Meet the Makers December 2020: Million-Dollar Marketplace Success Stories
What’s up, Sumo-lings! Welcome back to our Meet the Makers series, where we round up our favorite Marketplace success stories and talk to the dope founders behind some of your favorite products.
With over $1 MILLION in revenue generated for Marketplace Partners and 500+ deals live, we’ve got a lot to be excited about this month. We’re building a world where makers finally get the rewards they deserve and we’re not showing any signs of slowing down.
If you haven’t heard of the AppSumo Marketplace, your life is about to change. Explore a bustling, collaborative community where creators can easily launch and sell their best digital downloads, courses, and apps to help fellow entrepreneurs succeed. Want in on the action? Submit your product here!
It’s December, which means ’tis the season for giving, togetherness, and feel-good stories that give you the fuzzies. Jump into some of the best Marketplace Case Study stories below, hear about their launches, and steal their secrets for success!
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1. Cartfuel
What It Does:
Cartfuel is an embeddable payment solution that focuses on increasing AOV through one-click upsells.
Meet Jelani:
My name is Jelani, and I’m the founder and CEO of Cartfuel.
The most valuable thing we received from the promotion was feedback from people all over the world who genuinely want to see Cartfuel succeed.
I had always dreamed of creating software. I took a course on ideation with Sam Parr from the Hustle and Gagan Biyani from Udemy. When I presented Cartfuel to them, they said that if I wanted to pursue this idea, I could make a full-time income on it. Those words, coming from such influence, really put this project in high gear.
I’m not a technical founder, so I went to Upwork and found someone who could help me develop. I didn’t have the funds to hire someone to design the UI/UX, so I watched a YouTube video and taught myself how to use Figma.
I designed the UI/UX myself, even though I had never designed UI/UX before. Then I had the developer from Upwork build the first version based on my wireframes. At that time it was only me and the developer, until I realized that if I wanted to really take this far, I needed a partner.
I brought on one of my friends who is also a really good copywriter to help with messaging and strategy. Then I found over 100 people who would be potentially interested in trying out a beta before we launched on AppSumo.
As of right now, we have three developers who are implementing new features and fixing any bugs that may occur as we continue to grow. It has been amazing to see Cartfuel grow in such a short period of time!
How did you find out about the AppSumo Marketplace?
I found out about the Marketplace through the AppSumo website.
Tell us about your launch! Any challenges?
Overall, the process was very easy and simple. Seann and the AppSumo team have been very communicative and ensured that we have success. The only real challenge would be how to get eyes on your listing. The first sales are the hardest especially if you haven’t marketed a product before.
What value did you receive from your promotion?
The most valuable thing we received from the promotion was feedback from people all over the world who genuinely want to see Cartfuel succeed. They offered feedback, found bugs, offered suggestions for new features, and ultimately made Cartfuel 10x better in a very short period of time.
What advice would you give to anyone interested in the Marketplace, so they can get the most of their launch?
One thing I will say for anyone who wants to launch on the Marketplace is to have a plan and a strategy. Since AppSumo does minimal promotion at first, you have to have a plan to market your product. Otherwise, the Marketplace won’t serve you well.
What’s been your favorite thing about launching with us?
The community. The feedback the community provides is priceless!
What’s your company vision? Tell us what’s next for you!
Longterm, Cartfuel is the first of many products for the FuelPoweredApps family. We are going to launch more products with the “Fuel” moniker.
But in the short-term, we will continue to build Cartfuel with more features like additional payment gateways, the ability to send information to different CRMs, more integrations, new payment form types, and more customization.
As far as the company, we want to hire content writers to help bring our organic traffic to new heights. We will keep our team lean so that we can continue to move fast while maintaining a high level of excellence.
2. Sidekick Ai
What It Does:
Sidekick Ai helps schedule meetings for you using machine learning and language processing.
Meet Chris:
My name is Chris Ake, and I’m the co-founder of Sidekick Ai.
