Building A Proxy Service Provider Company [338% Growth In MRR]
I’m Karolis Toleikis, CEO and founder of IPRoyal. It’s a global proxy service provider that helps businesses and individuals access the internet without restrictions.
Our solutions are focused on privacy, speed, and efficiency, with highly competitive pricing. Clients around the world rely on our proxies for web scraping, market research, SEO monitoring, eCommerce, and more.
Our flagship product is our Royal Residential proxy service. We developed this network from the ground up with the Pawns.app initiative, which allows people worldwide to make an income by sharing their unused bandwidth.
This way, we get ethically-sourced proxies, our clients get authentic residential IPs in every corner of the world, and Pawns.app users get fair compensation.
Our monthly revenue growth of 338% in 2022 and over 10 TB of traffic sold every day are the best confirmation that we’re on the right track.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
I got my first computer as a child, and it didn’t take long for me to realize how much opportunity the internet provides. Instead of playing outside like other kids, I used this computer to try and figure out how things work. I was interested in developing websites and focused on that.
Over the following years (let’s say 2009-2015), I gained priceless programming knowledge that allowed me to develop successful projects on my own and understand what’s possible or not.
I decided to start with PHP, which proved to be the right choice. The knowledge of this programming language allowed me to understand the logic and structure behind web engineering, websites, and databases. It also made expanding my knowledge easier with HTML/CSS, Jquery, WordPress, and beyond.
Although my coding days are in the past, I still try my best to keep up with the latest developments, so I can make sure our current projects use the best practices.
After working on a single project for nearly a decade, it became clear that I was ready to move on to new things. The idea for IPRoyal came from one of our previous projects. I was working with subnets leasing and noticed that most clients use the leased IPs as proxy servers. The demand was there. On the other hand, there was no way to determine how big it was.
After thinking about it for a while, the idea of starting a proxy service grew in me. It seemed very interesting, so I decided to pursue it. I wanted to try something new. Fortunately, all the previous experiences made creating IPRoyal significantly easier.
Everything was quite modest at the beginning. In those early days, I handled most of IPRoyal’s operations alone, including marketing, SEO, and support. This experience gave me some great insights into the proxy market and made it easier to shape our products.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
To get things rolling, I hired two developers, and we put together our MVP. They started as freelancers. However, it quickly became clear that they should join full-time so we could develop the services further.
The MVP was a simple system that I could use to create proxies and manually assign them to clients. That was enough to get us started, and we were on our way. Developing an automatic system where clients could place an order and get the product was a priority, so we initially focused on figuring that out. We already had some contacts from IP leasing, and they became our first customers.
We analyzed the market, checked what other providers have to offer, and positioned our services accordingly. Competing with existing industry giants was going to be a challenge.
Still, we knew the best thing to do was to position ourselves as a provider that offers excellent services at prices well below the industry average with a few unique advantages. The aggressive pricing approach gave us an advantage over the bigger, established players in the market.
Once we got our first clients, we decided to focus on their feedback. It was important to provide several ways for them to get in touch with us, so we implemented a customer support system, and contact forms, and created a Discord channel for communication purposes.
We listened to their requests and implemented the necessary changes to our products as quickly as possible. I strongly believe that was one of the most important factors for our success.
You can’t create big projects alone. You’ll never be able to dedicate enough time and energy to all aspects of a project on your own and do it successfully.
Describe the process of launching the business.
As mentioned above, we had our MVP and started looking for our first clients on social media. We didn’t think about marketing in those early days, but we did start working on SEO content to get the name out there. We offered a unique product, and it turned out to be the right call.
The thing that set us apart from every other product available on the market at the time was residential proxy traffic that never expires. Usually, you purchase proxies with a certain amount of bandwidth that expires after a specific period.
We decided to offer a permanent option. It was unheard of in the industry at the time, and it’s still quite rare. You’d buy traffic and spend it as needed, without contracts, monthly minimums, or other limitations. If you bought traffic on launch and didn’t get to use it, it’s still available!
