ClimbX ↗: an AI tool for growing on X
- MRR
- $1,102 Verified 2026-10-22
- Total revenue
- $7,336
- Active subscriptions
- 38
Verified by TrustMRR
In one line: The founder built 13k followers on X in 200 days. The audience got his tool to $1k a month fast, but it stopped there; his biggest earner is selling ads directly to brands.
- Founder
- Daniel SmidstrupX ↗ · Solo
- Dates
- Launched 2026-05-16
Timeline
- Starts posting from 0 followers, replying to others heavily every day
- 1,000 followers; people start asking "how are you growing so fast"
- Builds the tool in 5 days; about 2,000 followers at launch
- First paying user, $29 a month
- 365 signups and 29 paid in the first month
- Tool revenue peaks at $1,518 a month; first ad deal
- Tool revenue slowly declines; September ad income is 4x tool revenue (self-reported)
- Revenue flat for 4 months; SEO is the main focus from October; free tools live before Oct 2
Compared with similar products
5 moves ClimbX made
Built an audience first.
Daniel started posting from 0 followers on Apr 1, replying to others heavily every day.
Turned followers' questions into the product.
Many people asked "how are you growing so fast", so Daniel turned the process he ran by hand into ClimbX.
Built the first version in 5 days.
Launched May 16 with about 2,000 followers; first paying user on May 23, $29 a month.
Priced at $29, with a card required for the trial.
$29 a month for the first 100, then $39; by Jun 13 the site required a card to start the 7-day trial.
Sold the audience directly.
Took brand promotions from July.
Method: Build a single-job AI SaaSCompare all methods
Reader version. Data as of 2026-10-22. SuperX is TrustMRR's live figure on 2026-10-22; Kleo is from this site's snapshot at the time it was added and is the founder's own claim.
How to copy it
Leave substantive daily replies on slightly bigger accounts in your niche to earn your first followers
Every day, reply to new posts from accounts in your niche slightly bigger than yours with something substantive (a view, a tip or your own number), for a sustained stretch, logging reply count and follower count daily. What the founder did: he replied heavily every day to accounts a bit bigger than him to earn his first followers (X article by @DanielSmidstrup).Expand ▾Collapse ▴
Every day, reply to new posts from accounts in your niche slightly bigger than yours with something substantive (a view, a tip or your own number), for a sustained stretch, logging reply count and follower count daily. What the founder did: he replied heavily every day to accounts a bit bigger than him to earn his first followers (X article by @DanielSmidstrup ↗).
- A daily log of date, reply count and follower count, kept for the number of days you set.
- Followers grow through the logged period and people follow up under your replies.
I create content in <your niche> and reply daily to slightly bigger accounts in it. Below are today's posts to reply to, plus my background and my own numbers. For each, write 2 English reply options under 40 words: 1) a concrete view, tip or my own number, no empty praise; 2) only my numbers; 3) no links in replies. Posts: <paste>; my background: <paste>
Step 1: reply every day to slightly bigger accounts in your niche; the founder's article says that's how he got his first 1k followers.
Collect followers' "how do you do it" questions and map them onto your daily manual routine
Copy followers' questions about how you do it, what tools you use and how you plan your day, with links, into a table. Then write down your daily manual routine step by step and mark the steps asked about most. What the founder did: so many people asked how he grew so fast that he turned his manual routine into a tool (X article by @DanielSmidstrup).Expand ▾Collapse ▴
Copy followers' questions about how you do it, what tools you use and how you plan your day, with links, into a table. Then write down your daily manual routine step by step and mark the steps asked about most. What the founder did: so many people asked how he grew so fast that he turned his manual routine into a tool (X article by @DanielSmidstrup ↗).
- A table of questions (quote, link, step asked about) and a routine checklist with a count of questions per step.
- The most-asked steps match the ones you spend the most time on each day.
Below are followers' "how do you do it" questions with links and a log of what I do by hand each day. Please: 1) turn the log into an ordered routine with inputs and outputs per step; 2) map each question to its step and count questions per step; 3) pick the 3 most-asked steps best suited to a tool and say why; 4) use only my material. Material: <paste>
Step 2: group the questions and turn what you do by hand each day into a routine checklist (our recommendation).
Turn your manual routine into a tool, building only the 3 most-asked steps, and use it yourself first
Build v1 with your usual AI coding tool from the step 2 checklist, covering only the 3 most-asked steps. Keep a human confirmation on every publish action and skip auto-replies and auto-DMs. Run your own routine through it daily. What the founder did: he built the base version in a few days with Claude Code and Codex on Next.js on Vercel with Supabase, keeping a human approval on every post (X article by @DanielSmidstrup).Expand ▾Collapse ▴
Build v1 with your usual AI coding tool from the step 2 checklist, covering only the 3 most-asked steps. Keep a human confirmation on every publish action and skip auto-replies and auto-DMs. Run your own routine through it daily. What the founder did: he built the base version in a few days with Claude Code and Codex on Next.js on Vercel with Supabase, keeping a human approval on every post (X article by @DanielSmidstrup ↗).
- A tool you can log into with all 3 steps working, which you've used for several days instead of the manual routine.
- You run your routine through it for a full week without going back to manual.
