AI Summary
5 min readFrom $11 to 1.1M Views: How Thibaut Louis-Lucas Built an Audience by Building in Public
Thibaut Louis-Lucas (known online as Thibaut Maker) started building products on Twitter in 2021 after years of failure. His approach was simple: ship one new product every week until something stuck. The first ten products were failures. The eleventh was TweetHunter, which crossed $1M ARR in its first year and was eventually acquired by Lemlist. The mechanism that made this work wasn't luck—it was a compounding audience effect. Every product he built and shared publicly added a small number of followers. Each new product built on the last, and the audience grew incrementally. As he puts it, "at every new product that was shipping on Twitter, I was a little bit more powerful."
The Validation Mindset Over the Selling Mindset
The core psychological shift Thibaut advocates is moving from a "selling mindset" to a "validation mindset." Most founders fall in love with their idea and try to sell it at all costs. Instead, he argues, you should build in public, share what you're making, and let people give you critical feedback. "If you share something on Twitter and you're a builder, people actually will engage with you and give you critical feedback, which is probably 10 times more interesting to be done."
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Build in Public: The Core Strategy** - Thibaut explains his "build in public" approach: shipping one new product per week until something sticks.
- 2 (12:34) **Case Study: $11 Product to 1.1M Views** - Jason shares his own "build in public" example: Podeme, a $11 podcast deep-link streamer.
- 3 (15:24) **Influencer Partnerships: The Profit-Share Model** - Thibaut explains giving away 25% profit share to influencers, not equity, to drive product success.
- 4 (20:58) **Tactical Practical: The Influencer Playbook** - Detailed breakdown of the influencer seeding strategy: find accounts averaging ~1k views, offer $200 base + $500 bonus for 50k+ views.
- 5 (22:14) **Final Advice & LinkedIn Ban Story** - Thibaut warns against expecting quick wins and shares his LinkedIn ban for using an automation tool (Taplio).
- 6 (26:52) **Apple vs. OpenAI Lawsuit Breakdown** - Jason analyzes Apple's 40-page lawsuit alleging OpenAI stole trade secrets via a former executive.
- 7 (36:11) **The Cost of Bad Karma** - Jason argues OpenAI's aggressive tactics (lawsuits with Elon, NYT, Apple) are a strategic disaster.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
This Week In Startups is made possible by:
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Today's show:
*Jason spent $11 building out PodMeme, an AI tool that tracks down the best segments from top podcasts about a specific topic, then stitches them together into a single stream. His post laying out how he did it, featuring a simple screenshot of the product, got all the way to 1.1M views in just a few days.
It's a simple fact: builders love to see what other people are building, and growing your new project "in public," sharing your journey on social media, is a great way to develop buzz around your product before it even exists.
Today's guest Thibault "Tibo" Louis-Lucas walks us through how he grew products like Tweet Hunter and Taplio on his social media account, using social media buzz and a focus on tools for creators to very quickly expand to over $1M ARR.
PLUS why Apple would only sue OpenAI if they knew they had them dead to rights… why Uber and Waymo are fighting over DC robotaxis… Jason's response to the public backlash against surveillance startup Flock Safety… and the guys remember iconic New Zealand actor Sam Neill.
Guest:
Tibo Louis-Lucas on X: https://x.com/tibo_maker
Revid.ai: https://www.revid.ai/
Tweet Hunter: https://tweethunter.io/
Taplio: https://taplio.com/
Relevant Links:
Lemlist: https://www.lemlist.com/
GRIN influencer marketing: https://grin.co/
TechCrunch: "Apple Sues OpenAI": https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/10/apple-sues-openai-over-alleged-trade-secret-theft/
We Must Act Now statement: https://www.wemustactnow.ai/
TechCrunch: "Uber's Robotaxi Lobbying Effort": https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/13/ubers-robotaxi-lobbying-effort-has-put-it-on-a-collision-course-with-waymo/
DC Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Authorization Amendment of 2026: https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/2003462<
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