MakeLanding
MakeLanding, first called LandingAI, was an AI generator of landing pages. A landing page is a single web page that presents one product and asks the visitor to do one thing, such as buy, download or sign up. The user wrote a few words about a project; the AI wrote the headline and the text, made a logo and illustrations, and filled a page template in about a minute. The page could be shared with a link or downloaded as code. Before the sale it was sold per site, not by subscription: in September 2023, US$29 for one site, or US$39 with unlimited revisions and an editor.
Marc Lou, a developer from France who builds many small products alone and publishes his numbers, started it in April 2023 with a friend, after testing GPT, OpenAI's family of large language models, programs that write text from an instruction. It launched in May as LandingAI and made about US$8,000. The two friends then went separate ways. In June he renamed it MakeLanding, because LandingAI is the name of a large company, and replaced 90% of the code. In July he tried a monthly subscription and got US$20 of MRR, monthly recurring revenue, the subscription income that repeats every month, from 15,000 visitors. He went back to one-time prices and made about US$7,000 in the next three months. In October he bought his friend's shares and listed the business on Acquire.com, a marketplace for buying and selling small online businesses, asking US$38,000 for US$14,000 TTM, trailing twelve months, the figure for the last twelve months. The first buyer paid only part of the price and stopped answering. A second buyer came within 24 hours, and the money arrived in November 2023: US$35,000, 2.5 times the TTM figure. In the same months he launched ShipFast, a Next.js boilerplate, a ready-made starter codebase for new web apps, which made US$40,000 in its first month and became his main business.
The money figures are the founder's own statements, grade C: his newsletter, his website, and a post he wrote on Reddit, read here in a full copy on a business forum because Reddit's robots.txt does not allow the original to be fetched. No buyer is named and no payment record is public. Archived copies of the site from June to December 2023 confirm the product, its one-time prices and its counter of pages made. A third-party list, Gaps, reports US$3,000 a month of recurring revenue at the sale; that figure does not match the founder's account and is not used for the headline. The page also shows earlier companies that tried to automate the building of websites and failed.
The numbers, graded
Each row shows the evidence grade and the source numbers from the list at the end of this page. The grades are explained in How Aiolum verifies.
| Fact | Value | Grade | How we know | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sale price, November 2023 | US$35,000 | C | Founder's newsletter of 25 November 2023 and his Reddit post, copied on 29 November 2023, which says the money arrived earlier that month. His website lists it as 'Sold for $35K'. The buyer is not named. | [1, 2, 3] |
| Asking price on Acquire.com, October 2023 | US$38,000 for US$14,000 TTM | C | Founder's Reddit post. He called the price '3x profit' and does not say whether the US$14,000 is revenue or profit. | [2] |
| Sale price as a multiple of the TTM figure | 2.5 times (the asking price was 2.7 times) | calc | Calculated: US$35,000 / US$14,000 = 2.5, and US$38,000 / US$14,000 = 2.71. | [2] |
| Revenue in the launch month, May 2023 | about US$8,000 | C | Founder's Reddit post, for the first version, LandingAI, built with a friend. | [2] |
| Revenue by early September 2023 | US$12,000 'in a few months' | C | Founder's newsletter of 2 September 2023, with 'Low conversion, angry customers, high refund rate'. | [4] |
| Subscription test, July 2023 | US$20 MRR from 15,000 visitors | C | Founder's Reddit post. With the new price, users began to compare the app with Framer and Webflow. Gaps writes instead that 6,000 users of an early free option brought US$20 a month. | [2, 8] |
| Revenue after the return to one-time prices | about US$7,000 in three months | C | Founder's Reddit post, for August to October 2023. | [2] |