Sidekick has been bootstrapped since the idea and never has raised money, which is why AppSumo was a huge blessing to help propel our company to greater heights!
Sidekick Ai “officially” launched in May 2020, but the idea came about in late 2018. Nathan Jean, co-founder and lead engineer, was growing his software development company very quickly. He was doubling in size every year and realized what a pain scheduling was. So he scoured Google to find out what tools were on the market. He found a few basic link share tools, but nothing to do what he wanted it to do. So like any other software engineer with a problem, he started building a solution for himself!
Then Nathan approached Jon Butler and myself and explained his pain and the solution for it. We immediately loved the idea. In fact, Jon and I actually sold our mobile app development company (Grand Apps) in 2020 to solely focus on Sidekick Ai.
Currently, Sidekick has three co-founders and also uses Nathan’s software development company developers to help fill in the gaps. Sidekick has been bootstrapped since the idea and never has raised money, which is why AppSumo was a huge blessing to help propel our company to greater heights!
How did you find out about the AppSumo Marketplace?
I found out about AppSumo from an internet marketer in Canada when I was on his podcast. We applied and thought, No way we will get in. But what do you know? We made it!
I was at a birthday dinner when Jon texted us in our group chat saying we made it! You bet I had a drink for that. Cheers!
Tell us about your launch! Any challenges?
The only challenge was, we needed reviews. So we asked our beta users to drop a review. Our beta users, around 100+, have been using Sidekick for months and loved us. Naturally, they left us great reviews.
When we started gaining traction, the AppSumo community was so surprised by our reviews, they thought they were fake. But in reality, it was just our super happy beta users!
As we gained more traction on the marketplace, we got solid loyal reviews from awesome Sumo-lings. So it all worked out great in the end.
What value did you receive from your promotion?
Well besides revenue, we gained a TON of great feedback. We also realized that our product does indeed have a market fit and people want it. That is very refreshing.
Can you imagine launching and hearing 90% of people say “this sucks” or “nobody wants it”? That would be a dagger in the heart. This was the exact opposite. People really love it, but they know we need to do more work on it.
We got a lot of great insight and found features we need to really focus on. We have actually already launched a few features that were AppSumo requests!
What advice would you give to anyone interested in the Marketplace, so they can get the most of their launch?
I would say just be ready to answer a lot of questions. Be optimistic and don’t take things personally. Also, be honest—don’t ever lie. The AppSumo community can be loving or hating, depending on how you handle things.
Here’s a good example: When we got some backlash for our product reviews, I just explained how it worked and what we were told. Since I was honest, I actually won a few customers over and they bought codes. I feel that if I hadn’t been fully truthful in my responses, we could’ve had worse reactions.
So just let people know where you are, answer them, help as much as you can, and keep moving forward.
Life is short, so keep working and smiling!
What’s been your favorite thing about launching with us?
Oh, the feedback and product validation, 100%. Also, getting this product in front of a lot of eyeballs! It feels great to have so much validation. It’s been a huge help to us, for sure.
What’s your company vision? Tell us what’s next for you!
Well, we’re actually seeking a Seed Round now. We’ve listened to the AppSumo community, and we need to improve and enhance faster. So, we are seeking funding from an early stage Angel investor to move quicker and keep growing our company.
3. Better Sheets
What It Does:
Better Sheets is an online tutorial for mastering Google Sheets to solve a variety of real-world problems.
Meet Andrew:
My name is Andrew, and I’m a solo maker.
The process for me was absolutely amazing because I felt like I was on a fast track at Disney.
I launched Better Sheets the first week of April 2020, in the midst of the global pandemic. Better Sheets was made not in spite of Covid, but because of it. I knew that as people got stuck on their computers and didn’t have to commute for a bit, they’d re-start their creative side projects. And we all start in Google Sheets. Sheet.new, am I right?
How did you find out about the AppSumo Marketplace?
I’ve been following Noah Kagan for quite some time. Fun Fact: we were supposed to meet for breakfast years ago.
