BUILD SAAS IDEAS THAT ARE HARD TO FAIL

Mike built multiple SaaS products using the same disciplined playbook.

The objective:

1. Reduce uncertainty
2. Launch quickly
3. Charge immediately
4. Fund distribution
5. Convert momentum into recurring revenue

THE RISK-FIRST FOUNDATION

FIVE APPS, ONE OPERATING SYSTEM

The portfolio includes tools for:

1. Social media aggregation
2. Customer feedback
3. Digital signage
4. SaaS onboarding tours
5. Group e-cards

Together, the apps generate more than $200,000 in monthly recurring revenue.

START BY MINIMIZING RISK

Choose an existing market. Study proven demand. Identify weaknesses in current products. Assemble a capable founding team. Launch only the essential product.

Each decision removes another reason the business could fail.

“I LIKE TO BUILD IDEAS THAT CANNOT FAIL.”

BUILD WITH FOUR CO-FOUNDERS

Mike begins each company with four equal co-founders:

1. Front-end developer
2. Back-end developer
3. Designer
4. Product and business operator

Everyone receives 25%. Shared ownership reduces dependence on one person.

MAKE DESIGN A FOUNDING CAPABILITY

Design is part of the business model.

Every founder should think about the user experience. The product must feel clear, useful and easy to adopt.

A strong interface increases trust before the customer fully understands the technology.

REACH $10K MRR BEFORE TAKING PROFITS

The initial milestone is approximately $10,000 MRR.

At that point, recurring revenue can cover most operating expenses. Profits can then be distributed among the founders.

The model prioritizes sustainable income, small teams and long-term control.

THE 10-STEP SAAS PLAYBOOK

1. CHOOSE AN IDEA THAT ALREADY WORKS

Start with a product category that already has paying customers.

A proven market answers the first critical question: will anyone pay for this?

Your opportunity comes from improving its design, pricing, positioning or customer experience.

2. DEFINE A GOOD-ENOUGH MVP

Study competitor reviews, customer requests and common complaints.

Identify the features customers value most. Build only what is required to deliver that result.

The MVP exists to generate real usage and feedback quickly.

3. LAUNCH WITH A LIFETIME DEAL

Offer early customers lifetime access for one upfront payment.

The lifetime deal creates three assets:

1. Launch capital
2. Active users
3. Product feedback

This provides resources to improve the product before MRR becomes meaningful.

4. ALWAYS CHARGE SOMETHING

Avoid giving early accounts away for free.

Customers who pay are more likely to use the product, report problems and request improvements.

Even a small payment helps distinguish genuine demand from casual interest.

5. SELL A PRIVATE LIFETIME DEAL

Promote the offer directly through:

1. Reddit communities
2. Private Facebook groups
3. X conversations
4. Lifetime-deal communities

The goal is to recruit active customers and generate the first meaningful pool of capital.

6. START PUBLISHING CONTENT EARLY

Use early revenue to publish:

1. Landing pages
2. Educational articles
3. Competitor comparisons
4. Alternative pages
5. Use-case guides

Publishing early gives search engines and AI systems more time to discover and recommend the product.

7. EXPAND THROUGH A MARKETPLACE

Launch through AppSumo or a similar marketplace after building initial traction.

Its existing audience can produce more customers, feedback and capital.

Mike's target is to finish this phase with around $100,000 available to fund continued growth.

8. CLOSE WITH ONE FINAL OFFER

Announce one final private lifetime deal at a higher price.

Send it to the mailing list. Make the deadline clear. Close the offer permanently afterward.

This captures remaining demand before focusing fully on recurring subscriptions.

9. TURN CUSTOMERS INTO PROOF

Ask early customers to share honest experiences on Trustpilot, G2 and other relevant platforms.

Reviews create trust, strengthen search visibility and reduce uncertainty for future buyers.

Early customers can become the company's first ambassadors.

10. BUILD THE BRIDGE TO MRR

Find questions about the problem and competing products on Reddit.

Respond honestly. Explain the available options. Mention your product when it genuinely fits.

The objective is to grow MRR before the lifetime-deal capital runs out.

“IT IS NEVER TOO EARLY TO START WRITING CONTENT.”

HOW THE GROWTH ENGINE WORKS

The complete loop:

1. Proven idea reduces risk
2. MVP creates usage
3. Lifetime deals create capital
4. Content creates visibility
5. Reviews create trust
6. Community answers create demand
7. Subscriptions create sustainable MRR

FINDING IDEAS THAT CANNOT FAIL

LOOK FOR DEMAND WITH VISIBLE FRICTION

Look for competitors that already earn money despite:

1. Confusing interfaces
2. Weak customer support
3. Excessive pricing
4. Slow product development
5. Missing essential features

Their success proves demand. Their weaknesses reveal your entry point.

AVOID UNCONTROLLED DEPENDENCIES

Be cautious when the product depends completely on an external platform or API.

A pricing change, policy change or discontinued service could damage the company overnight.

Evaluate how much customer value and technology you genuinely control.

SELL TOOLS FOR NEW TRENDS

Mike sees documentation software as an opportunity because AI systems need clear product information.

The product benefits from AI adoption while maintaining independent value.

Serve durable needs created by a trend without making the trend your only foundation.

THE LEAN SAAS OPERATING SYSTEM

KEEP THE TECHNOLOGY FLEXIBLE

The technology can vary by company and team.

Front ends may use Vue or React. Back ends may use PHP and Laravel. Supporting tools can handle voice input, meeting notes and websites.

Execution speed and team capability matter more than loyalty to one stack.

PROTOTYPE BEFORE FULL PRODUCTION

The product-development flow:

1. Create a rapid prototype
2. Test the concept and interaction
3. Refine the experience in Figma
4. Build the production product

This makes product decisions cheaper and clearer before engineering resources are committed.

OPTIMIZE FOR PROFIT, NOT HEADCOUNT

Mike keeps each company deliberately lean.

The business limits unnecessary hiring and advertising expenses. More profit can then flow to the founders.

The long-term target is $1 million MRR with the smallest capable team and no external capital.

THE FOUNDER LESSONS

BUILD WITH PEOPLE YOU ENJOY

Choose co-founders you trust, respect and genuinely enjoy spending time with.

Building a company takes years. A compatible team makes difficult periods more manageable and daily work more rewarding.

Team quality includes capability and human compatibility.

