Copied a $30K/month scraping API and built it to $20K MRR

2025-11-02
5 min read
https://www.yadaphone.com/

Summary

Adrian Horning discovered a profitable scraping API listed for sale on Micro Acquire making $30K MRR. Instead of buying it, he rebuilt it himself using his 3 years of scraping experience. By validating demand through an existing business, focusing on SEO and Twitter outreach, and maintaining high reliability, he grew Scrape Creators to $20K MRR with 600 paying customers processing 20 million API requests monthly.

Tech Stack & Tools

Node.js/JavaScript (backend APIs)
Impit package (HTTP requests)
Render.com (API hosting)
AWS Lambda (some scripts)
Supabase (database)
Astro + React (frontend)
Cursor AI (development)
Evomi, Core Residential, Webshare, Massive (proxy providers)
Notion (documentation)

The Business

Scrape Creators is a social media scraping API that extracts public data from Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and ad libraries (Facebook, LinkedIn). It serves developers building link-in-bio tools, analytics platforms, and short-form content tracking applications who need reliable scraping infrastructure without managing proxies, rotation, or maintenance themselves.

How It Makes Money

Revenue comes from a credit-based, pay-as-you-go model where customers purchase credits upfront and use them for API requests, with no recurring subscriptions required.

Credit packages: $10 for 5,000 credits, $50 for 25,000 credits, and $500 for 500,000 credits.
Usage-based consumption where customers pay only for what they use.
600 total paying customers with approximately 12 high-volume customers contributing the majority of MRR.
~20 million API requests processed monthly.

Why It Works

Pre-validated idea: Found a proven business model already making $30K MRR through Micro Acquire, eliminating guesswork about demand.
Technical expertise: 3 years of prior scraping experience meant Adrian could rebuild the product in weeks rather than months.
Identified weakness: Original business relied solely on SEO with under 100 customers, leaving room for additional distribution channels.
Reliability advantage: Many scraping APIs break frequently; Adrian's consistent uptime and responsive support created a competitive moat.
High-value customers: Credit-based model allows significant MRR from relatively few customers.
Direct access: Adrian's accessibility via Twitter and email differentiated from competitors who are hard to contact.
Strategic acquisition: Offering 10K free credits to launches mentioning scraping/social media on platforms like Product Hunt.

Key Lessons

You don't need original ideas—copying validated businesses can be more reliable than inventing something new.
Use business marketplaces to find proven concepts with real revenue and customers.
Reverse-engineer customer acquisition by studying how successful competitors get users (SEO, content, partnerships).
Build on your existing skills and experience.
Don't get distracted—focus on one product and do something every day to improve.
High margins are possible in API businesses (ca. 80%).
A small number of high-value customers can sustain significant MRR in B2B API products.
Reliable infrastructure and responsive support create differentiation in technically complex markets.
Twitter presence and community engagement can be powerful distribution for developer tools.

Costs Breakdown

Proxy services: $1,500/month (Evomi, Core Residential, Webshare, Massive for IP rotation)
Developer contractor: $500/month
Server hosting: $400/month (Render.com and AWS Lambda)
Cursor AI: $20/month (development tool)
Other: Supabase, domain, misc. expenses

Source

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