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YouTubeFounder-recorded tutorials, then a daily tutorial hire

VEED's founder recorded 40+ YouTube tutorials himself — then hired someone to post one a day

By Sabba Keynejad · VEED· Sep 27, 2026
20
Paid users in first 48 hours of the paywall
50,000
YouTube subscribers
Not disclosed
Budget
Not disclosed
Duration

Sabba Keynejad grew VEED's first 1,000 paid users by recording 40+ YouTube tutorials himself and answering questions on Quora, Reddit and Facebook groups — until he was banned from Quora and most subreddits. YouTube stuck: VEED later hired someone to post a tutorial every day, and the channel passed 50K subscribers.

01The problem

Get an online video editor its first paying users with no budget.

02The experiment

He recorded 40+ YouTube tutorials on how to use VEED, answered 100+ questions on Quora and showed up daily in Reddit and Facebook groups — until he was banned from Quora and most subreddits.

After a YC rejection he added a watermark paywall, and got the first 20 paid users in 48 hours. Talking to every paying user showed that subtitles were why people upgraded, so VEED doubled down on auto-subtitles and made content around what users searched for.

YouTube became a core channel: VEED hired someone full-time to make one tutorial a day, and built 20+ long-tail SEO landing pages.

03Results

MetricResult
Tutorials he recorded himselfstated as “40+”40
Paid users in first 48 hours of the paywall20
YouTube subscribersJune 202250,000
YouTube viewsstated as “over 11,000,000”, June 202211,000,000
Share of new paid users from YouTube“about 10%” in a 2021 interviewNot disclosed
SpendNot disclosed

“Not disclosed” means the source doesn't say. We never estimate or fill in missing numbers.

04What worked — and what didn't

What worked

  • Tutorials showing how to use the product
  • A watermark paywall: first 20 paid users in 48 hours
  • Talking to every paying user — subtitles were why people upgraded
  • Hiring someone to post one YouTube tutorial a day

What didn't work

  • Promoting in communities: banned from Quora and most subreddits
“No magic growth hack.”
— Sabba Keynejad

05Source & evidence

  • Originally shared on X · Aug 11, 2026

    How I got my first 1,000 paid users

    View original

  • Also on X · Jun 21, 2022

    We have had over 11,000,000 Views and now 50K Subscribers

    View original

  • Also on Podcast · Jan 19, 2021

    SaaS Club #274: VEED — bootstrapping a SaaS to $2 million

    View original

Public source. Extracted from publicly available content by the founder.

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Channel
YouTube
Estimated effort
—
Original duration
Not disclosed
Original budget
Not disclosed

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