I quit being an influencer & built a $250K/month app

A former influencer, who amassed nearly a million subscribers, intentionally disappeared from the internet to build a real business detached from his personal brand. He transitioned from an audience-based online presence to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, which is now generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in monthly recurring revenue with a team of 10. This shift was driven by a desire for authenticity, a need to prove his business acumen beyond influencing, and a strategic decision to build a sustainable venture that could thrive independently of his public persona.

The decision to step away from his influencer career was fueled by a feeling of misalignment with the content he was creating, particularly after a viral moment that generated significant income but also felt controversial. He sought to build something enduring that would provide value and revenue without requiring constant public engagement or a personal brand. This led to the creation of a SaaS business, built organically and without leveraging his existing audience directly, aiming for product-market fit and natural customer adoption.

Ultimately, the experience highlights the difference between audience-based influence and foundational business building. While an audience can accelerate growth, the core of a successful venture lies in creating a product or service that genuinely meets market needs and can stand on its own, offering a more fulfilling and free path than being tethered to public attention.

• A successful influencer with nearly 1 million subscribers intentionally left his online presence to build a software business behind the scenes.
• The new SaaS venture is generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in monthly recurring revenue with a team of 10.
• The decision to pivot was driven by a desire for authenticity and to build a business not reliant on his personal brand.
• While an audience can make things easier, the business was built organically, focusing on product value and customer adoption.
• Key growth channels include YouTube videos, short-form content, paid ads, affiliates, SEO, and the app store itself, creating a reinforcing flywheel.

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From Influencer to Software Entrepreneur [00:00]

• Decided to stop being an influencer and go "ghost" on the internet to build something real, detached from his face.
• Built a YouTube channel with nearly 1 million subscribers, known for displaying wealth and making millions.
• Disappeared from YouTube with no uploads or public presence.
• Reached out to discuss what happened and what he told the interviewer "completely blew my mind."
• Instead of doubling down on being an influencer, he walked away to build a software business behind the scenes, without a personal brand.
• This new business is now generating hundreds of thousands of revenue with a team of 10 people.
• He joined the channel to share why he walked away from being an influencer at his peak, what he learned about audience-based businesses, and how he proved he could build a real business.

I decided like I didn't want to do it anymore. So, I basically just went ghost on the internet because I wanted to build something real that was detached from my face.

This section introduces the speaker's dramatic shift from being a prominent online influencer to building a successful software company in secrecy. It sets the stage for his reasons and strategies behind this unexpected career change.

Current Business and Ambitions [01:17]

• His name is Sebastian Georgu.
• He has been in online business for a while, starting with dropshipping and e-commerce before getting into YouTube.
• His current venture is software (SaaS).
• The team has grown to over 10 people.
• The business is generating multi-6 figures per month in recurring revenue.
• He is heading in the direction he wanted to go when he stopped posting content.

My name is Sebastian Georgu, and I've been doing online business for quite some time now. I started out with dropshipping and e-commerce, and I got into YouTube not too long after that, but currently I'm doing uh software, SAS. That's my latest venture.

This part of the conversation focuses on Sebastian's current business, detailing its scale, financial performance, and his satisfaction with its trajectory.

Building a Software Business Without a Personal Brand [01:56]

• The reason for not using his personal brand for the software business is that after going viral, he felt a pressure to constantly turn on a camera and get attention to make money.
• Most of his income was tied to this influencing.
• He wanted to break away from this and build a "real" SaaS company without using his personal brand to promote it.
• He aimed to build it the "hard way" and grow it naturally, like "the cave way" of locking himself in his room.

Yeah, so, you know, after this last stint of posting content on the internet and going mega viral, you know, I had this this feeling like I had to basically turn on a camera and talk and get attention in order to make money. And like most of my income was tied to that. I really wanted to break away from that.

This section explains the core motivation behind Sebastian's decision to build his current business away from the public eye, emphasizing his desire for independence and organic growth.

