Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivankutskir
Websites: photopea.com & vectorpea.com
Photopea Blog: https://blog.photopea.com/
Reddit Posts: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/i8j5te/i_made_a_free_alternative_to_photoshop_that_is/
Ivan is the founder of Photopea – an online photo editor – generating $200K with 3 million unique visitors monthly in his 10th year. He started his project as a hobby and then started to earn money.
He has a technical background and similar to other technical solo-founders, it’s hard for him to work with other people.
He is one of the experts in Reddit and had 3 AMAs approximately had 50K upvotes.
Question: Can you give us some information about your background?
Answer: I was born in Ukraine and moved to Czechia with my parents when I was 11. When I turned 18, I came to Prague to study at the university.
Question: What did you study in the university?
Answer: My major was in computer science.
Question: And at that time, I guess you were busy with flash games and other stuff, right?
Answer: Yes, that’s correct. I actually started making flash games even before going to university. I began playing with flash around when I was 15.
Question: Is it something related to your family, or was it your interest?
Answer: It was more of a personal interest. My two cousins, who are three years older than me, had a computer. I got really excited about it, which led me to want my own computer. I got my first computer around 2003 or 2004. When I got it, I immediately started learning things like how to make websites. It was the beginning of the internet era here in Czechia, and we had limited internet access initially.
Question: You were coding and developing flash games, and you started to earn money from those games, right?
Answer: Yes, that’s right. When I was in high school, around 15 or 16 years old, I began connecting with people who needed Flash games or animations. I started making some money before university by doing these freelance projects.
Question: What led you to focus on Photopea after flash games?
Answer: Well, during my high school years, Flash was owned by Macromedia, later bought by Adobe. I used Adobe Photoshop back then and was quite proficient with it. While I continued making some flash games for money during my first years at the university, my main focus was on my studies. However, I got really excited about the web technologies emerging around then, like the Google Chrome browser, web games without Flash, web GL, and other new web technologies. I saw that web-based applications could be much more performant than they were five years ago with Internet Explorer. So, I transitioned from making Flash games to developing JavaScript games and monetized them with ads.
Question: You found the missing feature of Adobe and decided to create your own Photoshop service, right?
Answer: Yes, exactly. As I was working on these games and other projects, I came up with the idea to make a web-based viewer for PSD files. I wasn’t aiming to create an editor at first; I just wanted a platform where one could open a PSD file, and the JavaScript would process and analyze the file to provide a preview of its content, like showing how many layers are there.
Question: Adobe didn’t offer any features like this at the time, right?
Answer: Correct. Back then, if you wanted to open a PSD file, you had to buy Photoshop. There was no other way. You could open PSD files in GIMP, but it would open them without any styles or adjustment layers, so it wasn’t accurate.
Question: The time we’re talking about is around 2013 or 2014?
Answer: Yes, around that time.
Question: How long did it take you to code the website?
Answer: It took about 200-300 hours to create the first version of Photopea. I wasn’t working on it full-time since I was also busy with my university studies. I coded the main features first and then focused on other ones.
Question: What was the engagement like when you released it?
Answer: Initially, there was no engagement. Nobody used it for the first couple of days. Then I posted about it on a web experiments site, and people started noticing it. I was excited to see some interest in my project.
Question: Was Photopea free when you released it?
Answer: Yes, it was free. There wasn’t much functionality in the beginning, so there was nothing to charge for. There were no ads initially due to the low traffic.
Question: How did you decide to focus on Photopea, and what were your priorities?
Answer: After finishing my university studies, I focused more on Photopea. I had some money saved up from my Flash game projects, so I wasn’t in urgent need of income. I was living in a dorm here in Prague, sharing a room with three other students. Photopea was more like a hobby to me. It wasn’t a job; it was something I enjoyed doing, like someone might enjoy playing the guitar. I was excited to see it grow – starting with about 20-30 users a day – and enjoyed adding new features. I was adding new features or updates almost every week, just being thrilled by its gradual growth.
Question: How did you grow the user base in terms of marketing or distribution?
Answer: I didn’t have money to invest in marketing; I was living off around 200 a month. I was waiting to see if people would share it with each other. People found Photopea by word of mouth, through blog reviews, or video content. I tried posting about Photopea on Reddit and other free platforms, but many of my posts were deleted due to self-promotion rules.
Question: Photopea is still free to use, right?
Answer: Yes, it’s free. But about four years after its release, I added advertisements to Photopea and introduced a premium account option without ads.
Question: Why did you focus on earning money from ads?
Answer: Initially, I wasn’t sure if people would be willing to pay for Photopea as it didn’t have many features. I wanted to attract as many users as possible by offering it for free. I thought that if I could gather a large user base, I could make significant money without asking people to pay, similar to how Google or Facebook monetize with ads.
Question: Can companies promote their products on Photopea?
Answer: I don’t offer direct advertising options, but companies can use ad platforms like Google AdWords to target Photopea users.
Question: How were your popular Reddit posts?
Answer: The first time I did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit, I was really surprised and excited. I didn’t expect such a huge response. I thought it might interest a few people, maybe someone even suggested that I do an AMA. So, I just decided to put it on Reddit one evening around 7 p.m. That night was incredible. I stayed up until 4 a.m., reading comments and trying to answer as many as possible. In that short time frame, the number of new comments was overwhelming, and I couldn’t keep up with all of them. It was a really exciting experience.
After the AMA, there was a noticeable increase in visitor traffic to Photopea. The boom in visitors didn’t last long, perhaps a day or two, but I believe a fraction of those new users stayed. This AMA also sparked a wave of reviews and posts about Photopea on other websites and blogs. Many people who hadn’t heard of Photopea before learned about it through the AMA and started reviewing it or making videos. So, in that sense, it was incredibly beneficial.
I decided to do more AMAs each time I could double my user base. So I started with that first one, and then, as the number of users grew, I did a couple more AMAs. However, with each subsequent AMA, I noticed that the level of surprise and excitement wasn’t as high as the first time. It seemed like more people were already familiar with Photopea, but they were still quite appreciative and supportive.
Question: Is it possible to share the number of visitors you have?
Answer: Regarding the visitor numbers, I don’t remember the specific numbers off the top of my head, but I think I’ve written about them in some blog posts or presentations. I could look into Google Analytics for more precise numbers.
In 2014, I had about 50 pageviews a day, and it grew each year. By January 2018, there were around 20,000 pageviews a day. As of now, it’s around 900,000 pageviews daily, which is close to 30 million pageviews a month. So the actual number of unique visitors is likely around 3 to 5 million.
Question: Did you ever think about hiring employees or getting a co-founder?
Answer: In the beginning stages of Photopea, I did consider the possibility of expanding the team. I was aware that as a single developer, there would be limitations to what I could achieve alone, especially when competing with larger, established companies. I knew it would be challenging to make significant progress or to scale the business without additional help.
However, I faced a few constraints. Initially, I didn’t have the financial resources to hire employees. Photopea wasn’t generating revenue in the early years, and I was reluctant to take loans or seek investments. I preferred maintaining complete control and decision-making power, and bringing in external funding or partners could have compromised that.
Despite these challenges, I did eventually hire two employees. The experience, though, wasn’t as positive as I had hoped. I found that I didn’t enjoy the process of delegating work, explaining tasks, and then checking and sometimes fixing the work done by others. It turned out to be more stressful and time-consuming than I had anticipated. One of my employees left because he found the work too complex and wasn’t enjoying it. The other employee still works with me, but only on a part-time basis, handling specific projects occasionally.
I also considered the idea of bringing in a co-founder, particularly someone who could handle aspects of the business that were outside my expertise, like marketing. But again, I was hesitant. I valued the freedom and flexibility of working independently, making decisions without needing to consult or compromise with a partner.
So, while I did explore the idea of expanding the team and even tried hiring employees, my experiences led me to continue working mostly on my own. This approach has its challenges, but it suits my working style and preferences for Photopea. It allows me to focus on coding and developing the product in a way that I find fulfilling and effective.
Question: How much time do you spend on Photopea daily?
Answer: I spend about six to eight hours a day on Photopea. It’s like a full-time job, but I still enjoy it. Most of my work has no deadlines, so I can take breaks like going on holidays without worrying about Photopea.
Question: Any plans for the future? Would you consider VC funding?
Answer: I want to grow Photopea and attract a larger audience, but I don’t plan to sell it or seek VC funding. I’m currently working on VectorPea, a vector editor that I released. I’m excited to keep improving both PhotoPea and VectorPea.
Question: Why did you add ‘pea’ to the end of Photopea?
Answer: All good domains were already taken, so I had to settle for Photopea. I initially wanted ‘photo hammer,’ but the domain was taken when I was ready to publish. So, I chose Photopea as a temporary name but never got around to changing it.
Question: Can you share how much revenue you generate?
Answer: I make slightly over 200,000$ a month from ads on Photopea.
Question: Did Adobe ever get in touch with you? For acquisition?
Answer: Yes, once regarding the use of their logo. They asked me not to use their logo, so I replaced it with a generic icon. But not related to acquire the website.
I don’t think if somebody will want to acquire Photopea, I think it’s definitely not going to be Adobe. Because they already have much better software, so there is no point for them to buy something worse than they already have. And they, I think they could convert, Photoshop for the web easily.
Question: What are your costs for running Photopea?
Answer: I spend about 600$ per year for servers and 20$ for the domain. I also had an additional cost for an AI feature – 1.000$ per month – this year but managed to cover it through ad revenue.
Question: Do you have any advice for bootstrappers?
Answer: One crucial piece of advice is to genuinely enjoy what you are doing. Your project should be something you’re passionate about, almost like a hobby. If you’re excited about your work, it will feel less like a task and more like something you’re eager to spend time on. For me, working on Photopea was akin to playing an instrument; it was something I did for enjoyment, not just as a job.
When starting out, don’t be intimidated by the idea of entering a crowded market or tackling complex tasks. Begin by focusing on the core, essential features of your product, the ones that are most important and useful. These don’t have to be numerous or complicated; even a simplified version of an existing product can be valuable if it addresses specific needs effectively. For example, I focused on essential features in Photopea that were either poorly implemented or missing in other software.
It’s also important to recognize that you don’t need to have everything figured out from the start. You can develop your product gradually. Start with the most important features and build from there. This approach reduces the risk of feeling overwhelmed and allows you to adapt and respond to user feedback.
Another key aspect is to be resourceful and use what’s available to you. In the early stages of Photopea, I had very limited financial resources, so I had to rely on free platforms for promotion like Reddit, despite the challenges with self-promotion rules. Word of mouth played a big role in the growth of Photopea. Users sharing the tool with others naturally led to more users and organic growth.
Finally, it’s essential to understand your limitations and work within them. For instance, I was a student when I started Photopea, which meant I had time but not much money. This influenced how I approached the development and growth of Photopea. I didn’t worry about making money immediately but focused instead on creating something valuable and useful.
So, to sum up, for bootstrappers, my advice is to find joy in what you do, start with the essential features, grow your product gradually, use available resources smartly, and understand your constraints. This approach can lead to creating a product that not only fulfills a need but also brings you personal satisfaction.