Publer Founder Interview
Learn how Ervin built Publer on a long weekend and grew it to over $170K MRR with the help of affiliate marketing.
1. What's your startups name, what does it do, how long have you been working on it and (optional) your MRR?
Publer - a social media management platform supporting all major social networks.
I worked on it as a side project from 2012 until 2014, then took a one-year break to focus on my health. Ultimately, I made the final leap in 2015 when I quit my full-time job and decided to focus on Publer (more than) full-time. I haven't taken any more breaks since then.
I hired the first employees in 2017, and we now have a team of 20.
Current MRR: $170K+
2. What's your name and what were you doing before?
Ervin Kalemi. I was a junior Ruby developer for 3 years at a small startup in Houston, TX.
3. How did you come up with your startup and its name?
My brother needed a (free) scheduler for his new Facebook Business Page.
In 2012, his choices were limited, and he had to spend money to achieve what he needed.
The name Publer is simply a made-up shorter version of Publisher.
4. Are you a programmer, if so, how did you learn and how long did it take?
Yes. I have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (class of 2012).
I did not have any prior programming experience before college.
5. How long did it take you to build a mvp, did you do any validation?
The first MVP was built over the long Thanksgiving weekend of 2012.
It was a simple Facebook app that allowed you to schedule status updates for your Profile, Pages, Groups, and Events.
In 2024, I moved it outside of Facebook to its own domain: https://web.archive.org/web/20140124000414/http://superpubler.com/
I did not do any validations. I just enjoyed building it no matter what.
6. What was your launch like, what did you do, was it a success?
I feel like it was harder to launch something in 2012, or maybe I didn't know the right tools.
I only used Facebook back then, so it felt more like a family & friends gathering than a public launch.
However, I consider the AppSumo partnership in 2020 the actual launch.
That was our turning point: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-we-made-250000-appsumo-ervin-kalemi/
7. How long did it take to get your first customer?
My brother never paid a dime despite still using it for more than 10 years
The first (paying) customer came in 2013, 6 months after the MVP launch.
8. What's your top marketing methods and how can others start doing them?
Our ambassador/affiliate program.
We paid $40K in commissions last year and gained $219K more in ARR.
I strongly believe in building it in-house, as I did back in 2018.
There are no high 3rd-party fees, it is easy to implement using PayPal's Mass Pay, and it gives you the flexibility to tweak it as you wish.
For example, we offer different commission rates based on the revenue brought and give bonuses and/or early access to our top affiliates. I also use it internally to track and reward the sales skills of the support team.
I'm aiming to write a detailed guide soon.
9. Whats the top 5 tools you use to run your startup?
- Figma (product design)
- Slack (communication)
- Crisp (support & email marketing)
- Nolt (feedback)
- Publer (social media)
10. What would you do differently if starting over?
I would have focused more on marketing, especially SEO and personal branding.
I started building a personal brand on LinkedIn in 2019 (10K followers now), but I wish I had invested in Twitter/X as well.