Growing a social media SaaS from 0 to 6.5k MAU by pivoting to B2B2C model
2024 • 1 Month • SaaS • React Native for Web • Chief Design Officer
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Menfess on Twitter (now X) is a term short for "Mention Confess," where users send anonymous messages via direct message (DM) to an autobase account, which then posts them publicly as tweets without revealing the sender's identity.
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Menfess.co is an app that streamlines management for X confession accounts, enabling admins to organize anonymous submissions and engage communities.
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The person running an autobase account, responsible for sorting, posting, and engaging with anonymous confessions.
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The individual submitting a confession via DM to a confession account, typically interacting briefly with the platform.
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An X account that automatically posts user-submitted confessions, often managing large communities. (ex. @Tanyarlfes, 3.9M Followers)
💶 4.2k€ ARR
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👥 6.5k MAU
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⏱️ Reduced content moderation time by ~50%
〰️
💶 4.2k€ ARR 〰️ 👥 6.5k MAU 〰️ ⏱️ Reduced content moderation time by ~50% 〰️
A huge market opportunity in Indonesia’s Social Media Landscape
X’s role in driving e-commerce and brand engagement could contribute to a portion of the USD 22 billion social commerce market by 2028, though its share is likely smaller than TikTok’s or Instagram’s. Source
Menfess accounts thrive on anonymity and community engagement, often used for confessions, promotions, or discussions. In Indonesia, these accounts leverage X’s large user base (24.5 million users in 2023, projected to grow) and are part of the influencer marketing ecosystem.
Research
It’s all about serving the End-Users. Really?
Our early version focused on a sleek submission interface, expecting end-users to drive adoption, but data showed they interacted briefly and didn’t return. This misstep revealed that Base Owners, managing high DM volumes and community engagement, were the bottleneck and needed multiple robust tools.
To gain insights into the needs of the Base Owners, we distributed online surveys via Telegram to ~20 Base Owners recruited through X communities. The survey aimed to Quantify time spent on routine tasks (e.g., DM sorting, posting), Measure satisfaction levels with current tools (competitors), and Identify feature priorities, such as automation and analytics
This helped shape our understanding of pain points and opportunities for improvement.
Objective
Reimagine Menfess.co to empower Base Owners with an intuitive platform that simplifies Autobase/Menfess account management
Solution
♟️ Strategic Shift
Based on the insights, we made a decisive pivot:
Refocused the product on Base Owners as the primary users
Deprioritized enhancements for end-user submissions
Prioritized features like DM organization, automated posting, analytics, and revenue monitoring to directly address their pain points
🧪 Validation
We tested this pivot with 5 active Base Owners. The response was overwhelmingly positive:
Admin-focused features were rated as "game-changing"
The UI & UX was praised for being intuitive, with a clean and user-friendly design that made admin tasks feel effortless
Learnings
Social Media is a vibrant industry with abundant business opportunities
1. Always Design for the Power Users
Initially, our focus was on end-users submitting confessions. But real traction came from Base Owners—the ones doing the heavy lifting. This taught me the importance of identifying and deeply understanding the most invested users, even if they aren’t the obvious target at first glance. As CDO, I learned how to properly apply the 80/20 (Pareto) Analysis & Thinking (i.e. creating product & customer segmentation based on their revenue contribution).
2. Data-driven design is non-negotiable
The pivot wasn't based on assumptions—quantitative data and qualitative feedback drove it. As CDO, this reinforced my belief that good design decisions come from evidence, not gut feelings.
3. “Ready” is better than “Perfect”
Base Owners gravitated to the product because it was clear and easy to use. As design leaders, we often get excited about perfecting & providing advanced features, but this project reminded us that readiness & simplicity scales, especially when users are juggling chaotic workflows.
💶 4.2k€ ARR
〰️
👥 6.5k MAU
〰️
⏱️ Reduced content moderation time by ~50%
〰️
💶 4.2k€ ARR 〰️ 👥 6.5k MAU 〰️ ⏱️ Reduced content moderation time by ~50% 〰️