How Tibo Sold Two Startups for $8M (and Why He Regrets It)
Hello Tribe,
Welcome to another exciting edition of Moneymint! We're more than just a newsletter—we're a community of go-getters, dreamers, and doers.
Tibo Louis-Lucas is the French entrepreneur behind the successful SaaS products Tweet Hunter and Taplio. Despite early startup failures, he persevered to build two products that were acquired for $8 million.
In this newsletter, let’s dive into Tibo’s journey and strategies that helped him make it big!
The Growth Secrets Behind Tweet Hunter & Taplio
Tibo Louis-Lucas, aka Tibo Maker, isn’t just any founder. From funding and bankruptcy to a massive eight-figure exit, he’s seen it all.
His journey: MBA graduate → Failed startup founder → Bankrupt → $8M exit
But here's the twist: he regrets selling.
The 5 Growth Levers
So how did he go from failed startups to a multi-million dollar exit in just a couple years? He used a few key strategies to find winning products and grow quickly.
1. Be Persistent
After completing his MBA, Tibo—a talented software engineer—entered the startup world.
His first venture? Pistache, an app that gamified chores for kids.
Tibo and co-founder Tom Jacquesson raised €20,000 through Kickstarter and secured an additional €200,000, quickly growing their team to 15.
But despite 500,000 downloads, they couldn’t find a solid business model. Funds dwindled, and Pistache shut down.
Lesson #1: Early traction doesn’t always mean a sustainable business model.
2. Fail Forward: Turn Setbacks into Comebacks
Not one to give up, Tibo went solo, raised €500,000, and launched a new app called Magical—a gamified platform teaching kids to code.
The app won awards and caught the eye of companies like Ubisoft.
But once again, funds ran out, and a licensing deal with Ubisoft collapsed.
Left with debt, including a €250,000 government loan, Tibo faced another closure and declared bankruptcy.
Devastated, he took a corporate job as a CTO but lost it in early 2020 due to COVID-19. With no other options, Tibo turned back to his passion: startups.
Lesson #2: Don’t let setbacks derail your drive to build.
3. A Fresh Start: The 11-Week Challenge
In 2021, Tibo reconnected with Tom. Together, they launched a unique experiment—building a new product every week for 11 weeks.
Ten failed, but the eleventh product was Tweet Hunter, a Twitter content tool. Unlike other scheduling tools, Tweet Hunter focused on helping users create better content.
It worked.
Tibo says, "We created ten products and it was crickets. But product #11 was Tweet Hunter, and it took off rapidly after we shipped it. I think this one worked where the others didn't because of how we differentiated it. Every product out there focused on being the best scheduling experience, but Tweet Hunter helped people come up with better content instead. It wasn't just a scheduler. Plus, we just moved faster than everyone else. We were shipping more and experimenting with more growth tactics."
Users loved the distinct approach, and Tweet Hunter took off.
Tibo learned that sometimes, speed and experimentation beat perfection.
Lesson #3: Differentiate your product. Move fast, and iterate.
4. The Multi-Million Dollar Exit
As Tweet Hunter and a second product, Taplio (for LinkedIn growth), gained traction, the offers started coming in.
Within three years, they sold both products to Lempire for $8 million—$2 million upfront, with up to $6 million contingent on performance. However, the sale wasn’t all smooth.
Tibo felt a deep connection to his creations and letting them go left a void. The earnout clauses also created pressure, detracting from the joy of the sale.
Lesson #4: An exit might look good on paper but be sure it aligns with your long-term vision.
5. Tibo’s Acquisition Philosophy
After selling Tweet Hunter and Tapilo, Tibo realized he could acquire small projects and scale them to impressive growth and massive revenue.
So he started his journey of product acquisition.
In 2023, he acquired Typeframes (now Revid.ai), a short video generator making less than $1,000 per month. Now its generating $200,000 annually.
Tibo says, "I chose to acquire it because I was still working on my earnout and I didn't have time to create something from scratch. When I bought it, it was making less than $1k/mo, and that wasn't recurring revenue."
In April 2024, Tibo acquired feather.so. It was used to create blogs in Notion. Currently, it is making around $9,000 per month.
"This one, I acquired because I just really liked the app. I liked how it was built. And I wanted to go faster by acquiring a user base and product-market fit — it was already making $6k or $7k per month," added Tibo.
By mid-2024, he launched SuperX.so, a platform with Twitter growth tools, currently generating an impressive $800 MRR.
Tibo’s Acquisition Philosophy
Alignment with his tech stack (mainly Next.js).
Revenue-generating with Product-Market Fit (PMF).
Growth potential to increase revenue tenfold.
Why Tibo Won’t Sell Again?
After building Tweet Hunter and Taplio to $300K and $600K MRR, respectively, Tibo sold both for an $8M deal. But it wasn’t all glory—he felt disconnected, saying selling felt like “giving up a piece of himself.”
Here’s what he learned:
Slow Growth Over Big Sales: Tibo now prefers steady growth, living off profits.
Just Get it Done: With endless ideas, Tibo believes in taking action and letting user feedback guide the way.
Revenue = Validation: Focus on what brings in revenue and skip “free users would pay” assumptions.
He says, "One of the biggest differences between my failures and my successes was that I looked at revenue as validation for my successes. By doing that, I avoided the I would pay if that free users create."
"And yes, it's very likely that your first businesses will fail, but you still need to build it. Because that experience is what will make your third or fourth or fifth business successful," added Tibo.
Tibo’s Playbook for New Founders
While we can't all build Twitter tools, there are several strategies from Tibo's journey that any founder can apply:
1. Revenue First
"Revenue is the only validation needed for the product" - Tibo
2. Launch Quickly and Often
Tibo's 11 products in 11 weeks challenge shows the power of rapidly testing ideas. You can apply this by setting yourself a timeline to prototype new product concepts on a regular basis.
He recommends launching new products continuously and relaunching old ones with major updates. This strategy keeps user interest high and introduces your product to new audiences repeatedly.
2. Build in Public
Start building offline
Share progress once you have something valuable
Convert users into newsletter subscribers
3. Find Founder-Market Fit
Tibo built tools that he wanted to use himself. Make sure you intimately understand your target customer and build something you would use to ensure you're solving real needs.
4. Niche focus
Rather than building general social media tools, Tweet Hunter focused exclusively on Twitter and Taplio on LinkedIn. This niche specialization helped them stand out.
5. Smart Partnerships
He gave influencers 25-30% of Tweet Hunter & Taplio equity to drive engagement. "If you don’t have an audience, partner up," he says.
Sell to Someone Who Understands the Product
When it’s time to sell, look for buyers who see the product’s potential rather than its challenges. Tibo successfully sold Tweet Hunter to a friend who was an active user and believed in its growth.
With these strategies, Tibo shows us how focus, partnerships, and thoughtful planning can drive a startup’s success.
Tibo says, "A buyer is buying your startup’s future growth, not past performance. It might take time to find someone who understands the potential of your product the way you do."
Building and selling a successful company is never easy. But by testing ideas quickly, focusing on a niche, launching often, and understanding your customer, you tilt the odds in your favor.
Pick one of Tibo's strategies and apply it to your own venture. Start small, stay persistent, and who knows - maybe you'll have your own eight-figure exit to share one day.
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Thank you for reading. See you next time.