Can you introduce yourself and describe your journey into indie-making and entrepreneurship?
I'm a designer with over a decade of experience in the digital space, especially product UI/UX design and branding. Mostly in digital agencies. Somehow a 9-5 job didn't fulfill me enough, and I've launched many side projects over this time. I love to launch my ideas and build them in public. When Framer pivoted to web builder in 2022, I immediately jumped on the train during their beta. I was one of their very first creators and partners and built various side projects with it, 4 of them transformed into real businesses that I do full-time: Canvas Supply, Dark, and Framer Money. Let's take a closer look at Canvas Supply.
Cédric Moore
What inspired the idea behind your product?
Canvas was an early-adopter product. I loved building website templates with low-code tech and was the first one. It also came with many opportunities. Two years later, all the hard work paid off. I make a living with Framer templates alone. And the fact that digital products never go out of stock and are sold passively motivates me every day to scale it up even more. It's just so much fun!
Can you share some achievements that highlight the success of your product?
I'm soon hitting $100K in revenue with the template business. This includes approx. 900 sales. I'm still in the beginning, but so happy to achieve such a milestone soonish. As with any other success story, this didn't happen overnight. It took me a lot of consistency and over two years to get to it.
What's your tech stack?
I started to create my first templates in Framer and shared the progress on Twitter/X. This allowed me to grow an audience to about 1K followers. I launched my first template on Gumroad and distributed it through the Framer Marketplace and my social following. Later I swapped out Gumroad with LemonSqueezy since they have a better UX in the checkout and fewer fees.
What challenges have you faced?
The key was building in public. This builds trust, and authority, and increases your following at the same time. It attracts the right people who are interested in what you do. The earlier this is implemented into your routine, the better.
Can you share a pivotal moment or milestone in your journey that significantly impacted your product's success?
Dashfolio, my most successful template, did $7K in just a few weeks. As someone who was used to a 9-5 monthly income, it blew my mind and opened it up to more possible growth and momentum.
What strategies have you used for growth and engagement?
Sharing what I was working on and gathering feedback on the go, helped me in many ways. You don't need ads. You just need a decent social following you can sell a valuable product to make a living from it.
How do you see your product evolving in the future?
I want to continue evolving and scaling Canvas. As Framer is growing, it will grow with it together. It's an exciting journey.
What advice would you give to aspiring indie makers and creators looking to launch their own products?
Start building up a following as early as you can. Connect with other aspiring makers. Both will benefit you in ways you cannot understand yet.
If you enjoyed this creator story, be sure to follow their journey and check out the products and tools that they're creating!
