How to Validate Your App Idea Before Building Anything ($30K/month)
Starter Story
Dec 24, 2025
Alejandro and Mario built Pushscroll: a fitness app that's making $30K/month. But they took an entirely different approach. This story is about a new way to build apps: where your first MVP isn’t code, it’s content.
Get the Content-First Playbook → https://build.starterstory.com/build/playbook-validate-app-idea?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=pushscroll-playbook
Build an app with AI → https://build.starterstory.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=pushscroll
Follow Alejandro: https://x.com/skyirezumi
Founder Mario: https://x.com/null_deref
🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild
🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs
This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.
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This
is
Alejandro
and
Mario
two
founders
who
built
an
app
that
makes
30
000
a
month
But
here's
what's
crazy
They
did
not
actually
build
the
app
first
I
basically
made
a
fake
product
demo
and
it
got
80k
views
They
made
a
video
using
fake
footage
posted
it
on
TikTok
It
blew
up
and
only
then
did
they
actually
build
it
The
biggest
mistake
most
founders
make
is
they
build
first
and
then
they
try
to
market
later
But
these
two
guys
flipped
that
completely
on
its
head
Content
first
product
later
This
one
video
got
500
comments
begging
me
to
build
this
app
I
asked
them
both
to
come
onto
the
channel
and
break
down
this
genius
strategy
with
real
examples
so
you
could
put
something
similar
into
practice
today
And
in
this
video
we'll
dive
into
the
exact
viral
video
that
validated
their
idea
before
writing
a
single
line
of
code
the
step
by
step
content
first
playbook
they
used
to
hit
30
000
a
month
and
why
validating
through
content
first
might
just
be
the
smartest
way
to
build
apps
today
All
the
revenue
at
the
beginning
came
from
organic
content
This
one
you
cannot
miss
guys
I'm
Pat
Walls
and
this
is
Starter
Story
Alejandro
and
Mario
welcome
to
the
channel
Tell
me
about
who
you
guys
are
what
you
built
and
what's
your
story
Hi
my
name
is
Alejandro
And
I'm
Mario
And
together
we
build
PushSkull
which
is
an
app
that
literally
makes
you
do
push
ups
before
you
can
doomskill
on
social
media
We
launched
this
app
four
months
ago
and
it's
already
generating
over
30
000
a
month
in
revenue
all
through
organic
viral
videos
But
what
I
think
is
interesting
is
we
didn't
start
by
building
the
app
right
away
We
first
validated
the
idea
through
content
and
I'm
excited
to
share
the
process
with
you
today
Okay
well
before
we
get
into
this
viral
validation
strategy
which
I
think
is
super
cool
I
gotta
understand
what
is
this
app
and
what
does
it
do
So
a
huge
problem
our
generation
faces
today
is
wasting
your
dive
doomscrolling
PushSkull
actually
fixes
the
root
cause
by
replacing
doomscrolling
with
fitness
Before
you
can
open
social
media
you
literally
need
to
do
a
short
workout
like
push
ups
squats
or
plank
Essentially
we're
hijacking
your
dopamine
that
you
get
from
social
media
and
retraining
your
brain
to
create
movement
instead
And
in
total
we
have
around
300
000
downloads
across
App
Store
and
Play
Store
of
which
around
4
000
people
are
paying
customers
And
our
basis
model
is
really
simple
We
just
make
everyone
pay
It's
a
hard
problem
and
takes
around
30
a
year
Okay
those
are
some
pretty
impressive
numbers
Before
we
get
into
how
you
guys
did
this
which
is
super
cool
I
gotta
understand
a
little
bit
more
about
your
background
What
were
you
guys
doing
before
this
and
how
did
you
meet
So
I
was
a
software
engineer
at
Lyft
until
last
year
when
I
just
quit
without
a
plan
plan
to
do
something
against
doomscrolling
I
built
side
projects
in
the
past
like
a
silly
app
that
reached
5
million
But
after
four
months
building
another
silly
app
I
hit
a
wall
with
distribution
I
spent
months
making
TikToks
without
really
knowing
what
audience
to
build
it
for
or
how
to
do
it
I
studied
computer
science
and
I
always
chased
the
startup
dream
And
in
the
past
I
built
other
startups
but
they
all
failed
because
I
ignored
distribution
So
I
decided
to
master
virality
first
And
after
a
week
of
daily
uploads
one
of
the
videos
blew
up