I applied to the first batch, thinking this will never happen, I won’t be picked.
Spoiler Alert: I got picked. I think it was out of 700 applicants.
Tell us about your launch! Any challenges?
The process for me was absolutely amazing because I felt like I was on a fast track at Disney. I didn’t wait in any queue or sit in line. The team at AppSumo put together their own materials and whisked me through with very little hesitation. It was amazing to work with such a brilliant and fast team.
Now six months later, I still get chills when I get in an email back and forth with them. They are so attentive and I think that has spilled over into my work as well.
I try to answer every single customer email, no matter what, as quickly as I can. Even if I can’t figure it all out for them, I can point them in the right direction. That’s what we need sometimes, just a little nudge.
I spent five years googling for everything in Google Sheets. So many kind folks wrote the answers in their spare time. I feel like I am paying it forward.
What value did you receive from your promotion?
I got over 1,000 customers. This is amazing, especially because in the first month I launched, I literally had seven customers. The first customer I got on my own was amazing. I still remember Carlos well and hope he’s doing great.
And with AppSumo, I got one thousand Carlos’.
The Sumo-lings have asked great questions, resulting in more great Google Sheet tutorials for everyone. Yes, I make sure that some questions and answers are accessible to all Better Sheet Members. So you asking a question not only gets you an answer, but it also helps everyone else who bought Better Sheets.
What advice would you give to anyone interested in the Marketplace, so they can get the most of their launch?
Give great customer service. Be speedy, kind, and honest.
What’s been your favorite thing about launching with us?
The sheer number of people who love AppSumo astounds me to this day. Tons of love.
What’s your company vision? Tell us what’s next for you!
The revenue I’ve generated from AppSumo’s launch of Better Sheets has given me runway for a year. I am struggling now to develop a new site on my own. It’s 60% of the way done and usable. But it’s missing really big features that have been requested. About 20% of Better Sheet members have tested it out. I’d like to hire a designer and developer to take the Better Sheets site to the next level.
4. Start Your Own Digital Planner Side Hustle
What It Does:
Over at PLR of the Month Club, we create beautiful planners, workbooks, and journals, both printable and digital. All of our products come with commercial rights, and are fully editable and brandable—so we are the shortcut to starting your own side hustle or just adding a new product to your existing business!
Meet Melody:
My name is Melody “Just call me Mel!” Wigdahl, and I’m the Chief Everything Officer at PLR of the Month Club.
AppSumo is so well-known and so respected, that the “halo” effect has definitely been felt and appreciated. The congratulatory emails when we announced it were amazing! And I think I am still in shock!
Although I have been involved with e-commerce since 1992, I was on the services side, providing payment services for online businesses. After 25+ years on the payments side, I decided to do something fun and launched PLRoftheMonth.Club in 2019, at the age of 65!!
There are four of us now, but I do all of the design work myself and I love it! If a 65-year-old can start a business online—and succeed!—anyone can!
How did you find out about the AppSumo Marketplace?
Long time Sumo-ling, so I knew about it. But then Lynette Chandler of Thrive Anywhere was accepted, and I thought…”Let’s go for it!”
Tell us about your launch! Any challenges?
In all honesty, it happened so quickly. From the finished application to going live, there were really not too many challenges! The team was awesome and very communicative!
The only thing that would make it easier from the submission side would be the creation of some kind of checklist at the beginning of the process. It could detail the number and size of the images you will need, the descriptions and bullet points, and so on. I had to stop several times during the process to create images and use my word processing software to spellcheck and word count, etc.
However, ultimately, I was impressed with the speed and ease of going live!
What value did you receive from your promotion?
In one word: CREDIBILITY! Yes, the sales have been great but the response from our customers and others in our niche has been amazing! AppSumo is so well-known and so respected, that the “halo” effect has definitely been felt and appreciated. The congratulatory emails when we announced it were amazing! And I think I am still in shock!
What advice would you give to anyone interested in the Marketplace, so they can get the most of their launch?
