How did Pat build the initial version of Starter Story?
Pat Walls built Starter Story by initially focusing on grassroots content creation and experimentation. He spent his early days developing lean processes, using tools like Ruby on Rails to automate and manage the blog’s backend. This allowed him to balance between the technical and content production sides effectively. During the initial phase, he worked tirelessly post-day-job hours to create engaging, text-based interviews, ensuring each story was detailed with revenue numbers and unique business insights. The first version of Starter Story came together rapidly, with the website launching just a few months after its conception.
Walls faced significant challenges, especially in marketing and achieving visibility amidst the digital noise. He conquered these hurdles by leveraging platforms like Reddit and Product Hunt for exposure and adopting a build-in-public transparency that attracted an engaged audience. Through persistent testing and SEO optimization, he scaled Starter Story's traffic to over 1.6 million visitors per month and reached a revenue of over $1 million annually by 2023. Despite early skepticism and operational difficulties, Walls utilized a lean SEO framework and continuous content iteration to refine and perfect Starter Story’s value proposition.
What is Starter Story built on?
| Tool | For | Used By |
|---|---|---|
Shopify
|
platform
|
592
businesses
|
Klaviyo
|
email
|
362
businesses
|
Facebook
|
social media
|
1324
businesses
|
Instagram
|
social media
|
2058
businesses
|
Twitter
|
social media
|
1679
businesses
|
YotPo
|
reviews
|
92
businesses
|
Hootsuite
|
social media
|
122
businesses
|
Canva
|
design
|
883
businesses
|
Google Analytics
|
analytics
|
1387
businesses
|
Google Suite
|
productivity
|
1193
businesses
|
Paypal
|
payments
|
975
businesses
|
Stripe
|
payments
|
932
businesses
|
Quickbooks
|
accounting
|
657
businesses
|
Buffer
|
social media
|
104
businesses
|
Grammarly
|
other
|
165
businesses
|
Reddit
|
social media
|
283
businesses
|
Streak
|
crm
|
31
businesses
|
Notion
|
productivity
|
353
businesses
|
Google Sheets
|
accounting
|
345
businesses
|
Drift
|
customer service
|
26
businesses
|
Amazon Associates
|
affiliate
|
87
businesses
|
Custom Built
|
platform
|
185
businesses
|
Weebly
|
platform
|
25
businesses
|
Boomerang
|
other
|
13
businesses
|
Blogcast
|
other
|
1
businesses
|
Heroku
|
platform
|
67
businesses
|
Pigeon
|
crm
|
5
businesses
|
Placid
|
other
|
1
businesses
|
Anchor
|
podcast
|
69
businesses
|
LinkTree
|
other
|
40
businesses
|
Fundera
|
1
businesses
|
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
