The Story
Loïc is a French founder who built three successful SaaS apps in the e-commerce space: Infuspy (influencer discovery for e-commerce), Minia (product research for dropshippers that peaked at $750K MRR), and Drop Magic (AI-powered store builder now at $45K MRR).
But it didn't start this way. Loïc spent the first 5 years of his professional life building a SaaS that literally no one ever used - zero customers, zero revenue for 5 years. He made every bad decision possible.
The turning point came when an e-commerce owner approached him with a specific problem. Loïc realized this person wasn't alone - many others had the same issue. Instead of building in the dark, he followed a simple path: started with a newsletter to validate traction, then a no-code app to validate product-market fit, then a real app to scale.
His secret weapon? YouTube creators. More than 60% of his customers come from YouTube partnerships. He works with over 500 YouTube creators across his apps, either paying them with cash/affiliate revenue or bringing them on as co-founders with equity.
Key Insights
Why YouTube Creators Work
- •Best ROI-positive investment for a SaaS business
- •Outcomes are predictable (minimum guaranteed views vs. hoping for TikTok virality)
- •Long-form video lets creators actually show how they use the app
- •Videos stay relevant for years - still getting conversions from 3-year-old videos
- •Can repurpose long-form into short-form and ads
4-Step Creator Partnership System
- •Find creators - Search YouTube keywords, study competitors' influencer strategies
- •Evaluate metrics - Engagement rate over 10%, minimum 100 comments per video, check if brands work with them repeatedly (3+ times = profitable)
- •Reach out - 7-email campaign with different marketing angles, blast on Instagram and Twitter
- •Deal making - Fixed fee + commission, lowball initial offer by 30%, offer two packages (high upfront/low commission vs. low upfront/high commission)
Why Creator Co-Founders Work
- •De-risks distribution when launching (secured 10K MRR from day one with Drop Magic)
- •Provides product insights - they're power users who get direct community feedback
- •Marketing insights - iterate fast on scripts, funnels, pricing, marketing angles
Tech Stack
- •Supabase (database)
- •Next.js + Vercel (frontend/hosting)
- •Sentry (debugging)
- •Trigger Dev (big compute)
- •Cursor + Claude Code (development)
- •Nanobana (AI image generation)
- •Gemini + OpenAI (copywriting)
- •Blime (creator discovery)
- •Loops (email marketing)
Resources
- •Follow Loïc: https://x.com/LoicBerthelot