You Don’t Need an Illustrator Anymore. You Need This Tool.
In this interview, we learn how Evan turned frustration into a thriving AI illustration tool with over 8,000 users, all as a solo founder!
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In this interview, Evan opens up about the journey that led to the birth of illustration.app, an AI-powered design tool built from scratch, and now serving thousands of users with beautiful, customizable illustrations, all without a co-founder or a marketing team.
Evan 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 Evan, a solo founder building illustration.app, an AI-powered tool that generates vector illustrations instantly. The goal is to help designers, marketers, startups, and developers create high-quality visuals without hiring an illustrator.
Q. What is your backstory and how did you come up with your idea? What year did you start?
Two years ago, I was studying AI in college, but I dropped out to actually build with AI. I started exploring different projects, trying to build something useful.
When ChatGPT launched, I saw people building cool AI applications, so I decided to learn and experiment. Failed a couple of projects before realizing that distribution matters as much as the product itself.
illustration.app was born out of frustration: finding quality illustrations was either expensive, time-consuming, or just not customizable. I started in early 2024, and now it’s helping thousands of people generate illustrations effortlessly.
Q. Take us through the process of building the first version of your product MVP
The first MVP was super basic. It's just a Next.js app with an input box to generate simple illustrations with only one style (notion-style illustration). I launched it quickly to see if people even cared.
I got early feedback from Reddit and Twitter, improved the results, and slowly built out more features like customization tools, better styling, smart color palettes, AI editing tools, etc.
Q. How many employees do you have working on your product? Do you have any co-founders?
I’m a solo founder, I do everything from development, and marketing, to support. No co-founders.
Q. How much monthly traffic do you receive?
Currently, illustration.app gets over 18,000+ monthly visitors, and traffic is growing steadily.
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).
My first users came from Reddit and Twitter. I shared the journey, showed what I was building, and people found it useful.
For long-term growth, I focused on programmatic SEO, building pages around search terms and categories which started ranking. Directories also picked it up, bringing in more traffic.
Q. Since you launched your product, What has worked to attract customers?
Programmatic SEO: Pages targeting high-intent keywords
Reddit & Twitter: Sharing the process, engaging in discussions
Word of mouth: People love AI illustrations and share them
Fast iteration: Improving based on feedback quickly
Q. How is your product performing currently, and what are your plans for the future? Can you share your current metrics and revenue figures?
Right now:
8,000 users
$1,700+ in revenue
18,000+ monthly visitors
Future plans:
More illustration styles
Figma/Canva plugins
API for developers to integrate AI-generated illustrations
Better customization tools for users
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?
Marketing is just as important as building. I started with barely any knowledge but realized that just showing your work online can bring in real users.
Q. What tools have helped you grow your product?
Next.js + TailwindCSS (Framework)
Supabase (Backend & auth)
Google Search Console & Ahrefs (SEO growth)
Twitter & Reddit (Organic growth & feedback)
Q. Which books, podcasts, or other resources have had the greatest impact on you?
Indie Hackers Podcast – Learning from solo founders
The SaaS Playbook – Great for understanding growth, retention, and scaling a SaaS business.
The Lean Startup – Helped me focus on shipping fast, learning from users, and iterating instead of over-planning.
Q. What advice would you offer to entrepreneurs who are looking to start or have just begun their journey?
Build in public – Share your journey, people will follow along.
Solve a real problem – Not just what’s trendy.
Launch early, iterate fast – Your first version won’t be perfect.
Learn marketing – If no one sees your product, it doesn’t matter how good it is.
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.
Great! You can reach me on X.
Let me know what you learned from this interview and have a productive week!🙏
Indie Tip Of The Week
This week's indie tip! The easiest way to stand out as a builder? Actually be useful. Seriously, reply to people’s questions, drop mini insights, share what you’re learning (even the messy stuff). You’d be surprised how far being helpful can take you. No crazy tactics, just show up consistently, be real, and leave people better than you found them. That’s the kind of marketing money can’t buy.
Indie Product Of The Week
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Indie Trivia Of The Week
How old was Queen Elizabeth II when she was crowned the Queen of England?
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