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Miki previously built a VC-backed company with hundreds of employees, then quit to start over bootstrapped. He launched Zernio, a social media API that lets SaaS companies plug into Meta, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube without dealing with the bureaucracy themselves.

In 10 months, he scaled it to $1M ARR using Google Ads from day one, even when his acquisition cost was double his lifetime value.

Find Miki on X: https://x.com/paletmiki
Try Zernio: https://zernio.com

👋 Apply to join Profitable Founder Community: https://tally.so/r/dWZ5Jz

Chapters:

0:00 - Intro
0:53 - Zero to $1M ARR in 10 months
1:19 - Running ads from day one
1:46 - From VC-backed to bootstrapped
2:51 - Why he quit the VC path
4:22 - The two projects before Zernio
5:19 - How he finds startup ideas
7:15 - What Zernio actually does
8:22 - Real use case breakdown
9:26 - The full growth timeline
11:14 - Google Ads and SEO strategy
14:03 - Balancing growth and churn
15:36 - Building the team
16:43 - The month MRR doubled
18:28 - Managing ad spend without going broke
20:11 - What VC taught him about bootstrapping
21:16 - The Google Ads funnel explained
22:50 - How he built V1 in a weekend
25:30 - First keywords and first campaigns
25:54 - Why he ignored acquisition cost
28:02 - Combining ads with SEO
29:56 - Other distribution channels
31:26 - Talking to customers daily
32:25 - 150 support tickets a day
34:12 - Why he rebranded
35:41 - The real cost of rebranding
37:02 - Building from Europe
39:20 - Vision and next steps
40:58 - Biggest lessons from 7 years of building
43:38 - How much time he wastes on Twitter
44:26 - The playbook to do it again from zero
46:08 - Advice for founders who are struggling