Add BrandBird interview

interviews/7.brandbird.md

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+# BrandBird
+Learn how Jim built BrandBird in a single day and how focusing on top-notch product experience boosts word-of-mouth.
+
+## 1. What's your startup's name, what does it do, how long have you been working on it and (optional) your MRR?
+[BrandBird](https://www.brandbird.app) is a powerful screenshot editor for SaaS founders. 
+
+It started as a Twitter post maker but now is an all-around tool for product graphics (changelog, newsletters, blog posts, social media graphics etc.).
+
+I've been building BrandBird for the past 3 years. It started as a fun side project but it quickly became my main source of income and keeps on growing since day one.
+
+## 2. What's your name and what were you doing before?
+My name is Jim Raptis. I've been building SaaS products for almost a decade. For the past few years, I'm an indie hacker, aka building niche SaaS products on my own. Right now, I run two SaaS products ([BrandBird](https://www.brandbird.app) and [MagicPattern](https://www.MagicPattern.design)) and working on a new creative video editor ([SuperMotion](https://www.SuperMotion.co)).
+
+## 3. How did you come up with your startup and it's name?
+I used to post design tips on Twitter. Figma was my main design tool since I used to freelance as a UI designer. However the process was hectic and I used to spend so much time trying to create posts with consistent branding. 
+
+I decided to build a simple image editor to create this kind of Twitter posts easier. Mostly for personal usage, but I said: "Why not try to sell it as well?".
+
+Twitter (aka Bird) was the main target audience and the main purpose was to keep the user branding (Brand) consistent across all their posts. 
+
+Brand + Bird.
+
+BrandBird use cases are a bit different now, but I still love the name so I kept it. 
+
+## 4. Are you a programmer, if so, how did you learn and how long did it take?
+Yep, I'm a creative frontend engineer. I learned most of my skills when I co-founded a VC-backed company. We needed a website and a web app for our first MVP then I had to quickly learn how to code in JavaScript. I spend two weeks watching tutorials all day long and jumped into coding.
+
+My background helped though. I had a master in computer science. The university courses helped my learn the basics, but I mastered frontend with YouTube videos, blog posts, and by peeping on popular open source projects on GitHub.
+
+Learning by doing is the best way to master a skill like coding (and design).
+
+## 5. How long did it take you to build a mvp, did you do any validation?
+I built the MVP in a day because I challenged myself to launch a full SaaS in a single weekend. 
+
+It's a hack that I use often a lot because it helped my narrow down the MVP scope and launch it as quicky as possible. 
+
+Strict deadlines force your mind to focus only on the important stuff and avoid procrastinating on useless things.
+
+## 6. What was your launch like, what did you do, was it a success?
+On Saturday, I announced on Twitter that I'll launch a SaaS in a day, and I posted updates throughout the day. People followed along and loved the experience. At the end of the day, the MVP was ready. I hooked up a simple Gumroad link to gauge demand and launched it on Twtiter. 
+
+On Sunday, I launched on Product Hunt as well. People loved it and started buying the product. So I knew i was into something valuable. 
+
+## 7. How long did it take to get your first customer?
+It was a few hours after the launch. It's always the best feeling when the 1st sale for a new project lands in your inbox.
+
+## 8. What's your top marketing methods and how can others start doing them?
+Building in public was always my main marketing tactic. I was very active on Twitter and a few other indie hacking communities. Most of my early traffic came from these channels. 
+
+In the upcoming months, I focused on the product experience and onboarding to help users enjoy the product and get the most value possible. 
+
+It's always a great investment because it increases your word-of-mouth and turns your users into loyal ambassadors who keep on recommending your product to friends and social media.
+
+In parallel, I invested in SEO with articles and free tools relevant to my customers. SEO is the best kind of organic traffic, but it is almost passive when you do it smartly.
+
+Now, traffic is a combination of social media marketing, SEO, and word-of-mouth.
+
+## 9. Whats the top 5 tools you use to run your startup?
+1. Stripe for payments
+2. Vercel & Next.js for the frontend
+3. Heroku & MongoDB for the backend
+4. Customer.io for emails
+5. Mixpanel for analytics
+
+Since I'm a big fan of dogfooding products, [BrandBird](https://www.brandbird.app) itself is a core part of my toolset since I use it for almost all my designs.
+
+## 10. What would you do differently if starting over?
+1. Spent more time on marketing! As a technical founder, I'm guilty of spending countless hours optimizing useless stuff.
+
+2. Narrow down the scope of my SaaS and target a very specific customer persona in the beginning. I spend a few months trying to sell to everyone. It's such a bad strategy, especially when starting out, because your offer is too generic. Then, you end up with various customer personas that have demand/need completely different things.
+
+Also, a strategy that I want to evaluate in future products is the following:
+
+"Create a waitlist and perform 1:1 user interviews with early customers. Once the products become a valuable part of their workflow, launch it in the public."