From Launch to $16K MRR and a Cease & Desist: The Rollercoaster Journey of my (unofficial) Midjourney API

Starting Out: Children's Books

Last year, I ventured into developing a children's book generation product, leveraging AI for illustrations. That’s when I stumbled upon Midjourney. The quality was so impressive, it left me inspired to integrate their capabilities into my product.

Pivot

A quick Google search for Midjourney API, gave me no results to speak of. I doubted my Google-fu, but it turned out Midjourney didn’t offer an API at all! 🤦‍♂️

Of course, I decided to build one myself. I created a proof of concept and shared it on the Midjourney subreddit. That’s when I hit another snag—Midjourney's Terms of Service prohibited automated access. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Sucky UX

Despite the setback, interest was high, and I’d already received numerous email signups. My initial idea involved using multiple Midjourney accounts to generate images. However, that plan was quickly scrapped due to ToS concerns — mind you, I was never worried about legal concerns ..it was more an ethical issue for me. So I switched strategies and decide to let users provide their own credentials, and we handle the rest.

I launched a self-hosted version and was selling it for a one-time fee of roughly $500. This was working okay but installation/setup kind of sucked.

Customers were begging for something easier to use and cheaper. After months of push back, I gave in and started working on a cloud version.

The Benjamins

I started working on side projects in 2014.

• First, it was a todo list, literally! I ended up "exiting" with a $1,000 sale 🎉
• Then I launched HNdigest a Hacker News email service, sold that for $2,500 🎉🎉 — it's still up and I still use it to get my Hacker News posts.. check it out. [Another fun fact, I used webflow to build the landing page...when webflow just provided these templates. I generated the HTML and hosted it elsewhere 😂]
• Then I had this idea to create a widget that made blog posts "actionable" as a todo list you could take after reading a blog post — clearly not done with my todo list ideas 😂. After talking with food bloggers accidentally, this morphed into a recipe plugin for WordPress. I ended up running this from 2016 to 2019 and grew it to $3,000 MRR at the peak. I sold it because I was out of idea on what to do with it. Exit: $50,000.
• 2019 to 2022 I wrecked my brain trying to make a Shopify version of the recipe plugin work. It has come to $1,100 MRR but can't do much more with it. [Selling it now BTW..make an offer!]

This whole trajectory changed with the Midjourney API idea. In a short time span, my "request early access" mailing list had 5,000 subscribers.

With the self-hosted version, I made about $30,000 🤯
Then launched the cloud hosted version in August (MRR in August 2023: $256) to now being at $16,000 MRR 🤯🤯🤯😱😱

Insane, right‽

Legal Challenges: A New Hurdle

Just a few days ago, I received a cease and desist from Midjourney, citing ToS Violation and Trademark Infringement.

Let me be clear—I’ve never intended to harm Midjourney. Every image generated has been paid for; we don't allow image generations in the relaxed (free) mode because it costs Midjourney money.

Moving Forward: Strategy and Compliance

We’ve taken steps to comply, labeling ourselves as an "(unofficial) Midjourney API." I’m now pondering my next moves and how to respond to their legal team.

Need less to say, I don't intent to just roll over and die. I will fight this as long as I can. If you have an idea that need AI images, give us a try: ImagineAPI.dev. I still think Midjourney is one of the best AI art tools.

Community Insights Needed

Has anyone else faced similar legal challenges? How did you navigate these waters?

I’m based in Canada, which might impact my options. Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!