3个月从0做到6.2万MRR：LinkedIn AI内容工具Kleo创业全记录

Quitting a dream job

Cameron Trew quit his high-paying job, moved in with his parents, and within a few months, became the cofounder of two profitable businesses. Kleo is at $62k MRR and Mentions is at $20k MRR. I started coding at 13, building RuneScape private servers in my bedroom. That early obsession with creating things never went away. I studied Computer Science, then spent six years as a Software Engineer. By 26, I was a Senior Engineer living in a 33rd-floor apartment in Canary Wharf, working remotely with a view over London. On paper, it was the dream. In reality, I wasn't building anything meaningful to me. Promotions quickly lost their thrill. I wanted to build something of my own. Something real. And with people I trusted. I made the call. I ended my apartment lease, moved back into my parents' house, and started exploring business ideas. Three months later, Jake Ward proposed an idea to me. He had wireframes, a clear idea, and 60k users from Kleo1.0, proving demand existed. And I knew I could build it. Now, I travel the world with my cofounders — Jake Ward, Lara Acosta, and Rob Hoffman — who are also my best friends.

From cease-and-desist to v2.0 in four weeks

Kleo1.0 was a free Chrome extension that scraped LinkedIn data, showing users what was trending in their niche. It had 60k users before it got a Cease and Desist from LinkedIn and had to be taken down. We analyzed other tools in the space and saw how we could improve upon them. Then, I built the first working version from scratch in four weeks. We started from the Vercel AI Chatbot template. The stack was TypeScript, Next.js, Vercel for deployment, Neon for the database, Inngest for async workflows, Claude for the AI, and Clerk for authentication. Everything integrates well, letting me ship fast as a solo developer. No over-engineering. Just tools that work.

Iteration and prioritization

We brought in beta users early. They provided suggestions and reported bugs, helping us shape the product. That tight feedback loop was crucial. We released 500 lifetime discount spots for the beta, which sold out in four days. Then, we spent four weeks fixing bugs and adding features based on user feedback. After that, we opened another 500 spots, which sold out in nine days. We kept a simple list and worked from top to bottom. Bugs always came first. After that, we prioritized features that generated revenue and things our users asked for — not what we thought they wanted. For example, users kept asking for a way to save and reuse their best-performing content formats. That wasn't on our original roadmap, but it kept coming up in Slack. So we built it. Same with voice input. We simplified the identity section, added Claude Memory to automatically update their preferences as they make changes to their posts. Kleo slowly gets better over time the more you use it.

Hitting $62k MRR in three months

We went from $0 to $62k MRR in 3 months. And we'll be launching publicly in mid-January. We achieved this growth through distribution and trust. Distribution: Jake has grown his LinkedIn to 180k+ followers and Lara has 300k+. Their audiences are LinkedIn creators, providing the perfect target audience for a LinkedIn content creation tool. We used their reach to build a waitlist before launch. Plus, Kleo1.0 already had 60k users who trusted our ability to build, giving us a warm, ready audience. We employed a multi-layered distribution strategy. Lara ran 3 pre-launch webinars, selling $5k+ on each one. No ads. No Product Hunt launch. We built trust through process transparency. We maintained a private Slack community for beta users to talk directly with us. When someone reported a bug, I often fixed it within hours and personally informed them. People saw we weren't a faceless company. We were real people building something we cared about, treating their feedback like gold.

Revenue growth

We use a tiered subscription model through Polar. We started with discounted beta pricing. The first 500 spots were $59/month. The next 500 spots were $79/month. Standard pricing is $99/month. We are also launching an enterprise plan for ghostwriting agencies with unlimited team members and profiles. And we're constantly building features that justify the subscription. Kleo gets better the more you use it. Claude Memory learns your writing style over time. That stickiness keeps people subscribed.

Solo devs need AI code editors

AI code editors have been my biggest advantage. Without a doubt. I'd been coding for over a decade before tools like Claude Code existed. When they came along, everything changed. All those years of experience meant I knew exactly how to leverage them. I could architect solutions properly, review what the AI produced, and catch mistakes fast. The combination of deep experience and AI tooling let me build Kleo as a solo developer in a way that wouldn't have been possible a few years ago.

Focus on distribution and shipping

Here's my advice: Distribution first. The best product in the world means nothing if no one knows it exists. Find your audience before you build. Partner with people who already have reach. Build something you actually use. When you're your own user, you know exactly what needs to be better. Ship fast, then listen. We had a working version in 4 weeks. It wasn't perfect. It didn't need to be. Get it in front of real users and let them tell you what's broken and what's missing. Learn AI tools. If you're not using AI to code, you're leaving speed on the table. Keep prioritization stupid simple. One list. Work top to bottom. No fancy project management. Just focus. Don't over-engineer. Pick tools that let you move fast. Start from templates. Use services with generous free tiers. Your job is to validate, not to build the perfect architecture. Work with people you trust. The hard days are easier when you're building with friends. The wins are more fun too. Trust the process. There will be doubt. Ship anyway.

What's next?

After seeing my work at Kleo, my cofounders brought me on as cofounder and CTO at Mentions. It's a platform tracking how brands appear in AI-generated responses like ChatGPT and Perplexity. It's currently at $20k MRR. Our goal for 2026 is to 5x Kleo to $300k MRR and Mentions to $100k MRR. And we're looking to get acquired in the next 18 months. You can follow along on X and LinkedIn. And check out Kleo and Mentions.