BUILD SOMETHING YOU LOVE IMPROVING

The founders should care about the product, its details and the people it serves.

That interest sustains the work after the excitement of launching disappears.

A durable SaaS combines customer demand, founder capability and genuine enthusiasm.

“CREATE SOMETHING THAT YOU LOVE BUILDING AS WELL.”

THE COMPLETE SAAS FORMULA

The formula:

1. Enter a proven market
2. Solve visible customer friction
3. Build a focused MVP
4. Charge from the beginning
5. Use lifetime deals for capital
6. Invest in content and reviews
7. Convert attention into MRR
8. Stay lean and retain control

BUILD A BUSINESS THAT FITS YOUR LIFE

Will built two iOS apps generating more than $10,000 a month combined.

His method combines proven markets, a visually clear feature, personalized onboarding and paid advertising.

The goal is to create a profitable business that requires limited ongoing effort.

THE BUSINESS BEHIND THE METHOD

TWO APPS, ONE PRODUCT PATTERN

1. Overlow
A fitness app for logging workouts with a body-scanning feature. It generates around $800 a month.

2. Glowly
An appearance app that scans a face and suggests improvements. It generates around $10,000 a month.

Both connect a personal desire with an immediate result.

FREELANCING FUNDED HIS EXPERIMENTS

Will tried dropshipping, selling likes and followers and an NFT project before finding freelance web design.

Selling his design skills generated money he could invest in new products.

That income allowed him to test multiple ideas until he found something that worked.

DESIGN FOR LOW OPERATING EFFORT

“MAXIMIZE THE MONEY I MAKE WHILE MINIMIZING THE EFFORT REQUIRED.”

KNOW WHAT YOU WANT FROM THE BUSINESS

Will wants time for the gym, friends and games alongside his business.

Influencer programs required creator coordination, payment management and difficult attribution.

Paid advertising suited him because he could create assets, measure results and keep successful campaigns running.

BUILD, GROW, SELL, REPEAT

Will’s preferred cycle:

1. Build a focused app.
2. Prove customers will pay.
3. Grow it to meaningful revenue.
4. Sell it to someone who can scale it.
5. Start another product.

He enjoys the early stages of building, testing and proving an idea.

CHOOSE AN IDEA PEOPLE CAN GRASP

TURN YOUR SOCIAL FEED INTO RESEARCH

Instagram and TikTok are live databases of what people want, discuss and share.

Observe:

1. Problems that appear repeatedly.
2. Transformations people desire.
3. Products already receiving attention.
4. Content formats that create engagement.

These signals can guide both product and marketing.

IMPROVE SOMETHING THAT ALREADY WORKS

Will approaches app creation like a designer.

He studies products that already work and finds ways to improve their design, positioning or user experience.

This reduces category risk because customers understand the problem and existing competitors have demonstrated demand.

USE THE ONE-SCREENSHOT TEST

Will only works on an app when its main feature can be explained in one screenshot.

Ask:

1. Can someone understand the feature immediately?
2. Is the result visually clear?
3. Does it connect to something people want?
4. Would someone feel motivated to share the result?

SELL A TRANSFORMATION

A feature becomes valuable when it helps users move toward a desired result.

The body or face scan creates curiosity. The personalized result connects that curiosity to improvement.

Complete this sentence:

After using this feature, the user will understand or achieve ______.

BUILD THE PATH TO PAYMENT

THINK IN FUNNELS

The customer journey has several connected stages:

1. The advertisement earns attention.
2. The app delivers the initial promise.
3. Onboarding collects useful information.
4. Personalization demonstrates value.
5. The paywall presents the paid transformation.

A weak stage reduces everything after it.

USE ONBOARDING TO BUILD THE STORY

Will uses 12 to 15 onboarding steps before showing the paywall.

The onboarding collects information, explains the problem and prepares a personalized insight.

By the time users reach the payment decision, they have invested attention and received evidence that the app understands them.

MAKE PERSONALIZATION USEFUL

Personalization should create a result that feels relevant to each user.

Every onboarding question should help:

1. Understand the user.
2. Produce a better result.
3. Recommend a useful next step.
4. Strengthen the value of the paid offer.

Remove questions that do not support these outcomes.

TEST AND SCALE PAID ADVERTISING

MAKE ADS FEEL NATIVE

Will creates advertisements that resemble normal TikTok content.

His structure:

1. Open with an interesting hook.
2. Avoid introducing the app too early.
3. Bring the app naturally into the story.
4. Show the core feature in action.
5. Connect the result to the viewer’s desire.

CREATE VARIATIONS, THEN MEASURE

Will creates 10 to 20 videos, often using variations of the same format.

The testing loop:

1. Create different hooks and demonstrations.
2. Run them as paid advertisements.
3. Measure acquired subscriptions.
4. Stop weak creatives.
5. Produce more variations of winning formats.

KNOW YOUR ACQUISITION ECONOMICS

Will reports paying around $16 for each subscription while generating a customer lifetime value of around $30 to $35.

This creates an estimated LTV-to-acquisition-cost ratio of around 1.9 to 2.2.

Founders must also consider refunds, platform fees, infrastructure and operating costs.

SCALE WINNERS GRADUALLY

When Will finds a successful advertisement, he increases the budget by 20% every three days until performance reaches its limit.

Some winning advertisements continue working for four or five months.

Increase spending while customer value continues to justify the acquisition cost.

KEEP THE TOOL STACK LEAN

Will uses a focused tool stack:

1. A development tool to build the app.
2. RevenueCat to manage subscriptions.
3. AppsFlyer to measure acquisition.

Use the smallest stack that can build the product, collect revenue and connect advertising to customer results.

STARTUP LESSONS

“START SIMPLE. HAVE SMALL WINS AND BUILD YOURSELF UP.”

START WITH PROVEN DEMAND

Will entered categories where popular apps already existed.

Existing competitors provide evidence that people understand the problem and may pay for a solution.

Your job is to find a specific angle, create a stronger experience and prove that your version can convert and retain customers.

KNOW WHAT YOUR EXPERIMENT PROVES

A popular category suggests that market demand exists.

A successful advertisement proves that a message can acquire users.

Paid subscriptions prove that some users will buy.

Retention and customer lifetime value show whether the product can support sustainable growth.

BUILD AN AUDIENCE WHILE YOU BUILD

Will recommends learning from successful builders and sharing your progress publicly.