| Average revenue a month in those three months | about US$2,333 | calc | Calculated: US$7,000 / 3. | [2] |
| Share of the founder's income, July 2023 | 60% of about US$3,000 a month | C | Founder's newsletter of 23 December 2023, about all his products together. | [5] |
| MakeLanding's part of that income | about US$1,800 a month | calc | Calculated: 60% of US$3,000. | [5] |
| Gaps' figure at the sale | US$3,000 in monthly recurring revenue | C | A third-party list, first published on 22 January 2024 and updated on 17 October 2025, that names no source. It does not match the founder's account, in which the subscription failed and sales were one-time. Its tiers of 'US$9-29 per month' match the buyer's later page. | [8, 14] |
| Prices before the sale | US$49 per page in June 2023; US$29 or US$39 one-time from July to December 2023 | C | Wayback Machine copies of the home page of 1 June, 4 July, 12 August, 27 September and 10 December 2023. The December copy is after the sale. | [9, 10, 11, 12, 13] |
| Pages made, by the site's own counter | 1,359 (1 June 2023), 3,576 (4 July), 3,948 (27 September), 4,268 (10 December 2023), 8,363 (October 2026) | C | The company's counter on its home page, not checked by anyone else. | [9, 10, 12, 13, 14] |
| Pages made a month, from the counter | about 2,045 in June 2023, then 104 to 168 | calc | Calculated: 2,217 pages in the 33 days to 4 July 2023, 215 in 39 days to 12 August, 157 in 46 days to 27 September, 320 in 74 days to 10 December, and about 120 a month from December 2023 to October 2026. | [9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14] |
| Team | 2 friends for the first version, then 1 founder from June 2023 | C | Founder's Reddit post. After the May launch the friends 'had different visions'. He bought his friend's shares in October 2023, before the sale. | [2] |
| Outside funding | none | C | Founder's newsletter: 'We won't raise money and hire a team of growth hackers.' His website says that he has built 38 startups solo. No source names an investor in this product. | [1, 3] |
| Founder's audience on X, November 2023 | 50,000 followers | C | Founder's newsletter of 25 November 2023, when the newsletter had 5,000 readers. | [1] |
| Listing fee on Acquire.com | 4% | C | Founder's guide to selling a small startup, 21 October 2023, given as an example of a platform fee. | [6] |
| Time from launch to sale | 6 months | calc | Calculated: May 2023 to November 2023. | [2] |
How to read this table: a grade C value is a statement by the founder in his newsletter, on his website or in his Reddit post, a value on the company's own pages, or a third-party report that names no source. A "calc" value was computed on this page from the rows above it. No value is grade A or B.
| Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter, buyer, 2026 | 9 | 10 pages per month | |
| Pro, buyer, 2026 | 19 | 50 pages per month, analytics, custom domain | |
| Premium, buyer, 2026 | 29 | 150 pages per month, API access | |
| 1 website, founder, September 2023 | 29 one-time | 1 logo, 1 to 3 illustrations, 1 text | |
| 1 website + unlimited revisions, founder, September 2023 | 39 one-time | editor, analytics, code download, commercial rights | |
| Per landing page, founder, June 2023 | 49 one-time | next to US$99 crossed out; free preview, refund offered |
Today the buyer sells three monthly plans that can be cancelled at any time, and the page shows no yearly billing, so the yearly column is empty for them. The Premium plan adds access to an API, a programming interface that lets other software create pages. Before the sale the founder sold one-time payments per site. In June 2023 the page showed US$99 crossed out and US$49 per landing page, with a free preview and a full refund offer. The archived copies from July to December 2023 show two one-time prices, and by September the page said that there were no free previews and no refunds, because 'Generative AI costs money to run'. The founder says that he tried a monthly subscription in July 2023; no archived copy shows its prices.
The timeline
From a test of GPT in April 2023 to a marketplace sale in November 2023, in about six months. Each entry carries its grade.
