset transfers.
The asset transfer involved migrating the domain, transfering the Supabase database, GitHub repository, Discord community, etc.
The handover was very fast. It took us about 2-3 hours to transfer all the assets, which for me was a relief because I was thinking that it would take days or even weeks.
I got $10k after signing the agreement and the rest of the payment hit my bank account after I sent the assets.
The sale went smoothly, and just like that… iCodeThis was no longer mine!
What’s Next for Me?
Selling iCodeThis gave me a fresh start. Now, I’m focused on:
- Trying new ventures until I find my next big idea
- Growing Indie Action (new SaaS) into a sustainable business
- Sharing my journey to making $1,000,000 through my blog & YouTube channel
Right now I’m working on Indie Action - a gamified time-tracking app to help builders stay focused and get things done in a fun way.
I built it to help me stay focused on my own projects and it’s been a great tool so far and people seem to like it too, which is great.
Am I Sad About Selling iCodeThis?
Maybe a little bit as it was my first real project that gained significant traction. But at the same time, I feel relieved. I feel like it served its purpose for me, and now it has a new home where it can keep growing.
Final Thoughts
Selling iCodeThis was a huge milestone for me. It wasn’t a life-changing amount of money, but it proved that I could build and sell a profitable SaaS. Now, I’m taking those lessons and applying them to my next ventures.
If you’re building your own SaaS and thinking about selling, my advice:
- Focus on growth – A strong user base increases valuation.
- Be open to opportunities – I didn’t plan to sell, but the right offer came along.
- Keep building – Every project is a stepping stone to the next big thing.
I’m excited for what’s next! 🚀