In 2018, Ajay Patel was working at a software company and kept running into the same problem - building admin panels from scratch, over and over again, on nearly every project. It was repetitive, time-consuming, and nobody had built a genuinely solid solution for it.
So he and his co-founder, Vrushank, decided to build one themselves.
They started by listing their first product on Envato's ThemeForest - a marketplace for developers and designers. That single listing validated the idea, earned early revenue, and gave them the confidence to keep going. Today, that same channel still generates between $15–20k per month. But the bigger story is what they built around it: Clevision, a full product ecosystem that now brings in $65k per month across multiple platforms.
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The suite includes ThemeSelection (their own marketplace platform), FlyonUI (a Tailwind UI component library), Shadcn Studio (tools for shadcn/ui workflows), and Framespark - currently in development. Each product came from a genuine developer need, not from chasing trends.
Key Insights
Start in a marketplace, then own your distribution
ThemeForest gave Ajay and Vrushank early traction and monthly revenue without needing to figure out customer acquisition from scratch. But the real business grew when they launched ThemeSelection - their own platform. Owning the customer relationship gave them control over pricing, support, and product direction. The marketplace remained a revenue stream, not a dependency.
Freemium is a trust-building strategy, not just a pricing model
Across every Clevision product, they offer a meaningful free tier. This includes free admin templates, free UI kits, free Tailwind components, and free Tailwind templates. The logic is simple: let people experience the quality before they pay. Not every free user converts immediately, but many come back. It is a long game that compounds.
Building an ecosystem is a sequencing problem
Each Clevision product emerged from actual user signals, not a master plan. FlyonUI came from demand for better Tailwind tooling. Shadcn Studio came from simplifying shadcn/ui workflows. Framespark is next. This pattern - solve a problem, learn from users, identify the next real gap - is how they expanded without spreading themselves thin.
Omnichannel distribution matters more than most builders think
Ajay's team is active on Twitter/X, Dev.to, Medium, YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn. They use each platform differently - YouTube drives traffic, Twitter builds brand, Dev.to and Medium attract developers directly. SEO was the foundation, but developer-specific channels are what convert.
Quality and reliability are the actual growth strategy
Ajay is direct about this: they have never compromised on product quality. Regular updates, responsive support, and consistent reliability built the long-term trust that drives much of their current growth. There is no shortcut being described here - just a clear commitment to doing the product well.
What the Hard Parts Actually Looked Like
Moving off Envato and building ThemeSelection required learning customer acquisition, support infrastructure, and distribution from scratch - none of which was covered by the product work they were comfortable with.
Expanding across multiple products meant constant prioritization - what to build, what to delay, and how to allocate a small team across a growing set of responsibilities.
Hiring the right people took longer than expected. Finding people who share both the quality standards and the long-term vision of a bootstrapped company is genuinely difficult.
What You Should Do Now
If you are building a product or service, look at your own daily work. Repeated frustrations often point to real market gaps. The best ideas are usually hiding inside existing workflows.
Consider starting on a marketplace before building your own platform. ThemeForest, Gumroad, or similar channels can validate demand and generate early revenue while you build the direct relationship in parallel. Explore Clevision's admin template catalog to understand how they position and package their products.
Build in public - even in small ways. Share what you are working on, what is not working, and what you are learning. Shadcn Studio gained early users before it was even fully built because Ajay shared the progress publicly.
If you already have a product, audit your free offering. A meaningful free tier is a trust-building tool. Does yours give users enough to actually experience your quality?
Invest in at least two or three distribution channels that are specific to your audience. For developers, Dev.to, YouTube tutorials, and community forums often convert better than broad social media. For creatives and founders, LinkedIn and Twitter work well. Pick channels where your target users actually hang out.
