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

Lara Acosta

• Co-founded Cleo with her co-founders.
• Built a B2B SaaS that made $30,000 in four days.
• Launched Cleo in October 2025.
• Grew the product from zero to $60,000 per month in less than two months.
• Started posting on LinkedIn about three years before the interview.
• Built two businesses from LinkedIn content before Cleo.
• Has a background in agency and info product businesses.
• Brought marketing concepts such as FOMO, waitlists, emails, and webinars into SaaS.

Cleo

• Is a B2B SaaS for founders trying to grow on LinkedIn.
• Works as an AI ghostwriter for LinkedIn content.
• Thinks like the user, writes like the user, and creates content for them.
• Was not publicly purchasable from the landing page during the launch strategy.
• Required people to join a waitlist before buying.
• Used private beta launches to the waitlist before public launch.

Metrics and Launch Results

• Made $30,000 MRR in four days.
• Reached about $62,000 MRR at the time Lara showed the dashboard.
• Had over 932 active subscriptions and over 1,000 subscriptions in total.
• Saw a clear active-user spike from October 1.
• Used two launch spikes.
  • The first came from the original waitlist launch.
  • The second came from a relaunch.

Launch Strategy

• Used a three-part launch playbook: content, waitlist, and webinars.
• Built scarcity, curiosity, and demand before people had seen the product.
• Used beta launches directly to the waitlist.
• Soft-sold the product by making access feel secret and limited.
• Used LinkedIn educational content to drive demand.
• Practiced edu-selling.
  • Educated people on their biggest problem.
  • Showed where they could get better results with Cleo.
  • Avoided obvious calls to action in early content.
• Created awareness and mindshare before asking people to buy.

Email and Waitlist Playbook

• Warmed up the waitlist for four weeks before launch.
• Sent more than 10 emails before the drop.
• Educated people on why they needed the tool without directly selling it.
• Addressed the main objection that ChatGPT or Claude were free alternatives.
• Framed the problem as differentiation rather than an AI problem.
• Built trust before the launch email.
• Sent a direct launch email once Cleo was live.
• Used email as the key conversion channel because it does not compete with an algorithm.

SaaS Launch Playbook

• Build a LinkedIn personal brand first.
• Be useful rather than trying to be the most viral or the biggest expert.
• Identify your unfair advantage.
  • Use your story or a tactical subject you understand.
  • Create educational content around that advantage.
• Use the 4321 framework.
  • Post four times per week.
  • Use three content pillars: educational, storytelling, and sales-generating content.
  • Write for two audiences: ideal client persona and ideal follower persona.
  • Use one lead magnet to collect email addresses.
• Build lead magnets with simple assets such as Google Docs, Looms, or existing process material.
• Build and nurture the waitlist while creating public content.
• Use webinars or LinkedIn Lives.
  • Spend the first 20 minutes educating.
  • Spend the next 20 minutes walking through or demoing the product.
  • Spend the final section pitching the product and sharing the buying link.
• Talk directly with early users.
  • Run VIP white-glove onboarding calls.
  • Record calls to find patterns in confusion, bugs, and objections.
  • Use those insights to improve the product quickly.
• Create demand quickly with scarcity, curiosity, or FOMO.
  • Used 500 available spots as the scarcity mechanism.
  • Offered a 50% lifetime discount for early buyers.
• Nurture customers after launch.
  • Keep in close touch with every customer.
  • Give users direct support channels.
  • Do things that do not scale to scale faster.

Tech Stack and Operations

• Uses Claude and Claude Code to build Cleo.
• Uses Next.js and TypeScript.
• Uses Vercel and Vercel chat.
• Hosts on Vercel.
• Uses Clerk for authentication.
• Uses Slack for communication.
• Uses Loops for emails.
• Uses Calendly for onboarding calls.
• Uses Front for support email management.
• Uses Polar for monetization and Polar’s native landing page.

Lessons and Advice

• Build a personal brand on LinkedIn if you want to make money from SaaS.
• Educate on an important topic you already know.
• Learn more about a topic by writing about it consistently.
• Build an email list before you need it.
• Nurture the list instead of collecting emails and ignoring them.
• Learn from marketers, not only from builders focused on features.