The traditional wisdom of building a massive audience before launching a product is being rewritten. In the fast-moving world of modern SaaS, the strategy has shifted from audience-first to momentum-first. A prime example is the story of Yasser, the founder of Chatbase, who managed to scale his application from zero to $1 million in ARR in just 117 days. What makes this feat even more remarkable is that he started with a mere 16 followers on X (formerly Twitter). By leveraging a specific viral twitter strategy and understanding the mechanics of organic social media growth, Yasser turned a side project into a $7 million ARR powerhouse without any outside funding.
The Anatomy of a Viral Demo: Trust Through Familiarity
When Yasser posted his first demo, he wasn't just showing off code; he was showing off an experience. At the time, ChatGPT was already a global phenomenon. People were familiar with the streaming text interface and the clean, minimalist chat UI. By building Chatbase with a familiar UI that mirrored the ChatGPT experience, he reduced the cognitive load for potential users. When users see something that looks like a tool they already trust, the barrier to entry drops significantly. This concept of building a ‘ChatGPT wrapper’ that actually adds utility is a core component of a modern startup launch playbook.
However, familiarity alone isn't enough. The demo itself featured a streaming text interface, which creates a sense of real-time intelligence and activity. In an era where attention is the most valuable currency, a static image or a long, narrated video often fails to capture interest. A fast, snappy video showing the product in action is far more effective for growth hacking for SaaS. If you are trying to replicate this success, you can identify high-performing video creators in your niche using Stormy's AI search to see which aesthetic styles are currently trending on social platforms.
Reducing Time-to-Aha: The 20-Second Rule
Most founders spend too long explaining their ‘why’ and not enough time showing their ‘what.’ In the Starter Story interview, Yasser emphasized the importance of minimizing the seconds to the 'aha moment.' His viral demo didn't feature a complex walkthrough of settings or billing pages. Instead, it showed a user uploading a PDF and immediately asking questions about it. The entire core value proposition was demonstrated in under 20 seconds.
This rapid time-to-value is crucial for how to go viral on X. The algorithm prioritizes content that users engage with quickly. If a user stops scrolling and watches a video to completion because they understand the value immediately, the platform is more likely to push that content to a wider audience. This is where many creators fail; they bury the lead. To ensure your content is hitting the right notes, you can use Stormy AI for influencer vetting, fake follower detection, and identifying creators with high video completion rates and engagement benchmarks before partnering with them for a launch.
Engineering Viral Loops: Tagging the Infrastructure
One of the most tactical moves in the Chatbase playbook was leveraging infrastructure providers. Two and a half years ago, companies like LangChain and Pinecone were relatively new and hungry for user case studies. They needed to show that real people were building real products on their platforms. By tagging these tools in his launch tweet, Yasser created a win-win scenario. The infrastructure providers were incentivized to retweet and promote his demo to show off their own platform’s capabilities.
This created a viral loop. When a high-authority account like a well-funded AI infrastructure company retweets a solopreneur, it provides instant credibility. This is a foundational element of organic social media growth. You are not just shouting into the void; you are tapping into the existing audiences of the tools you use. To maximize this, once you have identified the right partners, you can use Stormy's AI outreach to send hyper-personalized emails to their marketing teams, offering your product as a case study for their next blog post or social update.
The 48-Hour News Cycle: Riding the Hype Wave
Timing is everything in growth hacking for SaaS. Yasser noted that his second major spike in growth happened when he timed a release alongside the launch of the OpenAI chat API. By positioning Chatbase as one of the first products to integrate a new, highly-discussed technology, he was able to ride the coattails of industry-wide hype. When a major player like OpenAI or Apple releases an update, the entire tech world is looking for examples of how to use it.
This is known as the 48-hour news cycle strategy. If you can ship a feature or a demo within two days of a major industry announcement, you benefit from the massive search volume and social media chatter surrounding that topic. This requires a build-in-public mindset where speed is prioritized over perfection. You don't need a finished product; you need a working MVP that solves one core problem using the new tech. To keep track of how these timely posts are performing compared to your competitors, Stormy's post tracking allows you to monitor views and engagement across TikTok, YouTube, and X in real-time.
The Build-in-Public Playbook: Personality Over Polished Content
Yasser's success wasn't a one-hit wonder. He continued to grow by sharing his journey daily. The build-in-public playbook is about more than just sharing code snippets; it's about sharing the personal story. People connect with people, not logos. Yasser found that being personal, sharing learning moments, and even having ‘controversial’ takes on industry trends helped him stand out in a sea of boring corporate updates.
He also highlighted that video content is a significant differentiator. While many are comfortable writing a thread on X, fewer are willing to get on camera and show the process. This creates a ‘blue ocean’ for founders who are willing to be the face of their brand. Consistency is key here—it may take months of posting to zero engagement before the algorithm picks you up. To manage these ongoing relationships and track which influencers or peers are supporting your journey, Stormy's creator CRM provides a central hub for managing collaborations and negotiation history.
Beyond Twitter: Scaling Through PLG and Sponsorships
While the viral twitter strategy provided the initial spark, scaling to 6.8 million ARR required more diverse tactics. Yasser utilized Product-Led Growth (PLG), ensuring the product was simple enough for users to sign up and pay without a sales call. He also utilized sponsored posts on platforms like LinkedIn, which in one instance generated $4,000 in a single day. Additionally, he engaged in ‘guerrilla marketing’ by creating custom AI agents for high-profile figures like Paul Graham and Naval Ravikant, then sharing those tools in relevant subreddits.
His tech stack also evolved to support this growth, moving to Vercel for hosting, Supabase for his database, and Stripe for billing. He even integrated multiple AI models from Anthropic and Google Gemini to give users more choice. By combining these growth hacking techniques with a robust technical foundation, he ensured that the viral traffic didn't just bounce, but converted into long-term subscribers.
Conclusion: Your Viral Launch Framework
Going viral on X with zero followers is not about luck; it is about engineering moments of discovery. By focusing on a familiar UI, minimizing the time to the 'aha' moment, and strategically tagging infrastructure partners, you can create the same viral loop that propelled Chatbase. Remember that your first tweet is just the beginning. Real growth comes from repeated launches, building in public, and eventually scaling through sponsored content and PLG. If you're ready to start your journey, use the tools available at Stormy AI to find your first 100 creator partners and automate your outreach, allowing you to focus on what matters most: building a product that people love.