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Directory · ads · Oct 2025

A verified-revenue directory built in a day sold out its ad slots in five days

Marc Lou turned a viral complaint about fake MRR screenshots into TrustMRR, a public database of Stripe-verified revenue, and sold sidebar ads from day one.

Evidence: LowCore figures come from secondary write-ups of the founder's posts.
24 hto build and launchFounder's claim
$18,380MRR after five daysFounder post, via search snippet
20 / 20ad slots soldFounder post, via Promptway
#2Product Hunt launch of the day, 11 Nov 2025Read on Product Hunt

At a glance

Builder
Marc Lou (Marc Louvion), solo founder of ShipFast, DataFast and CodeFast.
Built with
His own ShipFast Next.js boilerplate. Verification uses a read-only Stripe key and hourly data pulls. No source says AI wrote the code.
Trigger
A 28 Oct 2025 post by Pieter Levels about fake MRR screenshots.
Business model
Sidebar ad slots at $299 a month, rising with each sale up to $1,499 (Promptway). A startup marketplace followed.
Distribution
Launch two days after the viral post, progress posts on X, and a Product Hunt launch twelve days later.

Timeline

  1. 28 Oct 2025Levels posts about fake MRR screenshots. DirectoryGems cites more than 518K views.
  2. 30 Oct 2025TrustMRR launches in the evening, about 24 hours after the idea.
  3. 31 Oct 2025DirectoryGems: $8,586 MRR and 14 subscriptions after 24 hours; $13,883 and 100+ verified startups after 48.
  4. ~4–5 Nov 2025Founder post: $0 to $18,380 MRR in five days, 20 of 20 ad spots filled.
  5. 11 Nov 2025Product Hunt launch: #2 of the day, #2 of the week, #5 of the month.
  6. LaterMarketplace for buying and selling startups. Promptway cites an $85,000 sale and two declined offers to buy TrustMRR.

How it was built

  1. 1ShipFast supplied authentication, Stripe integration and the database, so only the idea was new.
  2. 2Founders connect a read-only Stripe key and the site publishes their verified revenue on a public page.
  3. 3There was no monetisation plan at launch, according to Promptway; ads were added within days.

Why it took off

  1. 1It answered a live, shared complaint at the moment it peaked.
  2. 2Every verified founder shows a public page, which brings in more founders.
  3. 3Fixed ad slots with rising prices are simple to sell and need no onboarding.
  4. 4The founder's audience supplied the first 100 or so listings.
Be careful with

Read the numbers with these caveats.

  • Monthly revenue figures quoted in write-ups ($81K–$95K) appear to be the founder's whole portfolio, not TrustMRR alone.
  • $20,378 in sales and $18,380 MRR measure different things and should not be added up.
  • The product is technically simple. The advantage was timing and reach, which is hard to copy.
  • Only Stripe revenue is verified. How test mode or multiple accounts are handled is not explained.
§ EvidenceWhat the sources say
Confirmed by a source we read
  • Product Hunt page: tagline, launch on 11 Nov 2025, rankings #2 day, #2 week, #5 month.
Reported figures
  • Build in 24 hours, $8,586 and $13,883 MRR, $18,380 MRR, 20/20 slots.
  • Slot pricing from $299 to $1,499.
  • $85,000 marketplace sale and two declined acquisition offers.
Sources disagree
  • $20,378 "the next day" (headline) versus "within three days" (body).
  • Follower count is reported as 127K in one place and 200K in another.
  • The 31 Oct heading covers both the 24-hour and the 48-hour snapshots.
§ Check it yourselfWith AdRadar

Don’t take the headline on faith. Watch TrustMRR yourself.

See what TrustMRR is doing in public: its ads, the pages they lead to, how its site changes and what people say about it.

Good fit for the directory and its sponsors. Track TrustMRR and the companies that bought slots.

Ads

Archives what a company runs on Meta, Google and LinkedIn: new, stopped and long-running ads.

See whether TrustMRR advertises, and what the sponsors in its slots run on Meta, Google and LinkedIn.

Landing pages

Reads the pages its active ads link to and flags headline, offer and price changes.

Watch the pages those ads send visitors to, including price and offer changes.

Site pages

Reads the public sitemap: new and updated pages, page types, publishing rhythm.

Follow the sitemap for new listing, marketplace and blog pages and the publishing rhythm.

Reviews and mentions

Collects Trustpilot reviews and Reddit mentions, and can summarise the complaints.

Read Reddit threads and Trustpilot reviews about verified-revenue claims and the marketplace.

Track TrustMRR in AdRadar

You can repeat this.

The parts that do not depend on a famous founder.

  1. 1Find a complaint your niche is making loudly right now.
  2. 2Ship the smallest product that answers it, on a boilerplate you already own.
  3. 3Sell fixed, scarce ad slots with a rising price.
  4. 4Give every customer a public page that markets the product for you.
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Sources

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