How Telegram-Finder hit 1,000+ users with €0 ads — and what a 3-week product setback taught us

TL;DR

• Zero ads, SEO-first: exact-match domain + intent pages + fast UX.
• MVP in 3 days → steady organic lift to 1,000+ users (now ~1,300).
• Inflection: fixing activation (free-plan bug) unlocked 10–20 signups/day, later 20–40/day.
• Reality check: a 3-week product issue killed momentum; we chose not to rush a bandaid even though we had a quick fix.
• Back on track: focus now = reliability, onboarding → paid, and a browser extension.

The spark: a real founder pain

I’m Valentin, an entrepreneur from France. The idea didn’t start with me—it came from Alexis, my cofounder and a Web3 CEO. In his world, Telegram is where deals happen, yet finding a real username is painful.

He brought the problem; I brought the time. I locked in for three days, shipped an MVP, and went live in March 2025.

Distribution: SEO or nothing

From day one, we bet on organic.

• Exact-match domain: telegram-finder.io mirrors the primary query.
• On-page built for humans & crawlers: H1, meta, FAQ, pricing.
• Lean & fast: index quickly, reduce bounce, get users to value fast.

We also created intent pages to match real jobs-to-be-done:

• Telegram Identity Finder
• Telegram OSINT Tool
• Telegram from Email
• Telegram from LinkedIn
• Telegram from Phone
• Telegram for Web3 Sales

Directory listings and launches (Product Hunt, Uneed) helped reputation and links, but search intent brought users ready to try now.

The curve: clicks, impressions, and a dip

What you see above:

• 8.59k clicks and 41.2k impressions to date.
• CTR ~20.8% with avg position 5.4.
• A strong ramp from late June → mid-August.
• A notable downturn at the end of the period.

Why the downturn?

For three weeks, we had a product problem that degraded the experience. Even though I had a quick solution in mind, I chose not to rush it. We paused growth experiments, diagnosed properly, and fixed the root cause. It cost us momentum—but it protects trust, stability, and future SEO (users bouncing on broken flows hurt rankings more than a temporary slowdown).

What we learned:

• Fix activation reliability before adding features.
• Temporary dips are survivable; trust debt isn’t.
• Communicate transparently with users during incidents.
• Build alerts/guardrails so you catch regressions early.

(If you want the gritty post-mortem, I can share more details in a future post.)

Product experience: 60 seconds to “aha”

• User searches "telegram finder", "telegram user search" or "telegram id search".
• Lands on our main page where the product is front and center.
• 20% convert to signup with one-click Google authentication.
• Within 60 seconds, they're searching for Telegram usernames with their free searches.
• Instant usefulness is what compounds—no waiting, no complex onboarding.

Results so far

• ~1,300 users on pure organic.
• Daily signups: 2–3/day → 10–20/day post-activation fix → 20–40/day at peak before the incident.
• €0 ads. Just SEO, intent coverage, backlinks, and a fast UX.
• $70 MRR thanks to API usage and premium plans.

What’s next

• Free → paid: lifecycle emails and in-product nudges that surface premium value earlier.
• Reliability first: better monitoring, incident playbooks, and guardrails.
• B2C focus: SEO brings many individuals; we’ll keep the tool useful in seconds for everyone (not just sales/recruiters).

Lessons for other indie builders

• Pick one channel and go deep. Ours is SEO.
• Measure and fix activation relentlessly.
• Don’t trade trust for tempo. A thoughtful fix beats a rushed patch.
• Ship small, fast, and keep the copy crystal-clear.

See it live

• Product: telegram-finder.io
• Launches: Uneed · Product Hunt
• Demo: Loom walkthrough

Contact: valentin@telegram-finder.io · alexis@telegram-finder.io
On X: @vachmara

(Still 100% bootstrapped. Not a cent on ads—just hustle, SEO, and an honest post-mortem.)