ShipFa.st
Marc Lou
The Next.js boilerplate with all you need to build your SaaS, AI tool, or any web app and make your first $ online fast
@marc_louvion$1.8M ARR, 5,000+ customers, bootstrapped
French indie hacker, moved to Bali after rock bottom in 2021. 16 products before ShipFast. Product Hunt Maker of the Year 2023. Made over $1M in 2025.
Marc Louvion had shipped 12 products that went nowhere — the pattern he noticed was that infrastructure setup (Stripe, auth, email) consumed the time that should've gone to validation. ShipFa.st sells that setup pre-done.
The Journey
Growth trajectory — click a dot to jump
- Oct 2023
press HN thread: 'just a boilerplate' criticism goes viral. Revenue continues climbing.
- Aug 2023
What they said
“This is just Next.js boilerplate. You can get this free from Vercel's own templates.”
What happened
ShipFa.st launches after Marc Louvion's 12th failed side project. First week: $3,000 revenue.
August 2023
Criticism → Reality - Oct 2023
What they said
“Charging $169 for a boilerplate is predatory. The indie hacker community deserves better.”
What happened
Product Hunt launch: top product of the day in developer tools.
October 2023
Criticism → Reality - Dec 2023
What they said
“By the time you've customized a boilerplate this much, you'd have been better off writing it yourself.”
What happened
$90,000/month revenue, 5 months after launch.
December 2023
Criticism → Reality - Jan 2024
launch Adds Supabase, Resend, and more provider options. Product becomes broader 'ship-fast' platform.
- Mar 2024
milestone Marc posts annual revenue review. ShipFa.st cited as proof that developer tools can scale bootstrapped.
- Jun 2024
milestone $130,000/month, 5,000+ customers. Louvion teaches ShipFa.st-based courses.
- Oct 2024
other Security vulnerability disclosed: customer GitHub repos temporarily exposed. Marc patches within 24 hours and posts public post-mortem. Transparent response praised.
- Jan 2025
milestone $150,000+/month (~$1.8M ARR). Fully bootstrapped, solo-operated.
- Mar 2025
milestone Total 2025 revenue reaches $1,032,000. ShipFa.st becomes one of the highest-grossing solo-founder developer tools.
Outcomes & Insights
Latest outcome
January 2025
Revenue
$150,000+/month (~$1.8M ARR)
Marc's build-in-public Twitter presence with regular revenue updates driving organic developer community word-of-mouth
HN controversy as distribution: the 'predatory pricing' criticism drove thousands of developers to check the product — many became customers
Affiliate program paying commissions to buyers who refer others — compounding the developer network distribution
Tutorial content and courses teaching founders to use the boilerplate — converting the customer base into a marketing channel
People say 'you can build this yourself.' Sure. In 40 hours. I'm selling you 40 hours. That's the product.
💡 What you can learn
- ShipFa.st sells time, not code.
- The HN critics who said 'you can build this yourself' proved the point: yes, you can, and it takes 40 hours.
- Louvion charges $169 for those 40 hours.
When they pushed back
When critics called the $169 price predatory for 'just a boilerplate,' Louvion published his earnings transparently — $90K/month — and let the market decide. 5,000+ customers later, the market decided in his favor.
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