contea.ai LinkedIn content creation by AI

How We Built a Profitable SaaS Startup Without Ever Having Met

This is our story...

Chapter 1

When life gives you lemons...

We met July 2022 in a LinkedIn event. At that time, Nico was living in Mannheim, spending most of his time turning an old Sprinter into an RV, while I used my free time to surf in Brazil, where I moved two years prior.

Although separated by 10,000 km of the Atlantic Ocean, we kept in touch. That is, until February 2023 when OpenAI launched an atomic bomb into the copywriting scene: ChatGPT.

It felt as if we'd built our professional lives on quicksand. After the initial shock, we thought: “Well, either we stand still and sink, or we do something and use AI to our benefit!”

Chapter 2

The journey begins...

What began with an API integration into Sheets evolved into a tool with the premise: “You only need artificial intelligence if you lack original intelligence. Don't substitute, complement!"

AI is painfully generic. So instead of looking to completely replace human expertise, we analyzed our own copywriting processes and combined them with the speed and accuracy of AI.

After six months we had a functional MVP with 30 paying customers - without ever having met in person. We brainstormed on Asana, met via Meet, and celebrated small victories on WhatsApp calls.

Chapter 3

We met for the first time

September 2023 we met in person for the first time and drove with Nicos now fully functioning #contentvan from mannheim to Berlin to attend our first startup event. And this is just the beginning.

If our story shows something, then it is that 1) remote work DOES work if you are disciplined, 2) LinkedIn is the professional equivalent of tinder, and 3) great things happen if you turn a threat into a chance.

Sometimes, things just seem to happen beyond your control - for the good or bad. All you can do is ask yourself: “Is this within my control and what can I do?”

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