Making $15,000 Monthly From Selling Templates

How this investor is making $15k per month from a business he's acquired

Max, an entrepreneur, maker, and investor from Berlin, has been involved in building internet ventures and businesses since his early teens. His journey began at the age of 13, where he created and sold websites, designed graphics, and even developed a browser game. Over time, his passion for innovation and sharing his knowledge with others expanded into larger business ventures.

One of Max's significant startups operated in the educational sector, allowing him to combine his love for creating with his desire to help others grow. Today's main focus is Wizard Ventures, a company that creates, acquires, and manages various online businesses. His portfolio includes:

BaseTemplates: A provider of top-notch startup templates.
Tona: A tool for competitor monitoring on autopilot.
Magic Design: A service offering unlimited design resources for a monthly fee.
Startup&VC: A job board focused on venture capital opportunities.
VC Stack: A collection of tools for venture capital investors.

Although Max is involved in several projects, this story focuses on his venture, BaseTemplates, which has become a core part of his business portfolio.

The Start of BaseTemplates

Back in 2019, while Max was still working on his educational startup, he constantly explored new ideas and opportunities. One day, he found himself needing to quickly create a pitch deck for a competition. During his search for the perfect template, he came across BaseTemplates, which provided an ideal pitch deck template. He purchased it, used it, and ultimately won the competition.

A few weeks later, Max discovered that the creator of BaseTemplates was interested in selling the business. Excited by the potential, he began diving into the business's financials and operations. Through in-depth discussions with the founder, Max learned that BaseTemplates generated consistent sales with zero marketing expenditure, with significant revenue boosts during ProductHunt launches.

Seeing the opportunity to acquire a profitable business with a minimal marketing budget, Max made an offer that was quickly accepted.

Early Steps After Acquisition

When Max took over BaseTemplates, the company offered only one product and a small content section, yet it already had a steady flow of customers. Max’s primary objective was to scale the business significantly. His strategy included moving the website to a new content management system (CMS), improving the content, and exploring new marketing channels to expand the product line.

Fast forward to today, and BaseTemplates has expanded into a business offering numerous products, alongside a variety of free resources and tools. Max’s efforts have increased website traffic and revenues, and most importantly, helped thousands of startup founders with their fundraising efforts.

Marketing Strategies For Growth

Max is a firm believer that building a product is relatively easy, but selling it is the real challenge. Excelling at both is what makes a business unstoppable.

When Max acquired BaseTemplates, most of the traffic came organically from a handful of blog posts and some external referrals. To scale, Max expanded the site’s content, writing over 30 new blog posts and creating pages targeting specific long-tail keywords like "Pitch Deck Business Model Slide." This content marketing strategy helped BaseTemplates reach a wider audience, resulting in more traffic and sales.

Driving Traffic with Free Resources and Product Launches

In addition to content, Max introduced free resources to attract more visitors to BaseTemplates. One of the first was PitchDeckHunt, a collection of over 150 pitch decks from successful startups. After launching it on ProductHunt, PitchDeckHunt gained more than 1,000 upvotes, generating considerable traffic. By offering a superior product, PitchDeckHunt attracted backlinks from websites that were previously linked to similar collections.

This strategy of launching free tools proved to be an effective entry point for potential customers. Max continued by introducing other free resources such as the Investor Pitch Training and the Fundraising Checklist, which not only added value but also brought in new visitors and potential clients.

Another cornerstone of Max’s marketing strategy was utilizing ProductHunt. Initially, Max was inexperienced with the platform, but after experimenting with his first product launch, he saw impressive results. Every subsequent launch on ProductHunt brought thousands of visitors to BaseTemplates, along with backlinks and exposure across the web. The consistent success of these launches contributed significantly to the company’s revenue growth.

Max also relied on community support to help spread the word. He saw that when people are excited about a product, they naturally talk about it and recommend it to others. This organic word-of-mouth helped BaseTemplates gain visibility across forums, Twitter, and other online spaces.

To further increase revenue, Max introduced an affiliate partnership strategy. He reached out to platforms where startup founders frequently spent time, such as OpenVC, and negotiated revenue-sharing deals. This resulted in five key partners contributing 5-10% of BaseTemplates' total revenue.

The Business Model

BaseTemplate's primary revenue stream comes from selling digital products, including pitch deck templates and custom designs. This model allows for high profit margins due to the low production and delivery costs associated with digital goods. The business currently generates over $15,000 per month, benefiting from the scalability of digital products.