The Experience of Being a Large Influencer [02:40]

• Building an audience-based business and being a huge influencer was "kind of the dream" for many, watching figures like Jake Paul.
• Anything he did would make money and do well as long as he talked about it.
• There was sometimes a mismatch between his public persona and his true self.
• He experienced a deviation where he wouldn't feel aligned with his internet personality.
• Despite this, it was a "great experience" and he doesn't regret it; it was "really fun."

It's kind of the dream that a lot of people have growing up and watching Jake Paul or like all these influencers like just blow up and become famous and make so much money and live in these cool places and hang out with cool people. Anything I did would make money and would do well as long as I was talking about it.

This segment reflects on the highs and perceived benefits of being a successful influencer, acknowledging the aspirational nature of such a career while hinting at its complexities.

The Decision to Go Silent and Build Differently [03:32]

• He no longer wanted to post videos because he felt "very misaligned" when creating that type of content.
• He felt he was being someone he either didn't want to be or didn't truly feel he was.
• A viral clip about owning a Lamborghini, which generated 100 million impressions on Twitter alone and led to media features, made him realize he didn't want to be the person saying controversial things.
• He wanted to build something without his face attached to it.
• His goal was to build something that would continue to grow and pay dividends even if he never turned a camera on again.
• This realization prompted his transition.

I looked at like how many impressions it had on Twitter, just Twitter alone, and it was like a 100 million. Vox did like a piece on me. I got two Fox interviews. So, obviously that clip made me a lot of money. But what I realized through this last stint of going like as viral as I ever have was that I don't really want to be the guy that says all these controversial things.

This part delves into the specific turning point and rationale for abandoning his influencer career, highlighting a desire for a more authentic and less controversial public image.

Why a SaaS Business? [04:41]

• Reason 1: He predicted that if he built his SaaS business solely on his personal brand and by telling his fans to buy it, it wouldn't survive in the market against other SaaS companies. He also observed that other influencer-started SaaS businesses tend to "come and go."
• He wanted to build a product that was good enough for people to adopt, pay for naturally, and share with friends without him having to convince them.
• Reason 2: He wanted to prove to himself that he could be a good, competitive player in the space, beyond just having influencer-backed businesses.
• He bet everything on himself and took a "super risky" leap into a new area, which worked.
• The business hit $250K in revenue a couple of months prior and is on a growing, sustainable path.

The first reason was that as I started to learn more about SAS, I predicted that if I had just built my SAS business on the back of my personal brand and me telling my own fans to buy it, it wouldn't survive in the wild. When I say wild, I mean in the market and among the competition of other SAS companies that would build similar products as mine.

This segment outlines the strategic thinking behind choosing a SaaS model and building it independently of his established influencer platform, emphasizing market viability and personal validation.

Building the Software: Team and Buyout [05:57]

• He had a co-founder, but neither of them were technical.
• They hired many developers, some of whom were not very good because they lacked knowledge.
• Good hires significantly improved the situation for everyone.
• In January of the current year, he bought out his co-founder for a substantial amount of money when the business was doing $13K-14K MRR.
• This was "extremely scary," and he noted in his planner, "I bet everything on myself."
• He also set a revenue target that would lead to $250K/month in recurring revenue.
• The team is now lean, with highly skilled engineers.
• Finding talent remains incredibly hard.
• He is open to working with talented individuals (designers, developers, CRO specialists) and encourages them to reach out.

And in January of this year, I literally chucked myself into the deep end of the water. I bought out my co-founder for a lot of money at the time. And that was when we were at like 13 or 14K MR. It was extremely scary.

This section details the practicalities of building the software, including the initial team dynamics, the challenging process of hiring developers, and a pivotal moment where he took full ownership of the company.

