Written by Lidia Vijga
Back in my high school days when we had no social media nor smartphones that took pictures, the only place to share your photos with friends was physical albums. Yes, that’s right! The actual photo albums with printed photos in them. We would take our Kodak films to the nearest Walmart and get them processed (in color, of course, I’m not that old!).
When I got my first digital camera, I started storing my photos on the computer. It was during that time when a friend introduced me to Photoshop CS2, a professional software used for manipulating images. I was amazed at what it could do. Nowadays, it would be equivalent to someone showing you the Instagram filters for the first time. But back in those days, technology felt like true magic, and not something that was taken for granted.
Today I use Photopea for most of my photo editing needs, and after learning about the impressive story behind this tool, I was inspired to write about it.
What is Photopea
So, what exactly is Photopea? It’s a free web-based image editor offering a comprehensive suite of tools for editing graphics, photos, illustrations, and even PDFs. And the best part? It runs entirely within your web browser, no complicated installations or updates required.
What sets Photopea apart is not just its impressive functionality but as I already mentioned the remarkable story behind its growth, driven by the hard work and determination of its sole creator, Ivan Kutskir.
How Much Does Photopea Earn?
In 2023, Ivan hit $1.5M in revenue with 0 employees. And the most impressive part? His yearly maintenance expense was only $700, with $50 per month for hosting and a yearly domain registration fee of $16. This lean approach has allowed him to maintain complete control over the project while maximizing profitability.
The idea for Photopea was born from Ivan’s love for programming and his desire to create something truly remarkable. What started as a personal experiment quickly evolved into a full-fledged project, consuming thousands of hours of his time and dedication.
After listening to the podcasts where Ivan appeared as a guest, I got a strong sense that Ivan didn’t create Photopea solely for financial gain. It was a passion project from the start. Although Ivan had multiple projects happening at the same time, he chose to prioritize Photopea because it was the one he enjoyed the most. Ivan’s goal was to make image editing accessible to everyone, regardless of their financial situation or technical expertise.
Photopea Features
Ivan has created an application that runs entirely within a web browser, eliminating the need for complex installations or updates. One of Photopea’s standout features is its compatibility with industry-standard file formats, including PSD (Photoshop), Sketch, and XCF (GIMP). But what’s more impressive is that Photopea stores all files locally, and does not upload any data to a server. That means 2 things: privacy and speed.
Growth Strategies
Despite being a one-person operation, Photopea has an impressive user base, with over 500K active users daily. This remarkable growth can be attributed to Ivan’s approach to community engagement and his ability to build in public.
Ivan shares new feature updates on social media platforms such as Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, and occasionally on Hacker News. To address issues and feature requests, he often communicates with his existing users through Github.
I don’t have any strategy. I’m just building a nice tool people like, and they talk about that. It’s all just word of mouth.
Ivan Kutskir, founder of Photopea
I took this screenshot from Semrush and I find it incredibly impressive. Photopea, unlike most companies, does not drive traffic through articles or maintain a blog. Instead, the majority of their traffic comes from branded keywords such as “photopea” or its variations. Additionally, there is no paid search traffic involved, meaning that all of the traffic is 100% organic.
Instead of isolating his existing users in a closed community platform, Ivan created a subreddit dedicated to Photopea. How smart is that? This community has grown to over 23K members and it now serves as a customer service platform where a group of power users assist in solving common issues to improve Photopea. Some members share the final images that they have produced with the tool, while others provide feedback and suggestions for new features to shape the roadmap. It feels like a massive remote team all working towards the same goal: to make the platform better. Could that be the answer to the loneliness that comes from being a solo founder?
About 8 years ago, Ivan launched Photopea on Product Hunt, but unfortunately, it didn’t gain much popularity. However, one of his power users found the tool to be extremely helpful and decided to relaunch it on the platform. This time around, Photopea managed to impress the Product Hunt community and quickly climbed up the ranks to become the 2nd product of the day the 4th product of the week with over 1K upvotes.
Also read: How to Launch on Product Hunt: Step By Step Guide with Tips and Best Practices
The Main Challenge
One of the most significant obstacles Ivan faced was convincing search engines that Photopea was a reliable and trustworthy website. As Ivan mentioned in one of his interviews: “It has taken years to convince search engines that Photopea is a reliable website that will help many people in the long run.”
Despite facing challenges, Ivan persisted, and his efforts paid off as Photopea became a go-to platform for online photo and image editing for many people, including myself.
Photopea Business Model
The major source of income for Photopea is through banner ads. The company also generates revenue from premium subscriptions and licensing deals, which allow users to take advantage of Photopea’s API to customize the software and integrate it into their projects. While advertising accounts for the bulk of the company’s revenue, these additional revenue streams provide valuable supplementary income for Photopea.
“I knew exactly how many views and impressions I need to get decent money out of the project. It is pure math.”
Ivan Kutskir
Ivan had prior experience with online games and knew that ads could be an effective way to make money. He saw Photopea’s potential for a large user base and high engagement specifically time spent on site as a perfect opportunity to implement this monetization strategy.
The Future and My Final Thoughts
As Photopea continues to gain traction and recognition within the creative community, Ivan remains dedicated to continuous improvement and innovation. With a roadmap that includes further enhancements to the user experience and deeper integration with other creative tools, the future looks bright for Photopea. At least for me, it is sure to remain a go-to tool for all my web-based image editing.
In this day and age where big tech companies seem to rule the world, Ivan Kutskir’s story is a living proof that a single person’s vision can shake up an entire industry.
The Photopea’s continued success isn’t just a feel-good story; it’s a source of inspiration for all the aspiring entrepreneurs and solo founders out there. It’s a reminder for all of us that with enough grit, determination, and a whole lot of passion, we can overcome the odds and achieve great things.
So, the next time you find yourself doubting your abilities or feeling like the playing field is too uneven, remember Ivan’s story. Let it be a gentle nudge, reminding you that greatness can come from the most unexpected places – even from a one-person team competing against the giants of the tech industry.
