Evening, CEO!
Every once in a while, you read a story that makes you look at your own life choices with a new, slightly terrifying level of clarity.
Today, that story comes from Gokul Chandrasekaran.
Gokul had an idea. He spent $20 and a few weekends building it.
That idea, JDoodle.com, grew organically to 1.2 million registered users, served 20 million people, and hit 6-figure annual revenue a few years ago.
His total marketing strategy? He posted in “a few forums.” Maybe 10 posts.
I’m just going to pause here and reflect on the fact that I’ve spent more time designing a logo for an idea I haven’t started than he spent on his entire initial marketing push. This is fine. I’m fine.
So, how did this happen? Did he find a magic lamp? Let’s investigate.
The Origin Story
Gokul’s motivation wasn’t “I’d like to be a disruptive thought leader in the B2B SaaS space.”
His motivation was: “This really sucks.”
Growing up in rural South India, he got maybe one hour of computer time a week. And that hour was mostly a wrestling match with setup issues and configuration problems.
So, in 2013, he built the thing he wished he’d had: a simple, online tool to write and run code without any of the setup nonsense.
He wasn’t guessing at a market. He was the market. He was solving a deep, personal, frustrating problem.
The $20 “Minimum Viable Product”
His launch strategy is where things get really personally offensive to me.
He spent $20 on a server. He used a few weekends.
He built one single page where you could type Java code, click a button, and get a result.
That was it.
He didn’t spend a year agonizing over the perfect tech stack. He didn’t build a 5-year roadmap. He didn’t even, as far as I can tell, have a Trello board with 400 “icebox” tickets.
He just... made the thing.
People used it. They liked it. They said, “Cool! Can you add Python?”
And he did.
The product grew based on what people actually asked for.
The “How to Grow” Part (Spoiler: It’s Not a Hack)
This is the part that keeps me up at night.
All that growth. 1.2 million users. Organically.
His “marketing” was just... having a product that was genuinely, deeply valuable to a specific group of people (in this case, millions of students who didn’t have fancy computers).
The word-of-mouth wasn’t a “strategy” he implemented; it was a consequence of the product’s value.
The product was so useful, people had to tell their friends.
The Part Where I Learn Some Lessons
Gokul is very open about what he learned, which is nice of him, because it’s basically a checklist of all my current flaws.
1. Validate for ROI, not just for fun.
He admits he spent a lot of time building features just because a few users asked. It grew the user base, but not the revenue. If he did it over, he’d be obsessed with ROI (Return on Investment) from the start.
2. Solve real problems.
JDoodle was one of at least 10 ideas he validated. The other nine just... weren’t real problems. He tested and proved they were bad ideas before going too far.
3. Don’t lose your “hands-on” skills.
Gokul started as a developer, became an architect, and is now a CEO. But he never stopped coding. He says that deep technical knowledge is his single biggest advantage.
What Happens Now
Gokul’s goal is now 500 million users and 8-figure revenue with his new JDoodle.ai platform.
And I’m... just going to be here, I guess. Staring into the middle distance. Wondering why I’ve spent so much time planning to do things instead of just spending $20 and doing one of them.
Anyway, this is a great story. I’m definitely going to start my own $20 project. Right after I finish this 72-slide deck outlining my 10-year vision.
Links:
http://www.jdoodle.com
http://www.jdoodle.ai
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gokulchandrasekaran-jdoodle
https://unswfounders.com/newsletter/jdoodle-portfolio-spotlight
https://foojay.io/today/interview-with-gokul-chandrasekaran-the-creator-of-jdoodle
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/tech/growing-a-tool-to-1-2m-registered-users-with-almost-zero-marketing-waNA9cqqNRddE9RgPf9W
