How My App Hit $60K/Month in Just 2 Months

Starter Story
37.4K views • January 11, 2026

Lara just launched an AI writing tool for LinkedIn. They made $30K in 4 days, and went from $0 to $60K/month in less than 2 months. The secret? The Kleo Launch Playbook. This video breaks down exactly how they built up hype for their app, launched to a private beta, and hit $30K MRR in just a few days.

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Join an upcoming Starter Story Build Bootcamp → https://build.starterstory.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=kleo

Follow Lara: https://x.com/Laraacostar
Check out Kleo: https://kleo.so/

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This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.

0:00 Our sauce made $30,000 in 4 days.
0:04 >> This is Lara. She's the co-founder of
0:06 Cleo, which launched [music] last month
0:08 and did $30,000 MR in 4 days. Now, I
0:13 know what you're thinking. And
0:15 you're right. Obviously, they didn't
0:17 build and launch this product in 4 days,
0:19 but they did go from 0 to $30,000 MR in
0:23 just a few days thanks to a very
0:25 different approach to launching a SAS.
0:27 Here's what everybody gets wrong [music]
0:29 about launching ASAs.
0:31 >> I asked Laura to come on to the channel
0:33 to break down her entire launch strategy
0:35 for me, including the unexpected
0:37 marketing channel that got [music]
0:38 thousands of people on their weight
0:40 list, the exact email sequence they used
0:42 to convert hundreds [music] of paying
0:44 customers overnight and their
0:46 step-by-step playbook that you can use
0:48 to launch your SAS in 2026. This is one
0:51 that you cannot miss. [music] I'm Pat
0:53 Walls and this is Starter Story. Welcome
0:56 to the channel, Lara. Tell me about who
0:58 you are, what SAS you built, and what's
1:01 your story.
1:02 >> So, hi, my name is Lara Costa, and me
1:04 and my co-founders built a B2B SAS that
1:07 made 30K in 4 days. So, this is Cleo,
1:10 and what it does is basically it's a
1:12 ghostriter put in your pocket. So, for
1:14 every founder that is trying to grow on
1:16 LinkedIn, we solve that very specific
1:18 problem. It's powered by AI. It thinks
1:20 like you, it writes like you, and it
1:22 creates content better than you. We
1:24 literally launched it in October of 2025
1:27 and we've gone from zero to $60,000 a
1:30 month in less than 2 months. And the way
1:33 we did all of this was by using the Cleo
1:36 launch playbook. So, I'm so excited to
1:38 talk about it today.
1:39 >> Real quick, our audience watching this,
1:41 we really want to make sure that this is
1:42 this is legit. This is real. Would you
1:43 be able to pull up your dashboard and
1:45 show some of your revenue metrics, prove
1:47 you're building this, and show me a
1:48 little bit about what happened when you
1:49 did this weight list?
1:50 >> Yeah, of course. So, this is our Polar.
1:52 This is where we literally launched
1:54 everything. [music] Yeah. As you can see
1:55 here, we're already at 62K MR and we
1:59 have over 932 active subscriptions, over
2:02 a,000 in total. And you can see the
2:04 clear spike here on active users from
2:06 October 1st. The reason why we were able
2:09 to do this so fast within day one of
2:11 launch was because we built a [music]
2:13 weight list. The way we did it was we
2:15 had many launches which were to our
2:17 weight list only. [music]
2:18 So even if you go to our landing page
2:20 right now which I can show you here, you
2:22 cannot physically buy the product. You
2:24 need to join a weight list. [music] Why
2:26 we did this was to build scarcity, FOMO
2:29 and also soft sell it to our audience.
2:31 So it didn't feel like we were pushing
2:34 product because it was a secret. No one
2:37 knew unless you knew. So that's why we
2:39 saw two different spikes. The first one
2:41 was when we launched to our original
2:43 weight list and the second one when was
2:45 when we relaunched.
2:46 >> All right. Well, this weight list
2:47 strategy is amazing. But before we get
2:49 into all that, which we are going to do,
2:50 I want to understand a little bit more
2:51 about your background. How do you even
2:52 come up with the idea to start Cleo? How
2:54 does it get started?
