New API Unlocks Real Startup Metrics
A new API called TrustMRR just launched, giving anyone access to verified revenue, MRR, and churn data from over 840 real startups. It's a goldmine for PMs looking to validate side projects, benchmark competitors, or build data-driven case studies for interviews.
The platform was created by indie hacker Marc Louvion, known for building and shipping products in days, not months. TrustMRR itself was built in just 24 hours after a tweet from Pieter Levels complaining about fake MRR screenshots went viral, validating the market's frustration with unverifiable success stories. To ensure authenticity, startups grant read-only API access to their payment processors like Stripe, LemonSqueezy, or Paddle. This connection allows TrustMRR to pull financial metrics directly, creating a tamper-proof public record updated hourly, which is a departure from competitors that may allow manual data submission. Louvion monetized the platform almost immediately, not by charging for listings, but by selling sponsorship and advertising slots. Within 48 hours of launching, the project had reportedly generated $13,883 in MRR from these ad sales, demonstrating a powerful launch strategy. The new API provides programmatic access to this verified dataset, using bearer token authentication and allowing 20 requests per minute. Developers can now retrieve not just MRR but also churn rates, growth percentages, customer counts, and even a startup's tech stack for deeper analysis. This opens the door for new product ideas, a key opportunity for aspiring PMs. Examples include private benchmarking tools to compare a side project's metrics against verified competitors, or deal flow platforms that help identify startups available for acquisition. For a product manager, this type of verified data is critical for tasks like competitive analysis, market sizing, and validating a product idea's potential. By tracking metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Lifetime Value (LTV), and churn, PMs can make data-driven decisions to guide product strategy. The emergence of open-source alternatives like OpenRevenue, which offers a self-hosted option for founders concerned about privacy, indicates a growing ecosystem around financial transparency. This trend provides a more reliable foundation for building data-centric products than was previously possible.