- March 2023CLou sells GameWidget, a product that made US$80 a month, for US$4,300. It is his first sale of a product. [6]
- April 2023CDuring what he calls 'AI FOMO', the fear of missing out on AI, he tests GPT and starts an AI landing page generator with a friend. He decides that every project must have a buy button. [2, 4]
- May 2023CLandingAI launches as a first minimal version and makes about US$8,000. The two friends split over the direction. The first archived capture of makelanding.ai is from 29 May. [2, 15]
- 1 June 2023CThe home page sells a landing page for US$49, next to US$99 crossed out, with a free preview and a refund offer. Counter: 1,359 sites. [9]
- June 2023CRenamed MakeLanding, because LandingAI is the name of a large company. He removes 90% of the code and builds a full website builder with AI. [2]
- July 2023CA monthly subscription replaces the one-time price and brings US$20 MRR from 15,000 visitors. MakeLanding is 60% of his income of about US$3,000 a month. [2, 5]
- August 2023CBack to one-time prices; sales return, about US$7,000 in three months. After two weeks in Korea he decides to build products that he would use himself. [2, 4, 5]
- 1 September 2023CHe launches ShipFast, a Next.js boilerplate. It makes US$40,000 in its first month. [5]
- 27 September 2023CThe page has two one-time prices, US$29 and US$39, no free previews and no refunds. Counter: 3,948 sites. [12]
- October 2023COn a friend's advice he decides to sell, buys his co-founder's shares and lists MakeLanding on Acquire.com at US$38,000. Dozens of buyers sign NDAs, non-disclosure agreements, within hours. The first buyer pays only part of the price and stops answering, so he cancels the deal. [2]
- November 2023CA second buyer, found within 24 hours, pays US$35,000 within weeks. They never speak on a call, only exchange a few messages. On 25 November Lou announces it as his third sale of the year. [1, 2]
- 10 December 2023CAfter the sale the site still sells the same one-time prices. Counter: 4,268 sites. [13]
- October 2025CA list by Gaps, updated on 17 October 2025, gives MakeLanding US$3,000 in monthly recurring revenue and monthly tiers of US$9 to US$29. [8]
- October 2026CUnder the buyer the site sells monthly plans at US$9, US$19 and US$29, with an API in the top plan, and counts 8,363 pages. Lou's website lists MakeLanding as sold for US$35,000. [14, 3]
Why it worked
Four causes, in the order they mattered. Each one is a reusable lesson.
Timing
He built it in April 2023, when interest in AI tools was at its highest, and launched in May. Framer AI launched in June and Wix announced its AI Site Generator in July. The first month brought about US$8,000, and the site's counter shows 2,217 pages made between 1 June and 4 July, then fewer than 200 a month.
A price on the first version
Every generated page cost money in model fees. The June page offered a free preview; by September the page said 'We don't do free previews'. A monthly subscription in July brought US$20 a month from 15,000 visitors; one-time prices of US$29 and US$39 brought about US$7,000 in three months. The founder's advice in his newsletter is to remove free plans.
Sell when growth stops
He did not use the product and did not care about its market, so he listed it when sales stopped growing. On Acquire.com, buyers signed non-disclosure agreements within hours. His guide to selling gives the steps: a letter of intent, an asset purchase agreement, payment through escrow, a third party that holds the buyer's money until the assets are handed over, and then the transfer of the domain, database and accounts.
Many small products
MakeLanding was one of 8 products that he built in 8 months in 2023. Six made money and two paid the bills. He says that the sale gave him 'time and clarity'; by then ShipFast, launched on 1 September 2023, was his main product.
How it was built
These details come from the founder's Reddit post and from archived copies of the product's own pages, including their page source. They are grade C. [2, 9, 12, 15, 6]
- The first version took the user's text and had an AI fill a template with copy and AI-generated images. The founder says that he started after testing GPT; no source names the exact text model or the image model.
- In June 2023 he removed 90% of the code and made a website builder with an editor, because users wanted a very different product.
- The app is built with Next.js: the archived pages load their scripts from Next.js paths.
- Generated pages are HTML, CSS with Tailwind classes and DaisyUI components, and JavaScript. They can be shared with a link or downloaded.
- AI illustrations in 6 art styles and 12 colour themes, a library of 5 million stock photos from Unsplash, and copy in more than 50 languages.
- Plausible counts visitors, and Reflio runs an affiliate program; both scripts are in the page source of September 2023.
- Archived links to the site carry referral tags from AI directories such as Futurepedia and FutureTools and from the founder's other products. No source says which channel brought most customers.
