From Airbnb ban to $400K success

Hey - It's Farzan & Guy

Got the house sorted for tomorrow's New Year's for mates coming by. Power washed the front yard, top off with my cup of coffee in 28 degrees. Enzo the Cavoodle watching me from a distance working away. Here's this week’s newsletter.

Reading time: 9 mins

In the mail today. 3 founder stories, 1 founder tip, 1 tweet

 Founder story 1 

Suspend from Airbnb… $400K later, who’s laughing now?

Getting suspended on Airbnb was the best thing that happened to Isaac French

Here's why:

He'd just invested $140K into raw land in Texas (his first-ever Airbnb project).

But instead of panicking when Airbnb suspended him, he:
→ Called a travel blogger
→ Spent $950 on one post
→ Offered a 2-night stay giveaway

The result?
- $40K in direct bookings within 24 hours
- 5,000 new Instagram followers overnight
- Grew to 50K followers in 7 months
- Generated $400K in bookings just from social media

But the fascinating part isn't the marketing...

It's how he built a completely automated system:
- 7 modern tiny homes
- Shipping container pool (shared amenity = better economics)
- Hot tubs in every cabin
- AI-powered pricing
- 95% occupancy rate
- Runs on 7 automation tools
- Zero property managers

When he added the hot tubs ($10K each), he raised rates by $100/night.
Paid off in 8 months. Zero impact on bookings.

The best part? He's recession-proof.

Why? Data shows local travel increases 3-7x during recessions.

His strategy:
- Located within 2 hours of 15M people
- Unique, charming design
- Affordable but premium experience
- Focus on creating "magical moments"

The proof? Some guests have returned 4 times in just months.

Stories like this fascinate me because I dream of building something similar in Australia one day.

Most people focus on location or luxury.

Isaac proved the real opportunity is in:
- Creating memorable experiences
- Building your own audience
- Thinking differently about scale
- Smart automation

Founder story 2

From fired to freedom: See how Fernando built two SaaS products to $15K MRR

Fernando Pessagno, a designer from Argentina now living in Sweden, built two profitable SaaS products after getting unexpectedly fired from his 9-5 job:

- Resume Maker Online: A simplified resume builder
- AI Carousels: An AI-powered social media carousel generator

His approach:
- Find validated markets but niche down (target just 0.1% of the market)
- Focus on simplicity over features
- Launch fast (built AI Carousels in just 10 days)
- Embrace being small (personal touch in customer service)

Current results:
- $15K MRR combined
- 90% profit margins
- Only works 4 hours per day
- No employees, runs everything solo

Key insight: You don't need to be an amazing coder to build profitable products. Focus on making things simpler and faster for users - they'll pay for saved time.

 Founder story 3 

See how Veselin turned VEVS into a six-figure startup helping rental businesses streamline their operations.

See how Veselin:

• Built an all-in-one rental software platform combining business tools and website building

• Leveraged 15 years of development experience and 50,000 previous clients to launch successfully

• Transformed from a freelance developer into a founder with a team of 5

Distribution tips from Veselin:

• Focus on organic search traffic through SEO optimization

• Build trust through customer reviews and referral programs

• Skip cold outreach - it doesn't work for building trust-based relationships

I love this story because Veselin took his deep experience in custom development and used it to identify and solve a specific market need - rental businesses wanting an integrated solution rather than piecing together different tools. He focused on solving real problems he'd observed over years of client work rather than trying to compete in the crowded website builder space alone.

Founder tip

Everyone’s building products first. Greg Isenberg says that’s exactly why most of them fail.

I've been studying Greg Isenberg's content a lot lately...

Today I want to break down his framework for finding product traction. He calls it the ACP Framework (Audience → Community → Product), and it completely flips how we think about building businesses.

Here's the framework:

1. Start with Audience (not product)
The old way:
→ Build product first
→ Buy expensive ads
→ Try to convert strangers into customers

The new way:
→ Share valuable content consistently
→ Build genuine audience
→ Let demand emerge naturally

2. Turn Audience into Community
- Create spaces where your audience can connect
- Let organic discussions drive interest
- Focus on helping people achieve specific goals
- Build real relationships, not email lists

3. Then Layer in Product
- Build what your community actually wants
- Use the product to strengthen the community
- Listen to conversations to spot opportunities
- Let community guide your decisions

Want to see this in action?

Jack Butcher used this exact framework to build Visualize Value, a 7-figure business:

→ Started by creating simple black & white graphics explaining business concepts
→ Shared these daily on Twitter, building a following
→ People loved his style and started asking how he worked
→ Released a simple guide about his process
→ When a well-known writer asked for design training, Jack noticed huge interest
→ Built a course teaching his method
→ Result: $180k/month in revenue with 99% margins

Key insight: Modern brands grow through genuine audience and community, not through expensive marketing campaigns.

 A tweet we loved

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading.

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See you next week.

Guy + Farzan
Founderoo