How Ambar grew CoverDoc to $1,250 MRR

Meet Ambar Shrivastava.

Ambar has worn many hats over the years as a web developer, in-house SEO and product management leader at companies in EdTech and recruitment including Tutor.com, The Princeton Review, CXL and The Ladders.

His solopreneurship journey started in November 2022 when he got laid off from a startup in Austin, TX. This was around the time ChatGPT came out and generative AI was gaining more attention.

As a job seeker he was frustrated with how long it took to research companies and write personalized cover letters for each job application. He was unsatisfied with the options at the time: cookie cutter, generic templates, or skipping the job application.

The idea of CoverDoc started to take form.

The story told by Ambar

I started playing around with writing prompts in ChatGPT that pulled in data from my LinkedIn profile along with the target job title, company and job description.

Initially I built it to solve a problem for myself and to stand out as a job seeker in a competitive job market. I had no idea it would evolve into a tool that’s being used by 10k+ job seekers worldwide!

Using No Code Tools to build the first version

I had used no-code tools at my previous jobs and decided to try automating the cover letter writing process myself in December 2022.

The very first version of CoverDoc was a simple Airtable form that connected to Zapier to get AI generated content and created a Google Doc with the output from OpenAI. Then an Airtable automation sent an email to the job seeker with a link to the Google Doc.

In January 2023, I put up a waitlist signup page and started sharing the link with friends, family and people in my network. One day a friend of mine sent me a link to a Reddit post on using AI for cover letters. I added a comment in the Futurology Sub-Reddit with a link to the waitlist landing page and got over 100 sign ups in a weekend!

The signups via Reddit motivated me to keep going and further validate demand. I set up a site where job seekers could register and view a dashboard of their activity. I connected with Katt Risen from Build the Keyword and No-Code Exits on Twitter and she suggested I explore Softr.io since it integrates well with Airtable.

During the private beta, I learned that many non-technical job seekers did not have the patience to learn how to write effective prompts and really valued the convenience of getting a doc in their inbox within minutes.

After the private beta where I refined the prompts and UX, I launched CoverDoc to the public in March 2023 with both subscription and Pay as you Go plans. The product also evolved beyond personalized cover letters to role-specific interview prep and company insights.

Recognized by Zapier

In early March 2023, Zapier announced a No-Code Day Contest. I spent literally 10 minutes filling out a form to nominate myself for the contest, not expecting to hear back. A few weeks later I was pleasantly surprised to see an email from Zapier notifying me that I had won the award for the “No-Code Featuring AI” category.

How it Works

Acquiring first users

The first users came from a variety of sources:

AI Tool Directories
There are quite a few AI tool directories out there. Here are a few that drive traffic to CoverDoc: Futurepedia, There’s an AI for That, and TopAI.tools

Referral traffic
Geekflare, Zapier, HackerPulse and Springboard articles that mention CoverDoc continue to drive traffic months after publication.

Sponsored Newsletters
Unshackled and Yudi J. This worked well early on to drive awareness, but fewer than expected converted to a paid plan. Since my target audience isn’t Indie Hackers I haven’t sponsored newsletters for solopreneurs.

LinkedIn influencers
These are low cost but can also be low quality. Many of these influencers with a large following are mostly followed by bots and people who leave generic comments.

Refer a Friend (powered by Prefinery)
This has been an effective method to acquire users. I set up a two-sided incentive so existing users earn credits for each friend that signs up and that friend also earns 2 credits for using the referral link. Prefinery reports a viral boost of 14% from this program.

Affiliates
I use Rewardful and have about 50 affiliates in the program but not all of them have a relevant audience. I need to invest more time in recruiting more affiliates.

YouTube influencers
Tiff in Tech mentioned CoverDoc in one of her videos last year. I need to find similar channels that focus on careers and job search tools.

Blog posts
I recently started writing blog posts to drive organic traffic but I need to invest more time into writing more unique data-driven posts and promoting them via social channels.

Given that CoverDoc is bootstrapped I’ve spent very little on paid marketing.

I have over a year of data and my target customer is becoming clearer: mid-level immigrant professionals who are looking to overcome language barriers faced during the job search journey (writing cover letters, preparing for interviews and negotiating compensation). International students are also a growing segment. 60% of users are located outside the U.S.

Traction

As of May 2024, CoverDoc has 14k registrations with 16k+ prep documents created.

• 35+ mins saved per job application

• 60% trial to paid conversion rate

• 28% stickiness (WAU / MAU)

• $1,250 MRR

• 87%+ profit margin on subscription plan

Marketing challenges

Consumer
I’m still trying to figure out the right channels and messaging. It is challenging to do this on a limited budget.

B2B
I’m currently experimenting with a B2B model where I work with partners such as colleges, ESL programs and outplacement agencies to reach my target audience of immigrant job seekers. This is a more sustainable model long term with less reliance on charging job seekers directly.

However, I’m struggling with cold outreach for discovery and sales.

Messaging differentiation
CoverDoc encourages better behavior than other AI tools that encourage job seekers to “spray and pray”. Unlike other tools, CoverDoc focuses on company research and encourages users to make revisions to AI-generated drafts. I struggle with conveying this message in a crowded space.

I’m looking forward to growing the business and learning from fellow entrepreneurs.

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