- Drop whatever you are doing and go for it. It will be worth it!
- If you have a product that requires some explanation, set up a swipe file with the most common questions, issues, and complaints, and USE IT!
- Support will probably be the heaviest the first week, so be prepared.
- Even if you do not normally have weekend support staff, you should have it for your AppSumo launch! Sumo-lings are VIPs. You need to treat them as such.
- Set up a dedicated email for your launch.
- Check the Marketplace FREQUENTLY (obsessively?) for any questions or issues.
What’s been your favorite thing about launching with us?
The “WOW” factor! It has been so much fun to see and hear the reaction from our readers and customers when we shared the news! And the great comments from new customers about our product are very gratifying. All in all, this has been a wonderful experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat!
What’s your company vision? Tell us what’s next for you!
Right now we are working away on our new 2021 Digital Planner designs. There will be at least six new designs released the first week of November, December, and January, so lots of work ahead. I just hired a new VA (yay!) and if the pandemic ever ends, I would LOVE to take a vacation. Actually, I would be happy just to be able to eat in a restaurant!
5. The Portland Pod
What It Does:
Our “Learn To Edit Your Podcast” course teaches you the five fundamental concepts of podcast editing, so you can edit faster and produce better-sounding results.
Meet Tanner:
My name is Tanner, and I’m the owner and lead audio engineer at The Portland Pod, a brick and mortar recording studio located in Maine.
I’ve been a Sumo-ling for over five years, so to get to be part of it? It’s just f**king cool!
I’m just one dude, my dudes. One dude working on podcasts with big brands like Dell and WashPo, and smaller brands like MEMIC and Remax. I’ve also worked with individuals and authors. There’s almost no logical reason I should have a successful business, except that I hustle my ass off.
How did you find out about the AppSumo Marketplace?
Honestly, it was dumb luck. I applied to be an AppSumo partner in March and when the Community Marketplace launched, I guess I was at the top of the stack of potentials.
Tell us about your launch! Any challenges?
Well first, I didn’t realize that the Marketplace was new, or separate from the deals promoted at AppSumo. I thought I would sell 1% of the AppSumo user base. But the Marketplace is a different ballgame.
So, I had to make decisions about the redemption process. I needed to figure out which tiers made sense. I would up purchasing more expensive tiers because I expected such a high number of conversions from the community. I didn’t realize I’d have to spend money to make the redemption process possible, but that was important because it impacts profit margins from the deal.
There was a learning curve for sure. It’s a new platform and I was also new to it. So keeping in mind what was going on over at AppSumo, all these folks ironing out these kinks and dealing with the growing pains, helped me keep perspective. They’re really hustling over there! Now, I know it probably won’t be this exact experience for other Marketplace sellers in the future. AppSumo is figuring out the groove with the Marketplace. I bet it’ll only get easier.
What value did you receive from your promotion?
In concrete numbers: over 100 new students and over $2000 in the first two weeks! That’s been great.
And then there are the non-tangibles. The clout. It’s really cool to have been on AppSumo and really cool to be the first podcast editing course on AppSumo.
What advice would you give to anyone interested in the Marketplace, so they can get the most of their launch?
I think you should expect that AppSumo isn’t going to do all the marketing work and that you’re going to have to work for the reach and exposure.
What’s been your favorite thing about launching with us?
It’s just exciting to be a part of it, you know? I’ve been a Sumo-ling for over five years, so to get to be part of it? It’s just f**king cool!
What’s your company vision? Tell us what’s next for you!
I’m really trying to step away from the engineering part of what I do and into the figure-head/personal brand/educator/consultant part. I feel like AppSumo could be a great partner in that! I’d also like to develop more courses for AppSumo.
Conclusion
Thank you to all the amazing creators and founders for taking the time to chat with us and sharing your journeys! We’re so excited to watch your businesses bloom and blossom.
Feeling inspired? Got an idea you’re ready to make a reality?
Our hardworking and hungry audience can’t wait to see what you come up with.