Stagetimer · B2B · remote timer for stage speakers
Watch people outside tech do their jobs and fix what wastes their time
Found a timer idea worth $25K/month; founder expected it to make little
Workedvalidationpositioning-niche
What they did
The idea came from a friend's studio: the friend ran an old Flash timer on an old laptop and had to get up, walk to another room and press a button to start it. Lukas's approach: go into other businesses, observe people doing their job, and look for hours wasted on awkward processes you'd have automated long ago, especially outside the developer bubble where tools have '1999' interfaces. Target niches small enough that big companies won't bother.
What happened
Stagetimer, which he thought would never make much money, grew to $25K/month; customers range from election TV broadcasts to horse races.
- Stage
- Pre-launch (idea)
“And then to start the timer, he has to get up, walk into the other room, and hit a button and walk back. And my web developer mind immediately says, "Surely there's a better way."”
“So, you go to any other business, and you just observe people doing their job, and you find that they waste hours, and they do things in the most awkward ways that you would have automated long ago.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Stagetimer: Post your free tool in a small niche subreddit and ask for feedbackUsers replied with feature lists and 'I've been waiting for such an app'
- Stagetimer: Ship a one-button MVP in 3 days using tools you already knowShipped in 3 days; first dollar took 224 days at 1 hour a night
- Stagetimer: Write how-to pages and videos for using your tool with gear people already own~50% of traffic comes from Google; niche searchers far likelier to buy
- Stagetimer: Put your logo with your web address on every link people shareAbout a third of traffic is word of mouth; people say they saw it at an event
- Stagetimer: Offer a free plan so freelancers bring your tool to every event they workFounder says free users hitting limits and upgrading 'happens very often'
- Stagetimer: Have your spouse learn marketing and take over ads, sales emails and supportFounder says support is 'amazing' and customers are happy; no numbers