T.LY

What they Do Best

Efficient URL shortening service.

Main Industry

Productivity

Platform

Chrome

Type of Product

Extension

Target

B2B + B2C

Price Range

$1 - $49

Business Model

Subscription

Free Plan

Pricing Details

The pricing for T.LY starts at $5 up to $50 per month

Revenue Estimates

$31,200

Monthly Website Traffic

6,185,000

Revenue Per Traffic

$0.00

Idea to Money

Took 7 months to acquire first paying customer.

Founders

Employees

Year Started

2019

Dedication

This was a side project and building the MVP was pretty straightforward taking a few days.

Market Insights / Trends

link shortener

Industry Incumbent

Bitly ($15M/year)

How They Came Up With The Idea

After reading that Google would be shutting down its URL shortener service in March 2019, the founder saw an opportunity to develop a link shortener service that could fill the gap. He also recognized that there was a demand for a link shortener API for use in his day job, specifically with a texting application. Realizing that other companies would also benefit from this service, he decided to build his own shortener API.

How They Built The First Version

The minimum viable product (MVP) featured an API that could shorten and expand links. Additionally, the API was incorporated into the Link Shortener browser extension. After successfully setting up the API, the developer began to work on a user interface that would allow users to sign up, manage their URLs, view private statistics, customize the ending for shortened URLs, add their own domains, and more.

Growth Channels

T.LY is a link shortening service that promotes itself every time a user shares a shortened URL. As more users use the product, they experience a consistent monthly increase in website traffic. The founder has also documented his journey on Indie Hackers. Through regular updates and sharing tips and tricks, he offers insight on how to create a successful browser extension.

Main Growth Channel

SEO

Online Directories

Tech Stack

- Laravel - VueJS

Tools

- Cloudflare

Full Case Study

Link#1 - Link #2