Marc Lou Profile picture
Dec 28 13 tweets 6 min read Read on X
I grew a YouTube channel from 0 to 100K followers in 10 months.

- 3.5M views
- $100K+ revenue for my startups
- Less than 10 hours/week time invested

Here are 9 lessons I learned 🧵 Image
But before we start...

I'm not a typical YouTuber.

80% of my time is spent writing code and building startups.

I'm only able to tell stories about my work or my life.

Here's my channel:
Here are the stats:

Now, let's start. youtube.com/@marc-louImage
1. Be different

YouTube is competitive. The easiest way to stand out is to be unique and challenge the status quo.

If a friend described you, what would they say? “Oh, this is the person who ___.”

My ___ is shipping lots of startups. Here's a simple formula to find yours:

Pick 2 skills you're average at. Combine them and you're unique. For example:

- You can code
- You play guitar

"I built a free app to learn open chords in 7 minutes"Image
2. Find and replicate winning formulas

If you have no idea what to talk about, do what works already.

Study successful videos, find their format, and replicate them with your own uniqueness.

For instance, you can apply a Mr Beast concept to building startups:

"$1 SaaS vs. $1M SaaS"

Don't reinvent the wheel.

1of10.com by @richard_yts is an excellent way to find video ideas that could go viral.
3. Make your title & thumbnail first

Start with these before making the video—they give you a clear angle and direction to shape the content.

Spend 50% of your time on them. Packaging is everything:

- Promise something irresistible, make viewers feel like they’ll miss out if they don’t click
- Trigger emotions like wtf? LOL or curiosity
- Keep titles short, avoid adjectives
- Have 1 primary element (i.e. your face) and a few secondary elements (i.e. a computer)
- Use vibrant colors with strong contrasts

Check @AprilynneAlter YouTube videos, they're excellent.Image
4. Know your audience

You can’t talk to everyone.

Find your people, speak their language, and relate to them through your tone, visuals, and style. Make them feel like you’re speaking only to them.

Use YouTube data to know who your niche is. Image
5. Tell stories

My channel is about my story.

But each startup I build also has a story:

- Someone hacked my site
- My SaaS reached $1,000 MRR
- I built this website in 12 hours

Every video needs a story.

Introduce a problem, show the actions to solve it, and wrap it up. Image
6. Show, don't tell

Keep your intro under 10 seconds.

Don’t waste time explaining—show what
the video is about immediately. Image
Image
7. But don't skip the intro

Many viewers queue up videos, and yours might not be the first they watch.

Remind them of the title and the promise you made in the thumbnail.

Help them remember why they clicked. Image
8. Use constraints

Constraints force productivity and creativity.

I work on my videos only on Saturdays. I have no choice but to have the video scheduled by the end of the day.

1. I pick an idea from my list and find a creative angle
2. I create the title & thumbnail
3. I script the intro and outline the rest of the video (bullet points)
4. I shoot the intro at least 2 times and YOLO the rest of the video

This limit keeps me focused and creative.Image
9. Plant seeds and be patient

Every video is a seed.

The YouTube algorithm needs time to pick one up.

Create consistently, iterate often, and let the seeds grow.

When one video takes off, others will follow. Image
It's harder to make a YouTube video than writing a tweet.

But YouTube has a unique advantage:

Viewers can see your face and expressions, which builds more trust.

The revenue/visitor metric I get from @DataFast_ is usually 200% higher when traffic is coming from YouTube VS. any other marketing channel.

At first, it's awkward to speak to a camera. Then you get comfortable and wish you'd have done it sooner.

Starting now could be your best investment for 2025 💪Image
Everything I learned as a solopreneur:

How to find startup ideas, launch fast, and get profitable ↓

marclou.beehiiv.com

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More from @marc_louvion

Dec 10
How I would learn to code in 2024 (if I could start over):

(WARNING this is NOT for people who want to get a 9-5 but for those who want to learn to code fast, build a business, and quit their 9-5)

🧵
What I did wrong:

I learned to code in 2016 to build my dream startup (I believed I was the next Mark Zuckerberg).

So I bought Udemy courses. My cart looked like this:

- React: 64 hours
- JavaScript: 52 hours
- Node.js: 41 hours Image
150 hours of content and 2 years later, I still couldn’t create an online business (payments, user login, dashboard, emails — nothing fancy).

I felt defeated. I thought coding wasn’t for me. I almost gave up…
Read 27 tweets
Oct 18
I turned 31 today.

5 lessons I wish I knew at 21: Image
1/ Do it today, because you'll die tomorrow.

I failed 27 businesses.

I lived with cockroaches, ran out of money, and returned to my parents' house.

But I regret nothing. If I had to do it again, I would.

Each failure is a lesson.
2/ Your habits today define who you'll be tomorrow.

I'm happy to get old.

Because I'll be a better person tomorrow.

I've built a system I repeat every day:

- read
- sleep
- workout
- ship startups

And dozens of other daily habits that make me look forward to the future version of myself.
Read 7 tweets
Jun 3
Yes, you can grow a startup with 0 followers and $0.

This is how I get 300 visitors a day from Google, for free, using programmatic SEO ↓ Image
1/ What’s Programmatic SEO (pSEO)?

pSEO is a marketing strategy to rank on Google for a group of long-tail keywords related to 1 main keyword.

You use code to build a skeleton. And you fill it with content, usually generated programmatically too. Image
That’s how I got:

• 15,600 visitors on
• 9,000 visitors on
• 4,500 visitors on WorkbookPDF BooksCalculator.com
GamifyList.com
WorkbookPDF.com
Read 24 tweets
Apr 19
I never change my tech stack.

My 21 products get 550,000 page views per month using this simple — not fancy — tech stack:
1. Front-end

I use ReactJS, Tailwind CSS, and NextJS.

I also use daisyUI, the awesome Tailwind component library to speed things up.

Design trends give birth to new UI components every day. It’s a distraction. daisyUI has 20+ themes and all the components, that’s enough. Image
2. Back-end

I use serverless functions by NextJS. I don’t have to install packages or maintain an OS. I clone a NextJS project and I have a scalable API for my micro SaaS in seconds.
Read 9 tweets
Mar 29
2017: I spent a year building a startup that made $0.
2023: I launched 10 products and made $263,000.

Speed is solopreneurs' best friend.

This is how to get ideas and build them fast: Image
1/ An idea, quick

The most successful products were built by solopreneurs scratching their itches.

@levelsio building NomadList while traveling the world is a great example.
There are tons of existing problems gravitating around you.

Build a habit of looking around.

If you’re working 9/5, it’s the best place to explore. Search for experiences that bother you. Or knowledge you wish you had.
Read 10 tweets
Feb 27
- 21 products
- 13 top product
- Maker of the year

Here’s what I learned about launching startups Product Hunt ↓ Image
1/ Inbound upvotes

There are 2 ways to get upvotes.

Inbound upvotes are given by Product Hunt users who casually browse the site. Your listing should be on point:

- Your startup name should be crystal clear. I wrote about making names people remember: marclou.beehiiv.com/p/how-to-name-…
- Your tagline should be short, straight to the point, and possibly trigger an emotional reaction. You can use trendy tech words like GPT-4 but don’t go too deep. Designers, product managers, and marketers must understand your tagline.
Read 14 tweets

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