Context behind the project and my past experience

At the beginning of 2025, I launched my B2C visa tool, DS160.io, using seven different strategies. Here’s how each of them performed. For context I am an startup-focused software engineer by trade with string of failed projects to show for it. These are my learnings for the first two weeks of 2025.

It’s been two weeks since the launch, a milestone I set for myself during a month-long break in December, which I spent back home in Sydney renewing my visa. Over the years, I’ve launched several projects, including Timeweave (now defunct, grew to over 130k mau), Coderone (gocoder.one), Headbot (headbot.ai), and now DS160.io (ds160.io). Each launch has given me different learnings.

One advantage of my failed projects has been the ability to reuse foundational components: the website landing page, payment gateway, and login portal have all been reused from each of the previous projects and rolled into DS160.io. This launch took me only 4 weeks this time around including setting up domain and company structure (bank account and pty ltd).

What is the problem I’m trying to solve?

DS160.io was born out of a personal need to address a frustrating and repetitive process faced by expats in the U.S. on non-immigrant visas. Completing the DS-160 form—a requirement for travel and visa renewals is super frustrating. Depending on your visa type and travel frequency, this form must be completed every one to three years. Only those who’ve experienced this process understand how tedious and time-consuming it can be. I built DS160.io to solve this problem for myself and others.

My solution addresses these two pain points:

1. Getting around the BS Timeouts of the US DS-160 portal The official DS-160 application frequently times out, especially when completing sections like travel history and employment records. With DS160.io, every response is saved instantly, eliminating the frustration of lost progress and the hassle of captchas when resuming the form. The US government has no incentive to improve this process since immigrants will never vote, and it is a good way to keep immigrants out!

2. Reusing Previous Responses On average, completing a DS-160 form requires answering 230–500 questions. DS160.io allows users to reuse their previous responses, reducing the time required to less than five minutes for subsequent forms. With the Form Pilot product, the application is auto-filled in under a minute, requiring users to add only their latest work history and travel details.

How painful is the problem?

Each DS-160 form takes at least 90 minutes to complete (according to the official website)—often longer for those with more complex forms. Personally, it takes me 3–6 hours due to timeouts and distractions (diagnosed ADHD), a frustration echoed by countless users on forums like Reddit.

How my solution addresses the problem.

DS160.io is built around two core features:

DS-160 Storage Solution

This feature allows users to securely store their completed DS-160 forms, eliminating the need to start from scratch for future applications. A new application will only require the addition of any new work history and any new travel.

Form Pilot Automation

Form Pilot streamlines the process by automatically completing the DS-160 form on the CEAC website. It provides users with the application ID and security question answers, making it easy to retrieve and finalize their application. It completely bypasses timeouts.

Market size.

The scale of this problem is substantial. According to Wikipedia, 12 million DS-160 forms are completed annually. Based on my own research Google Ads keyword data supports this, showing approximately 550,000 global searches per month for “DS160.”

The Seven Strategies I tried and the Results.

1. Self Promotion Post on Reddit

I shared my tool on r/usvisascheduling after obtaining permission from the moderators. This post generated an initial spike in traffic and a few comments, which provided valuable feedback for refining my copy and experimenting with pricing. However, despite the engagement, it resulted in zero sales. Here is my post: https://www.reddit.com/r/usvisascheduling/comments/1hr539a/built_a_tool_for_filling_out_the_ds160_form/

2. Product Hunt Launch

I created a launch on Product Hunt with a simple goal: to get listed and picked up by scrapers that add products to directories. I was able to get listed in a single directory but had zero engagement from Product Hunt. To be fair I didn’t spend much time or effort into this.

Link to my Product Hunt launch: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/ds160-form-pilot

3. Outreach to a US Expat Community Visa tool

I reached out to a visa-related tool to explore advertising opportunities. Within the Chinese expat community, there are several high-use platforms, including Tuixie Online, which features an embassy appointment tracker showing embassy availability. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any responses. I plan to follow up, as I believe this audience is highly targeted and likely to find value in my DS-160 tool. I’m also thinking of reaching out to the Indian US visa expat community.

Link to the tool: https://tuixue.online/visa/

4. Sale from a Friend

I launched DS160.io to a friend, who became my very first customer. This initial sale netted me $10 for a month of work. A decent start.

5. Google Ads Campaign

I ran a Google Ads campaign with a budget of 320 AUD over two weeks, generating approximately 600 clicks. While I didn’t get any direct sales, I got 10 signups, and 4 users began filling out their DS-160 forms on the site.

This campaign provided insights around content strategy. One effective approach was providing free resources on my site (https://www.ds160.io/resources?s=tg-7-strats-blog ) and targeting them with intent driven keyword search ads. Eg targeting searches for "sample DS-160 forms." By linking directly to these resources, I saw higher engagement further down the funnel, including signups and product trials. I saw peak engagement go from 1 minute to 40 minutes on the site.

This "free resources" strategy mirrors successful tactics used by companies like Canva and Sitemate , who scaled their B2B company to ~$15M ARR using similar methods. Overall, the campaign was less about immediate conversions and more about refining the value proposition and identifying what resonates with users.

6. Bought a Visa Blog Backlink

I purchased a backlink on a visa-related blog. It took about a week for the article to be written and published, but within just 12 hours, it delivered an impressive surge in traffic, as confirmed by PostHog analytics. This backlink drove at least 200 visitors, resulting in 20 signups and 5 active users, significantly outperforming my Google Ads campaign in terms of funnel progression and was much better value I spent 50 USD on this backlink.

Beyond immediate traffic, this strategy also serves a long-term goal: improving SEO rankings for relevant keywords. According to my Search Console performance, the site is already ranking on the 3rd and 4th pages for key terms—a promising start toward greater visibility.

7. Backlink on my Personal Blog

I added a backlink on my personal blog, but with a low domain score, the results were limited. While it did generate a few visits, the audience lacked intent, leading to minimal impact overall. Here’s my blog post: https://www.thegalah.com/ds160-io-form-pilot-for-us-visas?s=tg-7-strats-blog

My Overall Stragey for 2025

I’ve started to see measurable improvements in SEO performance, as reflected in my Search Console data. Moving forward, my primary focus will be on optimizing SEO to drive more organic, high-intent traffic to DS160.io.