# Marc Lou

> Marc Lou (born Marc Louvion) is a French solopreneur and serial indie hacker who went from being fired by Tai Lopez in 2021 to earning over $1 million a year - solo, from Bali. He built ShipFast, a Next.js boilerplate that made $250K in five months, and TrustMRR, a verified startup revenue database built in a single day that became his top earner. With 14+ products launched, three sold, and a philosophy built on radical transparency and absurd shipping speed, he is one of the most-followed makers in the build-in-public movement.

- **Role:** Founder at TrustMRR / ShipFast / CodeFast
- **Organizations:** TrustMRR, ShipFast, CodeFast, DataFast, IndiePage, ZenVoice, ByeDispute, SuperShrimp, LaunchViral
- **From:** Nogent-sur-Marne, France
- **Nationality:** French
- **Education:** Computer Science, Université de Technologie de Troyes
- **Known for:** Product Hunt Maker of the Year 2023, Earned $1,032,000 in 2025 as a solo operator, ShipFast generated $1.3M+ all-time revenue

## Career timeline

- **2016** — Graduated from UTT; built 'Tinder for Sports' — zero users after 1 year; worked as waiter for $10/hour
- **2017** — Moved to Seoul, South Korea; raised $100K VC funding for AI startup; shut down after 9 months with zero customers
- **2018** — Attempted Korean mitten side hustle; built VirallyBot (escape room gamification); made first $1 online on Friday the 13th in Osaka hostel; moved to Bali
- **2019** — VirallyBot / GameWidget grew to $4,000 MRR
- **2020** — COVID-19 devastated escape room clients; revenue dropped to $0 in one week; returned to parents' home in France; experienced depression
- **2021** — Got product manager job at Tai Lopez ($9K/mo); fired in November 2021; discovered build-in-public community; set five rules and moved to Bali with $20K savings
- **2022** — Built and launched 20+ products including Mood2Movie (viral on Reddit, 10K visitors); Habits Garden reached $200/mo; Twitter grew from 200 to 1,000+ followers
- **2023** — Sold GameWidget ($4.3K), MakeLanding ($35K), Habits Garden ($10K); launched ShipFast - made $40K in first month; won Product Hunt Maker of the Year; total revenue ~$263K
- **2024** — ShipFast hit $133K/month run rate; YouTube grew to 100K subscribers in 10 months; launched CodeFast - $92K in launch weekend; total revenue ~$1.29M
- **2025** — Earned $1,032,000 total; launched TrustMRR in 1 day on Oct 30 - 35K visitors in 48 hours; TrustMRR became #1 revenue source
- **2026** — January $94,799; February $81,683; TrustMRR all-time revenue $142K+; first $85K acquisition on TrustMRR marketplace; 323K+ Twitter followers

## Achievements

- Product Hunt Maker of the Year 2023
- Earned $1,032,000 in 2025 as a solo operator
- ShipFast generated $1.3M+ all-time revenue
- CodeFast generated $793K+ all-time revenue
- TrustMRR built in 1 day; 35,000 visitors in first 48 hours
- 21 products launched on Product Hunt; 13 hit #1 Product of the Day
- YouTube: 0 to 100K subscribers in ~10 months
- Twitter: grew to 323,000+ followers
- Sold 3 startups in 2023: total ~$49,300
- ShipFast made $250K in 5 months
- CodeFast made $92K in launch weekend
- Built 30+ products over career with ~92% profit margin
- Newsletter 'Just Ship It' at 42,000+ subscribers

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Twitter/X reached 323,000+ followers; TrustMRR all-time revenue hit $142K+; first $85K acquisition closed on TrustMRR marketplace
- **2026-02** — February revenue: $81,683 - TrustMRR $33.3K, DataFast $19.7K, CodeFast $14.9K, ShipFast $8.8K
- **2026-01** — January revenue: $94,799 - TrustMRR $31.4K, CodeFast $23.5K, DataFast $17.5K, ShipFast $17.2K
- **2025-12** — December 2025 revenue: $84,859
- **2025-11** — November 2025 revenue: $90,148
- **2025-10** — TrustMRR launched October 30, 2025 - built in 1 day, 35,000 visitors in 48 hours
- **2025-01** — 2025 total confirmed revenue: $1,032,000 - solo, from Bali, zero employees

## Links

- Website: https://marclou.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marclouvion
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/marc_louvion
- GitHub: https://github.com/marclou
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC12JO2IPlEViR-o6SLXKx1A
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marclouvion/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/marc-lou
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-26