In 2023, I interviewed Benjamin about building a successful language learning app. But Benjamin got tired of the B2C world and decided to start afresh with a B2B app, selling to businesses. He's joined me for an interview about making an app for businesses tracking their mentions in LLMs. Keep reading to find out how Benjamin made the switch to B2B.
What have you been up to since our last interview?
The last time we talked, I was riding on a high. I had learned how to code after years of thinking I should. And my app French Together was doing great at $10k MRR. But as everyone who has built a business will tell you, entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster.
After the initial growth driven by my existing audience, things got a turn for the worse. My SEO presence got worse and worse and my (admittedly low effort) attempts at finding new acquisition channels failed. The main issue? I felt super demotivated. I tried Reddit ads, paid an influencer to post on Instagram and TikTok…
Unsurprisingly, these 2 strategies didn’t immediately pay off, few marketing strategies do. And since I felt pretty unmotivated I figured it was perhaps time to take another leap of faith. So I mostly abandoned French Together, joined Rob Walling’s SaaS Launchpad course and started researching B2B SaaS ideas.
Initially, the plan was to just maintain French Together enough for it to keep generating revenue while working on the new SaaS. Recently though, I started updating it again, mostly because using Claude Code allowed me to be so much more productive that it freed up some time. And also because I realized letting my main source of income die a slow death was pretty silly 😀
I’m not actively trying to sell French Together but could be open to it if a good offer comes along.
How come you’ve decided to build a B2B SaaS?
Anyone who ever worked on a B2C SaaS will tell you that it has its pros and cons (putting it mildly.) Low willingness to pay, high churn etc. And I always felt envious of my indie friends running B2B SaaS.
It always seemed easier in some way but I have also always been intimidated by the idea of selling to companies. What if my code is not good enough? What if the app crashes while I’m on vacation?
But just like with my dream of learning how to code, I eventually reached a point where I felt like I couldn’t put it off any longer. I had to at least try launching a B2B SaaS.
So when Rob Walling released his SaaS Launchpad course, I figured I might as well. I spent months researching ideas, made lists, got excited about ideas before discarding them after doing more research…Until finally, I stumbled upon an idea that seemed both exciting and promising: Lorelight.
