The Journey of Building Robopost: How I Grew to $55K MRR in One Year

Starting a company as a solo founder is no small challenge, especially as a female founder from Japan. I’m Mako, and I’d like to share the story of how I built Robopost.app, a social media post automation and scheduler SaaS, from scratch, taking it to $55K MRR in just one year.

Building the MVP in 2 Months

The journey started with a tight two-month timeline to get the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) up and running. Using FastAPI for the backend and ReactJS for the frontend, I focused on building something simple but effective—just enough to solve the problem I saw so many business owners struggling with: managing social media posts consistently. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked, and that’s all I needed to start getting real feedback.

The Early Days: Getting My First Customers

In the beginning, I relied on people I already knew—small business owners who trusted me enough to pay for Robopost even in its early stages. These initial customers were critical. They gave me the motivation and feedback I needed to shape the platform. When you’re just starting out, having even a few paying customers feels like a huge win. I’m forever grateful to those who believed in me and helped me get the ball rolling.

Cracking $55K MRR: The Game-Changer That Is Meta Ads

To be honest, most of Robopost’s growth wouldn’t have been possible without Facebook and Meta Ads. But here’s the thing—most people give up on Meta Ads too early. I almost did. Running ads can feel like burning money at first. You spend, and the returns are minimal, or sometimes, they don’t come at all. That’s exactly where most people quit. I completely understand why. You’re throwing money into the system, and it feels like the algorithm just isn’t working for you.

But the key to success with Meta Ads is patience and understanding. There’s a learning phase that you can’t avoid. It’s during this phase that many get discouraged because the returns are often small at first. But it’s crucial to stick with it. What I learned is that the Meta algorithm needs time to “learn” who your ideal customers are. You have to test, adjust, and optimize your creatives constantly. Once I figured out how to use the algorithm to my advantage, everything changed. Meta Ads became the growth engine behind Robopost, and knowing how to run them well was like unlocking a superpower.

So, if you're diving into Meta Ads, my advice is this: don’t give up in the early stages. Yes, the learning curve is steep, and yes, it feels like you’re wasting money—but if you stick with it and learn how the algorithm works, it will pay off.

SEO: The Long Game That’s Starting to Pay Off

While Meta Ads gave me that initial push, SEO has been an ongoing project that’s starting to bring in serious revenue. It’s one of those things that takes time and patience, but I knew it would be worth it. If you’re running a SaaS, having a blog is non-negotiable. It’s not just about cramming in keywords; it’s about providing real value and becoming a trusted resource. For Robopost, developing useful content and free tools on the site has been a slow but steady path to more organic traffic. One day, I hope SEO can take over enough that I won’t need to rely on Meta Ads as much.

Video Marketing: The Untapped Power of YouTube

One thing I wish I’d jumped on earlier is video content. I’ve realized how powerful video marketing can be—especially on YouTube. People connect with video in a way they don’t with written content alone. I’ve started experimenting with video tutorials and product demos, and it’s starting to resonate. So, if you’re in the SaaS world like me, don’t underestimate the power of video.

AI and the Future of Robopost

AI is something that has excited me from the start. We’ve integrated some cool AI features into Robopost, like post generation and content creation using OpenAI’s DALL-E. You can check out the AI features here. This has been a game-changer for our users, helping them generate creative, engaging posts in seconds. AI is the future of social media automation, and I’m thrilled to keep exploring its possibilities.

What’s Next? Possibly Cold Outreach with AI

Cold outreach wasn’t part of my strategy early on because I didn’t have the resources to do it effectively. But with advancements in AI, that might change soon. AI can help personalize outreach in ways I wouldn’t have been able to before, making it something I’m seriously considering as we scale.

Final Thoughts

It’s been a whirlwind year growing Robopost.app from nothing to $55K MRR. I’ve learned so much—especially about the importance of mastering Meta Ads, the slow power of SEO, and the impact of AI. There’s still so much ahead, but I’m excited about what the future holds. Every day brings new challenges, but also new opportunities, and I can’t wait to see where Robopost goes next.

Thanks for following along on this journey. If you’re building something of your own, I hope my experience offers a bit of inspiration—and a reminder that it’s all about staying curious, staying adaptable, and just keeping at it.