Post your experiments, decisions, mistakes and small wins.

Over time, this creates a personal brand that helps people understand your judgment, discover your products and connect with your work.

USE AI TO REMOVE HEAVY WORK

AI can help founders:

1. Generate advertising concepts.
2. Produce creative variations.
3. Write hooks and scripts.
4. Analyze campaign results.
5. Accelerate product development.

Use the saved time to improve customer understanding, product decisions and distribution.

THE LAZY METHOD WORKFLOW

1. Find a recurring desire in a proven market.
2. Create one visually clear feature.
3. Build a focused product.
4. Personalize the onboarding.
5. Test multiple advertising creatives.
6. Measure acquisition cost and customer value.
7. Scale the winners.
8. Simplify operations for ownership or sale.

THE REAL MEANING OF LAZY

The lazy method means removing unnecessary work from the business.

Choose proven demand. Build fewer features. Use measurable distribution. Automate repetitive tasks. Keep the tool stack focused.

The objective is a business where each hour, feature and dollar has a clear purpose.

HOW STELLA CROSSED $300K MRR

Sarah Pearl launched Stella, a personalized manifestation app.

According to the interview, Stella crossed $300,000 MRR within roughly 2 months of launch.

The bigger lesson is not manifestation.

It is how she combined distribution, audience insight, AI and speed.

THE NUMBERS

Sarah shared these numbers during the interview:

1. $300K+ MRR in about 2 months
2. Around $350K–$360K MRR at interview time
3. 12,000 paying customers
4. 200,000+ downloads

Her existing personal brand became a powerful distribution advantage.

WHAT STELLA DOES

Users tell Stella their dreams, desires and goals.

The app then creates personalized visualizations they can listen to, framed from the perspective of their future self.

It also generates personalized daily affirmations based on what that individual wants to achieve.

WHY THE IDEA WORKED

START WITH YOUR OWN PROBLEM

Sarah already listened to meditations and visualization content.

She noticed something missing:

Most content was generic.

She wanted visualizations specifically about her exact goals.

That personal frustration became the starting point for Stella.

AI MADE PERSONALIZATION POSSIBLE

The idea became practical because AI could dynamically generate content for each user.

Instead of recording one meditation for everyone, Stella could create something around one person's exact ambitions.

The product existed because a previously expensive capability became accessible.

SIMPLE CAN BE POWERFUL

Stella's core experience is relatively focused:

1. Tell the app what you want
2. Receive personalized visualizations
3. Receive personalized affirmations
4. Return regularly

The lesson: depth around one useful experience can be more valuable than a product overloaded with features.

BUILD BACKWARDS

MOST FOUNDERS START WITH PRODUCT

Sarah describes her approach as working backwards.

Most founders:

Idea → Product → Launch → Find customers

Her approach:

Content → Audience → Problems → Product

She first learns what people respond to, then builds something that naturally fits that demand.

CONTENT IS MARKET RESEARCH

Publishing content creates a continuous research loop.

Watch:

1. What gets attention?
2. What gets saved?
3. What gets shared?
4. What questions appear repeatedly?
5. What do people wish existed?

Those signals can reveal product opportunities before you write code.

READ THE COMMENTS

Sarah specifically recommends watching what people say in comments.

Comments such as:

'I wish this existed.'

'How do I do this?'

'I'm struggling with this.'

can become product clues.

Instead of guessing demand privately, founders can observe problems publicly.

BUILD A PRODUCT THAT FITS THE CONTENT

Sarah asks a powerful question after content performs:

What product could naturally be inserted into this content?

The ideal product makes the viewer think:

'I need to close this app and download that right now.'

The product becomes the natural next step after consuming the content.

VIRALITY IS A SKILL

YOU DO NOT NEED TO START FAMOUS

Sarah argues that the important asset is not simply having followers.

It is knowing how to repeatedly create attention.

She describes virality as a learnable skill.

Once someone understands how to generate attention, they can potentially rebuild an audience around new accounts, ideas or products.

HER VIRAL CONTENT SYSTEM

Sarah's basic process:

1. Choose a niche
2. Find the most viral content
3. Study why people respond
4. Understand the psychology behind it
5. Create your own versions
6. Repeat successful formats

Do not reinvent the format every day.

WHEN SOMETHING WORKS, REPEAT IT

Sarah says she has recreated the same successful content concepts for years.

Creators often believe every post needs to be completely new.

Her approach is different:

If a format repeatedly gets attention and converts, continue refining and reproducing it.

DESIGN CONTENT TO BE SAVED

One tactic Sarah uses is making content people naturally want to save.

Example:

'Repeat these affirmations for 7 days.'

The viewer immediately has a reason to save the post and return later.

That behavior creates engagement while also increasing the usefulness of the content.

SHARES AND SAVES MATTER

Sarah emphasizes content that naturally produces saves or shares.

Instead of asking only:

'Will someone watch this?'

ask:

1. Will someone save it?
2. Will someone send it?
3. Will someone revisit it?
4. Will someone act after watching?

Virality starts with user behavior.

CONTENT → CONVERSION

SHOW THE PRODUCT IN CONTEXT

Sarah says content sometimes performs worse when she merely mentions Stella.

The stronger approach is to show the exact use case.

Someone sees the problem.

Then they immediately see Stella solving it.

The distance between curiosity and understanding becomes much shorter.

THE AFFIRMATION VIDEO

One successful format:

1. Sarah delivers memorable affirmations
2. Someone asks how to remember them
3. Stella becomes the answer
4. The app provides custom daily affirmations

The promotion feels connected to the content because the product resolves the problem created by the video.

VIRALITY AND CONVERSION ARE DIFFERENT

A video can generate huge views without producing many customers.

Another video can receive fewer views yet drive more downloads.

Sarah describes the need to balance:

Viral content → maximum attention

Conversion content → clear product use case

A strong content system needs both.

BUILD THE FUNNEL INTO CONTENT

Sarah also uses automated Instagram flows through ManyChat.

Example:

1. Viewer watches content
2. Viewer comments a keyword
3. Automation responds
4. User receives the offer
5. User downloads Stella

Content does not end with views. It should create a path toward action.

SPEED IS THE ADVANTAGE

BUILD THE MVP FAST

Sarah says speed is one of the most important ingredients in the app market.

Her early Stella MVP was created in roughly 2 days.

