ZapDM.io Journey to $100k

[animesh]

Update - Week 3: October 05, 2025

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Stats so far:

(+3 new users since last week)

What I did last week (September 29 to October 5):

1. Deal with the backlog (Created help articles, Created demo videos, Got listed on 5 more directories for SaaS, wrote 3 articles for SEO)
2. Improved the Free Trial flow
3. Created a Lifetime Deal system starting at $97
4. Increased automation limits, also allowing AI feature access to the free plan too.
5. Fixed minor bugs
6. Outreach 30 YouTube software review channels to review ZapDM (I got the list but I haven't started the outreach yet, I'll first create the affiliate program, then invite them to review our product as an affiliate).
7. Creating a PDF Guide Lead Magnet and promoting it on Instagram and FB groups (PDF is almost ready, I'll start promoting it ASAP)

What I plan to do this week (October 6 to October 12):

1. Deal with backlog (Do the YouTube reviewers outreach and promote PDF guide for ZapDM as a lead magnet)
2. Get at least 50 new users
3. Create the affiliate program with full tracking
4. Run Ads for the LTD, I'll try to make at least 1 sale

Costs so far: $470 (+$4)
Net revenue: $0


I have noticed that I am occupying myself with adding features, being immersed in the codebase and not doing the things that actually make revenue, so this week, I will try my best to prioritize the work that shows results.

This week, I’m pressing the scary button. Let’s go

Also, since I am going to run ads this week, I'll appriciate a few suggestions/advice from you guys, if possible, thanks!


See you next week! Or maybe sooner if somebody replies

 

[animesh]

Update - Week 4: October 12, 2025

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Stats so far:

(+5 new users since last week and 1 actual paid LTD customer)

What I did last week (October 6 to October 12):

1. Deal with backlog (Do the YouTube reviewers outreach and promote PDF guide for ZapDM as a lead magnet) However I didn't get any reponse yet.
2. Get at least 50 new users (Got only 5)
3. Create the affiliate program with full tracking
4. Run Ads for the LTD, I'll try to make at least 1 sale (Got 0 sales and 0 signups)

What I plan to do this week (October 13 to October 19):

1. Get new users and convert them into customers.
2. Increase the presence for ZapDM.

I build the whole affiliate program with complete tracking and management in-house since the other solutions were paid. I was feeling a demotivated and sad because nothing seemed to be working, the ads didn't get any results even when the CTR was good.

On Thursday or Friday I was very stressed. My head and eyes were hurting, so my mom and my girlfriend both suggested that I should relax a little since I had locked myself up in the room (kind of) for the last few months building this. Now, I have decided that I am going to be calm and realistic, haha. The goal is still the same, but I won't stress myself, eventually I am going to get there, so it's better to be mentally in the right space. My dad is fine with what I am doing as he's also willing to support me, but I don't want to use his money.

Today, I got my first sale from DealFuel (a platform like AppSumo) and I am very happy. But the money will be credited next month after the refund period. I hope the customer likes the product

Costs so far: $517 (+$47 for Meta Ads)
Net revenue: $172 (Pending, to be confirmed after the 30 day refund period)


PS: I have a lot to learn, I am not a very good marketer, but you guys are, if you have any suggestions for me, I am open and willing to learn. Thanks!

 

[animesh]

Update - Week 5: October 19, 2025​

Stats so far:

(+6 new users since last week)

What I did last week (October 13 to October 19):

1. Ran Meta Ads for people to signup for ZapDM. Got good number of clicks but no signups
2. Going to get listed on Dealify in November.
3. Started posting on Instagram Threads about ZapDM
   

What I plan to do this week (October 20 to October 26):

1. Get new users and convert them into customers.
2. Increase the presence for ZapDM.
3. Promote the affiliate program.

This week was a festival week here in India (Diwali), I was relaxed, reconnected with my friends and started working out again. Healthly mind and body comes first. I was also doing a side project to get some extra cash.

I am thinking of hiring an ad agency to run ads for ZapDM next month. I am terrible with meta ads, haha.

Costs so far: $525 (+$8 for Meta Ads)
Net revenue: $172 (Pending, to be confirmed after the 30 day refund period)

 

[animesh]

Update - Week 6: October 26, 2025​

Stats so far:

(+4 new users since last week)

What I did last week (October 20 to October 26):

1. Wrote a Medium article to get some recognition
2. Hired a Meta Ads agency to run Ad campaigns
3. posting about ZapDM on Instagram threads daily (got 1 click)

What I plan to do this week (October 27 to November 02):

1. Start the first ad campaign with the agency (should start as soon as I fund the Ad account)
2. Add two important features to the app (follow first and spintext for "fixed" responses)
3. Post a reel on Instagram
4. Continue posting on threads

This week, yet again, I was doing a side project to get some money so that I can invest that into ads. I talked to 10+ agencies and finally hired one on Friday. The ads will start once I fund the Ad account.

