Podbit · The Hidden Third
After journalist Randall Sullivan followed Michelle on the Ryan Mullen case and published a piece in Wired, her phone never stopped ringing. Millionaires, news organizations, and clients from around the world started calling. One article rewrote her career.
Where this was said
At 42:14 · chapter starts 39:30
The Ryan Mullen case is what put Michelle on the map. A collection agency hired her to repossess a yacht from a man who had defrauded banks using fake checks and fabricated financial statements — and had left investigators at every level completely confused. When Michelle was already working the case, a U.S. Marshal named Chesby called to inform her that Mullen was also wanted by the federal government for stealing $2 million [1] — Michelle Gomez "Ryan Mullen had eluded law enforcement for years with fake identities, forged financial statements, and political protection. Michelle crac…" 40:00 . She immediately knew the Marshal's tip about Mullen being in the Florida Keys was wrong — she'd already called Harbor Police and confirmed he wasn't there. Following her intelligence on his three-person support triangle — a central figure, a finance man, and movers — she tracked down his finance accomplice, saw a rosary on his rearview mirror, and used his Catholic faith and his dying daughter's illness to pressure him into cooperating. The accomplice stalled her for an hour and a half to give Mullen time to escape, but Michelle and journalist Randall Sullivan raced to a Louisiana plantation, found Mullen on the deck actively untying his yacht's ropes, and arrested him. She was in shorts and flip-flops. When he demanded to know who she was, she replied: 'I'm Michelle Gomez.' His parrot was carried off repeating 'Kill 'em all' and 'Where's Mullen?' to the growing crowd.
Ryan Mullen had eluded law enforcement for years with fake identities, forged financial statements, and political protection. Michelle cracked his three-person support network, raced to a Louisiana plantation, and arrested him on his own boat — in shorts and flip-flops.
U.S. Marshal Chesby told Michelle that Ryan Eugene Mullen had stolen $2 million from the federal government and was wanted for arrest at the time she was tracking him for yacht repossession.
Every major scammer operates through a triangle: a central figure, a finance person, and movers. The moment Michelle identified Mullen's three-legged structure, she knew exactly which leg to pressure to get him. That's not luck — it's pattern recognition.
Michelle explains that experienced scammers never operate alone — they use a triangle structure with a central figure, a finance leg, and a movers leg.
SiteGPT attracted over 1 million visitors and $500K in total revenue without spending a cent on paid marketing. The secret: engineering as marketing — building free tools that rank on Google.
Bhanu quit his first job after just 8 months, moved back to his parents' house to cut costs, and started building. One product sold for $250K; the next hit $10K MRR in its first month.
90% of SiteGPT's Google search traffic comes not from the main product but from ~50 free tools Bhanu built. Each tool targets a low-competition keyword and funnels users back to the paid product.
50,000 monthly visitors become 200 leads, 60 trials, and roughly 15–24 new customers per month at ~$100 average revenue each. Add a $1,700–$1,800 LTV and you have a very healthy SaaS.
Start with a blank Ahrefs search, layer in keyword filters (include term, KD < 10, volume > 1,000), list candidates in Notion, design a CTA linking to your main product, then score by volume, difficulty, build effort, and product relevance. That's the whole playbook.
Marketing feels painful for most builders. Engineering as marketing flips the script: instead of writing cold emails or blog posts, you build things — and those things rank on Google forever.
Don't spend months perfecting before launch. Ship the core feature, get real users, and let their feedback dictate the product roadmap. Premature polish is a trap.
SiteGPT launched and hit $10,000 MRR within its first month. That momentum was so overwhelming that Bhanu sold his existing SaaS, Feather, for $250,000 to free up all his time.
PropGPT launched with 20 downloads a day and strong influencer marketing but hit a ceiling at $1,000–$2,000 MRR. High download numbers masked a critical flaw: almost nobody stuck around after the free trial ended.
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