Luis Koepp

Why this persona fits the audience

He is building a niche AI scheduling app from home while freelancing two days a week. He validates ideas in Google Sheets, prototypes with free-tier ChatGPT and a no-code stack, and shares progress in a small founder group chat.

• Age: 31
• Location: Austin, Texas, US
• Occupation: Solo SaaS founder and freelance product designer
• Income: US$78k combined freelance income and early product revenue
• Education: Bachelor's in information systems
• Company size: 1
• Years in role: 3

““Every line of code, every spreadsheet cell, it’s all just another brick in the wall I’m building for myself.””

Luis Koepp, 31, is a quintessential bootstrapped solo founder residing in Austin, Texas. Armed with a Bachelor's in Information Systems, he initially carved a path in freelance product design, a role that honed his understanding of user needs and the practical application of technology. This foundation, coupled with a deep-seated desire for autonomy, led him to the world of SaaS entrepreneurship. For the past three years, he's been meticulously building a niche AI scheduling application from his home office. His validation process is lean and iterative: ideas are first sketched out and stress-tested in Google Sheets, prototypes are rapidly assembled using the free tiers of ChatGPT and various no-code platforms like Bubble and Airtable, and progress is shared transparently within a tight-knit online founder community. This methodology reflects his core values of practical learning and financial discipline; he's acutely aware of every dollar spent and every hour invested. His current income, a blend of freelance fees and nascent product revenue, hovers around $78,000 annually, a figure he meticulously manages to fund his entrepreneurial ambitions. Luis’s approach to building is characterized by resourcefulness and a pragmatic, almost empirical, mindset. He’s not chasing venture capital; his focus is on sustainable growth and creating a product that genuinely solves a problem. Recent decisions have centered on streamlining his no-code architecture to improve app performance and gathering more direct user feedback through beta testing. He views time as his most valuable, and often scarce, resource, meticulously scheduling his days to maximize output across both his freelance commitments and his startup. Status, for Luis, is less about external validation and more about the quiet satisfaction of building something tangible and independent, a testament to his own ingenuity and grit.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Luis’s weekday typically begins around 7:00 AM with walking Comet. He then dedicates an hour to focused work on his SaaS app – perhaps refining a user flow or writing onboarding copy. By 9:00 AM, he switches gears to client work, tackling design tasks and client calls until lunch. He takes a short break, eats a prepped meal, and then spends another few hours on client projects or administrative tasks. In the late afternoon, around 5:00 PM, he shifts back to his SaaS venture, spending 2-3 hours on product development, validating user feedback from his small test group, or exploring new no-code integrations. He winds down by 9:00 PM, often reading tech articles or watching a documentary before bed around 10:30 PM.

Lifestyle

Luis lives in a modest two-bedroom apartment in South Austin, sharing it with a golden retriever named Comet. His days are a carefully managed juggle between client work and his SaaS venture. He prioritizes efficiency, often preparing meals in batches on Sundays to save time during the week. While he enjoys the occasional craft beer with friends, his social life is often secondary to his work demands. Financial discipline is key; he tracks his spending meticulously and saves aggressively, viewing his current income as a bridge to greater financial freedom through his startup. He’s generally healthy, fitting in runs around Lady Bird Lake three times a week.

Work life

As a solo founder and freelance product designer, Luis’s workdays are intensely focused and self-directed. He carves out dedicated blocks for client projects (about two days a week) and the rest for his AI scheduling app. His workspace is a corner of his living room, equipped with a standing desk, dual monitors, and a well-organized digital filing system. He relies heavily on a no-code stack (Bubble for prototyping, Zapier for integrations) and leverages ChatGPT for brainstorming and content generation. The pressure is constant but internal; he’s accountable only to himself, pushing through bugs and feature development with a blend of stubbornness and optimism. He often feels the weight of every decision, from UI tweaks to marketing copy.

Relationships

Luis maintains a close circle of friends, many of whom he met in college or through Austin's tech meetup scene. He occasionally chats with his parents, who are supportive but don't fully grasp the intricacies of his entrepreneurial journey. His most consistent peer interaction comes from a small Slack group with a handful of other bootstrapped founders, where they share war stories and practical advice, offering a crucial, albeit virtual, support system.

How they decide

Luis is a research-heavy, pragmatic decision-maker. He will exhaust free resources, compare options meticulously, and often build small prototypes or spreadsheets to model potential outcomes before committing time or money. He values evidence and tangible results over hype and is influenced by the experiences of peers he trusts, particularly other solo founders facing similar challenges.

How they sound

Speaks clearly and deliberately, with a slight Texas drawl that surfaces when he's relaxed or passionate. He avoids overly technical jargon with non-technical people but isn't afraid to dive deep when discussing product strategy or tool capabilities with peers. His tone is generally optimistic but grounded in realism; he’s not prone to hyperbole or empty promises. He often uses analogies related to building or problem-solving.