TL;DR
Gil Hildebrand spent 25 years as a professional developer, including a stint as CTO of Seth Godin’s Squidoo ($10M revenue, 1M+ daily users) and running a VC-backed crypto startup. He walked away from VC-land to build Subscribr, an AI tool that helps YouTubers write scripts. The results: $83K MRR in 100 days, on track for $1M ARR, running on a single DigitalOcean droplet. His secret? He presold 50 lifetime deals before writing a single line of code.
The VC Math That Made Him Quit
Here’s a quote that explains why Gil walked away from venture capital:
“A solopreneur with a $1M/year business is actually far richer than a CEO of a $50M/year VC-backed business. Because the CEO can still only justify a salary of maybe $250k, and they’ve likely diluted their equity to only 30%.”
Do the math: $250K salary + 30% of eventual exit (if it happens) vs. keeping 100% of $1M annually. The solo founder wins unless you’re building the next unicorn.
Gil had run a $1M ARR crypto startup with 20 employees. He knew exactly how much of that was actually his: almost nothing after salaries, overhead, and dilution. Subscribr was his bet on a different path.
The Presale Validation Strategy
This is where most founders go wrong. They build first, then try to sell. Gil inverted it.
Step 1: Build the Audience First
Before Subscribr existed, Gil spent months building credibility in the YouTube creator space:
- Created mini-tools and industry reports
- Shared insights on X (Twitter)
- Built an email list of 1,000 subscribers interested in YouTube growth
He wasn’t building a product yet. He was building trust with people who had the problem he wanted to solve.
Step 2: Presell Before Writing Code
With his 1,000-person email list, Gil announced Subscribr and offered 50 lifetime subscriptions at a one-time fee. The result?
“I sold all 50 lifetime subscriptions in just a few days. I now had over $20k in the bank, making my business profitable before I even had a product.”
Read that again: $20K in revenue with zero product. That’s not just validation—it’s proof of demand with money on the table.
Those 50 buyers weren’t just customers. They were co-creators. They gave feedback on every feature, reported bugs, and told him exactly what they needed.
The Boring Tech Stack That Scales
When I first heard about Subscribr’s tech stack, I expected the usual: Next.js, TypeScript, microservices, Kubernetes. Nope.
- Backend: Laravel (PHP)
- Real-time Features: Laravel Livewire
- Job Queue: Laravel Horizon (handles AI tasks)
- Database: MySQL
- Hosting: Single DigitalOcean droplet
That’s it. A $10-40/month server running an $83K MRR business.
Why Laravel in 2026?
Gil’s take is refreshingly contrarian:
“I’ve found PHP much more enjoyable to use than the current trend of JavaScript and TypeScript apps, which can be super slow to build and often break due to package compatibility issues.”
He’s not wrong. The JavaScript ecosystem has a dependency churn problem. Every week there’s a new bundler, a new framework, a new way to do server-side rendering. Laravel just… works. It’s been stable for years.
Gil started coding at 15. He’s been a professional developer for 25 years. He’s seen every tech trend come and go. His conclusion: use boring tech that you know well.
The AI Layer: APIs, Not Custom Models
Subscribr uses AI for:
- Video idea planning - Analyzing a channel’s niche and suggesting topics
- Packaging brainstorming - Thumbnails and titles that drive clicks
- Script structure - Converting ideas into full YouTube scripts
The AI stack is straightforward:
- OpenAI API (GPT models)
- Claude API (for certain tasks)
- Standard prompt engineering
Notice what’s missing: no custom-trained models, no GPU clusters, no ML team. Gil is using the same APIs you and I can access today. The value isn’t in the AI itself—it’s in how it’s applied to a specific workflow.
This pattern shows up everywhere in successful AI products. Pieter Levels runs Photo AI on Replicate’s API. HeadshotPro uses Stable Diffusion via API. The winning strategy is: wrap existing AI capabilities with better UX for a specific use case.
The Evolution: From Tool to Agent
Gil is currently building Subscribr v3, which he describes as:
“A fully agentic chatbot — exactly the kind of experience AI users have come to expect in modern apps.”