- The sale went through Acquire.com, with non-disclosure agreements, a letter of intent and escrow.
Tools named in the sources
Each one opens its page in the Tools tab, with every story that uses it.
The dead that came before
Four companies in the Loot Drop database promised to build websites or software for people who cannot code, and two of them said that AI would do the work. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified.
The Grid
The promiseWebsites designed automatically by AI from the content that you give it.
Why it diedThe AI of the time made designs below the quality of manual work and of template builders, and users did not trust it.
Sosh
The promiseA drag-and-drop builder for professional websites without code.
Why it diedToo complex for beginners and too limited for professionals. The database calls Webflow its successor.
WebCake
The promiseSimple design and publishing of websites for small businesses.
Why it diedNo clear difference from Wix, Squarespace and WordPress, and no further funding.
Builder.ai
The promiseCustom software from an 'AI-powered assembly line' for founders who cannot code.
Why it diedEach project needed hundreds of hours of human developers behind the AI, so the costs were higher than the prices.
What changed
The Grid promised in 2014 what MakeLanding did in 2023: a website designed by AI from a short input. It raised US$4.7 million and closed because the AI of its time made pages that looked worse than manual design and than the template builders. Sosh and WebCake built easier website builders and lost to Wix, Squarespace and WordPress. Builder.ai raised US$445 million for AI-built software and closed because people, not the AI, did most of the work.
Two things were different in 2023. First, large language models could write usable page text and image models could draw usable illustrations, so one developer could build the product in weeks with no investment. Second, the founder did not need to win the market: he charged from the first day, took about six months of sales, and sold the business on a marketplace. The competition that ended the predecessors came back quickly: Framer AI launched in June 2023, Wix announced its AI Site Generator in July 2023, and Webflow released an AI site builder in February 2025.
Can one person copy it now?
The method, yes. This product, no.
A general AI landing page generator was a short opening in the first half of 2023; Framer, Wix and Webflow now include the same feature. The method is still open: build a narrow AI tool in weeks, put a price on it from the first day, and sell it on a marketplace when you stop using it.
Where it is still open: Narrow AI tools for one kind of user or one platform, where a general builder such as Wix or Framer is not the obvious choice.
- 1Charge from the first version, because each AI generation costs you money, and do not offer a free plan.
- 2Test one-time and monthly prices on real visitors and keep the one that sells.
- 3Keep clean records of the last twelve months of revenue and costs, because buyers of small businesses price on that figure.
- 4List on a marketplace such as Acquire.com when you stop caring about the market, and have the buyer pay through escrow.
What to watch
The risks are the mirror image of the causes above.
Founder figures only
The price, the TTM figure and the revenue are the founder's statements. The buyer is not named, and no payment record or marketplace record is public. A third-party list, Gaps, reports US$3,000 a month of recurring revenue, which does not match the founder's account of a failed subscription and about US$2,300 a month of one-time sales.
Website builders added the same feature
Framer AI, which starts a site from a prompt, was the first product of the day on Product Hunt on 14 June 2023. Wix announced an AI Site Generator in July 2023, with ChatGPT writing the text. Webflow released an AI site builder in beta on 27 February 2025. When MakeLanding moved to a subscription in July 2023, its users began to compare it with Framer and Webflow.
Small AI tools sell for low multiples
MakeLanding sold for 2.5 times its US$14,000 TTM figure. A sale advisor's summary of Acquire.com's reports says that in February 2023 SaaS businesses under US$100,000 of revenue sold at 3.4 times revenue and 5.5 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), and that the January 2024 report gave an average of 4.3 times TTM profit, with a range from 0.63 to 34 times. The founder's own rule is three times annual revenue, and he notes that one-time sales cannot be projected over a year as subscriptions can.
Every page costs model fees
The product paid an AI provider for each generated page, so the pre-sale page offered no free previews and no refunds, because 'Generative AI costs money to run'. The founder reported a high refund rate and angry customers. A product built on another company's models has no advantage that the website builders cannot also buy, and the founder's guide to selling says that a buyer often has to open new accounts and API keys, the passwords that let a program call a provider, because cloud accounts cannot always be transferred.