which
then
ended
up
being
the
pushscroll
idea
And
then
I
met
Mario
in
a
YC
co
founder
match
and
it
was
the
perfect
match
basically
Okay
so
I
heard
both
of
you
guys
talking
about
this
idea
of
cracking
distribution
And
this
is
the
reason
why
I
wanted
to
bring
you
guys
on
the
channel
is
that
you
essentially
cracked
distribution
before
you
even
wrote
a
single
line
of
code
Can
you
tell
me
what
happened
and
how
this
whole
thing
worked
For
consumer
apps
it's
extremely
important
to
validate
your
idea
first
with
virality
right
So
basically
you
want
to
get
one
viral
TikTok
video
And
so
I
thought
of
the
most
visual
and
novel
idea
for
an
app
that
has
virality
potential
And
pushscroll
is
what
I
came
up
with
And
for
me
it
was
clear
as
day
I
had
spent
months
creating
videos
and
struggling
with
marketing
only
to
try
to
sell
the
app
later
And
here
it
was
the
opposite
I
first
did
the
video
it
went
viral
and
then
we
built
the
app
There
were
people
literally
begging
us
in
the
comments
to
build
this
app
And
so
we
had
to
build
it
as
soon
as
possible
We
built
the
app
in
around
two
weeks
but
it
was
a
very
simple
MVP
It
only
had
three
screens
but
this
was
enough
to
sort
of
validate
the
idea
further
We
launched
the
app
with
another
TikTok
video
And
in
that
video
we
said
that
the
app
would
be
for
free
for
all
the
users
to
download
download
within
the
first
week
We
got
around
20k
to
30k
downloads
from
that
And
then
we
basically
scaled
organic
formats
to
30k
in
revenue
per
month
And
now
we're
scaling
with
ads
and
are
seeing
extremely
good
results
there
as
well
Okay
this
is
absolutely
insane
to
me
This
is
why
I
want
to
bring
you
guys
on
the
channel
to
really
dive
into
what
you
guys
did
which
is
you
didn't
build
an
app
You
just
created
a
great
engaging
potentially
somewhat
viral
video
that
posed
the
idea
that
if
your
app
existed
people
would
download
it
I
really
want
to
dive
in
more
into
this
specific
piece
of
content
because
I
think
people
watching
this
can
learn
a
lot
from
something
like
this
Instead
of
building
an
app
they
can
build
a
video
So
can
you
show
me
this
video
that
made
your
app
sort
of
go
viral
and
why
this
video
worked
First
of
all
if
you
ever
do
a
video
like
this
you
have
to
make
a
good
video
Otherwise
you
don't
know
if
your
app
idea
sucks
or
your
video
sucks
And
the
most
important
thing
in
a
video
is
the
hook
So
the
hook
here
was
what
if
you
could
stop
your
doom
scrolling
addiction
by
doing
20
push
ups
And
with
a
hook
you
want
to
make
it
as
clear
as
possible
such
that
even
a
five
year
old
can
understand
it
You
should
make
sure
that
there
is
a
curiosity
gap
For
my
example
it
was
the
push
ups
right
Like
what
do
the
push
ups
have
to
do
with
stopping
your
doom
scrolling
addiction
And
it
has
to
be
novel
and
original
And
then
once
you
have
a
good
hook
how
do
you
actually
showcase
the
app
if
you
haven't
already
built
it
What
you
have
to
understand
is
that
people
don't
really
care
how
you
solve
the
problem
It's
just
that
you
solve
the
problem
And
so
if
you
can
visualize
the
value
your
app
will
provide
then
that
is
good
enough
So
for
my
example
I
literally
used
an
AI
push
ups
detection
video
I
found
on
YouTube
And
then
I
showed
how
you
place
the
phone
against
the
wall
And
finally
the
scrolling
part
With
these
three
visuals
people
can
really
visualize
the
app
idea
in
their
head
And
then
they
can
see
the
value
it
could
provide
And
at
the
end
you
should
add
a
strong
call
to
action
asking
whether
you
should
build
this
I
really
really
like
this
launch
video
you
guys
did
When
you
showed
this
to
me
I
was
like
wow
I
think
that
anybody
watching
this
interview
right
now
should
go
I'll
put
a
link
in
the
description
to
your
guys
launch
video
What
I
think
is
so
good
about
your
launch
video
is
it's
not
like
someone
showing
off
a
demo
of
an
app
on
their
screen
It's
actually
showing
off
the
benefits
that
you
would
get
if
this
app
existed
It's
not
about
that
here's
how
this
feature
works
or
that
feature
works
It's
showing
someone
doing
push
ups
getting
fit
and
not
doom
scrolling
What
do
you
think
about
this
video
really
struck
a
chord
with
people
So
doom
scrolling
is
a
growing
problem
And
many
people
are
actually
looking
for
a
solution
to
it
because
it's
very
very
addictive
And
I
think
that
really
