He Built A Simple AI Tool That Makes $5,000 Per Month

Sometimes, the most successful online projects come from unexpected places. Fernando Pessagno, an Argentinian product designer who loves coding, accidentally created a successful AI tool business called aiCarousels .com in just 10 days.

What started as a personal project to keep his mind busy during a tough time has now grown into a profitable business making $5,000 in monthly recurring revenue.

In this article, we'll take a closer look at Fernando's journey. We'll explore how he came up with the idea, the process of building and launching the product, and the strategies he used to attract and keep customers.

Fernando Pessagno

Chaos creates the muse

Just one day before Fernando was supposed to go on vacation, he got some really worrying news - his full-time job might be in danger. As a foreign worker in Sweden who had to rely on a work visa, losing his job was his biggest nightmare.

Instead of being able to relax and enjoy his time off, Fernando was totally stressed out. To try and find some peace of mind, he turned to his passion for coding. Even though he didn't have any formal training in programming, coding had always been a calming, meditative activity for him.

Determined to keep his mind occupied and distracted from the worries about his job, Fernando decided to take on a personal challenge. For the 10 days of his vacation, he embarked on a #buildinpublic challenge on X and YouTube. His goal was simple - he just wanted to create and ship something, anything, within that 10-day timeframe.

He had no idea at the time, but this little coding challenge he set for himself during his vacation would end up laying the groundwork for him to eventually build a successful software-as-a-service (SaaS) business.

So even though he started this just as a way to keep busy and calm his mind, it ended up being the unintentional beginning of Fernando's entrepreneurial journey.

The problem and the solution

Fernando noticed that carousel posts were becoming really popular on LinkedIn. As someone who had worked in multimedia design and marketing, he knew firsthand how time-consuming and tricky it can be to create good-looking carousels, even for experienced designers.

This gave him the idea to create aiCarousels.com - a tool that makes it much easier for anyone, even non-designers, to create professional-looking carousel posts for social media.

Fernando's main goal was not just to help people make visually impressive carousels, but to save them time and effort in the process. He realized that customizing templates with your own fonts, colors, and resizing text can be a real hassle that takes a lot of work to get looking polished.

So with aiCarousels.com, Fernando aimed to automate a lot of the design work, so users only have to do the minimum to end up with high-quality results. The tool handles things like automatically resizing elements, providing pre-made color palettes and font pairings, and allowing users to save custom templates for future use.

Building the MVP

Fernando had a clear vision in mind when he set out to create the first version of aiCarousels.com. He decided to take a simple and minimalistic approach, focusing on the essential features that would save users time and ensure their carousels looked visually appealing, without relying on complex frameworks.

Instead of using fancy tools, Fernando built the product using basic coding techniques and a no-code tool called Outseta to handle things like authentication, billing, and customer support. This streamlined approach allowed him to concentrate on developing the core functionality of the product.

Over the course of 10 days, Fernando worked tirelessly on different aspects of aiCarousels.com. He developed the basic user interface, implemented carousel navigation and editing features, and coded the font auto-resize functionality. He also added the ability to customize slides, reorder them, and manage template settings through an easy-to-use sidebar.

As he progressed, Fernando polished the existing features, introduced a collection of color palettes and font combinations, and incorporated background effects to enhance the visual appeal of the carousels.

One of the standout features of aiCarousels.com is the AI Content Generator, which helps users write carousel content. What started as a simple topic-based content generation tool has evolved to support freeform text, website URLs, and even YouTube videos, all generated within seconds.

The launch and initial success

On the tenth day of his challenge, Fernando launched aiCarousels.com on Product Hunt, a popular platform for discovering new tech products. Despite his initial concerns about the fierce competition in the template market, the launch exceeded his expectations. aiCarousels.com secured the 9th spot of the day, garnering 154 upvotes, 64 comments, and 7 perfect 5/5 reviews.

The positive feedback from users was overwhelming, with many praising the tool's simplicity, efficiency, and ability to create professional-looking carousels quickly. But the ultimate validation came in the form of 5 paid users signing up on the launch day itself, generating $50 MRR right off the bat. This early success demonstrated that aiCarousels.com was not just a product people liked but one they were willing to pay for.

Attracting and retaining customers

Since launching aiCarousels.com, Fernando has used a few key strategies to attract and keep customers. One of the most important things he's done is take a very personal approach and commit to providing excellent customer support. He responds quickly to support requests, fixes issues right away, and engages with users beyond just the support emails. This has helped build trust and a real connection with his customer base. He also actively follows customers on LinkedIn, likes their posts, and openly communicates that he is a one-person team, which resonates with content creators who understand the challenges of being an entrepreneur.

To keep users informed and engaged, Fernando sends weekly updates summarizing recent improvements and fixes to the product. These updates are written in a casual, personal tone, which helps users understand that any current issues will likely be resolved if they stick with the product. This approach has been effective in retaining customers and encouraging them to provide valuable feedback.

Another big reason for aiCarousels.com's success is that it was the first mover in the market for AI-powered carousel generators. This has gained the product a lot of attention and shares across websites, blogs, newsletters, and social media. The strong domain name and many backlinks generated after launch have also greatly boosted the website's search engine optimization (SEO), driving a lot of traffic to the site.

Fernando has also used his personal brand on LinkedIn, where he has around 3,000 followers, to share updates on building the aiCarousels product publicly and connect with potential users. He's also promoted the aiCarousels website on Twitter, targeting other independent founders who may not be his main audience but can help spread the word about the product.

Documenting the entire building process through YouTube videos and blog posts has also increased the visibility of aiCarousels. His Medium post about the product got nearly 20,000 views and was featured on prominent platforms like HackerNoon and Indie Hackers.

Looking ahead

Fernando's startup, aiCarousels.com, has been a huge success. They reached their 12-month revenue goal of $2,500 per month in just 6 months. Now, the product is bringing in $5,000 per month, with 95% of that being profit. There's no sign of it slowing down anytime soon.

On a personal level, Fernando is excited about his future. He plans to apply for a partner visa to stay in Sweden, where his girlfriend, friends, and new life are. He's thrilled to leave the traditional 9-to-5 job behind and focus on running his own online businesses.

Juggling both aiCarousels.com and his other product, ResumeMaker.Online, has been challenging. But Fernando recognizes the benefits of having a singular focus. He's considering selling one of the projects if he gets a good offer, so he can dedicate all his attention to the remaining venture.

With the growing demand for personal branding on LinkedIn, Fernando believes aiCarousels.com has a lot of potential to expand into a more robust SaaS (Software as a Service) platform. The carousel feature would just be a small part of a much larger offering.

For the rest of the year, Fernando plans to: