DesignJoy
Design as a Subscription
TL;DR: Design as a Subscription.
Key Metrics
Milestones
Pricing
Tech Stack
Sources
Timeline
2017-07
Built website for $29 on a Saturday night, launched as 'Hue' on Product Hunt the next day
2017-07
First paying customer acquired from Product Hunt launch
2017-08
Started generating $800/month while working full-time UX job at Transdev North America
2017-11
Renamed from 'Hue' to 'DesignJoy'
2017-12
Began posting progress updates on Indie Hackers, replying to every question
2018-01
First price increase from $449 to $849/month based on growing demand
2018-06
Revenue now matching full-time salary (~$5K-6K/month)
2018-09
Serviced over 100 companies, primarily SaaS, completed 1,000+ design requests
2019-01
Raised prices to $1,299/month, introduced Pro tier with Webflow development
2019-06
Added Memberstack for user profile management on Webflow site
2019-12
Explored revenue-sharing model with other designers but abandoned due to quality concerns
2020-01
Raised prices to $1,599/month
2020-06
Price increased to $1,999/month as demand continued growing
2020-09
Maintained 6-7 active clients and 2-3 paused at any time
2021-01
Raised prices to $2,499/month
2021-03
Left corporate job (Transdev) but applied to 60+ jobs before committing fully to DesignJoy
2021-09
Went full-time on DesignJoy at ~$70K+ MRR after 3.5 years of side-hustling
2021-09
Revenue nearly doubled within 3 months of going full-time
2021-12
$833K annual revenue for 2021
2022-01
Launched affiliate program using Rewardful for client referrals
2022-03
Raised prices to $2,999/month, then $3,499/month as demand surged
2022-06
Posted $70K MRR milestone on Indie Hackers
2022-02
Hit $80K MRR, posted on Indie Hackers. Dan Rowden tweeted about it, went viral
2022-08
Over 100 companies added to waitlist within 3 weeks of viral tweet
2022-08
Doubled prices to $5,000/month to curb overwhelming demand and prevent burnout
2022-09
Cancelled all onboarding calls, became more selective about clients
2022-10
Joined Twitter, adopted build-in-public strategy sharing behind-the-scenes
2022-12
$1M annual revenue for 2022, ~$160K MRR
2023-01
Twitter/X became biggest lead generation source, tweeting a few times weekly
2023-03
Indie Hackers podcast episode #249 discussing keys to $1M/year as solo founder
2023-06
Featured on Noah Kagan podcast discussing $80K/month with no employees
2023-09
Launched Productize Yourself course at $149 (or $129/month membership)
2023-12
$1.5M annual revenue for 2023, broke $1.5M ARR milestone
2024-01
Updated pricing: Standard at $4,995/month, Pro at $7,995/month
2024-06
Productize Yourself course reached 5,000+ enrolled students
2024-09
Featured on Starter Story, shared $1.7M ARR breakdown
2024-12
$3.1M annual revenue for 2024, still fully solo operation
2025-01
Simplified pricing to single Monthly Club plan at $5,995/month
2025-02
Experiencing high volume of bookings, slots limited, email for faster response
Distribution
Growth Story
Brett Williams built DesignJoy from a $29 website launched on Product Hunt in 2017 into a $3M+ annual revenue solo business. The first 4 months generated only $800/month. He ran it as a side project for 3.5 years while working full-time. Growth accelerated through building in public on Indie Hackers and Twitter. A viral tweet from Dan Rowden doubled his MRR from $80K to $160K overnight. He strategically used price increases (9 times, from $449 to $5,995) to manage demand and prevent burnout while maintaining quality.
Target Audience
SaaS companies, startups, and small-to-medium businesses needing consistent, high-quality design work without the overhead of hiring full-time designers or dealing with unreliable freelancers
Problem Solved
Businesses need ongoing design work (UI/UX, branding, web design) but cannot afford or justify a full-time designer hire, and traditional freelancers are unreliable with unpredictable pricing and inconsistent quality