How we got 1,000+ NFT users for our community - the NFT Hunt story

Tell us about yourself

I'm Moyo, a 17-year-old Nigerian indie hacker. I started my journey in tech when I was 11 by learning 2d game development. Over time I've learned how to code chatbots with Python and use no-code to build websites.

I'm also a startup enthusiast going through YC startup school and starting numerous side projects before NFT Hunt took off. Right now, I keep building and growing NFT Hunt.

How did you come up with the idea for NFT Hunt?

The idea for NFT Hunt came after I learned about NFTs from GaryVee's and Noah Kagan's YouTube channels. I was intrigued, so I decided to do some research. It was so cool that I wanted to participate. So I chose to mint my first NFT.
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I learned that most artists promote their NFTs on Twitter, so I created a Twitter account and found "shill" posts (where collectors ask artists to drop links to their art). And I noticed a significant discoverability problem.

This was April when the NFT boom was on the rise, so artists were minting numerous NFTs. On average, a shill post gets over 500 unique shills which are crazy since most collectors would probably collect a maximum of 2 or 3. So the odds were against the artists.

I noticed this trend and decided it would be great to create a platform to help artists get more traction. But, surprisingly, I didn't find any similar projects.
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First of all, I wanted to validate the idea. So I reached out to a couple of artists and explained the idea more to get their feedback. After a couple of hours, I got a few responses in my DM.
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The first response wasn't the most encouraging, as the artist felt like I was asking her to give me a free NFT. After that, I refined my message and reached the others who were of absolute help. We built the first version together, and I got my first couple of users. Within an hour of launching, I had 32 users all through word of mouth.

What inspired you along the way?

My biggest inspiration during the journey was the number of artists I was helping make sales and how much it meant to them.

How long it took you to build the app?

I knew how to code but wanted to build MVP via no-code. It took me 2 hours to make everything using Softr.io. It was excellent in terms of speed to launch.

Also, I didn't buy a domain. Instead, I used the default one to validate the idea. As things went on, I added other functionalities by integrating some HTML and JavaScript.

How it performs now?

At the time of the acquisition, NFT Hunt had at $0 MRR, but I got donations from users who showed their love for the product. Also, I got free NFTs, which I could resell to pay for all expenses.

NFT Hunt had over 1,100 users and a Discord community of artists. Growth was at 13 to 20% weekly, all through Twitter and word of mouth.

How did you find your initial customers?

Twitter was my primary growth lever. As much as email, Telegram, and Discord were vital for retention. Every day I announce the NFTs in the platform using Twitter, I get a lot of impressions.

The artists need to vote to be on top, telling their friends who have to create an account to vote. Most times, after the vote, they'll hang around then probably submit their NFTs to the site, then they invite their other friends. Loop in action.

Why did you decide to sell?

Supporting 1,100 users, building features, and fixing bugs were too much things to handle for me. As a solo founder, I needed some help.
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I am an extremely social person, so I interact with everyone. For example, the founder of DNS joined the NFT Hunt Discord, I sparked a conversation with him, and we just got along. After a while, we began talking about an acquisition.

Any advice for our readers?

My most extensive advice will be to experiment and don't build a complete version yet. Just make sure your MVP solves the most fundamental problem.
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The first version of NFT Hunt only allowed you to sign up, hit the upvote button, and make a post. That's all. So keep it simple and have a relationship with your users, be human. Thanks.