The complete product took around 2–3 months.

The goal of the MVP was not perfection.

It was to discover whether the idea had real potential.

AI REMOVES THE TECHNICAL BOTTLENECK

Sarah mentions tools such as Claude Code, Claude, Google AI Studio and Cursor.

Her larger point is more important than the specific tools:

AI dramatically reduces the technical barrier to creating software.

People with strong ideas and distribution can now move much faster toward working products.

SPEED CREATES MORE LEARNING

Fast building matters because every launch generates information.

Faster MVP → Faster users → Faster feedback → Faster iteration

Waiting months for perfection delays the most valuable information:

Whether real people actually want what you are building.

DISTRIBUTION IS THE NEW MOAT

CREATORS HAVE A NEW ADVANTAGE

The interview argues that software development is becoming much more accessible because of AI.

That increases the value of skills such as:

1. Understanding an audience
2. Creating attention
3. Building trust
4. Creating community
5. Knowing what people actually want

THE BEST PRODUCT MAY NOT WIN

Sarah summarizes her view with a distribution-first principle:

The best product does not automatically win.

The best-known product can have a major advantage.

A technically excellent app with no distribution may remain invisible, while a useful product with strong distribution can scale rapidly.

PERSONAL BRAND REDUCES FRICTION

Sarah already had a large audience before Stella launched.

Her followers knew her manifestation content and trusted her perspective.

That meant Stella was not appearing from an unknown company.

The product was an extension of a relationship that already existed between creator and audience.

CREATORS CAN SEE DIFFERENT PROBLEMS

Sarah believes many consumer opportunities remain invisible to traditional app builders.

People deeply involved in a community understand problems outsiders may never notice.

That creates an advantage:

Live inside the problem → understand the audience → notice the gap → build the solution.

INNOVATE, DO NOT ONLY COPY

STELLA FILLED A GAP

Sarah believes one reason Stella grew quickly was that she was not simply cloning another app.

She combined:

Existing behavior: manifestation and visualization

New capability: AI personalization

Distribution: her content audience

The result was a product that felt familiar and new at the same time.

LOOK FOR UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

Sarah's advice to app founders is to invent something that solves a problem that has not been properly solved before.

Start with:

1. What people already do
2. What frustrates them
3. What they wish existed
4. What new technology now makes possible

The intersection can reveal the opportunity.

DO NOT FEAR CRITICISM

Sarah discusses receiving criticism online, including criticism around using AI.

Her response was to reframe it.

Controversial videos sometimes became her strongest-performing content.

Her lesson is not to manufacture outrage, but to avoid allowing criticism to stop experimentation and publishing.

THE STELLA PLAYBOOK

1. Pick a niche you understand
2. Create content consistently
3. Study what becomes viral
4. Read comments for problems
5. Find an unmet need
6. Build a fast MVP with AI
7. Insert the product naturally into content
8. Track conversion
9. Repeat what works
10. Improve the product from real feedback

THE BIG SHIFT

Software used to require significant technical skill, time and capital.

AI is reducing that barrier.

As building gets easier, other advantages become more important:

Audience.
Trust.
Taste.
Insight.
Storytelling.
Distribution.

Knowing what to build may become more valuable than knowing how to code every part yourself.

DON'T ASK: WHAT APP SHOULD I BUILD?

A better starting question is:

'What problem keeps appearing inside the audience I understand?'

Create content.
Watch behavior.
Read comments.
Notice repeated frustrations.

Then build the product that feels like the obvious next step.

Distribution can reveal the product.

CONTENT → INSIGHT → PRODUCT → GROWTH

Stella's story can be reduced to one system:

CONTENT
creates attention.

ATTENTION
creates audience insight.

INSIGHT
reveals product opportunities.

AI
makes building faster.

PRODUCT
solves the observed problem.

CONTENT
then becomes distribution again.

The loop keeps compounding.

FROM ZERO TO $25K/MONTH

Kian was 21, still in college, and had never shipped a product before.

Within about 5 months, his first project reached:

1. 100,000+ users
2. ~$25K revenue in 4 weeks
3. 1,400 new subscribers in 3 months
4. A growing web + mobile business

THE BUSINESS IS SURPRISINGLY SIMPLE

Tone Adapt does one narrow job:

Help guitarists sound like their favorite songs.

Users enter their guitar, amp and gear, choose a song, and the app recommends the settings needed to recreate that tone.

The value proposition can be understood in seconds.

THE CORE PLAYBOOK

THE FORMULA

The business followed a simple sequence:

1. Start with a hobby
2. Notice your own problem
3. Confirm others have it
4. Build V1 fast
5. Charge immediately
6. Post every day
7. Find winning content
8. Repeat the winner aggressively

START WITH SOMETHING YOU ALREADY KNOW

Kian had been playing guitar almost every day for more than a year.

That mattered.

He already understood:

• The language
• The equipment
• The frustrations
• What guitarists wanted

He did not need to invent a customer persona. He was the customer.

LOOK FOR SMALL FRICTION

The opportunity was not "reinvent learning guitar."

It was much smaller:

"How do I make my guitar sound like this song?"

Good niche products often begin with:

• Slow processes
• Inaccurate answers
• Repetitive work
• Missing convenience
• Something you repeatedly wish existed

THE IDEA

HE WAS ALREADY USING CHATGPT

Before Tone Adapt existed, Kian was asking ChatGPT how to reproduce guitar tones.

It worked imperfectly.

That revealed an opportunity:

People were already trying to solve the problem.

The behavior existed.

The dedicated product did not.

DON'T SEARCH FOR IDEAS

A useful question is not:

"What app should I build?"

Ask:

"What annoying thing do I repeatedly do inside a hobby, job or industry I already understand?"

Your current workaround may be the product opportunity.

CONFIRM OTHER PEOPLE FEEL IT

Kian talked with other guitarists through Reddit, Instagram and comment sections.

They had the same problem.

He did not run months of formal research.

The signal was simple:

"I have this problem, and people like me have it too."

SMALL PROBLEMS CAN SERVE BIG MARKETS

A problem does not need to affect everyone.

A tiny problem shared by thousands of people can become a meaningful business.

You need:

Small problem
×
Enough people
×
Enough pain
×
Willingness to pay

BUILDING V1

BUILD THE SIMPLEST USEFUL VERSION

Kian built his first version during Thanksgiving break.