There are more competitors now and they are running ads, my progress looks slow but I am trying my best to balance everything. I am sure one day, it will finally start making good cash.

Thanks to everyone who reads this and is supporting the journey!

Costs so far: $600 (+$75 for Meta Ads agency)
Net revenue: $172 (Pending, to be confirmed after the 30 day refund period)

 

[animesh]

Update - Week 7: November 02, 2025​

Stats so far:

(+5 new users since last week)

What I did last week (October 27 to November 02):

1. Added 3 important features to the app (follow first, spintext, Typing status for AI replies)
2. Fixed a Landing page error that was forcefully redirecting people to signin.
3. Removed AI support chat widget for now (it's not working best at the moment, I am going to upgrade it to help the customer queries better)

What I plan to do this week (November 03 to November 09):

1. Add money to the Ads account so that the agency can run ads.
2. Post at least one instagram reel
3. Improve the Landing page UI

Still working on other side projects to get money for the Ads. Hopefully by 5th of November, I should be able to add the money and start the Ads.
ZapDM will go live on Dealify this week, I hope the launch will be awesome.

Costs so far: $600
Net revenue: $172 (Pending, to be confirmed after the 30 day refund period)

 

[animesh]

Update - Week 8: November 09, 2025​

Stats so far:

(+4 new users since last week)

What I did last week (November 03 to November 09):

1. Posted 1 Instagram reel
2. Improved and fixed a few things on landing page and inside the app
3. Negotiating with one Deals platform for the Black Friday deals

What I plan to do this week (November 10 to November 16):

1. Post one more reel and one static post
2. Increase the presence for ZapDM.

The ads should start from tomorrow, I had added money to the Ad account on Saturday. Also, Dealify will soon start marketing ZapDM in it's email and other campaigns, so I should be seeing a few LTD sales this week.

It took a LOT of time to get the first 50 users, and all of them are organic, I didn't do any significant efforts to get them.
I am a bit clueless on what I should do now, apart from waiting for the agency to run ads. I can keep working on coding stuff but it will be useless if I don't get customers. I have to figure out a way to get more brand reach somehow, and that's what I'm gonna do this week. Wish me luck!


Costs so far: $600
Net revenue: $172 (Pending, to be confirmed after the 30 day refund period)

 

[Champagne]

Interesting update. It seems like you’re slowly getting more users, but why are you only posting one reel per week? Maybe I missed it in a previous post, but I’m curious.

 

[animesh]

Interesting update. It seems like you’re slowly getting more users, but why are you only posting one reel per week? Maybe I missed it in a previous post, but I’m curious.

At the moment, all my focus is towards getting more money for the Ad spend and my own expenses, and for that I'm working on a side project.

Along with that, I've reduced my working hours from 12-14 hours a day to 6-7 hours a day, to avoid any health problems in the future, so I only get to work around 1-2 hours a day on ZapDM.

But I'm still doing things like submitting it on various Deals platforms, doing feature updates, improving things, fixing bugs, etc.

I plan to increase the number of reels per week soon.

Thanks for reading and supporting!! <3

 

[Aristocratic]

I know is not easy but if you manage to post daily reels you gonna see some good results...

GL

 

[animesh]

I know is not easy but if you manage to post daily reels you gonna see some good results...

GL

It's a good suggestion, I've already planned it and I'll definitely implement this from December.

 

[animesh]

Update - Week 9: November 16, 2025​

Stats so far:

(+7 new users since last week)

What I did last week (November 10 to November 16):

1. Posted 1 Instagram reel
2. Working on an alternative Landing Page design to possibly get more signups

What I plan to do this week (November 17 to November 23):

1. Work on social media content, post something regularly.
2. Add 2 features.

The Ad agency that I hired didn't start the ads yet, they kept on delaying things, and it's making me worried, they said that they'll start the work on Monday (tomorrow) anyhow. If they don't, I'm firing them and getting another agency.

Got 1 sale from Dealify worth $176, out of which my share comes out around $70.

To be honest, I was expecting more since they told me that they'll be doing promotions to their email list, but I think they haven't sent anything yet. I'll follow up with them and check the promotional status.

Now, I think I have enough money to work on ZapDM full-time again, I'll stop the work on the side project. I hope I'll be able to have a better results-oriented week

Costs so far: $600
Net revenue: $242 (+$70 pending, to be confirmed after the 30 day refund period )

 

[animesh]

I had created the last week's update in the draft but I forgot to post...

Update - Week 11: November 30, 2025​

Stats so far:

(+7 new users since last TWO week)

What I did last TWO weeks (November 17 to November 30):

1. Created a bunch of UGC videos with AI for ZapDM Ads
2. improved landing page for the LTD
3. fixed meta pixel tracking issues.

What I plan to do this week (December 01 to December 07):

1. Working on a better, improved lifetime deal page
2. adding one more core feature
3. post one reel

The Meta Ads went live on Friday, we've got no sales yet. Not even one signup from those ads, but I'm optimistic.

