What Happens When Notion Fails? This Founder's $2.2K MRR Has the Answer
In this interview, Jama shares how he built NotionBackups.com to protect users from data loss, turning a major risk into a thriving business.
👋 Hello, Idris here! Welcome to this week's Indieniche newsletter. Each week, I feature tips and stories from successful self-made founders, share insights on building great products, talk about growing your business, and showcase essential tools to help you build and scale better.
If you've found this newsletter helpful, please spread the word to your friends and consider subscribing if you haven't yet.
In this interview, Jama shares how he built and grew NotionBackups.com to 200+ customers using SEO and a clear market need. I discovered him on one of my Reddit threads and thought to feature his journey.
Jama shares:
His backstory and how he started.
How he got his first free and paid customers for his product.
What was effective in attracting customers to his product?
His competitive advantages, what gives him an edge, and insights that have proven beneficial to his operations.
Which books, podcasts, or other resources have had the greatest impact on him.
What advice would he offer to entrepreneurs who are just starting out.
Q. Hello! Who are you and what product are you working on currently, and who is your target audience(Age range)?
Hello! I'm Jama, founder of NotionBackups.com, a backup/restore tool for Notion. With Notion acting as a second brain for many individuals and organizations, having constant backups is crucial, in case things go south. My target audience is every Notion user who values their data.
Q. What is your backstory and how did you come up with your idea? What year did you start?
In January 2021, after selling my previous (mildly unsuccessful) business, I started searching for my next opportunity. I noticed Notion had a passionate user base that wanted an automatic backup solution, something that still doesn’t exist natively.
Once Notion announced they would launch an official API, I recognized a clear need and decided to build a backup/restore tool. I began working on it in the first half of 2021.
Q. Take us through the process of building the first version of your product MVP
I put up a basic landing page to collect email addresses, but I made the mistake of not keeping those leads warm.
I reused code from my previous project because reinventing the wheel isn’t necessary. The choice of technology doesn’t matter as long as you’re comfortable with it.
After a few months of work, I launched the MVP in November, and on December 4th, I received my first payment.
Q. How many employees do you have working on your product? Do you have any co-founders?
It's just me.
Q. How much monthly traffic do you receive?
It depends on the month, but roughly 1,500 to 2,500 visitors.
Q. How did you get your first customers for your product and how many free/paid customers do you have currently? (Feel free to list them out).
I started doing SEO before launching the product and also built a waitlist, which helped with initial sign-ups.
Right now, Notion Backups has more than 200 paying customers. I also offer generous discounts to those who ask.
Q. Since you launched your product, What has worked to attract customers?
SEO has been the biggest driver of customer acquisition, followed by word of mouth.
I experimented with Reddit ads, specifically targeting the Notion subreddit, but they didn’t make much of an impact.
Q. How is your product performing currently, and what are your plans for the future? Can you share your current metrics and revenue figures?
I’m currently at $2.2K MRR. Growth is slow but steady every month. My goal is to continue improving the product.
Q. Since the inception of your business, have you gained any insights that have provided you with a competitive advantage and proven beneficial to your operations?
Building on top of a platform has risks, but if you go into it fully aware, distribution can be much simpler.
My previous business failed because I couldn’t lock down a single distribution channel. I knew this time that I had to find a less saturated market.
Q. What tools have helped you grow your product?
Keeping costs low and using AI for development has helped a lot. Good keyword research is also important.
For hosting, I use a bare-metal server from Hetzner, bought at auction for cheap.
I use CursorAI for building and expanding features, and ChatGPT/Claude for general questions and brainstorming.
For SEO, I use KeywordsEverywhere and Ahrefs.
Q. What advice would you offer to entrepreneurs who are looking to start or have just begun their journey?
Think about the market and distribution first. A weaker product with better distribution often wins.
Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions! What is your contact info if people would like to inquire about your services? You can add all your links.
You can reach me at jmstfv.com or on X
Let me know what you learned from this interview and have a productive week!🙏
Indie Product Of The Week
Are you a founder looking to raise funds for your startup? This is a list of 50+ high-profile startup accelerators that are currently accepting applications. Whether you're bootstrapped and looking for mentorship or seeking funding to scale, this curated list gives you direct access to programs that can help you grow.
Check it out, and share your thoughts in the comments!
Indie Trivia Of The Week
How many floors does the Eiffel Tower have?
Share Your Product With Indie Niche Users
Do you have a product you'd like to share with our community of over 1,000+ indie niche founders?
Drop us a line detailing what makes your product stand out, whether it's a SaaS, marketplace, app, newsletter, or anything else innovative. We're eager to hear from you!
We will pick a product to feature in next week’s newsletter. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to hearing from you.