Last year I did something that, on paper, looked impressive.
I built 12 products in 12 months.
Not prototypes.
Not Figma concepts.
Actual working products.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Building products is the easy part.
Anyone with enough stubbornness and caffeine can build things.
The hard part — the part that separates hobbyists from builders — is getting people to pay.
So this year I set a new challenge for myself:
Monetize 12 products in 12 months.
Not vanity metrics.
Not “it has users but no revenue.”
Not “investors will love it someday.”
Actual commercialization.
For me, a product is officially commercialized when it hits a few non-negotiable milestones:
• A clearly defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) — I know exactly who this is for and why they’d pay
• A simple focused use case — one core problem solved extremely well
• A live landing page that converts visitors into users
• Pricing and payments enabled
• Onboarding content — tutorials, quick start guides, documentation
• Real users giving feedback and helping shape the product
If those pieces exist, the product has crossed the line from experiment → business.
Product #3: Startup List Africa
March’s product was Startup List Africa.
A simple idea.
A directory of African startups.
You can check it out here:
https://startuplistafrica.elidayjuma.com/
The goal is straightforward:
Create a single place where African startups can be discovered.
Not a hype platform.
Not another “startup news” blog.
Just a clean, searchable repository of startups across Africa.
Builders.
Products.
Companies worth discovering.
The Monetization Strategy
This month wasn’t technically difficult.
In fact, compared to other products, it was one of the simplest monetizations so far.
I enabled Google AdSense.
That means the product can generate revenue simply through traffic.
But here’s the catch.
Right now the site’s traffic is below average.
And anyone who has used AdSense knows the truth:
Low traffic = almost no revenue.
So the real work now begins.
The Real Challenge
The next phase is not building.
The next phase is distribution.
Two things must happen:
1️⃣ More startups must be listed
The value of a directory grows with the number of entries.
More startups → more discovery → more traffic.
My goal is to make it easy for founders to submit their startups and claim their listings.
2️⃣ Traffic must grow
AdSense only works with scale.
My immediate target:
50,000 visits per month.
That’s the threshold where ads start becoming meaningful.
To reach that level, the plan is to focus on:
• SEO for startup discovery searches
• Founder submissions
• Startup ecosystem communities
• Organic sharing from founders themselves
The beauty of directories is simple:
Every company listed has an incentive to share their page.
That’s the growth loop.
Why I Like Directories
Directories look simple on the surface.
But they are quietly powerful.
If done right, they become:
• Discovery engines
• SEO magnets
• Data repositories
• Ecosystem maps
And once traffic grows, monetization options multiply:
• Ads
• Featured listings
• Startup tools
• Job boards
• Reports and data insights
But none of that matters until step one works.
Get people to list their startups.
The Score So Far
This year’s scoreboard now looks like this:
Commercialized products in 2026:
1️⃣ Product 1(January)
2️⃣ Product 2 (February)
3️⃣ Startup List Africa
3 down. 9 to go.
The Bigger Lesson
One thing this challenge is teaching me:
Shipping is a muscle.
The more you ship, the less emotional you become about perfection.
You focus on:
• solving a problem
• launching quickly
• monetizing early
• improving through feedback
No drama.
No waiting for perfect conditions.
Just build. Launch. Learn.
Repeat.
If You’re a Founder — Add Your Startup
If you’ve built something in Africa, add it to the directory.
Submit your startup here:
https://startuplistafrica.elidayjuma.com/
Let’s make it easier for African builders to be discovered.
Follow the Journey
Every month I share the real updates — wins, mistakes, and lessons from trying to monetize 12 products in 12 months.
If you’d like to follow along, join my newsletter here:
https://mailchi.mp/18db278423e4/coach-eliday
No hype.
Just honest updates from the trenches.
See you in the April update.