It took about one week.

It was also the first complete product he had ever built.

The goal was not technical perfection.

The goal was to make the core outcome work.

AI COLLAPSED THE BUILDING COST

Kian said every line of the original project was generated through AI-assisted coding.

His stack included:

• Supabase
• Vercel
• Stripe
• Mailgun
• OpenAI API
• Tavily API

AI made building dramatically faster, even for a first-time founder.

WEB FIRST

His advice:

Ship V1 on the web first.

Why?

1. Faster to build
2. Faster to change
3. Easier to test demand
4. You can charge immediately
5. Customer feedback guides the next version

The mobile app came after the web product proved itself.

DON'T POLISH BEFORE PROOF

His launch philosophy was simple:

Do not spend days choosing logos, polishing screens or adding unnecessary features.

Build the useful core.

Publish it.

Charge money.

Real users will tell you what deserves improvement.

THE PRODUCT

INPUT YOUR OWN GEAR

Tone Adapt asks users what equipment they actually own.

Users can select:

• Guitar
• Amplifier
• Built-in effects
• Pedals

Its database includes more than 1,500 guitars and 2,000 amps, covering a large range of possible setups.

SEARCH ANY SONG

The user chooses a song they want to sound like.

The app researches the original tone and provides information such as:

1. Guitar
2. Pickups
3. Amplifier
4. Estimated amp settings
5. Effects
6. Pedals

THE MAGIC IS ADAPTATION

The strongest feature is not showing what equipment the artist used.

It translates that sound into settings for the user's existing equipment.

That turns information into an actionable answer:

"Given what I own, tell me exactly what to do."

MONETIZATION

CHARGE FOR THE RESULT

Tone Adapt monetized through subscriptions.

The interview mentioned pricing around:

• $10 per week
• ~$60 per year

The customer is paying for speed and convenience:

Instead of researching equipment and experimenting manually, the app gives an answer in under 30 seconds.

THE REVENUE PROOF

During the interview, Kian showed approximately:

• $11.5K web revenue over 4 weeks
• $14K mobile revenue over 4 weeks
• 397 active mobile subscribers
• $45K web revenue over 3 months
• 1,400 new subscribers over 3 months

DISTRIBUTION

BUILDING WASN'T THE BREAKTHROUGH

A useful app does not automatically get customers.

Kian's major advantage was distribution.

Before building Tone Adapt, he had already created UGC for brands.

That taught him how social content attracts attention.

He combined product building with content creation.

THE FIRST VIDEO WENT VIRAL

His first Tone Adapt video went viral overnight.

The important lesson was what happened next.

He did not depend on one viral hit.

He treated the winning video as evidence that a content format worked and started repeating the process.

POST 3 TIMES A DAY

His marketing system was aggressive:

1. Post about 3 times per day
2. Repost across multiple platforms
3. Use Instagram
4. Use TikTok
5. Use YouTube
6. Use Facebook

More attempts created more chances to discover formats that converted.

SHOW YOUR FACE

Kian put his face behind the brand immediately.

Users could watch him:

• Build the product
• Improve features
• Add gear
• Respond to feedback
• Grow the business

The product became a journey people could follow rather than an anonymous utility.

YES, THE FIRST VIDEO FELT EMBARRASSING

Kian said his first video felt embarrassing and some friends made fun of it.

After publishing it, that fear quickly disappeared.

The lesson:

The psychological barrier to posting is often strongest before the first post, not after it.

THE CONTENT SYSTEM

SHOW THE PRODUCT WORKING

One of Kian's recommendations was to show the product solving the problem in real time.

For Tone Adapt, that is naturally visual:

Song → gear → recommended settings → desired guitar tone.

A strong product demo compresses the value proposition into seconds.

POST BEFORE YOU KNOW WHAT WORKS

Do not wait until you understand the perfect content strategy.

Posting creates the data.

Each post teaches you:

• Which hook stops attention
• Which demo gets clicks
• Which format converts
• Which message fails

You discover the strategy by publishing.

FIND ONE WINNER

Once one piece of content converts, it becomes a template.

Instead of constantly inventing new concepts:

Keep the structure.

Change the song.
Change the hook.
Change the example.
Change the opening.

Repeat the proven mechanism with small variations.

REMAKE THE WINNER 50 TIMES

Kian's playbook becomes aggressive after discovering a winner:

1. Remake the format repeatedly
2. Create small variations
3. Hire UGC creators
4. Produce dozens of versions
5. Put ad spend behind winners
6. Continue until performance fades

RIDE THE FORMAT UNTIL IT DIES

Founders often get bored with a message before the market does.

His approach:

Winner → repeat → amplify → distribute → advertise → repeat again.

When performance eventually declines, search for the next winner and run the system again.

WHY THIS MATTERS NOW

AI MAKES BUILDING CHEAP

AI coding tools are reducing the skill, time and cost required to create software.

That means more people can build apps.

As creation becomes easier, simply having a functioning product becomes less differentiated.

The scarce resource shifts toward attention.

THE FUTURE IS A SEA OF APPS

If everyone can build software quickly, customers will face thousands of similar products.

The winner may not be the person who can code best.

The winner may be the founder who can repeatedly:

Build → explain → demonstrate → distribute → earn trust.

CONTENT IS A FOUNDER SKILL

Kian's final advice was to start posting on social media even before having a product.

Why?

Creating content teaches:

• Communication
• Hooks
• Storytelling
• Distribution
• Audience understanding
• Trust building

Those skills compound before your next product exists.

THE $25K/MONTH PLAYBOOK

STEP 1 — PICK YOUR WORLD

Pick something you already understand deeply.

Examples:

• Guitar
• Running
• Photography
• Cooking
• Accounting
• Real estate
• Design
• Gaming

Do not begin with technology.

Begin with a world where you understand the user's daily reality.

STEP 2 — FIND ONE ANNOYANCE

Write down things that regularly make you say:

"This takes too long."

"Why isn't there a tool for this?"

"I always have to search for this."

"The existing answer is inaccurate."

"I keep doing this manually."

One repeated annoyance can be enough.

STEP 3 — FIND PEOPLE LIKE YOU

Search communities where similar people already gather.

Read:

• Reddit threads
• Comments
• Forums
• Facebook groups
• Discord communities
• YouTube comments

You are looking for repeated evidence that the same problem appears naturally.

