Lululemon Leggings Led Me to Build a Profitable Scraping API
People often ask me how I got started in web scraping. The answer involves LinkedIn endorsements, a frustrated wife trying to buy workout clothes, and a 2 AM Reddit community of dedicated shoppers.
Here's the real story of how I stumbled into building a profitable API business.
The LinkedIn Revelation
After my coding bootcamp, we were all doing what bootcamp grads do—frantically endorsing each other on LinkedIn, hoping to boost our chances in the job market.
Then someone in our cohort wrote a Selenium script to automate the whole process.
I was blown away. THIS is why I wanted to code. These kinds of superpowers that could automate the tedious parts of life.
That moment sparked something. I wanted to build tools that could do the impossible.
My First (Failed) Attempt
Inspired by the automation possibilities, I built a project called "Auto Apply." The concept was simple but ambitious:
Scrape LinkedIn for hiring managers
Automatically email them with personalized messages
Land job interviews without manual outreach
Looking back, it was way ahead of its time. The problem? I was absolutely terrible at scraping.
Picture this: one lonely Puppeteer instance struggling along, getting blocked constantly, failing half the time. I was fighting HTML parsing, dealing with dynamic content, and basically losing every battle against modern web applications.
It was frustrating, slow, and completely unreliable.
The Lululemon Lightbulb Moment
Then my friend Jake had a problem that would change everything.
His wife was trying to buy Lululemon athletic wear, but everything was always sold out. She'd obsessively check the website, hoping to catch restocks.
Jake discovered there was even a subreddit where women would literally wake up at 2 AM to grab new drops. The dedication was incredible, but the process was insane.
"Can you build a bot that texts her when stuff comes back in stock?" Jake asked.
I said yes, naturally. How hard could it be?
The API Discovery That Changed Everything
At first, I did what I knew—scraping HTML with Puppeteer. It was painful. Constantly blocked. Always breaking.
Then Jake, who was actually my PM at work, asked a simple question that changed my entire approach:
"Why not just use the API that Lululemon calls?"
Genius.
I opened the browser developer tools, watched the network requests, and discovered the hidden APIs that the website was actually using. Clean JSON responses. No HTML parsing. No browser automation. Just direct access to the data I needed.
That experience changed everything.
To this day, I preach: stop scraping HTML → start finding hidden APIs.
It's faster, cleaner, and infinitely less brittle than traditional scraping methods.
From Side Project to Real Business
The Lululemon bot worked perfectly. I sold it for a small sum, but more importantly, I'd learned the fundamental lesson that would shape my entire career.
I started freelancing, teaching others about API discovery, and even launched a course about finding hidden APIs in web applications.
Then I tried building other projects. One was a TikTok creator database—an ambitious attempt to catalog social media influencers.
The MicroAcquire Moment
The real turning point came when a follower sent me a MicroAcquire listing for a social media scraping API business.
The numbers shocked me. Someone was making serious money selling access to social media data through APIs.
I realized I already had endpoints built from my various projects. I thought, why not put them up and see what happens?
The First Customer (And How Twitter Came Full Circle)
Randomly, I got my first customer. They're still with me today, over a year later.
Here's the funny part: I had scraped their company's website to build a tutorial, posted it on Twitter, their CTO replied to the tweet, and then asked about my APIs.
Full circle. The scraping tutorial led to my first paying customer.
The Pivot That Made It All Work
For six months, I juggled both projects: the TikTok creator database and the scraping API.
But the TikTok database was expensive to maintain and messy to operate. The API business, on the other hand, was clean, scalable, and actually profitable.
So I made the call: go all in on the scraping API.
That's how Scrape Creators was born.
What I Learned Building a Scraping Business
Hidden APIs Are Everywhere
Most modern websites rely on internal APIs for their functionality. Instead of parsing HTML, find these APIs and use them directly. It's like having a secret backdoor to clean, structured data.
Solve Real Problems
The best business ideas come from genuine frustration. Jake's wife wanting Lululemon leggings was a real problem with a clear solution. My first customer needed social media data for their business—another real problem.
Start Small, Scale Smart
I didn't set out to build a massive enterprise platform. I started with simple endpoints that solved specific problems, then gradually expanded based on customer requests.
Customer Feedback Is Everything
My current customers often request new platforms or data types. These requests directly shape the product roadmap. When customers ask for something, they're essentially pre-ordering it.
The Current State: Bootstrapped and Growing
Today, Scrape Creators is:
Bootstrapped - No VC funding, no investors
Profitable - Recurring revenue from day one
Growing - Adding new customers and platforms regularly
Sustainable - Built for long-term operation, not explosive growth
The business provides structured data from social media platforms through clean APIs. Customers include marketing agencies, content creators, researchers, and SaaS companies building social features.
Why This Model Works
Low Overhead
No office, no employees, minimal infrastructure costs. The profit margins are excellent because the operational complexity is manageable.
Recurring Revenue
Once customers integrate your APIs into their workflows, they tend to stick around. Data needs are ongoing, not one-time purchases.
Scalable Technology
APIs can serve multiple customers simultaneously. The same infrastructure that serves one customer can serve hundreds.
Defensible Moat
Building reliable scraping infrastructure is harder than most people think. The technical expertise becomes a competitive advantage.
The Unexpected Journey
Looking back, it's wild how everything connected:
Bootcamp endorsements led to automation curiosity
LinkedIn scraping taught me the fundamentals
Jake's wife's shopping problem introduced hidden APIs
Twitter tutorials attracted my first customer
Real customer needs shaped the final product
None of it was planned. Each step just led naturally to the next.
What's Next
The scraping API space is evolving rapidly. Platforms change, new data sources emerge, and customer needs continue expanding.
I'm focused on:
Adding new platforms based on customer requests
Improving reliability and speed
Building tools that make data extraction even easier
Helping other developers discover the power of hidden APIs
For Aspiring API Entrepreneurs
If you're thinking about building an API business, here's my advice:
Start with a real problem. Don't build an API because APIs are cool. Build one because someone needs the solution.
Learn to find hidden APIs. This skill alone will set you apart from developers who only know traditional scraping methods.
Talk to potential customers early. My biggest mistakes were building features nobody wanted. Customer conversations prevent this.
Keep it simple initially. You don't need enterprise features on day one. Solve one problem really well, then expand.
The Lululemon Legacy
It's funny to think that a profitable API business started because someone wanted to buy athletic wear without staying up until 2 AM.
But that's how the best businesses often begin—with someone frustrated by an everyday problem and a developer willing to build a solution.
Jake's wife got her Lululemon leggings. I got a career in API development. And somewhere along the way, I learned that the most boring problems often lead to the most profitable solutions.