Outbid.lol achieved over $230k in revenue within its first week of launch, leveraging strategic planning, an effective launch strategy, initial traction within the first 24 hours, and long-term sustainability tactics creating a flywheel effect.
Its founder, Jonathan Wilke, shared insights into how they built and grew the platform rapidly, providing advice for other entrepreneurs seeking success：
What is Outbid.lol?
It’s an extremely simple pay-to-rank leaderboard. Users pay any amount to list their product website or X handle. Higher bids rank higher.
There are no ads, no API keys, and no revenue sharing — rank is purely determined by how much you pay. Origin of the idea Jonathan was inspired by sites like TrustMRR where people share revenue, but he didn’t want users to share payment provider API keys.
He decided on the simplest possible version: let people just outbid each other for visibility.
Launch strategy
He launched late at night with a low-key tweet emphasizing the simplicity (“No ads. No API keys. No revenue sharing. Just outbid your competitors”).
He relied mainly on organic spread on X rather than heavy promotion.
First 24 hours
High bids (some reaching thousands or tens of thousands of dollars) quickly appeared, creating strong FOMO.
Traffic exploded, hitting over a million visitors in a short time. Real-time public revenue numbers further fueled the momentum.
X strategy that kept the flywheel going
Jonathan continuously posted updates about new high bids, ranking changes, and success stories from people who paid for top spots.
This created a self-reinforcing loop of attention → more bids → more attention.
Secondary benefit for longevity
Beyond direct revenue, the site became a high-quality traffic source.
Products ranked on the board received significant real clicks, sign-ups, and sales leads, giving Outbid lasting value even after many copycats appeared.
How it was built
The first version was built in about 3 hours using Cursor (an AI coding tool). The product is intentionally very lightweight.
View on copycats
Dozens of clones appeared within days. Jonathan is relatively relaxed about them — they validate the demand. His edge comes from being first and continuing to operate the original.
Final advice for indie hackers
Ship fast, keep things simple, and build in public. Don’t over-engineer.
Use X to document the process openly, and design products that naturally create discussion and FOMO.