The Role of Audience in Business Building [07:28]

• You can build a business with or without an audience, but having an audience "makes everything way easier."
• Even though he didn't directly drive traffic to his software from his YouTube channel, he used his personal brand as leverage.
• People knew who he was, making it easier to reach out to others and attract talent (developers were willing to work with him).
• Posting about hiring on Twitter also led to applications.
• Having an audience contributed to the speed and progress of their business.
• Ultimately, it doesn't matter if you have an audience, but it definitely makes the journey easier.

No doubt about it. Audience makes everything way easier. And it was that case for me too. Like I said, I didn't post videos on my YouTube channel and directly drive traffic to the software, but I did use my personal brand as a leverage a lot.

This part addresses the common question of whether an audience is essential for business success, clarifying that while not mandatory, it significantly smooths the path.

Cons of a Product-Based Business Without a Large Audience [08:36]

• Cons: You move from receiving applause to needing "straight performance." You must be highly competent and work "a lot more." You will face stress, problems, and payroll concerns; it's "way harder."
• Pros: It is "way way more fulfilling," and you gain "genuine freedom."
• A business tied to your face and personal brand means you are "cuffed to the camera." He wanted to break that chain.

Well, I'll start with the cons. The cons are you're going from like an audience from applause to straight performance. like you have to be straight competent. That's all that it is. You need to be working all the time a lot more. You're going to have stress. You're going to have problems. You're going to have payroll. It's way harder.

This section contrasts the challenges and rewards of building a business without a massive audience, highlighting the increased difficulty but also the greater fulfillment and freedom it can offer.

Building Without an Audience: Growth Channels [11:28]

• The business grew from zero to $250K in about 9 months without relying on his personal brand.
• Initial growth: Sharing with people, using it in Discord communities, continuous improvement based on customer feedback. This led to $10K/month organically.
• Once confident, they reached out to YouTubers to make videos about their product.
• Started with short-form content, initially without views, but by studying others and creating a system for viral content, they gained awareness.
• Later, they introduced paid ads.
• These elements began reinforcing each other, creating a flywheel: YouTube videos led to shorts, ads were made from videos and used, leading to increased visibility.
• YouTube videos, short-form content, and paid ads account for 60-65% of their total traffic.
• Other channels include affiliates, ChatGPT integrations (if asked correctly), strong SEO ranking, and traffic from the app store itself.
• The growth is diverse.

The way we got it off the ground was we would share it with some people. People would use it in like Discord communities a little bit to help out. We kept on improving it. We kept on listening to the customers and it grew to 10K a month fairly organically as it got to a much better place and to a good place where we felt pretty confident.

This part details the specific marketing and growth strategies employed to build the business from scratch without leveraging a pre-existing, large audience, showcasing a multi-channel approach.

How YouTube Skills Indirectly Helped [13:01]

• Skills and experience built on YouTube (and other ventures) benefit him in some way.
• These create a "compounding force" that makes him good at business, marketing, or whatever he pursues.
• He absolutely believes that everything he has done has led him to this moment and is why the business is working.

Like these skills that you build, these people that you know, these things that you learn, they benefit you in some way and it creates like this compounding force that makes you like somebody that's good at business or good at marketing or good at whatever.

This section acknowledges the transferable skills and cumulative experience gained from his prior online endeavors, recognizing their indirect but crucial contribution to his current success.

Advice for Future Founders [13:55]

• Failure is normal and a part of the process; it's when you question your abilities.
• Successful people are often the most successful failures because they are "crazy enough to keep going."
• Never compare yourself to others. People might be jealous or think you had it easy, but comparison is unproductive.
• Compare yourself to yourself: As long as you are "keep winning," that's what matters.

The biggest thing is um failure is normal, right? So it's in those moments that you fail that you wonder if like are you smart enough? Are you good enough? Do you have what it takes? But that's just part of the process.

This concluding segment offers practical and motivational advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, emphasizing resilience, the acceptance of failure, and the importance of self-comparison over external benchmarking.