2:55 >> Well, it all starts with LinkedIn. I
2:58 started posting on LinkedIn around 3
2:59 years ago because what I realized and
3:01 most people realized when they joined
3:03 LinkedIn is that all decision makers are
3:06 on that platform. And so you can build a
3:08 business off the back of creating
3:10 content. So I started posting on
3:12 LinkedIn. I built two businesses off the
3:14 back of it. And then in that journey I
3:16 met my co-founder Jake who was also in a
3:18 very similar situation like me. So my
3:21 background is both in agency and the
3:23 info product businesses. I took the
3:25 marketing concepts from that business
3:28 and understood the idea of FOMO building
3:30 weight list using emails and webinars
3:32 and we took [music] it to SAS. I love
3:35 info but we wanted to do something
3:37 different and build a software tool. So,
3:39 me knowing what I knew and then our
3:41 co-founders knowing what they knew, we
3:43 combined it and created this insane
3:45 launch strategy in under two months.
3:48 >> All right, Laura, let's talk about this
3:49 launch strategy, which I think is
3:51 amazing and uh it's unlike anything I've
3:53 ever seen before. So, I really really
3:55 want to dig into that and talk all about
3:57 that. Can you explain exactly how this
3:59 works high level how you were able to
4:01 launch and hit like 30k MR in basically
4:04 a day? Can you explain it? How does it
4:05 work? Yeah. So, the way Cleo was able to
4:08 go from zero to 30K MR in its first
4:11 month was simple. We used the Cleo
4:13 playbook and it's three parts. Content,
4:15 weight list, and webinars. We haven't
4:17 even launched to the public yet. The
4:20 first launch and second launches were
4:22 beta launches straight to our weight
4:24 list. And the thing is, no one is doing
4:26 it like this. Everybody's doing it the
4:28 opposite way where they launch something
4:30 and they promote it. We did it the
4:32 opposite way, which was the most
4:33 important part for us. Creating that
4:35 scarcity, curiosity, and demand for a
4:37 product people hadn't even seen yet. Our
4:39 customers and my clients have been able
4:42 to hit 50K, 60K, and 70K following the
4:45 exact same playbook. It can work for
4:47 anyone, no matter how big or small your
4:49 following is.
4:50 >> That's amazing. And I think that this is
4:52 a totally different way of thinking
4:53 about how to build SAS. I think it's
4:55 actually genius. And I want you to dive
4:56 in a little bit deeper though on how you
4:58 guys did this. What was the first thing
5:00 you did? did I know you said building a
5:01 weight list. How do you build a weight
5:03 list and how do you drive interest or
5:05 attention to that weight list? Could you
5:07 share with me exactly how to do that?
5:08 >> Yeah, so the approach that we took was
5:10 obviously educating on LinkedIn fast
5:13 because we're all LinkedIn native
5:14 creators. So we had multiple posts that
5:17 drove demand to this weight list. So
5:19 this is one of the posts not from me and
5:22 not from Jake from our other account
5:24 called the LinkedIn creator. You can see
5:25 that there is no call to action. There
5:27 is no direct plug. It's simply
5:30 educating. This is something that Jay
5:32 called edu selling where you're
5:34 basically telling people what they need
5:35 to know. You're answering their biggest
5:38 problems. So, for example, here is how
5:40 to write the best LinkedIn tips I found.
5:42 We're telling them what they want to
5:44 know and then at [music] the end we show
5:46 them where they can actually get more
5:49 results using our tool. This leads them
5:51 to sign up to our weight list. A
5:53 different post, for example, by Jake is
5:55 he's stating a problem here and then
5:57 he's literally just talking about the
5:59 typical problems that every founder,
6:00 entrepreneur, and creator have when
6:03 they're creating content on the
6:04 platform. Again, you can't see ACTA.
6:06 It's simply creating this awareness and
6:09 taking mind share of Cleo. So, that's
6:11 how we've done it over time.
