Dmytro quit his engineering job with no product, no idea, and zero plan. He had savings, a wife with a job, and this nagging feeling that he'd regret it if he didn't try.Then... nothing happened. For two years. Almost no revenue. Money burning every month. He picked up freelancing on the side just to stay alive.Eventually, he built ScreenshotOne, a screenshot API now used by 800+ paying businesses. Completely solo. No co-founder, no team, no investors.We get into what those empty years actually felt like, how an engineer who hated marketing figured it out, and why hitting $10K/month made him sad.Dmytro's links:ScreenshotOne - https://screenshotone.comX/Twitter - https://x.com/DmytroKrasun

Lukas Hermann built StageTimer as a weekend side project. Click start on one screen, a timer shows on another. That was it. No funding, no team, no marketing budget to start. Today it makes over $20,000 a month, runs at conferences and live events worldwide, and his logo even showed up on screen at a Trump event without him knowing.
In this episode of The Founder’s Gambit, Lukas walks through the entire playbook, step by step, from finding the right idea to getting to $20K+ MRR as a bootstrapped founder.
We get into:

• How to find a SaaS idea worth building (hint: stop scratching your own itch)
• Why B2B beats B2C for solo founders and small teams
• The validation method that costs nothing: give it away free and watch if people come back
• Why your MVP should be embarrassingly simple (his was a timer with one button)
• When to stop vibe coding and hire a real developer
• How to get your first users using Reddit with zero following
• The SEO strategy that drives 30% of his revenue today
• Why most bootstrapped founders quit before $10K MRR and what keeps you going
• How to think about churn when it feels like you’re filling a leaky bucket
• The freemium pricing trick that turns free users into your marketing team
• Why he keeps a cheap plan even when everyone says “raise your prices”
•  How his timer ended up on screen at a Trump event through pure word of mouth
• What $20K/month actually looks like when you’re bootstrapped with no employees
• The difference between going wide (more features) and going tall (second product)
• Why “competition is high but also very low” applies to almost every niche

If you’re thinking about building a SaaS, already working on one, or stuck somewhere between idea and traction, this is the episode. No theory, just what actually worked.
Lukas on X: @lukashermann
StageTimer: https://stagetimer.io
Lukas’s blog: https://lukashermann.dev

Denis Yurchak studied international relations, taught himself to code at 22, failed at 15 products, cloned a competitor's idea, and built Yadaphone, a Skype replacement that now makes $17,500 a month. All as a solo founder with no team and no funding.In this episode, Denis breaks down:→ How he went from a humanities degree to shipping products as a solo dev→ Why his first 15 ideas failed (including a social network for artists)→ The exact moment he realized cloning proven ideas beats building something new→ How a single tweet got 300,000 impressions and launched his second product (with only 5,000 followers)→ His Reddit playbook: 10 out of 20 posts hit 100K+ impressions with zero following→ Why monthly subscriptions kill indie products (and what to do instead)→ How AI changed his workflow: he now codes in English, not code→ The writing trick that makes copy click: if you can't read a sentence in one breath, it's too long→ Why the "engineering identity crisis" is actually great news for non-technical founders→ How working with his wife became his unfair advantage→ Gabriel's take on hiring A-players: why excitement beats 15 years of experience→ Revenue share models that keep great developers motivated→ Why "competition is high but also very low", and what that means for youWhether you're a developer thinking about building your own thing, a non-technical founder wondering if you still need an engineer, or just curious about the indie hacker lifestyle, this one's full of real talk and zero fluff.🔗 Denis on X:  @denyurchak  🔗 Yadaphone: https://www.yadaphone.com/🔗 eSIM Pal: https://www.getesimpal.com/

Julian Wagner started building businesses at 16, from quiz websites and nightlife events in Frankfurt to scaling an online poker school to $5M in revenue in just 18 months. Now he's a technical co-founder running AI agents while he sleeps.In this episode, Julian breaks down:→ How he went from paying $30 for a poker hand review to building one of the biggest poker schools in the world→ The marketing playbook that got 80% of the Twitch poker market to promote his product→ Why he walked away from a profitable business when the market shifted→ How meeting a celebrity photographer on a plane turned into his next company→ The mindset framework (learned from his coach Rob Mack) that keeps him moving through hard times→ Why one engineer with AI now replaces a team of 10→ His exact workflow: linting rules, verification layers, and running multiple AI agents simultaneously→ Why non-technical founders still need a technical co-founder — even with AI → How he uses AI bots to monitor Hacker News, Reddit, and write articles on autopilotWhether you're a developer, founder, or just curious about where AI is taking us, this one's packed with real, battle-tested insights.

Most creators obsess over getting more traffic. But what if the real problem is that 85% of people who reach your checkout… never finish buying?🔗 Check out Easy Tools: https://easy.tools🔗 Find Greg on X: @gregg.rogIn this episode, Greg, founder of Easy Tools (easy.tools), breaks down exactly why most checkouts are broken and how he built a platform that consistently hits 50-60% checkout conversion rates while the industry average sits at 15-20%.We go deep on:→ The silent checkout killers most creators never measure→ Why does every extra form field drop your conversion by 4%→ How the thank you page can triple your revenue (and why nobody uses it)→ Why he built an all-in-one platform after ChatGPT told him not to→ How he uses AI agents to replace his CFO, researcher, and marketing team→ The cold outreach strategy that landed his first 1,000 creators (500 free Loom videos)→ What's next for creators selling digital products in 2025 and beyond

Whether you're selling courses, ebooks, templates, or any digital product, this one will change how you think about your entire sales process.

