I Quit My Job, Flew to Brazil, and Built a $14k/Month SaaS

I Quit My Job, Flew to Brazil, and Built a $14k/Month SaaS

Florian Darroman 1/11/2026

By Rob Hallam
Video by Florian Darroman
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Six months ago, Rob Hallam made a bold decision to quit his job in the UK, leave everything behind-including friends, family, and comfort-and fly to Brazil without a set plan. His goal was to build a business he could live in, not just survive. That leap of faith led him on a 12-month journey traveling the world, gaining 35,000 followers on X, co-building the SaaS product SuperX with Tibo Maker, and growing SuperX to $14,000 monthly recurring revenue.

This article breaks down Rob’s story, his 90-day X growth framework, challenges faced while rebuilding a broken product, and his advice on authenticity, consistency, and creating viral SaaS features. Rob also shares crucial lessons for founders-especially those building products leveraging social media distribution.

Leaving Everything Behind: The Starting Point

Rob’s journey began with a nervous excitement. When he quit his job in January 2025, he flew to Rio de Janeiro with a backpack and no return ticket. The nerves weren’t just about going viral or filming in public but also about being a solo backpacker in a city like Rio, with many comments warning about safety risks.

At that time, Rob had been posting on X (formerly Twitter) since mid-2023 and had built his follower base to around 4,000 by launching a freelance development agency. His viral post about quitting his job earned 5,000 new followers in 24 hours, effectively doubling his previous growth.

From August 2024 to January 2025, Rob used posting on X to land clients and generate income via his agency. That income allowed him to save enough to take the leap to Brazil and commit to building SuperX.

Rob’s 90-Day X Growth Plan: Building Momentum

Step 1: Optimize Your X Profile

  • Profile Picture: Use a real, friendly picture of yourself. Avoid AI-generated images, which are common for bots.
  • Bio: Summarize clearly in 1-2 lines what you do.
  • Pin Post: This is like an elevator pitch. Pin a post stating your goal and journey to give visitors a clear reason to follow you.

Rob pinned his initial viral video announcing his goal to build a SaaS business to $10K/month and documented the process. This post helped convert profile visitors into followers who wanted to watch his journey.

Step 2: The Content Loop - Entertaining, Educational, Inspirational, Convincing (Selling)

Rob structures content deliberately around four types:

  1. Entertaining: Viral videos, funny demos, or relatable personal stories that warm up the algorithm.
  2. Educational: Threads or posts offering practical advice, teaching people how to do what you do.
  3. Inspirational: Sharing your journey, milestones, and progress to motivate others.
  4. Convincing: Soft-sell posts about your product or service, sharing benefits and calls to action.

Example: Rob’s dancing demo video of SuperX was entertaining and helped him go viral. He followed this with educational threads on how to grow on X, culminating in posts about SuperX’s offerings.

Step 3: Be Consistent and Iterative

Rob posted daily for 131 days straight to hit his initial $10K/month goal, later switching to weekly content. He emphasizes that consistency builds "escape velocity" in the algorithm and prevents followers from forgetting you amid a sea of constant content.

Authenticity: Finding and Sharing Your Real Voice

Rob candidly shares that authenticity isn’t about revealing your deepest thoughts but performing a version of yourself that resonates:

  • Mimic content creators you admire to start, then make it your own.
  • Share genuine thoughts and feelings as they happen - be vulnerable but within your comfort zone.
  • Identify your strengths and passions. For Rob, it’s video content creation and virality.
  • Avoid the pressure to monetize your passion immediately as it may lead to burnout.

Rob’s long history with video-from making YouTube tutorials as a kid to meme channels-helped him develop a natural style that translated well to posting on X.

“Authenticity is a process of discovery. It comes from gradually revealing yourself in a way that connects with people.”

Engagement Tactics: Build Real Connections

Rob compares engaging on X to entering a giant party:

  • Don’t shout for attention; instead, approach one person at a time.
  • Join conversations that interest you genuinely.
  • Treat online interactions as friendships, not transactions.

Engagement pods with friends can help initially, but the key is to be authentic and consistent.

The Role of Daily Videos in Growth

  • Visibility: Daily videos with face-to-camera content helped Rob get recognized online and offline.
  • Discipline: Even posting minimal content on days he was sick kept his momentum intact.
  • Trust and Connection: Followers saw the persistent founder behind SuperX and wanted to support his journey.

Rob compares this to MrBeast’s early strategy of consistently showing up and doing things others wouldn’t.

Understanding the X Algorithm (December 2025)

  • X currently favors video media and quote retweets because they increase time on platform.
  • Viral content often triggers engagement through genuine opinions, which create debate.
  • Rage-baiting may temporarily boost views but damages long-term integrity.
  • Long-form text paired with media and personal opinions works well.
  • Consistently posting media content allows you to get found and grow.

SuperX: From Broken Product to $14K MRR SaaS

The Product Backstory

  • Originally a Chrome extension built by Hugh, offering analytics for X.
  • Acquired by Tibo Maker after his major exit from Tweet Hunter and Taplio.
  • A web app was added to extend functionality; however, Hugh left the project.
  • Rob joined as a full-stack developer in January 2025 after closing his agency and going all-in on SaaS.

