What If You Could Bypass SMS Gatekeepers?
In this interview, Viktor shares how TextLink is disrupting SMS marketing by eliminating third party restrictions.
👋 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, Viktor shares the journey of building TextLink, a self-hosted SMS gateway that removes third-party restrictions, the lessons learned from Twilio arbitrage, and how they scaled to 500 paying users.
Viktor 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.
Advice he'd 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)?
Hey, I’m Viktor, founder of TextLink, a self-hosted SMS gateway that lets users send texts through their own devices using APIs and No-Code tools. Our audience isn’t defined by age; we mainly serve agencies and business owners who need SMS for outreach.
Q. What is your backstory and how did you come up with your idea? What year did you start?
We started TextLink in early 2024. Before that, we were doing SMS arbitrage through Twilio, basically, reselling messages at a premium because Twilio’s setup is restrictive. After a few shutdowns, we decided to remove third-party dependencies and let people send texts using their own devices and SIM cards.
Q. Take us through the process of building the first version of your product MVP
We started with a simple React Native app that sent messages via API. Used code from our previous project (TextFlow.me) to jump-start it and kept adding features from there.
Q. How many employees do you have working on your product? Do you have any co-founders?
It’s me, my co-founder, and one employee.
Q. How much monthly traffic do you receive?
Around 1,500 visits.
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).
We listed on RapidAPI, reached out to people on Discord/Facebook, and made YouTube tutorials. We also launched on AppSumo Select in December 2024. Right now, we have 500 paying users.
Q. Since you launched your product, What has worked to attract customers?
Listening to customers and iterating. If people love your product, they’ll spread the word for you.
Q. How is your product performing currently, and what are your plans for the future? Can you share your current metrics and revenue figures?
Growth slowed after AppSumo (expected), but we’re focused on making it sustainable. We made $20k in profit from December and our MRR is about 1500$ currently. We're planning a Product Hunt launch and a GHL integration soon.
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?
The demand for alternatives to traditional SMS APIs is huge, which keeps us motivated.
Q. What tools have helped you grow your product?
Mostly Zoho Mail. We build everything else in-house.
Q. Which books, podcasts, or other resources have had the greatest impact on you?
Q. What advice would you offer to entrepreneurs who are looking to start or have just begun their journey?
Just start. Move fast, and don’t be afraid to drop projects if they’re not working. Set short-term goals (1-3 months) and be brutally honest about what’s worth pursuing. The more mistakes you make early, the better your instincts will get.
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.
Thanks! You can reach me via Email
Let me know what you learned from this interview and have a productive week!🙏
Indie Tip Of The Week
This week's indie tip is about burnout. As a solo founder, you're juggling everything: coding, marketing, customer support, often at the cost of your well-being. But here’s the truth: rest is productive. Taking breaks isn’t laziness; it’s essential for long-term success. You don’t have to do it all. Ditch the 16-hour workdays and the guilt that comes with stepping back. Your startup won’t fail because you took a breather. Prioritize your health, and your business will thank you for it.
Indie Product Of The Week
CurateIt by Savan Vyas helps you research, curate, and enrich content with AI to boost productivity. Organize and showcase your knowledge through shareable collections, social posts, blogs, bio links, and custom sites, all within a social collaboration platform. Available on web, desktop, mobile, chat, and browser extensions.
Check it out, and share your thoughts in the comments!
Indie Trivia Of The Week
Which country gives students the longest summer holiday?
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.