Evgeny, founder of paidpost

I'm Evgeny, a 39-year-old software architect. I run my products through my own US company, a Texas LLC. Engineering degree, about 5 years as a sysadmin, then around 15 years writing code. I have a day job and four kids, so my own products get built in the evenings and on weekends.

I built paidpost.net: the place where brands book X creators for sponsored posts, agree on the details and close the deal. Each creator gets a link like paidpost.net/@PlotnikovDev with their prices and open dates.

I kept seeing creators on X posting "DM for collabs" and then losing hours in DMs: "how much?", "when?", "can you do a thread?". Many small creators don't know what to charge and feel awkward naming a price. Brands have the opposite problem: no simple way to see who's available and for how much.

I first tried a bigger version of this idea called CollabScan, for many platforms. It turned out too big for one person, so I cut it down to X only. I bought the domain one evening, and paidpost was live the next day.

“I bought the domain one evening, and paidpost was live the next day.”

1. For creators

   One link in your bio (or just in DMs, the bio is optional) answers "how much?" before anyone asks, and brands can book you directly. You connect X read-only, and starter prices and a schedule are set automatically, so you're listed in under a minute.

2. For brands and small startups

   A catalog of creators with real prices and open dates. No subscriptions, no commission, no paid features. It's free and will stay free.

“One link in your bio answers "how much?" before anyone asks.”

Revenue

$0

Deals

1

Audience

36.7K

Creators

13

Launched in early October 2026. 13 creators in the catalog so far, with a combined audience of 36.7K followers, and 1 deal. No revenue yet, and that's on purpose: right now I'm focused on getting the first 100 creators, so I can see what real prices look like.

Building in public on X. Every update I posted (new features, mistakes, numbers) brought people who wanted to try it. Personal conversations work better than anything: when I write to someone directly and ask for their honest feedback, they often sign up.

Surprise: removing steps from onboarding gave more completed profiles than any feature.

“Removing steps from onboarding gave more completed profiles than any feature.”

The classic two-sided marketplace problem: brands don't come to an empty catalog, and creators don't come where there are no brands. I'm growing the creator side first.

The second lesson: nobody finishes onboarding. People connected X and stopped before setting prices, so they never appeared in the catalog. I fixed it by setting starter prices automatically ($5 per 1K followers) and an open schedule, so every creator is listed right away and can adjust later.

“Nobody finishes onboarding.”

1. Near term

   1,000 connected creators. With that data I can show recommended prices for each account, which is the thing small creators struggle with the most. Then I'll start bringing in brands with ads.

2. Personally

   Success means building products that replace my day-job income, so I can work on my own things full time.

From my own X audience. I announced the domain before writing any code and shared every step of building it, so the first creators were people who already knew me from replies and DMs. Some of them signed up the same day it went live.

What didn't work: people connected their X account and then stopped before setting prices, so they never showed up in the catalog. That's why I added automatic starter prices.

“I announced the domain before writing any code.”

Almost all of it is X: build-in-public posts, a lot of replies every day, and personal DMs to creators. No ads yet, budget is $0. Time: about 2 hours a day on X, most of it on replies.

Honestly, it's too early to name one. paidpost is only a couple of weeks old, and most of my marketing ideas are still on my to-do list.

So far the most promising thing has been simply talking to people: building in public on X and writing personal messages to creators I already know from replies. Every real conversation brings either a signup or useful feedback. Ask me again in a few months, and I hope I'll have a better story with real numbers.

“Every real conversation brings either a signup or useful feedback.”

I fix things fast and answer every message personally. Early users have my DMs open.

Everything runs on Cloudflare: Workers for the backend, D1 (SQLite) as the database, R2 for files. Email-code login, no passwords. Each creator page renders a dynamic OG image, so a shared link shows the avatar, followers and prices right in the preview.

I build almost everything with Claude Code. I plan the product in Obsidian with AI, break it into small tasks, and let AI write most of the code while I review and test. It made it realistic to ship paidpost in a day with a full-time job and four kids.

“It made it realistic to ship paidpost in a day with a full-time job and four kids.”

AI isn't inside the product yet. Next step is recommended prices based on real data.

Ship small and ship fast. My first version of this idea was too big and I never finished it. Remove steps instead of fixing them. And start talking about your product before it exists: your first users are the people who watched you build it.

“Your first users are the people who watched you build it.”