Architecture Overview

  • Five repositories, four server instances.
  • Chrome extension, web app frontend, API servers.
  • Vectorized embeddings machine learning server for tweet similarity searches.
  • Multiple migrations including X API v1 to v2, OAuth upgrades.
  • Payment migration from Lemon Squeezy (now defunct) to Stripe was complex and painful.

Challenges Faced

  • 7 months rebuilding the codebase with ongoing bugs.
  • Technical debt felt like “putting out fires,” with constant new challenges.
  • Doubt was frequent but deep faith kept Rob going.
  • Early revenue (Jan to July 2025) totaled approximately $1,500.
  • Launch in July 2025 doubled revenue rapidly from ~$1,000 to $2,500 within days and reached $6,000 after 45 days.

Handling Customer Feedback and Churn

  • Rob faced “ego death” hearing users say the product “sucked” after months of hard work.
  • Critical customer feedback became a gift to improve UX, fix friction points, and reduce churn.
  • He differentiates between:
    • Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): Those willing to pay and use seriously.
    • Non-ICP churn: Students or casual experimenters who don’t fit product goals.
  • Continuous dialogue with customers guides prioritization of features.

Biggest Mistakes and Key Lessons in Product Building

  • Biggest Mistake: Trying to make everything perfect before launching.
  • Rob is naturally a perfectionist but learned to prioritize work on the 20% of features that bring 80% of the impact.
  • For example, delaying minor SEO fixes that have low immediate ROI in favor of high-impact features like auto DMs.
  • Inspired by leaders like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs who focus intensely on critical tasks.
  • Key lesson: Focus on signal-not noise; move fast and iterate.

Building Viral Features: How Ideas Come to Life

  • Rob finds inspiration on X itself by monitoring trending formats and posts using SuperX’s “popular posts” tab.
  • Example: “Viral tweet simulator” by Eddie Zhu inspired Rob’s own viral feature.
  • He leverages evergreen concepts that resurface every few months for viral potential.
  • Rob also repackages ideas (e.g., dancing while demoing) to maximize reach.
  • Outside of X, platforms like Instagram also provide creative inspiration (e.g., wooden spoon microphone).

Working with Co-Creator Tibo Maker

  • Rob met Tibo through the SuperX project.
  • They work asynchronously via Slack with very minimal video calls.
  • Rob independently develops features and reports back.
  • Tibo advises based on his experience with prior products (Tweet Hunter), guiding focus on impactful features like auto DMs and multi-account support.
  • Their collaboration works due to shared vision, quick communication, and mutual trust.

Distribution Channels for SuperX

  • Primary: X - organic posts and viral content drive signups.
  • Google Ads - marginally profitable, spending a few thousand per month.
  • Meta Ads - recently started, working on achieving positive ROAS.
  • Affiliate marketing: Influencers like Greg Eisenberg and Dano helped bring hundreds of signups.

Rob praises X as the ultimate platform for connecting with founders, users, and potential collaborators around the world.

Roadmap to $100K MRR

Rob analyzes the math behind growing revenue:

  • At 15 signups/day with a 30% conversion and current churn, revenue plateaus around $17K MRR.
  • Reducing churn to 5% or doubling signups to 30/day could push MRR to $100K.
  • Key features to reduce churn and attract customers:
    • Auto DMs: To automate giveaways and engagement like Instagram bots.
    • Multi-account and team support: Offer seat discounts to onboard businesses.
    • SuperX Coach: An AI-powered personal trainer guiding users step-by-step with suggestions, progress tracking, and actionable advice.

Rob compares current SuperX to a “gym membership” without a personal trainer and is building the Coach to help users see results faster, reducing churn and improving retention.

Personal Growth and Reflections

Rob feels more confident and secure now than when he left the airport a year ago. The financial stability provides breathing room for creativity and reduces scarcity mindset. He acknowledges dips in motivation and stress but stresses the importance of staying committed when there is a known path.

If he could talk to past Rob at the airport, he would say:

“Bro, it happened.”

He would also advise:

  • Take care of yourself; don’t overpush.
  • Prioritize doing work you enjoy.
  • Trust your gut instincts and intuition.
  • Keep going but know it’s okay to pause and start over if needed.

Rob invokes the Shia LaBeouf quote-“If you’re tired of starting over, stop giving up.”-to emphasize perseverance.

Key Takeaways from Rob’s Journey

  • Leaving comfort zones with faith can lead to remarkable growth.
  • Consistency and intentional content strategies on social platforms like X are powerful.
  • Authenticity is a continuous process of self-discovery and deliberate performance.
  • Building a SaaS is a marathon: expect technical challenges, doubt, and bugs.
  • Prioritize high-impact product features and user feedback over perfectionism.
  • Viral content ideas come from consuming and remixing trending topics.
  • Collaboration works best when sharing vision, trust, and asynchronous communication.
  • The path to $100K MRR depends on improving retention, onboarding, and leveraging multiple distribution channels.
  • Take breaks when needed but never completely give up.

For more insights and updates, follow Rob on X and explore SuperX for your own X growth journey:
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