Joshua's Journey from Side Projects to SaaS Success

From Wakeup Call to postal.app: Joshua's Journey from Side Projects to SaaS Success

Hi! I'm Harshil, founder of Dream Launch Studios. Today I want to share the incredible journey of Joshua, the founder of postal.app, a content creation tool that's helping creators generate engaging social media content. Joshua's story is a perfect example of how building in public, starting with side projects, and focusing on user feedback can lead to a successful SaaS business.

1. 🚀 The Beginning: From Wakeup Call to Twitter

Joshua's journey into the tech world started with a simple side project called "Wakeup Call" - a website that visualized your remaining life expectancy based on your age and country. The project went viral on Reddit, bringing 1,500 unique visitors overnight and teaching Joshua a crucial lesson: content can drive massive traffic to your projects.

This Reddit success led Joshua to discover Twitter's built-in public community, where he started sharing his journey and connecting with other builders. "I couldn't really share this excitement because I had no builder friends in my circle," Joshua recalls. "So I created my Twitter account the same day and started posting."

This was the beginning of Joshua's content creation journey - a skill that would later become central to his business.

2. 🎯 The Idea: Content Creation Pain Points

After meeting his co-founders on Twitter, Joshua and his team identified a common pain point: content creation takes up too much time. Joshua had been doing freelance content creation work, writing Reddit posts and tweets for clients, and his workload had exploded.

"I got so many freelance clients that my personal workload kind of exploded," Joshua explains. "So I came up with a super hacky way to automate some parts of that content creation workflow."

The team decided to productize this workflow and launched postal.app three months ago. Initially, they targeted multiple platforms (Reddit, LinkedIn, and X) simultaneously, but quickly realized this broad approach was overwhelming and hard to market.

3. 🔄 The Pivot: Focusing on X (Twitter)

The key insight came from user behavior analysis. Joshua and his team used PostHog to track how users interacted with the platform and discovered that all users were primarily using it for X (Twitter).

"We saw that all of our users were using it only for X and they came from X," Joshua says. "So X was the thing they were most interested in."

This data-driven decision led to a strategic pivot - focusing exclusively on X before expanding to other platforms. This focus made marketing much easier and allowed the team to perfect their product for one platform before scaling.

4. 💡 The Full-Time Decision: User Love as the Signal

Joshua had been saving for three years while working a corporate job, building up 24 months of runway. But the decision to go full-time came from observing user behavior.

"I watched almost every screen recording in PostHog just to see how people interact with the app," Joshua explains. "There was something that made me go, damn, they actually spend hours in the app to create content."

Seeing users spend hours daily creating content was the strong signal Joshua needed. "If we find just more people like that person, we have got like 20 selected users that use the app almost every single day to create content. That was the signal I needed."

5. 🎨 Building in Public: Joshua's Content Strategy

Joshua has built a strong following on Twitter by sharing his journey authentically. His content strategy focuses on:

70/30 Split:

70% value content - Practical tips, tutorials, and insights
30% personal content - Showing the person behind the brand

Content Framework:

Strong hooks - "This is how I build MVPs in 30 minutes"
Deliver value - Go in-depth with practical advice
Resolution/CTA - Wrap up with actionable takeaways

Authenticity Tips:

Show yourself, not just your work
Let your personality bleed into your content
Be camera shy but keep pushing through it
Document your journey daily

6. 🌊 The Vision: From Germany to Thailand

Joshua's vision extends beyond just building a successful SaaS. He plans to relocate to Thailand (his mother's homeland) to stretch his runway and reconnect with his roots.

"I want to get back to my roots. I'm half Thai and I would love to live in Thailand, learn the language again," Joshua shares. "I want to sell everything except for a few martial arts clothes, my Mac and my surfboard."

His goal is to build 10 hours a day while pursuing his passions for martial arts and surfing - the perfect blend of work and lifestyle.

7. 🚀 Key Lessons from Joshua's Journey

Start with Side Projects:

Joshua's first project "Wakeup Call" taught him the power of content marketing
Side projects help you learn and build an audience simultaneously

Focus on User Behavior:

Use analytics tools like PostHog to understand how users actually use your product
Let data guide your product decisions, not assumptions

Build in Public:

Share your journey authentically
Show both your successes and struggles
Let your personality shine through your content

Have a Clear Signal:

Joshua waited for strong user engagement before going full-time
Look for users who love your product, not just try it

Think Long-term:

Save runway before quitting your job
Have a clear mission and plan
Consider lifestyle design in your business decisions

🚀 Summary

Joshua's journey from a simple life expectancy calculator to postal.app demonstrates the power of:

Starting small with side projects to learn and build audience
Using data to make product decisions (the X-only pivot)
Building in public authentically to grow your network
Waiting for strong signals before going full-time
Designing your lifestyle around your business goals

His story shows that success comes from combining technical skills with content creation, community building, and strategic decision-making. postal.app is now helping creators generate engaging content efficiently, and Joshua is living proof that you can build a successful SaaS while pursuing your passions.

🚀 Resources

Connect with Joshua:

Twitter - Follow his daily journey
postal.app - Try the content creation tool
YT Video - Watch Joshua's journey

Key Tools Mentioned:

PostHog - User analytics and screen recordings
Twitter - Building in public and community
Reddit - Initial traffic generation

Inspiration Accounts:

Yoni Builds - Daily Instagram content creator
Jack Fricks - Long-term content building success

Joshua's journey proves that with the right approach, anyone can turn their side project into a successful SaaS business while building an authentic personal brand.

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