★ 11/12

OpenAlternative + Dirstarter (a cluster of directories)

OpenAlternative (openalternative.co) is a curated directory of open-source alternatives to popular software (Slack, Notion, GitHub, and so on); 750 projects with GitHub metrics.

clustergeo-arbitragepayments-angle

Geo Kraków, Poland (founder); products: global EN

Founders Piotr Kulpinski (@piotrkulpinski, Kraków, Poland)

Domains openalternative.co · dirstarter.com · euroalternative.eu

Score demand 3 · ease 3 · ICP 2 · monetization 2 · freshness 1

Growth tactics (teaser)

Simultaneous 3-platform launch: HN #1 + PH #3 + Reddit r/SelfHosted, all in one day with zero audience (700 followers)
Delayed monetization: 1 year with no monetization → trust → $6.5K MRR; an early attempt drew a Reddit backlash and was rolled back
Copycats → customers: instead of fighting the clones, he sold a boilerplate (Dirstarter) to the ones who wanted to copy him
Affiliate-first distribution: a 30% commission = ~30% of Dirstarter's revenue with no ad spend
OpenAlternative as a live demo of Dirstarter: a working product at $6.5K MRR = the best sales pitch for the boilerplate

🔒 Full dossier

Launch timeline, metrics, the growth mechanics taken apart and checkable sources — sent to your email after payment, as a .md attachment. The dossier itself is written in Russian; this page and the catalog are the English part.

Buy dossier · $5