A short history behind the TTM figure
The business was five months old when it was listed, so its trailing twelve months covered only those months, and about US$8,000 of the revenue came in the launch month of May. The site's counter grew by 2,217 pages from 1 June to 4 July 2023, and by 104 to 168 a month after that.
Sources
The grade next to each source is the best grade that the source can support. "Read in full" means that the text of the page was downloaded and the numbers were checked in it.
- C Marc Lou's newsletter Just Ship It, 25 November 2023: Ditch your free planRead in full. Founder's own update. Source for the sale announcement, his audience and his position on funding.
- C The Fastlane Forum, 29 November 2023: I sold my AI tool for $35,000 (Reddit Post), a copy of the founder's post on Reddit r/EntrepreneurRead in full. A forum member's full copy of the founder's post, which starts 'Marc here'. Reddit's robots.txt disallows the original post, so it was not opened. Source for the month-by-month account, the Acquire.com listing and the sale.
- C Marc Lou's website, read 16 October 2026Read in full. Lists MakeLanding as acquired and 'Sold for $35K', and says that he has built 38 startups solo.
- C Marc Lou's newsletter, 2 September 2023: $6,000 of profit in 48 hoursRead in full. Source for the April 2023 start, the US$12,000 and the refund problem.
- C Marc Lou's newsletter, 23 December 2023: My solopreneur story: $0 to $65,000/month in 2 yearsRead in full. Source for the 60% share of his income in July 2023, the decision to sell and the ShipFast launch.
- C Marc Lou's newsletter, 21 October 2023: How to sell your micro startupRead in full. Source for his first sale, his rule of three times annual revenue, the steps of a sale, the 4% fee and the accounts that cannot be transferred.
- C Marc Lou's newsletter, 8 September 2026: I've made $3M with my 36 startupsRead in full. Founder's life story and source for his background in France. It repeats the 2023 lines about MakeLanding.
- C Gaps: 39 Web Development Startup Success Stories (2025 Revenues), published 22 January 2024, updated 17 October 2025Read the section on MakeLanding, entry 4. A third-party summary that names no source.
- C Wayback Machine copy of makelanding.ai, 1 June 2023Read in full, with the page source. Source for the June price, the refund and preview offers, the counter and the Unsplash library.
- C Wayback Machine copy of makelanding.ai, 4 July 2023Read the pricing section and the counter.
- C Wayback Machine copy of makelanding.ai, 12 August 2023Read the pricing section and the counter.
- C Wayback Machine copy of makelanding.ai, 27 September 2023Read in full, with the page source. The last copy before the sale: features, prices, answers to common questions, and the analytics and affiliate scripts.
- C Wayback Machine copy of makelanding.ai, 10 December 2023Read the pricing section and the counter. The first copy after the sale.
- C makelanding.ai home page under the buyer, read 16 October 2026Read in full. Source for today's prices and counter only; nothing on this page is used for the founder's period.
- C Wayback Machine capture index for makelanding.ai, 2023 to 2024Read in full, with the index of all paths for 2023. Source for the first capture on 29 May 2023 and the referral tags in archived links.
- C Hunted.space: Framer AI, Product Hunt launch overviewRead in full. A third-party record of the Product Hunt launch of 14 June 2023.
- C Mezha, 18 July 2023: Wix announced an AI-powered tool that builds a website based on promptsRead in full. A news report based on TechCrunch. Wix's own filing on sec.gov refused the download.
- C Webflow Updates: Introducing Webflow's AI Site Builder, launched 27 February 2025Read in full. The company's own release note.
- C Livmo: Acquire.com Biannual Acquisition Multiples Report (Feb 2023), Livmo Summary, published 13 November 2023, updated 28 August 2026Read in full. A sale advisor's summary of Acquire.com's February 2023 and January 2024 reports; the reports themselves were not opened.
- C Loot Drop database export, 1,749 failed startupsLocal export. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.