Help me build v1 of a tool automating my daily manual routine, covering only these 3 steps: <paste the 3 steps from step 2 with inputs and outputs>. Requirements: 1) stack: <your stack>; 2) every publish action waits for my confirmation, no auto-replies or auto-DMs; 3) follow official docs and pricing for any external platform API and flag anything uncertain for me to check; 4) read secrets from environment variables.
Step 3: build the first version that schedules posts from your checklist; the founder's article says he built ClimbX with Claude Code and Codex.
Step 3: publish your approved posts at the scheduled time; the founder says ClimbX schedules through X's official API. Posting through the X API is paid (buy credits first, charged by usage); see X's official pricing page.
Create a monthly Stripe subscription with a free trial and put it on the signup page
Create a monthly subscription price in Stripe with a free trial, put the payment link on your signup page and use Stripe's built-in cancellation flow. You set the price. What the founder did: he gave the first batch of users a lower monthly price (X post by @DanielSmidstrup), used a 7-day free trial (X post by @DanielSmidstrup) and relied on Stripe's built-in cancellation (X post by @DanielSmidstrup).Expand ▾Collapse ▴
Create a monthly subscription price in Stripe with a free trial, put the payment link on your signup page and use Stripe's built-in cancellation flow. You set the price. What the founder did: he gave the first batch of users a lower monthly price (X post by @DanielSmidstrup ↗), used a 7-day free trial (X post by @DanielSmidstrup ↗) and relied on Stripe's built-in cancellation (X post by @DanielSmidstrup ↗).
Author post 1 ↗Author post 2 ↗Author post 3 ↗Author post 4 ↗
- The signup page's payment link opens and shows the trial length and monthly price after it; cancellation works.
- Pay once in Stripe's test environment: the subscription is trialing, the first charge falls when the trial ends, and cancellation works.
My tool runs a daily routine for <your target users>. The first plan is $<price>/month with a <N>-day free trial. Write: 1) the Stripe product name and a one-line description; 2) under 60 words for the signup page on trial length, when the charge happens and how to cancel; 3) if early users get a lower price, one English line on how many spots and the price after, using only my numbers.
Step 4: create the $29/month subscription price with a 7-day free trial; the founder replied on 2026-09-07 that ClimbX is "using Stripe".
Go back to people who asked what tool you use and reply briefly with your product link
Return to the posts in your step 2 table where people asked what tool you use, and reply under each with a short line and your product link. Keep up the step 1 daily replies, and don't push links under other people's posts. What the founder did: his paying users came mainly from the platform he was already active on, where one casual reply with the product link brought signups and trials, while the Reddit post and Meta ads he tried brought no paying users (X article by @DanielSmidstrup).Expand ▾Collapse ▴
Return to the posts in your step 2 table where people asked what tool you use, and reply under each with a short line and your product link. Keep up the step 1 daily replies, and don't push links under other people's posts. What the founder did: his paying users came mainly from the platform he was already active on, where one casual reply with the product link brought signups and trials, while the Reddit post and Meta ads he tried brought no paying users (X article by @DanielSmidstrup ↗).
- Everyone who asked in the step 2 table has a reply with the link; someone signed up through it and started a trial.
- Someone starts a free trial through a link in your replies.
Below are posts from people who once asked what tool I use, with their questions. I've now built a tool that runs this routine: <product link>. Write each an English reply under 30 words: 1) answer the exact point they asked about; 2) include the product link naturally; 3) no exaggerated promises. Posts: <paste>
Step 5: reply with your product link under followers' questions; the founder says one free reply with the link brought about 4 sign-ups and 3 trials in a day.
Get your first revenue: the charge succeeds after the trial
Wait for the step 5 trial users to finish their trial and watch your Stripe payments for the first automatic charge; the payer can't be you. What the founder did: about a week after launch, the first free trials began converting to paid (X post by @DanielSmidstrup).Expand ▾Collapse ▴
Wait for the step 5 trial users to finish their trial and watch your Stripe payments for the first automatic charge; the payer can't be you. What the founder did: about a week after launch, the first free trials began converting to paid (X post by @DanielSmidstrup ↗).
- Stripe shows the first successful post-trial charge (not test mode, not paid by you).
- The user keeps using the tool after the charge.
One of my tool's trial users is about to hit the end of their trial. Below is their usage during the trial. Write an English DM to send before it ends, under 80 words: 1) mention the step they used most; 2) remind them when the trial ends, that billing is monthly after, and that they can cancel anytime; 3) promise no results. Usage: <paste>
Step 6: check trial end dates and charges in subscriptions and payments, and confirm the first $29 charge succeeded; the founder replied on 2026-09-07 that ClimbX is "using Stripe", with its cancellation flow through Stripe too.
Sources
- TrustMRR
- X article: 200 Days on X: 0 to 12.9k Followers, a $1k MRR SaaS and $7K/Month (2026-10-18; company September total, paid-post income, launch date)
- X: intro post, "$1.2k MRR" (2026-10-17, self-reported)
- X: "Been quite stuck at 1k MRR for the last few months" (2026-10-15)
- X: starting price, "29/m for the first 100 then 39" (2026-05-23)
- X: First solo MRR: $29 (2026-05-23)
- ClimbX website pricing
Next case
SuperX: X growth tool
Business model: B2C SaaS subscription (X growth tool: Pro $49 / Advanced $49 (launch price, normally $99) / Ultra $199 per month, with a free trial; paid through Stripe)
Data source: TrustMRR, checked 2026-10-22