6:13 >> Okay, so $30,000 in a few days is
6:16 insane. If you stick around to the end
6:17 of the video, you're going to see
6:18 exactly how they did it. But here's what
6:21 I really love about their story. Lara
6:23 figured out how to build hype around her
6:25 product. And she did it all through
6:27 creating content. This is the secret to
6:29 building a SAS or any app or any
6:31 business online in 2026. [music]
6:33 Distribution. If you can crack
6:34 distribution, then you give yourself the
6:36 opportunity to win. And the number one
6:38 way to create your own distribution for
6:40 free is to simply start creating content
6:42 and building an audience. This is so
6:44 important that I decided to put together
6:46 our playbook to help [music] you get
6:48 your first,000 followers. Which might
6:50 not sound like a lot, but 1,000
6:52 followers is where real products get
6:54 created and real distribution channels
6:56 get started. Almost every founder that I
6:58 talk to on this channel has some sort of
7:01 personal brand. It is essential in
7:03 [music] 2026 to be creating content
7:05 online about your product and sharing it
7:07 with the world. This playbook that I
7:08 created for you will go over a bunch of
7:11 real data and examples from actually
7:13 successful founders that I've talked to
7:15 on this channel and what's working right
7:16 now to create actual businesses that
7:18 generate revenue. We'll go over what
7:20 type of content to create, how to get
7:21 your first thousand followers, and how
7:23 to create content that drives customers
7:25 to your business. Just click the link in
7:27 the description to get it, but it won't
7:29 be free forever. All right, let's get
7:31 back to the interview. Okay, so you guys
7:33 over the course of 6 months to a year,
7:35 it doesn't happen overnight, but you
7:36 built up trust. You built up this weight
7:38 list to thousands of people. What
7:39 happens next? How do you actually get
7:41 your product in front of those people?
7:43 How do you turn those into paying
7:44 customers?
7:45 >> Again, another typical mistake that most
7:47 founders do is that they build this
7:49 weight list [music] and they never
7:51 nurture it. Nurturing your list is one
7:53 of the main things that you need to do
7:54 as a founder or someone that wants to
7:56 build a product and ship it to [music]
7:58 the public. 4 weeks before we launched
8:00 the actual product live to our wait
8:02 list, we warmed up the list showing
8:04 people why they needed our tool without
8:06 actually directly selling it to them.
8:08 And so you can see our first email that
8:10 we ever sent pre-launch was the problem
8:13 with AI content and why [music] we're
8:14 different. What we did is we emphasized
8:17 the problem that people were thinking
8:19 about. So the problem with AI content,
8:21 everybody can write with AI. So we knew
8:23 that we knew that the number one
8:24 objection was how is this better than
8:27 chbpt or claw that is free [music] for
8:29 us. So we got there we kind of like
8:32 tested different headlines and said why
8:34 most AI content fails before it even
8:36 starts. Then we laid out exactly what
8:38 the problem was. But it isn't an AI AI
8:40 problem. It's a differentiation problem
8:42 which then makes people agree with us.
8:45 That then led to them being engaged into
8:49 the weight list. You can see here
8:50 there's no CTA. There's no, oh, we're
8:52 it's coming soon. Nothing. Simply
8:54 educating people on the problem that
8:56 they have so we can build trust rather
8:58 than just sell them. So now, as you can
9:01 see, we did over 10 emails before the
9:04 drop. So then the actual email when we
9:07 went live, we actually told them, "Hey,
9:09 Cleo 2.0 is [music] live. Try it now."
9:11 And the reason why we were able to do
9:13 that successfully was because we had
9:16 built that urgency, scarcity, and desire
9:19 for a product that we told them was
9:21 going to fix [music] every single one of
9:23 the problems that they have with
9:24 writing, building a personal brand,
9:26 LinkedIn algorithms, and using AI. And
9:29 then we told them, hey, Cleo is live.
9:30 Try it here. We immediately within the
9:32 first line because we wanted to drive as
9:34 much attention as fast as possible
9:37 because we [music] had pre-built that
9:39 trust. So the emails that I was showing
9:41 were literally the reason why we were
9:44 able to get to 30K MR and then 60K MR.
9:48 It wasn't just viral content. It was
9:50 emails. And this is something most
9:52 people are sleeping on. Everybody's
9:54 expecting viral content to work and
9:56 convert, but it's actually emails where
9:58 the customers are and are actually
10:00 buying from because you're not competing
10:02 with an algorithm.
