My website makes $34K/month (built in 3 hours)

The Genesis of Cursive Directory [00:00]

• The Cursive directory was conceived and built over a single weekend by developers Pontis and Victor.
• It currently generates $35,000 per month with an exceptionally high profit margin of 99.8%.
• The core idea arose from Pontis's observation during a flight to France that there was no single, accessible place to find Cursive rules.

"We built it in a weekend and now it makes 35k per month."

Building and Launching at Speed [00:12]

• Upon landing in France, Pontis immediately contacted his friend Victor to begin development.
• They coded for approximately 3 hours straight to launch a functional directory.
• The initial version was built using Nex.js, with a hard-coded JSON file containing rules found online.

The Directory's Success and Metrics [02:39]

• The Cursive directory serves as a discoverability tool for Cursive developers to find new ideas.
• It has attracted 49,000 registered users and 2.2 million unique visitors since its launch.
• Operational costs are minimal, under $500 per month, with maintenance requiring only 3 hours per month due to its open-source nature hosted on GitHub.

"So basically a directory is of course made for discoverability uh to find something that you're interesting in and curs directory of course is made for for cursive developers to explore and find new ideas."

The Spark of an Idea [03:21]

• The idea for the directory emerged during a three-hour flight to France, where Pontis was looking at Cursive-related content.
• He noticed a lack of a consolidated resource for Cursive rules, with information scattered across GitHub gists and forums.

"It was kind of mind-blowing for me that there were no uh place to find these rules in one specific place."

Rapid Prototyping and Iteration [04:01]

• Pontis and Victor have extensive experience building apps and websites, enabling them to move quickly.
• Victor initiated the design in Figma while Pontis set up the initial Nex.js project and the hard-coded JSON file.
• Within about 30 minutes, they had a clickable prototype deployed on Vercel.
• The domain "cursordirectory.com" was purchased, and the site was completed within three hours, followed by continuous iteration.

"In just matter of minutes, he spun up Figma and started to design while I started initial project with Nex.js and I created a hard-coded JSON file with some rules that I found online and in matter of like an half an hour we had something up in Versel uh ready to to click around on."

The Art of Shipping Fast [04:50]

• Pontis emphasizes the importance of shipping quickly, even if a product isn't perfect.
• He advises finding opportunities that can be executed very fast, rather than holding back.
• This approach involves dialing in on a committed project and actively seeking out implementable solutions.

"So, of course I have this main startup that we focus on day in and day out, right? We work a lot of hours. Usually once a week or twice a week, we find these things that you can really do really, really fast, but we hold off. But in this case, we didn't."

Gaining Traction and Visibility [05:43]

• The directory gained significant traction in its first week through strategic posting on X (formerly Twitter).
• As they build in public and share their code openly on GitHub, they achieved 1 million impressions on one X post.
• The project was also featured on Hacker News, reaching its front page.
• Numerous YouTubers covered the Cursive directory, further amplifying its reach.

"So I I posted the the cursor directory uh on on X of course at the initial uh release. I mean we're building public on X. We share everything we do all the way to the code, right?"

The Competitive Edge of Design [06:35]

• Pontis believes that the beautiful design of the Cursive directory is a significant competitive advantage.
• He highlights that in the current landscape, especially with AI-generated websites looking similar, strong design is crucial for differentiation.
• The advice for designing beautiful apps quickly includes keeping it simple, finding personal aesthetic preferences, learning from successful websites, and utilizing existing design systems or components.

"Design will actually be the things that puts you apart from the competitors right because it's easy to create an website today but all of them usually looks the same."

The Longevity of Directories in 2025 [09:14]

• Contrary to the belief that directories are dead, Pontis asserts they are still incredibly successful, particularly when built for the right audience at the right time.
• The Cursive directory addresses a timeless need for discoverability, which is amplified in the current AI-driven landscape where users seek clear answers and curated information.
• A successful directory capitalizes on a wave of interest from a larger audience and can become a powerful resource.

"Yeah, I mean I get these questions a lot like aren't directors dead but it truly is director still is incredibly successful in 2025 especially if you build something for the right audience and and in this case of course we we found the audience uh at the right time at the core directly solves a timeless problem like you need to find something uh that you're interested in"

Business Model and Key Features [10:16]

• The directory allows users to browse, copy, and apply Cursive rules.
• Features include filtering by interest, viewing popular and official rules, and searching.
• Users can register to create accounts, submit their own content, and upvote interesting items.
• The business model includes paid job ads for companies and featured listings.
• A significant driver of adoption was the integration of MCP (likely referring to a specific type of extension or functionality) searchable features.
• They also offer a tool to generate custom Cursive rules tailored to a user's website by uploading their JavaScript package.json.

"Companies can share their job ads. So it's a paid uh ad that they pay to get listed some months after MCPS uh came along and that were also a thing that made C directory really really fly."

Tech Stack and Philosophy [11:51]

• The developers prioritized using technologies they are already proficient with.
• The tech stack includes Nex.js, TypeScript, Shing Components, Resend for email, Open Panel for analytics, and GitHub for version control.
• Vercel is used for hosting.
• Payments are handled via Polar, a recommended merchant for European companies.
• Productivity tools include Cursor for coding and Notion for product management.
• Their core philosophy is "no servers, no friction," focusing solely on building and shipping quickly.
• The total monthly cost for these tools is approximately $525.

"So, I think this is the important one like you should stick with something that you know uh and already uh use uh every day, right? So, we stick what we know."

The Ultimate Advice: Just Start [13:04]

• The most critical piece of advice for aspiring builders is to simply "Start."
• Committing to building and iterating creates momentum, fosters learning, and leads to unexpected opportunities and "luck."
• There is no such thing as failure; the worst outcome is learning and moving forward to the next step.

"Start. It sounds simple, but here's the thing. When you start building and when you commit to something, you eventually getting dialed in. You create your own luck by constantly finding ways to move forward, shipping, sharing, and iterate."