STEP 4 — BUILD THE CORE OUTCOME

Build only enough functionality to produce the promised result.

For Tone Adapt:

Input gear + choose song → receive settings.

That is the core.

Authentication, branding, dashboards and extra features matter only after the central job works.

STEP 5 — PUT A PRICE ON IT

Do not validate only with compliments.

Ask the market for money.

A payment answers a much stronger question:

Not:
"Do people think this is cool?"

But:
"Is this problem important enough that someone will pay to solve it?"

STEP 6 — POST EVERY DAY

Turn marketing into a daily operating system.

Publish the problem.
Publish the demo.
Publish the result.
Publish customer reactions.
Publish improvements.
Publish the founder journey.

Attention should grow alongside the product, not after the product is finished.

STEP 7 — SCALE SIGNALS

When a post clearly generates more views, clicks, signups or purchases:

Do not merely celebrate it.

Study it.

Identify:

1. Hook
2. Format
3. Demo
4. Story
5. CTA

Then build variations around the winning structure.

THE BIG LESSON

Tone Adapt did not need to become the ultimate guitar platform.

It solved one specific problem extremely clearly.

That is the bigger opportunity AI creates:

Thousands of narrow problems that were previously too small or expensive to build software for can now become viable products.

BUILD SMALL. DISTRIBUTE BIG.

You do not need a revolutionary idea.

You need:

A problem you understand.
A customer you understand.
A simple useful solution.
A fast way to ship.
A willingness to charge.
And relentless distribution.

The product can start tiny.

The audience does not have to.

THE BUSINESS AT A GLANCE

Live Tourney helps golf courses run tournaments.

At the time of the interview:

1. ~150 golf courses had started using it
2. ~US$350K ARR
3. Early-year performance implied an ~US$800K run rate
4. Matt was still employed full-time at Meta

FINDING THE SAAS IDEA

THE IDEA CAME FROM A REAL PROBLEM

Matt played tournaments at his local golf course and noticed they were not using digital scoring.

He knew Golf Genius existed, so he asked the golf pro why they did not use it.

The answer: it was too complicated and too expensive.

THAT COMPLAINT BECAME THE OPPORTUNITY

Instead of inventing a market, Matt found a gap inside an existing one.

The customer already wanted tournament software.

The problem was the current option did not fit them.

His opportunity: build something simpler, easier, and better suited to the course.

HE BUILT FOR THE FIRST EVENT

Matt built the first version for an actual tournament around four years earlier.

It began as a nights-and-weekends project.

He was not building a theoretical startup.

He had a real event, real users, and a clear job the software needed to do.

OBSESSION HELPED HIM KEEP GOING

Matt said he would wake up wanting to build, and often wanted to keep improving it before going to sleep.

That energy mattered.

A side project competes with your job, family, rest, and free time.

Caring about the problem made the long build sustainable.

HOW THE PRODUCT WORKS

THE PRODUCT IS VERY FOCUSED

The workflow is intentionally simple:

1. Players receive a scorecard
2. They scan a QR code
3. They select their group
4. They enter scores during the round
5. The leaderboard updates in real time

THE VALUE IS EASY TO UNDERSTAND

The product does not try to become everything for golf.

It solves one operational problem: tournament scoring.

For the course, it simplifies running the event.

For players, it makes scoring and leaderboard tracking easy from a phone.

THE TECH STACK STAYED PRACTICAL

Matt built Live Tourney as a web app.

Tech stack mentioned in the interview:

1. Next.js for rendering
2. Google Firebase for the backend

The important part was not exotic technology. It was shipping software that solved a specific customer problem.

BUILDING WHILE EMPLOYED

KEEP BOTH AS LONG AS POSSIBLE

Matt planned to keep his Meta job and the SaaS running together for as long as it remained sustainable.

That gave him:

1. Salary
2. Benefits
3. Lower financial pressure
4. Time to grow gradually
5. Proof before taking a bigger risk

TWO FULL-TIME LIVES HAVE A LIMIT

Eventually, maintaining both stopped being sustainable.

Matt was balancing:

1. A senior engineering role
2. A growing SaaS
3. Two young children
4. Early mornings and late-night product work

The business had become too real to remain a side project forever.

HIS SIDE-PROJECT SCHEDULE

His advice for people building while employed was simple: set aside dedicated time.

For Matt, that meant roughly 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

He did not wait for free time to appear.

He created a repeatable block where the business could move forward every day.

THE SIDE JOB WAS ALSO VALIDATION

Before leaving Meta, Matt had already proven several things:

1. Customers would pay
2. The product delivered value
3. Revenue could grow
4. He could acquire customers
5. He could stay productive while independently building the startup

THE DECISION TO QUIT META

THE FIRST EMOTION WAS FEAR

Matt described the decision as frightening.

A Meta job offered strong income and a comfortable life.

Going full-time on Live Tourney meant giving up a predictable path for something he controlled—but something that could also fail.

JOB SECURITY WAS NOT ABSOLUTE

Matt had been at Meta for six years and had seen multiple rounds of layoffs.

He had not been affected, but the experience changed how he viewed security.

A salary can feel stable, yet employment is never completely guaranteed.

HIS HEART WAS ALREADY IN THE SAAS

Matt said that when he thought about what gave him energy in the morning and where he wanted to spend his time, the answer was Live Tourney.

He could see a path from a small SaaS into a legitimate, meaningful company.

That made the opportunity hard to ignore.

THE QUESTION WAS BIGGER THAN MONEY

Financially, staying at Meta could still look rational.

But Matt had started the business to create freedom, build his own thing, and show his children that they could create their own path.

The decision became about ownership, time, identity, and ambition.

HOW TO FIND A SAAS IDEA

START WHERE YOU ALREADY CARE

Matt's advice for finding an idea:

1. Start with something you care about
2. Look for what feels broken
3. Find a way to make it better
4. Build and test it

His golf SaaS worked partly because he understood and enjoyed the world he was building for.

DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE IS AN ADVANTAGE

Someone who plays golf notices golf workflow problems.

Someone outside the niche may only see 'software for golf courses.'

Being close to the customer helps you recognize pain, language, behavior, and buying context that outsiders may overlook.

THE FIRST INTERNET DOLLAR CHANGES YOU

Matt described his first customer and first online revenue as a major mental shift.

The code was no longer only a project.

A stranger was paying for something he built.

