The Story
Pat Walls started Starter Story in 2017 as a side project while working a full-time software engineering job. He had many failed projects before this one - the hardest part about building a side project is not giving up.
He built the original website and, of course, nobody visited it. But he kept going. He was publishing great case studies, but nobody knew his website existed. He needed a distribution channel.
He tried a lot of things and finally found something that worked: posting case studies on Reddit. The Reddit posts helped find first sponsors, advertisers, and more businesses to interview.
In early 2020, Pat made a pivotal decision: drop all other projects and go full-time on Starter Story. Coincidentally, this was when COVID hit - which became a "boom" for entrepreneurs. More people than ever were sitting at home wanting to find side hustles. In 2020-2021, records were set for new startups created.
His sister was laid off during the pandemic, so he asked her to help write articles. One thing led to another, and she came on full-time. She gave the business life and pushed forward projects that took Starter Story to the next level.
Key Insights
Early Traction: Celebrate Small Wins
- •The best way to not give up is to achieve small positive reinforcement early
- •Traction doesn't have to be life-changing
- •Could be a few dozen people on an email list
- •Or one happy customer sending a note about loving your product
Distribution Beats Product 99% of the Time
- •Great content means nothing if nobody knows you exist
- •Reddit was the first scalable distribution channel
- •Later pivoted to SEO for 10x organic traffic growth
- •Reached 1M+ visitors per month through SEO
Create Content You Can't Find Anywhere Else
- •Made case studies super in-depth - nothing else like it on the Internet
- •Competition: 500-word fluff articles on Forbes about $20M Series A raises
- •Starter Story: Thousands of words showing how people ACTUALLY built businesses
- •Unique angle: Always shared how much money people were making
- •Revenue transparency was rare back then - helped stand out
Document the Journey (Build in Public)
- •Wrote monthly progress reports about building Starter Story
- •Blogged, tweeted, created videos about strategies and results
- •Helped build a better business AND make connections online
- •Built a small personal brand
Business Numbers
- •$1.8M/year revenue
- •1.6M+ monthly visitors
- •85,000 newsletter subscribers
- •2,500 premium members
- •Team grew from solo to multiple people
Revenue Breakdown
- •Premium memberships: ~38% (~$30K/month)
- •Advertising & sponsorships: ~57%
- •Affiliate revenue: ~5%
Growth Timeline
- •2017: Launched, nobody visited
- •Early days: Reddit distribution
- •2020: Went full-time, COVID boom
- •2020: Hired sister (key hire)
- •2020-2021: SEO strategy, 10x traffic growth
- •Now: $1.8M/year
Key Lessons
- •What got you from 0 to $10K/month is different than $10K to $20K
- •Had to reinvent the business multiple times
- •Eventually need to pick one idea and go all in
- •Hire smart people, let them become "mini-founders"
- •Diversify revenue streams (don't rely on single source)
- •Build systems and automations for everything possible
Key Advice
- •Distribution beats product 99% of the time
- •Create unique content that can't be found elsewhere
- •Document your journey publicly
- •Go all in when you find something working
- •Hire to fill gaps in your attention
Resources
- •Starter Story: https://www.starterstory.com/
- •Pat's site: https://patwalls.com/
- •Twitter: https://x.com/thepatwalls