The Story
Denis Yurchak is a self-taught developer who built Yadaphone - a browser-based international calling service - after seeing a tweet from Pieter Levels about Skype shutting down. In just 7 months, he went from zero to $14K MRR with 10,000 registered users, 4,500 paying customers, and 20 enterprise clients.
Denis has no technical background - he's actually a trained diplomat who studied for diplomatic work in Russia. After moving to Austria, he taught himself to code in two months using books and courses. He started working at a startup but quickly realized he wanted his own business. He freelanced to support himself while always working on side projects.
His first projects were ugly with no users, but with each one, he learned something new - better design, more reliable code. When Microsoft announced Skype was shutting down in March 2025, Denis saw Pieter Levels tweet about it and thought "why not me?"
He built a prototype over the weekend, launched on Reddit and X, and got his first sales in MINUTES - something that had never happened with any of his previous projects. This was clear validation.
Key Insights
Why Yadaphone Succeeded
- •Validated market - Pieter Levels' tweet proved demand existed
- •Perfect timing - Skype shutdown created immediate need for alternatives
- •Accumulated skills - Years of failed projects built the skills needed
- •Pay-as-you-go model - Different from competitors' subscription model
The Reddit Launch Strategy
- •Posted screenshots of core functionality with simple, clean interface
- •Targeted traveler subreddits first (got blocked but still got sales)
- •Moved to entrepreneur subreddits where self-promotion is allowed
- •Got 150 users in the first week
- •First sales came in MINUTES after posting
The SEO Opportunity
- •When big competitors leave, their articles still rank
- •Reached out directly to authors of "Skype alternative" articles
- •Asked them to add or replace Skype with Yadaphone
- •This drove massive traffic from high-authority sites
5-Step Playbook for Building in Proven Markets
- •Find markets with dinosaur competitors - Old, slow-moving companies that haven't adapted
- •Build MVP fast and post everywhere - X, Reddit, LinkedIn. Nail design and usability, have a compelling story
- •Capitalize on competitor exits - Reach out to authors of articles mentioning the old competitor
- •Keep iterating - Text every paying customer for feedback for the first 6 months
- •Create B2B offering ASAP - Enterprise has bigger checks and lower churn
Business Model
- •Pay-as-you-go international calling (not subscription)
- •Individual customers and enterprise clients
- •Enterprise plan created overnight when a customer asked for it
- •One enterprise customer pays ~$1,000/month
Tech Stack
- •Next.js (full-stack framework)
- •Cursor (coding + copy writing)
- •Vercel (hosting)
- •Ahrefs (keyword research)
- •Stripe (payments)
- •Twilio (call handling, ~35% of monthly earnings)
- •Custom support system built with Cursor
Key Advice
- •Do SEO from day one - it takes weeks/months but pays off immensely
- •Check your sitemap has www prefix - Google may ignore pages without it
- •Be patient with SEO - it's not like code where you see instant results
Resources
- •Follow Denis: https://x.com/denisyurchak
- •Yadaphone: https://www.yadaphone.com/