Loïc Berthelot, From Zero to $30K Monthly

2025/12/03

Summary: Building products is a lot like making investments: Don’t get emotionally attached to what we hold. French entrepreneur Loïc Berthelot spent 5 years building features with zero users and revenue. After changing his approach, he created 3 successful SaaS products: Influspy ($20K MRR in 2 months), Minea ($750K MRR peak), and DropMagic ($30K MRR in 4 months). He’s developed a repeatable methodology validated 3 times.

1. From Zero to $30K: Not Luck, But Methodology

Loïc didn’t know how to build products at first.

On the contrary, in his first 5 years of entrepreneurship, he made almost every mistake beginners make:

The result: 5 years, zero users, zero revenue.

1.1 The Turning Point: A Casual Conversation

A friend who runs an e-commerce business approached him with a problem: not knowing which influencers to partner with for product promotion.

Loïc realized this might not be just one person’s problem. So he started validating:

  1. First created a newsletter to test market response
  2. Quickly built an MVP with no-code tools
  3. Only then invested effort in developing the actual product

The product was called Influspy, designed to help e-commerce businesses find the most suitable influencers on Instagram and Snapchat for promotion.

In 2 months, monthly revenue reached $20K.

1.2 Finding the Pattern: Problem-Solving Matters More Than Technology

This success helped Loïc find his pattern. He realized that the key to success isn’t how good your tech is, but whether you can truly solve problems.

So he replicated the approach:

3 products, 3 successes, all using the same method.

This isn’t luck, it’s a repeatable system.

2. Core Method: Turn Creators Into Your Sales Army

Loïc’s success boils down to one core strategy: partnering with YouTube creators.

He has established partnerships with over 500 YouTube creators, turning them into promoters and even co-founders of his products.

2.1 Why YouTube?

Loïc gives 4 reasons:

  1. Most predictable ROI:
    YouTube videos have guaranteed minimum views, allowing you to estimate exposure and conversion in advance.
  2. Long-form videos truly showcase products: Short videos only build presence, but long videos can demonstrate how to use products, especially important for SaaS.
  3. Long content lifecycle: They still get customers from videos made 3 years ago.
  4. Can be repurposed: Long videos can be cut into short videos and ad materials - shoot once, use multiple times.

The most critical data: over 60% of new customers come from YouTube.

This isn’t brand awareness, it’s a real conversion machine.

2.2 4 Steps to Find the Right Creators

Many ask: how do you find creators willing to collaborate?

Loïc shares his 4-step system:

2.2.1 Step One: Find Creators

2.2.2 Step Two: Evaluate Creator Quality

Loïc looks at two core metrics:

  1. Engagement rate over 10% (views/subscribers)
  2. At least 100 comments per video

Also, look at creator-brand collaboration consistency:

2.2.3 Step Three: Contact Creators

2.2.4 Step Four: Negotiate Deals

Typical model: Fixed fee + commission
Loïc’s strategy:

2.3 Advanced Play: Make Creators Co-Founders

If paid collaboration is version 1.0, making creators co-founders is version 2.0.
For DropMagic, Loïc made a creator a co-founder.

This brings 3 huge benefits:

  1. Reduces distribution risk
    The two biggest risks in early-stage startups: product risk and distribution risk.
    With a creator as co-founder, distribution risk is essentially solved.
    Loïc says partnering with Batistan (DropMagic’s creator co-founder) locked in $10K monthly revenue from the start.

  2. Gains product insights
    Creators are power users who know what the audience needs and how to tell the product story.
    Getting first-hand user feedback from the community is crucial for product direction.

  3. Rapidly iterates marketing strategies
    With a creator co-founder, you can quickly test scripts, pricing, marketing angles at zero cost.
    Once you find the most effective marketing approach, you have a validated system when working with other creators.

3. His Tech Stack and Cost Structure

As a technical founder, Loïc’s tech stack is worth referencing:

3.1 Development Tools

3.2 Marketing Tools

3.3 Cost Structure

4. If He Started Over, What Would He Do?

“Don’t get emotionally attached to a project. Use simple deadlines and milestones as the only criteria for whether to continue.”

He says he wasted many years because he had emotional attachment to logos, projects, or team members, persisting despite having no market traction.

“You’re just wasting time, and it will be painful in the end.”

These words are heavy, but very real.

5. Final Thoughts

Loïc’s story gives us several key insights:

  1. Transform from builder to problem solver
    Don’t think about what product you want to make first, think about what problem you can solve.

  2. Distribution is as important as the product
    The best product is useless if no one knows about it. Find your distribution channel, or even make distributors your partners.

  3. Validate quickly, don’t waste time
    Validate demand with newsletters, validate product with no-code tools, then invest in development. Each step reduces risk.

  4. Find a repeatable system
    One success might be luck, three successes is methodology. Find your system, then execute repeatedly.

  5. Don’t fight losing battles
    Set clear milestones, pivot decisively if you don’t hit them. Time is an entrepreneur’s most valuable resource.

Finally, what makes Loïc’s story inspiring isn’t his genius, but his willingness to change, to try, and to start over after failure. 5 years of zero revenue didn’t break him; instead, it helped him find truly effective methods.

That’s what’s truly worth learning.