Hello No-Code enthusiasts, you rock 🙌
While we’re preparing for the next No-Code Garage Sale, we really enjoy hearing the stories from the sellers and buyers of the products that are sold already. How did the maker came up with the idea initially? And why did the new owners acquire this? 👀
Sharing today: FocusTweet, created by Lee Hills.
Knowing Lee for over a year now, I saw him building many small new products. Going by the Twitter handle @LeeLaunches, he loves to participate in short build sprints and is fond of launching new ideas. So when we came up with the idea for the No-Code Garage Sale, Lee was the first I reached out to in order to ask if he wanted to pitch an old build 💡
Always in for something new, Lee immediately jumped in and listed a product for sale that he was not really working on anymore: FocusTweet. And not only that: he even blocked a Build Weekend to prepare the product for the Garage Sale 😃
Cold feet
Working on the FocusTweet to prepare for the Sale, Lee got all excited again about the ideas he initially had for his product. In addition to that he received a lot of positive feedback. So doubt set in: was he really sure to sell this gem?
After long deliberation he decided to proceed with the sale, as he has a lot of other projects going on too.
This obviously was a big opportunity for the people attending the first No-Code Garage Sale. Therefore it was no surprise that Lee received a lot of bids after his pitch, and that FocusTweet got sold quickly.
Time for an interview with Lee and the new owners: Leoul and Max from Seattle 😀
Congrats with selling FocusTweet Lee 🥳
Do you recall when you started building this?
Thanks 😊
Yes, about a year ago, in February ‘22, to scratch my own itch and solve my personal problem with Twitter. I often get new ideas for tweets while working on my Launches, but when going to Twitter to write those I always get distracted by everyone else's tweets. Very interesting, but also taking up a lot of time. A big rabbit hole 🕳️
I tried some other tools to tackle this, but to me they overloaded with features. That’s how I came up with the idea for FocusTweet, as I just wanted a simple way to write and edit my tweet ideas without opening the Twitter app or website.
Very relatable! 😅
When you started working on this, which business opportunities did you saw for FocusTweet?
I showed the early version to a mastermind for ideas that I am part of called I Want this to exist. Fellow members loved the idea and mentioned that they believed this could become a real Micro SaaS with paid subscription plans and all. Brainstorming with them made me super excited and encouraged me to give it a try 😃
After all that initial excitement, what changed for you that got FocusTweet sidetracked?
I launched FocusTweet.com in February ‘22, but also launched a newsletter around that time: The Work Flows, a newsletter with gigs for Bubble developers. From the start that newsletter grew quickly and ended up taking most of my attention. The Works Flows also lead to me finding my own full-time bubble job. I started the job in April and unfortunately was not able to keep up all my side projects anymore. So I decided to focus on one side project, which was The Work Flows.
And although I currently fortunately have more time to work on my own Launches, in addition to contract work, I was not working on FocusTweet anymore. Instead I still run my newsletter and launched Smallwins.io and YVisuals.app. So when you invited me for the Garage Sale it just felt like a good moment to get FocusTweet out of my hands.
However, I must confess it was a bit hard to let it go after I spent some time working on it again to prepare it for the sale 😅
I can imagine. But a great opportunity for you Leoul and Max, congrats 🥳
Totally! 😃
When we saw Lee’s demo of FocusTweet we saw a lot of potential for this tool. We love the intersection of Social Media and Productivity, and felt that there's a huge opportunity in the creator space for this. We think there are a lot of creators and builders around who want to create more content for Twitter, but struggle with the distractions on their timeline Lee mentions. That’s why we were eager to take this over from him 🤩
Despite the current rollercoaster after Elon Musk acquired Twitter, we are confident that Twitter is here to stay. Over the last 5 years we saw a lot of creators building huge audiences by being consistent in their posting and having a dedicated strategy. We believe a lot of other creators and builders are interested in achieving this too and want to get more out of their Twitter. That’s why we believe this is a great opportunity for us 😃
We've been looking to buy a project for about a year now and this was exactly the event we needed to see some cool ones. We'd already done the legwork to setup an LLC in 2022 and liked the idea of picking up something instead of starting from scratch. We're both consultants (SaaS and HR) and very interested in the business side. This will be our first business and we can’t wait to get started 🎉
We've been looking to buy a project for about a year and this was exactly the event we needed to see some cool ones.
Awesome. Looking forward to follow this 🙌
Are you planning to make any changes to the product?
Yes. We have a lot of ideas to help creators and makers to focus on growing on Twitter. We plan to introduce new draft capabilities, work to allow for posting threads, and include a pomodoro timer or other productivity aid. We also aim to integrate with other content tools that creators use for their images, video’s etc.
Currently it’s a bit uncertain how Twitter’s new API rules will look like, but we are confident that we’ll find a way to make that work for everyone 💪
How do you plan to grow FocusTweet from here?
First we’re going to redesign the marketing website. After that we plan to set up a private beta. We’d love to invite everyone who attended the No-Code Garage sale for this, to share your feedback and thoughts. Learning and iterating from that we’ll work towards a big launch later, on social media and other relevant places. In the mean time we’ll also invest in content creation ourselves and SEO to drive direct traffic. Finally, we aim to bring FocusTweet to the right users by joining communities on Slack and Discord and collaborating with other No-Code creators and makers.
Currently we’re quite new in the No-Code community, so if anyone reading this has any advice or connections that could help us kickstart our journey that would be much appreciated 😃
Hearing about that Lee,
do you have any advice or suggestions for Leoul and Max now they are taking this over from you?
Yes, do what I did not: focus on marketing to grow the user base 😃
There are a lot of other features that could be added to the product, but I think what’s the core benefit for users is that it allows them to capture tweet ideas and tweet them without opening Twitter. With the right marketing I really believe that FocusTweet can become a big success!
It feels the product is in good hands now, and I want to wish Leoul and Max every success. I really hope that FocusTweet will become the next Twitter tool succes story. Even though it’s not mine anymore, that would make me very proud 🤗
Sounds like a great deal for both sides 🎉
To support Leoul and Max growing their new product, follow them on Twitter and sign up on focustweet.com to test and share your thoughts 😃
In the mean time Lee also sold another old build via the Garage Sale, so he’s now our top seller 🤩 More about that later.
The next sale
On February 22 we’re hosting the second edition of the No-Code Garage Sale.
Are you interested in buying (or selling) a small No-Code product?
Curious about the products sold at the first edition? Take a look at the pitches 🙂
Let us know what you think 👀
This was the second story here, after our video interview last week about 30 Days Of Marketing. Which format you prefer?
Thanks, and talk soon 🙂