That proved the software created enough value for someone to exchange money for it.

SEEING REAL USERS IS EVEN BETTER

One of the most fulfilling moments was visiting a customer location and watching people use the product.

Some users would never know who built it.

That is the power of software: something created by one person can quietly improve the experience of many strangers.

THE FINAL DECISION

THREE WEEKS LATER: HE WENT ALL IN

After thinking it through, Matt decided to leave Meta and work on Live Tourney full-time.

His reasoning was straightforward:

This was what he had wanted from the beginning.

The real question was whether the business was ready.

He decided it finally was.

HE WAS NOT FORCED OUT

Meta had recently gone through layoffs, but Matt was not laid off.

He was leaving a job he still had, not reacting to losing it.

His manager was supportive—and as a golfer, understood why Matt was excited about the business.

FAMILY WAS PART OF THE DECISION

Matt had a wife and two children, so quitting was not an individual decision.

His wife supported the move.

Going full-time also created another kind of flexibility: he could choose his hours, help at home, and spend time with his children during the day.

NOW THE CONSTRAINT CHANGES

Before quitting, the problem was lack of time.

After quitting, the challenge becomes how to use a full day effectively.

Matt wanted to focus more on growth, be more public about what he was building, and discover how to make each day move the company forward.

THE FOUNDER PLAYBOOK

THE LIVE TOURNEY PLAYBOOK

1. Live inside a niche
2. Notice an expensive or frustrating problem
3. Build for one real use case
4. Keep the first product focused
5. Sell before quitting
6. Use salary to reduce pressure
7. Protect daily build time
8. Go full-time when traction and capacity justify it

DO NOT QUIT JUST TO FEEL LIKE A FOUNDER

The strongest part of Matt's story is not that he quit Meta.

It is that he built before quitting.

By the time he went full-time, he already had customers, revenue, product usage, and evidence of demand.

The leap still carried risk, but it was an informed risk.

BUILD ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO EARN THE LEAP

A side project can become a business when three things compound:

1. You understand the problem deeply
2. Customers repeatedly pay for the solution
3. The opportunity becomes large enough that limited time is now the bottleneck

Then going all in becomes a business decision—not only a dream.

$100K/MONTH FROM A HEIGHT APP

Michael is a 20-year-old college student who built Go Tall, a height prediction and self-improvement app.

The result:
• ~1 million total downloads
• ~$100K average monthly revenue
• iOS + Android
• Subscription business

The surprising lesson: the idea did not need to look sophisticated to become valuable.

THE BUSINESS IN ONE PAGE

Go Tall attracts teenagers with one powerful question:

“How tall will I become?”

Users enter information about height, parents, puberty and habits. The app generates a prediction, then expands into sleep, nutrition, stretching and growth tracking.

Prediction gets the user in. Ongoing habits create the subscription.

1. FIND THE IDEA

HE LOOKED FOR PROVEN IDEAS

Michael did not begin with a breakthrough invention.

He searched marketplaces such as Acquire.com looking for apps that were already working.

He found a similar height-related app listed for around $20,000.

That mattered because somebody had already demonstrated that this category could become a real business.

THEN HE CONNECTED IT TO HIMSELF

Michael remembered that when he was around 13, he had searched Google for things such as height calculators.

That gave him another signal:

1. The problem already existed.
2. He personally understood the curiosity.
3. Young people were actively searching for answers.

The idea was simple, but the desire behind it was real.

EXISTING COMPETITION WAS A GOOD SIGN

Many founders abandon an idea when they discover competitors.

Michael saw competition differently.

If calorie trackers can still make money while huge calorie apps already exist, then a category is not automatically finished.

The opportunity can come from:
• Better positioning
• Better marketing
• Better onboarding
• A different audience

2. VALIDATE REAL DEMAND

THE FIRST SALE CAME IN TWO DAYS

Two days after launching, Go Tall already made its first sale.

Michael had not generated huge traffic yet.

That made the signal more important.

If a small number of viewers can already produce a paying customer, demand may be stronger than the traffic numbers suggest.

Before chasing scale, first prove that somebody is willing to pay.

TIKTOK COMMENTS BECAME RESEARCH

Michael studied TikTok videos about height.

The comments were full of messages such as:

“I’m 15 and six feet tall.”
“My mom is this tall.”
“My dad is this tall.”
“How tall will I become?”

People were voluntarily sharing personal information because they wanted an answer.

That behavior revealed real demand.

DMS WERE AN EVEN STRONGER SIGNAL

Michael began receiving roughly 10–20 DMs per day asking for height predictions.

That is stronger than passive engagement.

A like says:
“That was interesting.”

A DM says:
“Please solve this for me.”

One useful startup test is therefore simple:

Are people actively asking you for the outcome your product provides?

CARE BEFORE VIRALITY

One of the biggest lessons from Go Tall is that an idea does not need to go viral before you know it has potential.

People simply need to care deeply enough.

Watch for:
1. Questions
2. Repeated comments
3. DMs
4. Requests
5. Early purchases

Strong intent from 100 people can be more valuable than weak attention from 100,000.

3. FIND THE HUMAN NEED

HEIGHT IS NOT THE REAL PRODUCT

The functional product is a height prediction.

The emotional product can be much bigger.

Users may connect height with:
• Confidence
• Appearance
• Social status
• Attraction
• Belonging
• Self-improvement

The stronger the emotional meaning behind an outcome, the more attention people may give to solving it.

USE HUMAN NEEDS AS AN IDEA FILTER

Michael evaluates ideas by asking whether they connect to fundamental human needs.

For Go Tall, he saw connections to:

1. Esteem — wanting confidence or respect.
2. Love & belonging — believing appearance may affect attraction or relationships.

The principle: products become more compelling when they connect to desires people already carry.

LOOK WHERE PAIN IS PERSISTENT

The interview repeatedly points toward categories where people already experience strong problems.

Examples:

A. Health — body, sleep, nutrition, fitness.
B. Wealth — income, career, money.
C. Relationships — dating, family, belonging.
D. Self-improvement — confidence, appearance, performance.

You are looking for recurring desire, not temporary curiosity.

4. CRACK DISTRIBUTION FIRST

HE MADE 10 TIKTOKS EVERY DAY

Michael spent roughly one month experimenting heavily with content.

His approach was simple:

Create around 10 TikToks every day.

The goal was not perfection.
The goal was pattern discovery.