This is the trajectory we’re seeing across AI products: start with a simple tool, then evolve toward autonomous agents that can do more of the work independently.
The tool version of Subscribr helps you write scripts faster. The agent version might write the first draft entirely on its own, ask clarifying questions, and iterate based on your feedback—more like a junior writer than a writing assistant.
Pricing: Fewer Customers, Higher Revenue
Subscribr starts at $49/month. That’s premium for an AI writing tool in a market where competitors charge $20 or even $10.
Gil’s logic:
- Fewer customers = more manageable support
- Higher price = filters for serious users
- Premium positioning = room for white-glove service
At $83K MRR with 4,000+ customers, the average revenue per user is around $20 (some on lifetime deals, some on monthly). But the new pricing targets customers willing to pay for quality over quantity.
This is the opposite of the “race to the bottom” we see in commodity AI tools. Gil is competing on expertise—he knows YouTube deeply—not on price.
The Growth Engine
After the presale validation, Gil expanded through multiple channels:
1. SEO (Long Game)
He invested in content marketing from day one. Nine months later, it’s his most reliable acquisition channel. The compounding effect of SEO is real: content you write today brings traffic for years.
2. Affiliate Program
YouTubers talk to other YouTubers. A well-structured affiliate program turns customers into salespeople.
3. AppSumo (Controversial but Effective)
Yes, AppSumo takes a huge cut. Yes, you’re selling lifetime deals that limit future revenue from those customers. But it worked for Gil because:
- It brought in hundreds of reviews quickly
- Reviews built social proof
- Social proof improved conversion everywhere else
The AppSumo customers aren’t his best customers. But they helped him get his best customers.
4. Paid Ads (Testing)
Small budget experiments on Google and Meta to establish brand presence. Not the main channel, but part of the mix.
From Solo to Small Team
Gil recently added a co-founder. Why, after proving the solo model works?
There’s a ceiling to what one person can do. At $83K MRR, the opportunity cost of staying solo is real. Every hour Gil spends on support is an hour not spent on product. Every bug he fixes is a feature he doesn’t ship.
The “solo founder” story is inspiring, but the math changes as you scale. Pieter Levels outsourced AI development. Marc Lou of ShipFast has contractors. Even the most independent founders eventually need help.
The key is: help comes after validation, not before.
What We Can Learn
1. Validate with Money, Not Interest
Preselling isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s the most reliable signal that your product will work. If people won’t pay before the product exists, they probably won’t pay after either.
2. Boring Tech Wins
Laravel is not trending on Hacker News. Neither is PHP. But they power an $83K MRR business on a single server. The stack doesn’t matter if you’re not shipping.
3. AI is the Ingredient, Not the Recipe
Subscribr’s value isn’t “we have AI.” Every tool has AI now. The value is: “we understand YouTube creators and built the right AI workflow for their specific needs.” Domain expertise + AI > AI alone.
4. Premium Pricing Filters for Quality
Low prices attract price-sensitive customers who churn the moment something cheaper appears. Higher prices attract customers who value what you’re building and will stick around.
5. Distribution is the Moat
Gil built an audience before he built a product. That audience funded his MVP, tested his features, and became his first evangelists. Building in public isn’t just a Twitter trend—it’s a distribution strategy.
The Numbers Summary
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| MRR | $83,000 |
| Time to $10K MRR | 100 days |
| Total revenue (to date) | $500,000+ |
| Customers | 4,000+ |
| Team size | 2 (recently added co-founder) |
| Infrastructure cost | ~$40/month |
| Funding | $0 (bootstrapped) |
| AI approach | API-based (OpenAI, Claude) |
Final Thought
Gil’s trajectory contradicts a lot of startup mythology:
- You don’t need a novel tech stack
- You don’t need to build before you sell
- You don’t need VC money
- You don’t need a massive team
What you need: deep domain expertise, the ability to build, and customers willing to pay before you start.
Subscribr isn’t trying to be the next unicorn. It’s trying to be an excellent product that serves YouTubers well and provides Gil with a life he wants to live. Given the math on VC vs. bootstrapping, that might be the smarter bet.
Research sourced from IndieHackers and founder interviews.