The New System to Launch an Online Business with Aurelian Amacker: An EOFire Classic from 2022

What if the secret to a breakout business is a better free plan?

Something as simple as raising a free plan from 1,000 to 2,000 contacts became a litmus test for generosity and strategy. That small decision, offered by a French founder frustrated with the existing software landscape, reads less like a marketing stunt and more like a values statement: build something useful, then give people room to grow into it.

From personal pain to product purpose

Aurelien’s path started as a classic maker's impulse—scratch your own itch. Years of selling online courses exposed him to clunky tools and hidden fees. Leadpages, ClickFunnels, Ontraport: each had limits that slowed him down or demanded expensive workarounds. The honest admission that early attempts cost time and money is refreshing. It’s also how many great products begin—by refusing to accept the status quo.

He failed early, lost a year and thousands of dollars, then regrouped. When the product finally worked, he didn’t just build software; he rebuilt a workflow he used every day. That decision—to make the tool the backbone of his own business—created a credibility that marketing can’t buy.

Why simplicity is a growth strategy

There’s a tension in SaaS between feature lists and usability. Aurelien pushed back on the idea that more options automatically means better outcomes. Instead, the team asked whether each feature would actually move the needle on revenue. That focus on essentials transformed what could have been a bloated suite into a pragmatic all-in-one platform for course creators and small businesses.

Honestly, I didn’t expect so much conviction about removing options. But it makes sense: for entrepreneurs with limited time and money, clarity trumps complexity. A streamlined tool helps you launch faster, iterate quicker, and stop wasting energy on cosmetic features that don’t convert.

Offer over ornamentation

“Offer trumps marketing and marketing trumps design,” Aurelien says. This line feels almost old-fashioned because it returns us to the fundamentals of direct response. A compelling offer—clear benefits, fair pricing, and generous trial terms—beats clever funnels if the underlying value isn’t there.

The platform’s free plan is probably the greatest experiment in that philosophy. Giving new users meaningful capability from day one turned the free tier into a growth engine. It also forced internal clarity: if the free user can accomplish core tasks, then paid plans must scale real value, not lock features behind a paywall.

Customer experience as a competitive moat

Fast, seven-day-a-week support with one- to two-hour response times sounds like a small promise. In practice, it becomes a differentiator. Customers who feel heard keep coming back. Case in point: founders who migrated their entire businesses over and hit healthy revenue numbers. Those are not hypothetical wins; they’re tangible examples of what a well-scoped tool can unlock.

• Founders used the platform to process tens of thousands of opt-ins and sustain strong monthly revenue.
• Simplicity led to faster launches and fewer technical headaches during critical product pushes.
• Generosity in the free plan turned curious users into paying customers.

The underrated lesson about communities and masterminds

One striking aside felt like a confession: masterminds aren’t a silver bullet. Aurelien described joining an established mastermind, watching his momentum stall, and ultimately leaving. That doesn’t delegitimize collective support structures. Rather, it’s a reminder that context matters—what helps one entrepreneur can hinder another.

It’s a subtle but useful reframing for anyone feeling pressure to buy into a particular formula because it worked for someone else.

When metrics meet humility

Numbers pepper the story—thousands of users, double-digit thousands of paying customers, six-figure monthly revenues powering the founder’s own machine. But the narrative’s human core is humility: learn from mistakes, prioritize what moves revenue, and treat customers like people instead of accounts.

That blend of pragmatism and generosity is what makes the business case credible. It’s one thing to build a technical stack; it’s another to design workflows that reduce friction for creators who are busy building their offers.

Final thought

There’s a practical radicalism in choosing to be the simplest, most generous option in a crowded market. It’s tempting to chase features and integrations, but there’s real power in asking one clear question before you build: will this change someone’s ability to earn? If the answer is yes, you’re on to something. If not, maybe it’s time to simplify.

Keywords naturally woven throughout: system.io, all-in-one marketing platform, free plan, funnels, email marketing, course creators, marketing automation, landing pages, customer support, SaaS growth.