From $9 to $350K: My Journey in Building and Selling an AI-Driven Website - Side Hustle Nation

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      Imagine building a six-figure business in less than two years — without any technical skills and a minimal marketing budget. Tanya Van Gastel accomplished just that with TheMultiverse.ai, an AI-driven headshot generator transforming selfies into professional images. She began by selling at $9 each, grew to $29, generated over $350,000 in revenue, and sold her business — all while partnering with two co-founders and learning marketing from the ground up.

      In Episode 700 of the Side Hustle Show, Tanya shares insights about how she located customers, expanded her reach through SEO and affiliates, shifted to corporate clients, and ultimately set her business up for acquisition. Tune in to discover:

      - How to penetrate a competitive market and succeed

      - Affordable marketing strategies that can scale

      - The distinction between SEO and “GEO” (generative engine optimization)

      - How to prepare a business for sale even without recurring revenue

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      You Don’t Need to Be First (Or Even in the Top 5) to Succeed

      When Tanya and her co-founders launched Multiverse.ai in April 2023, there were already around 10 other AI headshot generators available. While most might view this as a warning, Tanya perceived it differently.

      “You don’t need to be number one to make a decent living,” she stated. The market was still small enough that many potential customers, including parents, were unaware of AI-generated headshots. As awareness increased, so did the opportunities.

      Within six months, Multiverse.ai reached $5,000 in monthly revenue. This initial success confirmed that the market was more expansive than anticipated, particularly in emerging sectors.

      Creating the Product (Without Technical Skills)

      Tanya does not have a development background; her expertise lies in marketing and PR. However, one of her co-founders was an engineer who developed the platform from the ground up. Two years ago, creating an AI product required significant technical expertise, but today, no-code tools are making this process simpler:

      - Lovable for AI product development

      - Pickaxe for creating AI applications

      Tanya even created a mental health app called Capybara Affirmations as a learning exercise, attracting 10,000 users in the first month—without being a technical founder. The hurdles to launching AI products continue to diminish. The essential factor is to start with a clear value proposition and maintain simplicity.

      5 Marketing Strategies: Reddit, SEO, and Affiliates

      Tanya hailed from a traditional marketing background with teams, budgets, and agencies, but Multiverse.ai did not have any of those resources. So she got resourceful.

      Reddit (The Early Days)

      Tanya dedicated numerous hours searching Reddit for discussions related to headshots, contributing comments that included links to Multiverse.ai. She created several accounts, knowing many would get banned.

      "That’s how we secured our first $500 in revenue,” she recalled. “That was a remarkable moment."

      Her advice: Avoid posting in entrepreneur or side hustle subreddits where everyone's trying to sell. Instead, engage in the spaces where your potential customers are active.

      Utilize tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to identify the most popular Reddit posts by keyword, then contribute to those high-traffic discussions. Don’t spam links; instead, analyze the top posts in your subreddit, screenshot them, and request ChatGPT to generate similar posts in that style. The way you format your posts is just as vital as the content itself.

      SEO: The Core Driver

      For Tanya, SEO was the primary growth engine. She crafted a listicle titled “Best AI Headshot Generators,” ranking Multiverse.ai at the top. That article held the number one position on Google for nearly six months.

      “If you’re a journalist researching for a piece… you’re likely to Google potential companies to review,” Tanya elaborated. This is how Multiverse.ai gained mentions in major publications like Rolling Stone and Forbes.

      The secret was to target bottom-of-funnel keywords like “best AI headshot generator” and “headshots for remote teams.” Although these weren't massive traffic sources, they converted at about 5%.

      Affiliate Marketing: The 30% Commission Structure

      Affiliate marketing emerged as a significant revenue source. Multiverse.ai provided affiliates with 30% of every sale.