Kite Courier
"An end-to-end certified mail platform that makes sending legal notices as easy as sending email, eliminating the need to print, sign, stuff envelopes, and visit the post office."
Marketing Channels
Bing search / SEO
Creator stated 'Most customers find us on bing' — organic inbound search is the main acquisition channel
Hacker News
Shared in annual thread; generated questions about logistics, pricing, and origin story
Inbound only (no formal launch)
Creator explicitly stated 'Just inbound for now. We haven't really launched yet.'
Growth Levers
- Formally launch the product — creator acknowledged they 'haven't really launched yet' despite already having paying customers
- Fix basic website issues (pricing page 404) and polish the marketing site for conversion
- Expand SEO beyond Bing to Google and other search engines to capture broader legal notice search traffic
- Target specific use cases: debt disputes, landlord-tenant notices, demand letters, contract terminations, and other legal notice categories
- Build template libraries for common legal notice types to reduce friction and increase average order value
- Partner with legal tech platforms, property management software, or debt resolution services for B2B distribution
First Customer Strategy
Built the product to solve a personal pain point (disputing medical debt requiring repeated certified mail). Expanded from debt dispute to general legal notices. Has not formally launched; all customers are inbound, primarily finding the service through Bing search.
Pricing Insight
No specific per-unit pricing mentioned in the thread. Pricing page existed at kitecourier.com/pricing but was returning a 404 during the HN thread (fixed by creator after being reported). Revenue spikiness suggests large one-off orders or seasonal legal notice demand.
New Market Opportunities
- Debt dispute / consumer advocacy The product was originally built for disputing medical debt via certified mail; every time debt is resold, a new certified letter is required
- General legal notice automation Expanded beyond debt disputes after realizing 'nobody wants to deal with mailing at all and certified mail is used for way more than debt disputes'
- Property management / landlord notices Certified mail is heavily used in landlord-tenant relations for eviction notices, lease terminations, and repair demands
- Patrick McKenzie's 'productize leverage' thesis Explicitly inspired by a Patrick McKenzie HN thread about certified mail as 'weirdly powerful leverage'
Key Takeaways
- • Solving your own painful problem is a reliable source of product ideas — the creator built Kite Courier to handle their own medical debt disputes
- • A product can generate meaningful revenue ($10k months) before even formally launching, purely through inbound search
- • Bing as a customer acquisition channel is underestimated — for niche legal/business services, Bing users may convert at higher rates
- • Revenue spikiness is common in B2B services tied to legal or compliance events; smoothing requires diversifying use cases or adding recurring revenue
- • Outsourcing physical logistics (using lob.com for printing/mailing) enables a solo operator to run an end-to-end physical mail service as a software business
- • Patrick McKenzie's framework of 'productizing leverage' (certified mail as legal power) is a proven approach to finding high-value niches
Sentiment Analysis
3 PosNotable Quotes
"That's original. How'd you come up with an idea for that? — dudeWithAMood"
"I had medical debt to dispute, which requires certified mail. Every time the debt was resold I had to print, sign, stuff an envelope, and go to the post office again. — hotdogsalesman"
"Certified mail is weirdly powerful leverage. I decided to productize that. — hotdogsalesman"
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