Got 1 more sale from Dealify worth $127, out of which my share comes out around $51.

Costs so far: $661 (+$61 Meta Ads)
Net revenue: $293 (+$121 pending, to be confirmed after the 30 day refund period)

 

[animesh]

Update - Week 12: December 07, 2025​

Someone hacked my VPS this week and installed a crypto miner, they didn't get any data of the server (it's secured and encrypted, and no password and payment info is stored on the VPS) but they did manage to take the website down for few hours.

The first time they hacked it on thrusday and I restored everything and removed the stupid miner and changed the server's password.
Second time they hacked it today, a few hours ago, as soon as I noticed it, I fixed it within 3 hours.

They had left a backdoor, I'm trying to remove that at the moment. Antivirus is running as I write this. The website is up and running again, but I can't risk it running on the same server, I'll have to move everything to a new VPS. It will burn a hole in my pocket but it's something I must do.

All this made me very upset and tired, but in a way, it's part of work, I got to face these things.

Also, if someone is reading this, and interested in knowing what VPS service I'm using, it's Contabo, and the support team hasn't responded yet

Stats so far:​

(+6 new users since last week)

What I did last week (December 01 to December 07):

1. Redesigned entire landing page
2. redesign LTD page too
3. Planned new features according to updated meta API

What I plan to do this week (December 08 to December 14):

1. Move everything to a new VPS
2. Work on creating brand awareness and trust (I realised there are very few results on google for ZapDM, I need to build trust)

The Meta Ads were stopped whole week, we've got no sales yet. Not even one signup from those ads. They went live again on saturday, hoping to see some results this week

Got 3 more sales from Dealify worth $397, out of which my share comes out around $158.

Costs so far: $691 (+$30 Meta Ads)
Net revenue: $451 (+$280 pending, to be confirmed after the 30 day refund period)

 

[Venusaur]

Great journey, your website is really neat, congratz
For attracting new users, I would suggest promoting it on Reddit (organically, commenting on relevant threads already ranking on Google about your niche), it was a real game changer for my business.

 

[Webber]

Awesome journey, I'll be following your updates. Getting hacked twice in one week sounds like a horrible experience, you should probably move to a more reliable service provider with quick customer support to assist you incase of hacks.

 

[SilverClouds]

I really like this thread! Straight and to the point! Especially with costs breakdown and earnings comparison! One of best threads here. Good luck on your journey.

 

[animesh]

Great journey, your website is really neat, congratz
For attracting new users, I would suggest promoting it on Reddit (organically, commenting on relevant threads already ranking on Google about your niche), it was a real game changer for my business.

Reddit seems a pretty good idea, since I am already planning to do brand awareness and building trust, I'll do it on reddit, thanks!

Awesome journey, I'll be following your updates. Getting hacked twice in one week sounds like a horrible experience, you should probably move to a more reliable service provider with quick customer support to assist you incase of hacks.

Thank you! Yes, I almost thought of giving up when I got hacked the second time, haha. But yeah, at the moment, I can only afford Contabo, since other service providers are almost 2-3x more expensive for the same VPS settings. I've added a antivirus for now and I'll switch to different VPS machine to avoid any further risks of losing the VPS computational power to mass hackers.

I really like this thread! Straight and to the point! Especially with costs breakdown and earnings comparison! One of best threads here. Good luck on your journey.

Thank you! I feel motivated to continue this journey since you guys check this thread's updates every week.

 

[animesh]

Update - Week 13: December 14, 2025
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Stats so far:

(+5 new users since last week)

What I did last week (December 08 to December 14):

1. Posted content on reddit
2. Made the automation creation flow better, so that any user can create automations easily.
3. Fixed some FB pixel tracking issues
4. Hired an agency to manage social media posting

What I plan to do this week (December 15 to December 21):

1. Continue reddit posting
2. Increase brand reach
3. Plan things out for the future. I need to make a better execution plan, get more reach somehow. Working without planning = unproductive/ low-impact work.

I finally tried Reddit on the suggestion of @Venusaur, and @roydan had also recommended it to me in the past.
Honestly, I kind of hate it, haha. I did get a lot of views on my posts, I made about 5-6 posts this week and got over 2k views combined, but some people seem more interested in arguing or misunderstanding things than actually listening.

Anyway, I think I can improve how I post there and focus on getting better traction.


The Ads team didn't get any results yet.. I've talked to the agency owner and he promised to show the results this week. We are still testing things, so I don't mind it that much, but money's being wasted, that hurts :/
Also, I hired a Social media management agency to post every alternative day and build brand-consistent instagram profile.

Costs so far: $776 (+$55 Social Media Agency, +$30 Ads)
Net revenue: $451 ($280 pending, to be confirmed after the 30 day refund period)

 

[MR.Spuf]

Congrats, you're moving fast, me like it!