10:03 >> Amazing. This strategy is awesome. You
10:05 guys executed so well. That brings me to
10:08 my next question. For anyone watching
10:09 this, maybe they built a SAS, maybe they
10:11 built an app, maybe they're just
10:12 starting to create content. If you were
10:14 to start over today, imagine you didn't
10:15 have any audience. What would be the
10:17 step-by-step playbook to launch a SAS in
10:20 2026?
10:21 >> So, where I would start obviously is
10:24 building a personal brand on LinkedIn.
10:26 And it doesn't have to be the most
10:27 viral. You don't have to be an expert.
10:29 You just have to be useful. So, if
10:30 you're a beginner that wants to start
10:32 posting on LinkedIn, the thing that you
10:34 need to understand is what is your
10:35 unfair advantage and what can you
10:37 educate people on, right? Your unfair
10:38 advantages could be your story or the
10:41 tactical subject that you have expertise
10:43 [music] on. You can actually create
10:45 educational content just about that. And
10:47 that would literally give you the
10:49 following that you need to then launch
10:51 something else. And then [music] if
10:52 you're wondering about the step-by-step
10:54 playbook on how to build a personal
10:55 brand, I have a framework called the 4
10:57 321. So ideally, you want to post four
11:00 times a week. That's it. Not five, not
11:02 six, not seven. Don't overwhelm
11:04 yourself. Focus on the quality rather
11:05 than the quantity. then three content
11:07 pillars that you need to be using. So
11:09 educational storytelling and [music]
11:11 then sales generating content. This
11:13 could be lead magnets. And the second
11:15 thing the two in that 4 through2 is the
11:17 two types of audiences you want to be
11:19 marketing to. You have your ICP, your
11:21 ideal client persona and you have your
11:23 IFP and that is your ideal follower
11:26 persona. So when you're creating content
11:27 for these two types of personas, you can
11:30 get leads and demand or weightless
11:32 signups, but you also get a community
11:35 that pushes you, likes your content,
11:37 engages with you every single day, and
11:39 eventually over time can also buy from
11:41 you. So the last part of the 4321
11:44 [music] was lead magnets. And now how
11:46 you build them is super simple. You
11:48 literally only have to create a Google
11:50 document explaining something or a loom
11:52 or something else that you already have.
11:54 Maybe it's a part of your process and
11:55 then you give it out to people for free
11:57 and the only thing that you ask for is
11:59 their email. You send them the lead
12:00 magnet. They sign up to your email
12:03 newsletter to get that lead magnet and
12:05 all the time you just nurture them. And
12:06 so while you're building in public,
12:08 creating all of this content, you know,
12:10 taking hours of your time writing this
12:12 amazing content that potentially will go
12:15 viral. The way to guarantee your success
12:17 is to have that weight list in the
12:20 background building. So when you want to
12:22 launch something, when you want to offer
12:23 something, you can. Step number three,
12:25 which is my favorite, is webinars. You
12:28 can do two types of lives, a LinkedIn
12:30 live or you can do a Zoom webinar. For
12:33 lunch number one, we just did one
12:34 LinkedIn live, which is literally on
12:36 LinkedIn. You're going live like you
12:38 would on Instagram or X. [music]
12:39 You tell people that you're going to do
12:41 it. You create a simple post about it,
12:43 just highlighting what it is going to be
12:44 about. And then whoever signs up gets a
12:47 notification directly on LinkedIn that
12:49 you're going live. All you need is one
12:52 topic to educate on for the first 20
12:53 minutes. Then the next 20 minutes is
12:55 going to be a walkthrough or a demo. And
12:57 then the third bit is you're going to be
12:59 pitching the product, sending the link,
13:01 tell them where to buy. When you're able
13:02 to show up as a human, people actually
13:05 connect with you with your mannerisms,
13:06 with how you look, with where you live,
13:09 with how you sound. So [music] that's
13:11 what allowed us to literally hit the 30K
13:13 in 4 days. Once you have your first
13:15 couple users or even before you launch
13:17 or when you're doing better launches
13:18 like we did ourselves, the thing that
13:20 you need to focus on to make sure that
13:22 the product is perfect is hop on calls
13:25 or DM customers directly to ask them for
13:28 direct support. What we did was we were
13:30 going on VIP white globe onboarding
13:33 calls where we literally took people
13:35 through the product so they could use it
13:37 correctly. Because the reason why most
13:39 people stop using software is because
13:41 they don't understand it. It's not
13:42 because it doesn't work. So, we tried
13:44 our best to make sure that [music] every
13:46 single one of our customers at the start
13:48 was able to use that product correctly.
