Every founder has felt the sting of launching to crickets.
For Declan and Derrick, that silence was deafening, echoing across a graveyard of ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful projects. Their list of attempts read like a whirlwind tour of startup trends:
- YouUp: A social alarm clock app.
- Avo Alarm: An AI voice alarm.
- AI Tutor for Special Ed: Targeting a specific educational niche.
- Slate: A habit-building application.
- Minutes: An AI-powered notes app.
- Steady Soles: Venturing into sneaker reselling.
Despite pouring energy into each, nothing gained traction.
This case study explores:
- The Toilet Seat Epiphany & The Long Domain Gamble
- Turning Lightning into a Strategy: Replication & Amplification
- Sustaining Growth Beyond the Initial Hack
- Results and The Road Ahead
- Key Takeaways for Founders
They weren't just building; they were deep in the content trenches, churning out three short-form videos every single day across TikTok, Reels, and Shorts, desperately seeking an audience for their creations.
Weeks blurred into months of relentless content creation, yielding little more than frustration and the looming shadow of burnout. "It was brutal," they shared, reflecting on the period where nothing seemed to work.
Facing near exhaustion, they heeded a friend's advice: focus.
They shelved the scattered approach and committed their remaining energy to their latest venture, JotBot, an AI writing assistant aimed at students.
The Toilet Seat Epiphany & The Long Domain Gamble
The breakthrough didn't come from a strategic planning session, but from a moment of random inspiration.
While, quite literally, sitting on the toilet, Declan had a flash of unconventional insight. He yelled out to Derrick, "Yo, what if we just get a super long and specific URL like ihaveanessaydueatmidnight.com and point it to JotBot?"
It sounded utterly ridiculous. A gimmick. Why would this work when their carefully crafted videos had failed?
With expectations rock bottom and nothing left to lose, Derrick recorded a quick, unpolished video mentioning the hypothetical domain. They were so unconvinced, they didn't even bother buying the domain name initially.
But the algorithms, and the audience, thought differently.
- Within hours, the Reel started gaining unexpected traction, hitting 30,000 views.
- Scrambling, they quickly purchased ihaveanessaydueatmidnight.com and set up the redirect to JotBot.
- Traffic began pouring in as the video's virality exploded, eventually reaching a staggering 7 million views.
Turning Lightning into a Strategy: Replication & Amplification
Declan and Derrick realized they'd stumbled onto something potent: a blend of relatable student pain and sheer novelty.
They quickly operationalized this discovery based on a core growth principle: If it went viral once, it can go viral again.
- Video Replication: They filmed the exact same video again, using the exact same script. Result? Another 10 million views.
- Influencer Replication: They paid a friend to create similar videos, adding another 2 million views.
- Domain Expansion: This wasn't a one-trick pony. They embraced the absurdity and bought over 100+ hyper-specific, often hilarious, domain names, all funneling traffic to JotBot.
Examples include:
- ihaveanessaydueatmidnightthatireallydontwantodo.com
- ihave18tabsopenforthisresearchpaperthatsduetonight.com
- 10pagepaperisat0pagesrightnow.com
- thisstupidessayiswaytoolong.com
This unique, domain-driven viral loop propelled JotBot to an impressive $25,000 MRR in just two months.
Sustaining Growth Beyond the Initial Hack
Viral tactics, especially novel ones, inevitably face diminishing returns.
As the long domain videos started to lose their initial punch, JotBot needed new strategies to maintain momentum and scale further towards the $50k MRR mark. They deployed a multi-pronged approach:
- Meme Page Amplification: They identified Instagram meme pages popular with their student demographic. Recognizing these pages often have massive reach and are relatively inexpensive to partner with (often run by teenagers), they paid them to repost their already-proven viral videos. This gave their winning content a cost-effective second wave of exposure.
- Multi-Account Social Strategy: Understanding that platforms like TikTok prioritize content reach over follower counts, they didn't rely on a single brand account. They created multiple accounts (like @jotbot.official and @SLAMVentures on TikTok/YouTube) to increase their surface area for virality. More accounts meant more chances for the algorithm to pick up their content, a tactic used by specialized media agencies to generate billions of views.
- Strategic Product Pivot: The initial "get your essay done fast" angle, while effective for acquisition, positioned JotBot dangerously close to being just a "cheating tool." This led to retention challenges, especially during student breaks. The team made a crucial decision to evolve:
- Shift in Positioning: Moved from a quick-fix solution to a genuinely useful academic partner.
- Feature Enhancement: Focused development on functionality supporting writing quality, research, and learning, including:
- AI-Assisted Writing (refining, improving flow, grammar)
- Draft Generation (overcoming the blank page)
- Enhanced Note Taking & Research tools
This pivot was vital for building a more sustainable product with better long-term value and retention.
Results and The Road Ahead
This combination of audacious initial virality, smart scaling tactics, and necessary product evolution painted a remarkable growth picture:
- $0 to $50,000 MRR in approximately 6 months.
- Reached $25,000 MRR within the first 2 months.
- Generated over 100 million organic impressions across platforms.
- Acquired 1 million users.
- Achieved nearly $400,000 in sales.
- All accomplished with $0 in traditional ad spend.
They recently brought on a third co-founder to help navigate the complexities of scaling further, aiming well beyond the $100k MRR milestone. While facing typical startup hurdles (like an affiliate scam costing them $2000), JotBot's journey exemplifies how creative, unconventional thinking combined with relentless execution can turn a struggling idea into a high-growth SaaS business.
Key Takeaways for Founders
- Embrace the Unconventional: Don't dismiss "dumb" ideas too quickly; they might hold the key to cutting through the noise.
- Systematize Virality: When something works, don't just celebrate – replicate it. Remake content, reuse scripts, and explore variations.
- Leverage Underpriced Distribution: Look for channels like niche meme pages or multi-account strategies that offer high reach for low cost.
- Pain Point Resonance is Powerful: The long domains worked because they perfectly mirrored a specific, acute student pain point.
- Growth Reveals Flaws: Be ready to pivot your product or positioning based on user behavior and retention data, even if it means moving away from what got you initial traction.
- Focus & Persistence: After numerous failures, concentrating efforts on one project, even when facing burnout, was critical.
JotBot's story is a powerful reminder that the path to startup success isn't always linear or conventional. Sometimes, it starts with a ridiculously long domain name and a willingness to try anything.
