8 engineers, 60k creators, $30M ARR (TLAC Success Story #004)

I want to tell you about two founders who built a platform that's helped over 60,000 creators start and scale their online businesses.

John Hu and Vitalii Dodonov created Stan.

And in just three years, they've grown to $30M in revenue. Profitably.

You've probably seen Stan everywhere lately.

That simple, clean checkout page on your favourite creator's website? Stan.

That community platform everyone seems to be using? Also Stan.

The course platform that doesn't make you want to throw your laptop out the window? Yep, Stan again.

(not sponsored btw)

Many Start-up founders end up pulling their hair out hiring huge teams and trying to ship every feature under the sun.

John and Vitalii did the opposite.

They decided to stay small and focused.

(Clearly with their hair still very much intact)

They've built one of the most feature-rich creator platforms with just 8 engineers.

Their goal? Build a billion-dollar company with no more than 10.

Their model can essentially be summed up as ruthlessly focusing on solving real problems.

Zero fluff work.

Now as a minimalist, I honestly love their take on landing pages.

Creators kept asking for more customisation options. More flexibility. More design tools. More more more.

The obvious move would've been to build a fancy page builder, right?

It’s what the users want.

But they noticed that the more options they gave creators, the less likely they were to actually launch.

People would get stuck trying to make everything so perfect that the page would never leave the drafts.

How is anyone going to make money if they don’t launch their store?

"Death by complexity," as Vitalii puts it.

So they went the opposite direction.

Made their pages really simple.

Just a rich text editor. That's it.

And you know what?

Their conversion rates are better than platforms with all the fancy customisation options.

Side note…

The conversion rates are better because the sale isn't actually made on your store front.

• Creator-led sales happen on social

• They happen in your emails

• They happen during your livestreams

By the time someone hits your landing page, they're likely already sold on you.

They just need a clean, simple way to buy.

Adding complexity at this stage only creates friction.

All of this comes from a deep understanding what creators need.

Not what they say they need - what they actually need to succeed.

For Stan, that means one thing: helping creators make more money than they could anywhere else.

You see this mindset in everything they do.

When a creator in their community needs something - like when you wanted to embed Loom videos in your course - they don't mess around with lengthy product reviews.

Vitalii just called their best engineer and said "I need this in 2 hours." Done.

Their whole company is structured around this kind of quick, focused execution.

Instead of building huge engineering teams, they invest heavily in customer support and service.

They get that while software can scale infinitely, human connection can't.

Their team structure looks a little something like this:

• A small group of elite engineers building product

• A robust support team providing real-time help

• Content creators sharing best practices

• Partnerships focused on creator success

John's own journey shows why this approach works.

During COVID, he started creating content to help underrepresented kids get their dream jobs.

He'd worked his way into Wall Street and wanted to share that knowledge.

Know what his first product was?

His old internship resume.

Just a template that he could prove worked, and just for $10.

He had to dig through his old Dropbox just to find it.

That simple start made him his first $10,000 in online income.

It worked because it was genuinely valuable.

His audience needed help with resumes.

He had a template.

Simple as that.

They've brought this same thinking to Stan.

And the results speak for themselves.

Over 60,000 creators using the platform.

More than $250M generated for their community.

It's proof that you can build differently today.

You can say no to feature bloat.

You don't need huge teams or massive budgets.

You need focused execution and genuine care for your customers success.

Remember, the creator mindset is all you need to grow 🌱

Jordan

P.S. We just wrapped up this week’s community power hour this morning and it was another 10/10 session. We covered strategies for scaling content creation, the importance of having a clear mission and the mental practices needed to avoid burnout while building a sustainable operation. Want to join up before the next one? Click here.

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