13:50 [music] So, then they could stay on for
13:51 longer. They gave us an amazing
13:53 testimonial and then they became Cleo
13:55 [music] Evangelist. but also in the
13:58 background we were recording those calls
13:59 to make sure that we spotted patterns in
14:02 thinking [music] in problems in bugs in
14:05 issues that people were having so we
14:07 could actually fix them immediately. So
14:09 it was also an iteration play for us so
14:12 we could have the best product available
14:14 as fast as possible. So then step number
14:16 five, what you need to also do is think
14:18 about how can you get the most demand as
14:20 fast as possible. You build your weight
14:22 list and then to incentivize customers
14:24 to buy, you offer them a lifetime
14:27 discount or something that feels
14:28 exclusive. You're trying to push someone
14:30 to buy. And there's many ways to do it.
14:32 Psych with psychology, you can do it
14:34 through curiosity, you could do it
14:35 through scarcity, or you could do it
14:36 through FOMO. [music] We tried all of
14:38 them, but the one that worked best at
14:39 the start was scarcity. We told people
14:41 we only have 500 spots available, which
14:44 made people want to take action faster.
14:46 When something's available so easily,
14:49 people don't want to buy it immediately.
14:50 So, you need to add that incentive for
14:52 people to go in and buy and also feel
14:54 exclusive. And also, if you want to add
14:56 something else, you can offer them a
14:57 lifetime discount, which is what we did.
14:59 We told them this is 50% off for a
15:01 lifetime. If you buy now, you will never
15:03 have to pay the newer price ever again.
15:05 And then number six, you need to not
15:07 share your customers. Most people just
15:09 launch things and they forget about them
15:10 and then just, you know, go celebrate
15:12 the MR. What we're doing actively at
15:14 Cleo is we're keeping in touch closely
15:17 with every single one of our customers.
15:18 One of our co-founders, Rob, he's
15:20 literally given his personal number to
15:22 every single one of our users so they
15:24 can make sure that they're using the
15:25 tool right, that they feel supported.
15:27 Most people don't do that. But the thing
15:29 is, you need to be doing the things that
15:30 don't scale if you want to scale faster.
15:32 So, if I was starting over all over from
15:35 scratch, that's exactly what I would do.
15:37 >> All right. Well, thank you for sharing
15:38 that playbook, Laura. I think it's
15:39 amazing. I think a lot of people are
15:41 going to really enjoy that and should
15:43 implement it, especially uh if they're
15:45 building a SAS. Changing topics real
15:47 quick. I want to understand tech stack
15:48 behind Cleo. How did you guys build the
15:51 app? How did you build the SAS? What do
15:52 you use day-to-day to run the business
15:54 >> to build Cleo? Actually, we use Claude
15:56 and Claude code. Then we use Nex.js for
15:59 the TypeScript for the code. Then Vasel
16:02 and Vasel chat. Then Vasel again for
16:04 hosting and then clerk for
16:06 authentication. For the operations and
16:08 monetization, we use Slack for
16:10 communication. We use loops for emails.
16:12 currently for onboarding calls and then
16:14 Fernandan for managing those emails for
16:17 support and then to monetize we used
16:19 Polar and Polo's native landing page.
16:22 >> Beautiful. Well, thank you for sharing
16:23 that. Last question that we ask everyone
16:25 who comes on to starter story if you
16:26 could go back in time before you launch
16:28 the SAS that had this amazing launch.
16:30 What would be your advice to young Lara
16:33 or for anyone watching this that wants
16:35 to launch a SAS in 2026?
16:37 >> I would say two things. Number one is
16:40 build a personal brand on LinkedIn. No
16:42 matter how much you think it's cringe,
16:44 if you want to make money, LinkedIn is
16:46 your best shot. Twitter is cool,
16:48 Instagram is cool, but LinkedIn is so
16:50 much better. There's just not no
16:52 competition at all. So, that's one
16:54 thing. Build your personal brand.
