Bootstrapped URL Shortening Service Making $5k a Month
About
T.LY is a link shortening service that enables you to track, brand, and share short URLs.
The Team
Tim Leland is the founder of T.LY. He developed the service in 2019 shortly after Google shut down its URL shortening service.
Business Model & Revenue
T.LY monetizes through two channels: subscriptions and Google AdSense.
As a paid member, you will gain access to advanced features such as custom domains and more.
The business generates approximately $5,000 a month.
Traffic
The majority of the traffic comes directly, which is expected given its nature as a URL shortening service.
T.LY initially started as a Chrome extension, which is how it acquired its first group of users.
For a service like T.LY, there is an inherent user growth channel as long as the service remains stable and users are satisfied.
Tech Stack
- Backend: Java
- Frontend: jQuery
- Server: AWS + Cloudflare DNS