We combined this feature with generous bulk discounts, so nothing was stopping our clients from buying large amounts of traffic. They quickly recognized the advantages of this approach and how cost-efficient it is compared to other options, and our client base started growing rapidly.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
Since day one, we focused on transparency - no hidden fees, no upsells, no catch-22s. We made the way IPRoyal sources its proxies very clear with the Pawns.app and started developing our residential proxy network right after the launch.
Our clients know they get ethically sourced proxies from all corners of the world and that each IP comes from a real device owned by a real individual. This approach also allows us to offer very precise targeting (state, country, and city level), which is among the best in the industry.
Proxies are a niche product in a way, so there's no universal client profile. We mostly cater to businesses of all sizes interested in web scraping (for brand and product development, SEO, market research, and similar purposes). However, our services are also very popular among affiliate marketers, online shoppers, and anyone looking to bypass geo-restrictions and keep their online activity private.
Since the start, we searched and connected with our clients by word of mouth, affiliate partners, and other marketing efforts. Our unique approach has helped us attract tens of thousands of clients worldwide. We’re also constantly improving our services to meet the needs of our clients and provide additional value at no extra cost.
Things have also changed significantly in terms of marketing. Social media, emailing, SEO, and content production were nonexistent or very modest back in the early days. Today, they’re all important parts of our growth, along with Pawns.app network expansion, 24/7 support, content creation, and more.
We invest heavily in our SEO efforts to ensure we're visible on proxy industry-oriented keywords. Our marketing team works closely with support and other teams to identify our clients' key pain points. We use these insights to produce content our clients would appreciate. This includes news, guides, tutorials, integrations of our services with popular tools, and more.
Email is just as important in terms of engagement. Clear, consistent communication about our products, updates, special offers, and new features is essential to keep them in the loop and satisfied with our services.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
I’m proud to say that IPRoyal has made a significant impact on the market. Our pricing model was unheard of at the time we introduced it. We didn’t even understand how much we shook things up until we saw other providers offering a similar service.
Ethical proxy sourcing and building a network in a way that’s completely transparent and compliant with all applicable laws also helped us stand out. While the industry still has a long way to go, we’re thrilled to see many other providers focusing more on the same values.
The future looks bright for IPRoyal. We plan to improve on everything we have done so far and keep growing. Earlier this year, we went through a complete rebranding to better reflect who we are and what we value. We’re currently working hard on growing our IP pools, expanding our social media presence, creating helpful content for YouTube, and more.
Our goal is to become one of the top three providers in this market. While that sounds very ambitious, it’s far from unreachable. IPRoyal has come a long way since day one, and I’m 100% convinced it has the right team to get there.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
I’ve learned several valuable things after spending a decade and a half in the IT sector:
- You can’t create big projects alone. You’ll never be able to dedicate enough time and energy to all aspects of a project on your own and do it successfully.
- You’ll also never have enough experience in all areas. It’s much more efficient to surround yourself with people who have the right skills and expertise. That way, you’ll be able to fill any experience gaps and have everything you need to do things the right way.
- Inspiring and motivating your team is essential, so don’t hesitate to share all ups and downs with them. To make things work, you want people who are genuinely passionate and excited about a project they’re working on. People who look forward to reaching their goals instead of doing the work as fast as possible and going home early.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
The writers use Google Docs, Google Sheets, Dropbox, Slack, WordPress, and Grammarly.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
Honestly, I don’t have as much time for books and podcasts as I used to. Still, my all-time favorite is Entrepreneurs on Fire with John Lee Dumas. The podcast offers interviews with successful entrepreneurs from various industries, so there’s always something new to learn here.
These interviews are always quite interesting, with lots of valuable advice and inspiration to help you on your road to success. Each episode is filled with inspiration and wisdom that every entrepreneur can benefit from.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
You can never know too much, so always keep learning. If you’re looking to expand your skill set, learn from people who do it right.
Don’t be afraid to try out new things. Always strive to grow and gain new experiences, as it will help you get where you want to be.
Be flexible, open to input, and prepared for unexpected circumstances. Pay attention to what people around you have to say, but don’t let them make your decisions for you. You also need to understand that your ideas sometimes need to change.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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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.
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