16:55 Educate on a important topic that you
16:57 already know. And if you don't know it
16:58 very well, you'll learn it through
17:00 writing about it consistently. The
17:02 second thing, build an email list. You
17:04 never know when you're going to lose
17:06 access to your social media platforms.
17:07 You never know when you'll need to
17:09 actually promote something. So, it's
17:11 better to actually build and then
17:12 nurture that list instead of trying to
17:14 do it once. You have to do it before you
17:17 need to.
17:17 >> Beautiful. Well, thank you for that
17:19 amazing advice. I think a lot of people
17:21 watching this are going to love this
17:23 strategy. I think it's a totally
17:24 different way of thinking about how to
17:26 launch a SAS from a marketer's
17:28 perspective. A lot of people watching
17:30 this video may be very focused on
17:32 building features and doing things the
17:34 old way, but this is this is amazing.
17:36 So, thanks for coming on, Laura. Thank
17:37 you for having me. People have our
17:39 entire playbook, so I hope they see it.
17:41 >> All right. Thank you to Laura for coming
17:42 on to the channel. I'll bring our
17:44 producer Gus on right now. Gus, what did
17:46 you think about that one?
17:47 >> What I really loved about that just how
17:50 strategic everything was. For myself
17:52 personally, I'm just kind of creating
17:54 stuff online, just posting like whatever
17:56 I'm thinking about. And this was like
17:57 very strategic like the weight list and
17:59 the type of content they created and the
18:01 signups and the emails that you saw. So,
18:03 I thought that was pretty interesting.
18:05 >> Yeah. I mean, sometimes you can just
18:06 look at the math of things, right? Like
18:08 >> the goal is maybe a fraction like 1% or
18:11 maybe even less actually show up and
18:13 sign up for your weight list and then
18:15 you kind of know at that point, okay, if
18:16 I have a weight list of 10,000 people
18:18 and I can convert 1% of them, that's 100
18:20 paying customers. It's a numbers game,
18:23 right? Do I'm sure if you did the math
18:24 on what their conversion was, maybe they
18:26 converted 1% of people on their weight
18:28 list to that. I mean, that means 99% of
18:30 people are rejecting them, right? more
18:32 people that watch this channel that are
18:33 builders should go learn from marketers
18:35 like Lara and people that are in other
18:37 niches on on how they convert customers
18:40 [music] and and how they get paying
18:41 customers. That that's really the sauce
18:42 here. I don't know what you think about
18:44 that.
18:44 >> And the last thing is just, you know,
18:45 what they said about LinkedIn. I feel
18:47 like [music] I don't know if you'll
18:48 catch me making content on LinkedIn, but
18:49 like she said, there's so many there's
18:51 so few people doing it on there that
18:52 it's like probably a huge opportunity if
18:55 you can get over that.
18:55 >> If there are more creators than
18:57 consumers, it's bad for you because it's
18:59 harder to stand out. But if there are
19:01 more consumers than creators, like on
19:03 LinkedIn, I think that's very true.
19:04 There's just not that many people
19:06 creating because they're worried about
19:07 feeling cringe or whatever their boss is
19:09 on there, whatever, that's where the
19:11 money is, [music] the sauce is, right?
19:12 And I think you can build a great
19:14 business. On that note, if you're
19:16 looking to build something, it's all
19:18 about distribution. It's about doing
19:19 launch, but you got to build something.
19:20 You got to have something that uh people
19:22 can use. Definitely check out Starter
19:23 Story Build. It is our program where you
19:25 will come up with an idea, you'll build
19:27 it, and you'll launch it to actual
19:29 people like they did at Cleo. If you are
19:31 ready to get off the sidelines and
19:32 actually build something, look, it may
19:34 not be a million-dollar idea, but get
19:36 something out there, get feedback, get
19:37 it into the market. That's what Starter
19:39 Story Build is all about. I'll put a
19:40 link in the description for you to sign
19:41 up, get started. More cohorts are
19:44 launching this week. If you're ready to
19:45 get started right now, definitely check
19:46 it out. All right, that's it for this
19:48 one. Thank you guys for watching. We'll
19:49 see you in the next one. Peace.