Marc Lou
Marc Lou is an indie developer and entrepreneur known for shipping many small software products while building in public, including the Next.js boilerplate ShipFast, the revenue-attribution analytics tool DataFastDataFastDataFast is a revenue-first web analytics tool from Marc Lou that connects to payment processors to attribute revenue to traffic sources, helping founders see which marketing channels drive revenue; its website reports more than 28,000 users.Open the full entry and the verified-revenue startup marketplace TrustMRRTrustMRRTrustMRR is a startup marketplace and revenue database created by Marc Lou on which founders connect their payment providers so verified revenue appears directly, for buying and selling software businesses. As of September 24, 2026, the site reported 175 acquisitions in the preceding year with estimated volume of about $1 million and more than 3,000 startups for sale.Open the full entry. He says he was fired everywhere and so built 43 startups.
Contents5 sections
Key facts
2016–2021Early Ventures
In a December 2023 essay Marc Lou recalled that his entrepreneurial journey began in 2016; it took him two years to make his first dollar online, and he later grew a SaaS to $3,000 in monthly recurring revenue, but after four years he came to see the journey as a failure, quit entrepreneurship in 2021 and worked for Tai Lopez as a product manager.[1]
From November 2021Building in Public
After Tai Lopez fired him in November 2021, he discovered the build-in-public community on Twitter, taking solo makers such as Pieter Levels and Danny Postma as role models; he was then living in Bali with his wife. He launched his first project, Mood2Movie, in December 2021 and released seven projects in six months. He wrote that within two years his newsletter had grown to 7,000 readers and his Twitter following to 55,000, and that he had reached $65,000 a month at a 91% margin with no employees.[1]
Projects: ShipFast, DataFast and TrustMRR
ShipFast is his Next.js boilerplate for quickly building SaaS products, AI tools and other web apps; its page says he shipped 16 startups in two years after a burnout and that Product HuntProduct HuntProduct Hunt is a product-discovery and launch community founded by Ryan Hoover in 2013 and operated by Product Hunt, Inc. Makers present new products, while users vote, comment and review them and discover tools through categories, forums and AI search. AngelList announced its acquisition in 2016; as of November 2026, its official website lists Rajiv Ayyangar as CEO.Open the full entry named him Maker of the Year. His personal site lists projects including DataFast, a revenue-first web analytics tool, and TrustMRR, a database of verified startup revenues and a marketplace, and says he was fired everywhere and so built 43 startups.[2][3]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
Marc Lou: Personal website. Official website: https://marclou.com/ (opens in a new window).[3]
LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marclouvion (opens in a new window).[3]
YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: https://www.youtube.com/@marc-lou (opens in a new window).[3]