Nico Hessel went from a college soccer goalkeeper with three surgeries, dropping out, getting kicked out by his parents, and sleeping in a 2014 Honda Civic… to scaling a marketing agency to $15,000/month in 4 months using only Upwork, then helping hundreds of freelancers and agencies turn Upwork into a real acquisition channel instead of a side hustle lottery ticket.In this episode we get into:- How he went from living in a Staples parking lot to signing his first tiny clients… and then using Upwork to escape “below minimum-wage” gigs- The exact playbook he used to go from $0 to $15K/month on Upwork in 4 months (including how many proposals he actually sent)- Why most freelancers stay stuck at $500–$1,000 projects and how to reposition yourself for retainers and high-ticket work- How to build an Upwork profile that doesn’t look like 99% of AI-generated trash: what to fill, what to highlight, and what to remove- The proposal system he uses: service-specific templates, 1–3 lines of personalization, social proof everywhere, and a simple CTA that books calls- Real KPIs and volume: how many proposals per day, what view / reply / call / close rates to aim for, and when it’s a you problem vs an offer problem- When you should boost your profile and proposals (and when it’s a waste of Connects)- The hidden Upwork rules that get people banned or throttled (and how to stay on the right side of Terms of Service)- Who should not use Upwork, and how to quickly check if your niche and price point are a fitIf you’re a freelancer or agency owner who’s written Upwork off as “cheap clients and $5 gigs,” this conversation will give you a very different, data-backed way to treat it like a serious client-acquisition channel.

Founders complain that developers overpromise, miss deadlines, and disappear.Developers complain that founders are unclear, unrealistic, and chaotic.So who’s actually right?In this episode of The Founder’s Gambit, I sit down with Ilija Vuk, one of the most reliable senior developers I’ve ever worked with. He’s helped rescue broken MVPs, push back on bad product decisions, and turn half-baked ideas into real, scalable software.We flip the script and talk openly about what’s really going wrong between founders and developers and how to fix it.

In this episode, we get into:- Why founders keep getting burned by developers (and how to vet properly)- The biggest red flags developers look for in founders and projects- What actually makes someone a “senior” developer today- Why overpromising destroys trust on both sides- How AI is changing development and where it helps vs hurts- Why juniors struggle with AI and how seniors use it differently- How developers should communicate mistakes when things break- Why good code and “working code” are not the same thing- Burnout, imposter syndrome, and how developers really deal with it- What founders can do to get better results from their dev teams- How to build products with developers who think, not just executeIf you’re a founder who’s been burned by developers, or a developer tired of chaos, unclear specs, and unrealistic expectations, this conversation will help you out.

Ben Furtado walked away from millions as President of Zendrop, one of the fastest-growing ecommerce platforms in the US, after helping 10x revenue and complete a merger… to start from zero on a pre-revenue startup called Moonlite Money.In this episode we get into:

• Why he walked away from millions in salary, bonuses, and equity
• The idea of “strategic luck” and how to actually increase your luck surface area
• How he helped 10x Zendrop by doing fewer things, not more
• Why big companies are just as messy as small ones (and why you should still sell to them)
• The real reason most people fail at dropshipping and side hustles
• What Moonlite Money is, and how it plans to expose scammy “make money online” offers
• How to pivot fast without ego: “marry the problem, date the solution”
• Identity, ego vs self, and finding work you’d do even if you didn’t need the money

If you’re stuck in a “comfortable” job, thinking about your own leap, this conversation is for you.

In this episode of The Founder’s Gambit, Gabriel sits down with John Martin, founder of Paid Ads, a Google Ads agency that has managed campaigns generating more than $100 million in client sales.

John’s journey started in a traditional 9-to-5 marketing job in the UK, where he first discovered the power of digital advertising. After seeing one young digital marketer outperform an entire traditional marketing team, John became obsessed with mastering Google Ads. He taught himself the platform from scratch, began freelancing on Upwork, and eventually quit his job before he was even earning half his salary, trusting he could make it work.

Over the years, John went from taking on free projects to building a global remote agency based in Thailand. He shares how he found his very first client (who’s still with him a decade later), the mistakes he made hiring too early, and why niching down to Google Ads only became their biggest competitive advantage.

In this episode, John opens up about what it really takes to scale a service business without losing your integrity. He explains why most clients come to him after a bad agency experience, the red flags business owners should look out for, and why he refuses to lock anyone into long-term contracts. John also breaks down the biggest mistakes brands make with Google Ads, how AI is reshaping the industry, and why “set and forget” is the fastest path to wasted ad spend.

You’ll also hear John’s thoughts on deep work, remote-team culture, productivity, and building systems that keep clients happy for years. From managing time zones to running an agency from Thailand, he shares the habits and mindset that keep him focused, grounded, and constantly improving.

If you’re an agency owner, freelancer, or operator looking to build a long-term business with trust, transparency, and real results, this episode is full of practical insights, honest lessons, and stories you’ll relate to instantly.

In the very first episode of The Founder’s Gambit, host Gabriel sits down with Michael Gardiner, founder of Done For You Meetings, a B2B lead generation agency he scaled to over $2 million in revenue while traveling to more than 60 countries.Michael started building online businesses as a teenager, accidentally launching his first influencer marketing agency at just 14. Over the years, he’s become an expert in cold email, Upwork outreach, and direct mail, helping B2B companies generate high-quality leads through creative, personalized campaigns.In this episode, Michael opens up about what it really takes to grow a successful lead generation agency in 2025. He shares how he uses social proof to build trust, why direct mail still works better than ever, and how he’s managed to run a multi-million dollar business while living part-time in Thailand and exploring the world.You’ll also hear Michael’s thoughts on the rise of AI in B2B marketing, the importance of networking through masterminds and conferences, and his philosophy on building a business that supports your lifestyle, not the other way around.If you’re an agency owner, entrepreneur, or digital nomad looking to build a profitable business with real freedom, this episode is packed with valuable insights, honest stories, and practical advice from someone who’s done it.