Every post created another test:
• Hook
• Format
• Topic
• Comment angle
• Conversion

High output compressed the learning cycle.

THE WINNING FORMAT WAS SIMPLE

One of Michael's first viral formats came directly from the comments.

Someone shared their age, height and parents' heights.

Michael replied with a video predicting their future height.

This worked because the content already contained:

1. A real person
2. A question
3. Suspense
4. A personalized answer
5. A natural connection to the app

ONE CHANNEL MADE ATTRIBUTION EASY

At the beginning, Michael had one main format and one main distribution channel.

That simplicity made attribution easier.

He could estimate:

100K views → X downloads → X trials → X customers → X revenue.

Once you understand this chain, marketing becomes less mysterious.

You can start calculating how much attention is worth buying.

PROVE THE FORMAT CAN BE REPEATED

Michael tested the format on multiple accounts.

His own additional accounts worked.
His girlfriend tried it and her account worked too.

This was important.

If only the founder can make the content succeed, scaling is difficult.

If other people can reproduce the result, you may have discovered a repeatable distribution system.

TURN THE FORMAT INTO UGC

Once the format was proven, Michael began contacting creators.

He says he DM'd around 50 people per day.

The pitch was simple:

“Would you make this type of video? It is easy.”

Because the format was straightforward, creators could produce it cheaply.

Now content production was no longer limited by Michael's personal time.

THE GROWTH LADDER

The revenue progression followed a clear sequence:

1. Founder + small UGC team → ~$3K/month
2. Better paywall + more scale → ~$10K/month
3. More content formats → ~$30K/month around month five
4. Proven creatives + paid advertising → $100K+/month

He scaled what was already working instead of using ads to rescue weak demand.

ORGANIC CONTENT BECAME AD CREATIVE

The powerful part of this playbook is the sequence.

Organic content becomes a testing laboratory.

Post many ideas.
Observe what performs.
Repeat the winners.
Teach creators the format.
Then put advertising budget behind proven creatives.

Instead of guessing which ads might work, organic performance helps identify them first.

5. BUILD THE MONETIZATION LOOP

THE PREDICTION CREATES CURIOSITY

The app makes users work toward an answer they strongly want:

“How tall will I become?”

During onboarding, users keep providing information because every additional answer feels like it could improve prediction accuracy.

The interview mentions a paywall show rate of around 91%, even though the onboarding is relatively long.

Curiosity pulls users forward.

LONG ONBOARDING CAN STILL WORK

Long onboarding is not automatically bad.

Go Tall asks questions about areas such as:
• Current height
• Parents' heights
• Puberty
• Growth information
• Other personal factors

The key is perceived relevance.

Users tolerate additional steps when they believe each answer increases the quality of the result they are about to receive.

THE ANSWER SITS BEHIND THE PAYWALL

Users complete the prediction process, but the final predicted height requires a subscription.

The interview describes pricing around:

• $35/year
• $5/week

Free functionality remains available, but the main curiosity—the prediction—is monetized.

The paywall appears exactly when the user's desire to know the answer is strongest.

PREDICTION GETS THEM IN

A one-time prediction would create weak retention.

Go Tall extends the product into ongoing behavior:

• Sleep logging
• Meal scanning
• Stretching
• Growth tracking
• Habit optimization

As users log more information over time, their estimated height can change.

That turns a one-time curiosity product into a recurring subscription experience.

ADD SUBSTANCE BEHIND THE HOOK

Michael explains that the first version was simpler.

Later, the app incorporated data and research references, including CDC growth information and research linked to some questions.

This is an important product sequence:

1. Start with the compelling hook.
2. Validate demand.
3. Improve usefulness.
4. Deepen the product after people care.

6. KEEP THE TECH SIMPLE

THE TECH STACK

Michael describes a relatively lean stack:

1. Expo — build for iOS and Android.
2. Superwall — paywall management.
3. Adapty — subscription-related infrastructure and advanced payouts.
4. Singular — mobile measurement and attribution.

The advantage was not unusual technology.

The advantage was demand + distribution + monetization.

DO NOT CONFUSE COMPLEXITY WITH VALUE

The height prediction concept initially sounded almost too simple to be a serious company.

Yet Go Tall reached roughly one million total downloads and around $100K/month according to Michael.

The lesson is useful for builders:

Customers do not reward technical complexity by itself.

They reward products that solve something they care about.

7. CLIMB CRINGE MOUNTAIN

MICHAEL STARTED AFTER REJECTION

Michael studied finance at NYU and was recruiting for prestigious jobs.

He says he was rejected from many of the jobs he wanted.

Instead of stopping, he returned to something he already knew: building apps.

His weakness was marketing.

So his goal became bigger than one app:

Even if the project failed, he wanted to leave with marketing skills.

THE APP WAS NOT PRESTIGIOUS

Michael came from an environment where success often meant prestigious corporate jobs or ambitious VC-backed startups.

A height prediction app did not create the same social status.

People could easily dismiss it.

He built it anyway.

Sometimes ignored markets exist precisely because smart people think the opportunity looks too small, strange or embarrassing.

REMOVE EGO FROM THE EXPERIMENT

Michael's advice is to let go of the need to look impressive.

Make the strange app.
Post the awkward TikTok.
Reply to comments.
Send the DMs.
Test the idea people laugh at.

The goal is not to look like a successful founder before success exists.

The goal is to discover what customers actually respond to.

THE $100K APP PLAYBOOK

1. Find an existing category with proven spending.
2. Identify a problem people deeply care about.
3. Validate using comments, DMs and early sales.
4. Create content manually at high volume.
5. Find one repeatable format.
6. Give it to creators.
7. Optimize conversion.
8. Scale proven content with paid ads.

THE REAL FOUNDER ADVANTAGE

The opportunity was visible to everyone.

Height videos already existed.
People were already commenting.
Competitors already existed.
Teenagers were already searching for answers.

Michael connected those signals and acted.

Great ideas are not always hidden.

Sometimes the advantage is simply noticing obvious demand, moving quickly and taking it seriously.

PEOPLE JUST NEED TO CARE

A startup does not need millions of views, complicated technology or an idea nobody has seen before.

It needs a group of people who care enough to act.

Look for the evidence:

They ask.
They comment.
They DM.
They search.
They pay.
They return.

When those signals appear, do not dismiss the opportunity because the idea looks too simple.