Tibo Louis-Lucas
Tibo Maker's Portfolio
From Failures to $200K MRR: How Tibo Maker Built a Distribution-First Studio
About Tibo Louis-Lucas
Tibo Maker's Portfolio
Engineer-turned indie founder who shifted from VC-style teams to a lean, distribution-first studio model after multiple failures and a later 8-figure Tweet Hunter/Taplio exit. Now runs several products in parallel with social and newsletter-led growth.
Story Summary
Tibo Maker operates as a distribution-first studio: build a single audience engine and reuse it to launch and grow several products in parallel. The approach emerged after multi-year VC-style failures, was refined through Tweet Hunter/Taplio, and now emphasizes revenue-first validation, partner-led distribution, and platform-risk hedging. This studio model prioritizes fast cycles, aligned incentives, and shared reach across products.
Decision Points
You will encounter 4 key decisions in this story. Make your choices to see how the founder navigated each situation.
One Engine or Many?
With multiple products in development, Tibo must decide whether to build separate marketing funnels or centralize distribution under his personal brand.
Context
Resources are limited; audience building is time-intensive. A unified engine could lift all boats if it fits the portfolio.
How should the studio structure its go-to-market?
How Much to Give a Distributor?
A creator with perfect audience fit offers to drive marketing for a new product—terms must balance speed with long-term upside.
Context
Past deals exchanged a significant share for marketing ownership that unlocked rapid growth.
What deal structure best aligns incentives?
When the API Pulls the Rug
A key product depends on a third-party API. Abrupt pricing and access changes threaten churn.
Context
A similar incident previously cut access without warning and required urgent remediation.
What’s the immediate response?
Kill the Shiny Thing?
A new build is exciting but traction is soft. Team must choose between sunk-cost bias and the studio’s kill-fast rule.
Context
Earlier large-team efforts dragged for years; the studio model favors quick cuts.
What should the studio do?
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Skill-Stack Iceberg
Early VC-style attempts with large teams failed to monetize, pushing a pivot to revenue-first validation and rapid shipping. Success with Tweet Hunter/Taplio built experience in platform risk, influencer distribution, and lean ops that Tibo Maker reuses across multiple products.
Professional Experience
CTO (startup, 30 engineers)
not specifiednot specified
Learned B2B SaaS mechanics and operating at scale before returning to indie building.
Previous Projects
Tweet Hunter
SaaSBuilt-in-public distribution, API/platform navigation, partnering with creator for growth
Informed distribution and risk playbook later applied across the Tibo Maker studio.
Taplio
SaaS + Chrome extensionLinkedIn-adjacent growth via extension tactics and compliance boundaries
Template for balancing growth with platform constraints in new products.
Multiple weekly MVPs (11 shipped; Tweet Hunter was #11)
SaaS/ToolsRapid validation and kill-switch discipline; revenue as truth metric
Foundation of the studio’s fast iteration cadence.
Audience & Distribution
Twitter/X and newsletter
Builds in public; runs campaigns; reuses audience to promote multiple products
Single audience fuels parallel products at the studio level.
Operational Capabilities
Rapid MVP shipping and revenue-first validation
Adopted one-product-per-week challenge; judged success on revenue, not free users or praise.
Shortens time to traction and kill decisions in the studio.
Platform-risk management
Experienced abrupt API changes on Twitter; priced enterprise access; used partnerships to regain access.
Informs channel mix and risk hedging for new studio products.
Influencer/partner distribution deals
Structured profit-share distribution partnerships (e.g., ~25%) to accelerate growth.
Template for co-maker and distribution agreements across portfolio.
How These Skills Applied to Tibo Maker's Portfolio
Lean ops & small core teams
Applied: Keeps ownership of experimental builds; avoids over-hiring; kills weak bets quickly.
Impact: Faster iteration and lower coordination cost.
Audience-first distribution
Applied: Uses a single personal brand/newsletter to cross-promote multiple products.
Impact: Shared audience compounds launches across the studio.
Creator partnerships
Applied: Allocates meaningful upside for marketing ownership to accelerate early growth.
Impact: Order-of-magnitude revenue jumps at launch in prior ventures; model reused.
Success Patterns Identified
Key patterns you can apply to your own product
After going through the decisions above, you've now seen 4 key patterns in action. Here's how to apply them to your own product:
Distribution-First Studio
PatternBuild a shared distribution engine (personal brand + newsletter) that repeatedly launches and grows multiple products instead of marketing each in isolation.
Evidence from this story
Tibo actively runs several products in parallel and invests in social + newsletter distribution to lift them together, rather than siloed go-to-markets.
Revenue as Validation
PatternUse paid conversions as the only signal of traction; ship small, kill fast, and avoid reading free users or compliments as validation.
Evidence from this story
After two multi-year failures, the team adopted a one-product-per-week approach and measured success by revenue, not free usage or praise.
Partner for Distribution
PatternTrade meaningful upside for a partner who owns marketing and launches, when their audience/product fit is strong.
Evidence from this story
Structured a distribution deal (e.g., ~25% profit/exit share) with a creator to own launches and campaigns; later reused this model.
Hedge Platform Risk
PatternWhen products rely on APIs or extensions, plan for sudden policy changes with alternative channels, compliance reviews, and fast negotiations.
Evidence from this story
After Twitter’s API pricing/cut-offs, they coordinated access restoration, signed enterprise terms, and re-evaluated risk across products.
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Sources & References
Thibault Louis-Lucas — Selling a $10M SaaS and Building Another One
Conversation on post-exit motivation, platform dependency, and acquisitions.
This Guy Is Growing 5 Products To $100k MRR. At The Same Time
Deep dive into running five products in parallel with a distribution-first strategy.
How to make $10M from a SaaS
Detailed account of API shocks, enterprise access, and sale structure.
Build fast, launch fast, fail fast: The real founder playbook | Thibault (Tibo) Louis-Lucas
Philosophy of lean teams, rapid shipping, and avoiding over-building.
Ep 139 Tibo - Zero to Millions $$ in 18 Months!
Origins of the one-product-per-week method, partnering with a creator, and exit terms.
92. How He Went from Failure to a $12 Million Business
Failures, revenue-first validation mindset, and lessons applied to later ventures.
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