resonated
with
people
because
it
not
only
removes
your
addiction
it
also
makes
you
fit
at
the
same
time
So
I
think
this
content
first
playbook
is
genius
If
you
can
crack
the
code
and
distribution
then
you
automatically
win
I
was
so
impressed
by
this
that
I
actually
asked
Alejandro
and
Mario
to
join
me
again
so
we
could
dive
even
deeper
into
the
strategy
Because
I
wanted
to
know
what
exactly
was
their
content
research
process
what
was
the
recipe
they
used
to
find
this
viral
app
idea
and
how
did
they
go
about
creating
a
piece
of
content
that
got
over
80
000
views
Well
we
got
together
and
recorded
this
whole
thing
separately
and
now
I
want
to
give
it
to
you
for
free
This
is
the
content
first
playbook
and
it
might
just
change
your
entire
view
on
how
to
build
successful
apps
right
now
So
if
you're
someone
curious
about
this
process
and
looking
to
launch
something
soon
then
you're
going
to
want
to
check
out
our
tactical
playbook
inside
starter
story
build
on
this
very
strategy
The
content
first
playbook
is
free
right
now
If
you
just
click
the
first
link
in
the
description
you
can
check
it
out
but
it
won't
be
free
forever
I
definitely
think
you
guys
should
check
this
out
on
how
they
built
a
real
app
that
made
30
000
a
month
and
how
you
can
do
the
same
Again
I'll
put
a
link
in
the
description
for
you
to
check
that
out
for
free
Otherwise
let's
get
back
to
the
video
You
guys
are
solving
a
really
painful
problem
in
a
clever
way
It's
a
super
cool
novel
app
idea
and
I
think
that
really
did
have
a
big
part
of
it
That
brings
my
next
question
is
do
you
think
that
this
is
a
repeatable
process
for
anyone
watching
this
video
right
now
Could
they
go
do
the
same
thing
which
is
create
content
before
creating
an
app
or
validate
an
app
idea
before
actually
creating
it
Do
you
think
it's
repeatable
and
what
would
be
your
playbook
if
you
had
to
start
over
from
scratch
right
now
I
do
think
it's
repeatable
and
this
will
be
my
first
step
creating
and
warming
up
a
new
TikTok
account
You've
got
to
watch
all
the
videos
in
your
niche
interact
with
them
by
commenting
saving
sharing
or
reposting
and
following
as
many
creators
as
you
can
It's
really
funny
for
us
because
we
actually
wanted
to
quit
doom
scrolling
but
we
ended
up
making
ourselves
addicts
in
self
improvement
content
which
is
what
you
want
Once
you've
watched
everything
you've
got
to
understand
why
they
go
viral
You
might
even
find
potential
apps
that
you
could
copy
and
improve
sadly
And
this
also
signals
TikTok
that
you're
not
a
bot
and
it
prevents
you
from
getting
shadow
banned
later
on
Step
two
would
be
to
come
up
with
viral
ideas
Your
app
needs
to
have
one
visually
heavy
element
So
try
to
make
your
app
as
visually
interesting
as
you
can
Also
your
app
needs
to
be
super
easy
to
explain
If
you
cannot
explain
your
app
in
three
words
it's
too
complex
for
the
short
attention
span
of
TikTok
users
And
then
your
app
also
needs
to
solve
a
fundamental
human
desire
or
problem
And
step
three
would
be
just
to
post
daily
videos
validating
any
idea
you
have
until
one
of
the
ideas
takes
off
And
that
should
be
a
strong
signal
for
you
that
your
idea
can
go
viral
again
in
the
future
future
for
UTC
or
influencer
collabs
So
step
four
is
once
you
have
a
video
create
a
waitlist
or
a
secret
that's
not
so
known
is
creating
a
community
like
a
Discord
Since
you
don't
have
an
app
yet
you'll
need
it
to
keep
everyone
up
to
date
and
convert
them
into
users
Distraction
will
be
super
important
for
the
launch
The
MVP
should
be
extremely
simple
to
the
point
where
it's
embarrassing
especially
because
the
bureaucracy
of
launching
an
app
will
take
a
few
weeks
and
you'll
be
able
to
prove
it
while
running
a
private
beta
or
just
waiting
Our
MVP
was
literally
three
screens
A
half
broken
push
up
detector
a
screen
to
choose
what
apps
you
want
to
block
and
a
screen
screen
that
blocks
those
apps
unless
you've
exercised
All
of
this
ended
up
being
rewritten
later
If
it's
ugly
it's
okay
It
doesn't
have
to
scale
We
gave
it
away
for
free
to
the
first
users
but
everyone
else
saw
a
hard
paywall
That's
the
ultimate
validation
that
you
want
that
people
will
pay
for
your
app
So
step
five
would
be
to
just
post
organic
content
yourself
until
you
fit
around
5
to
10k
MRR
The
reason
why
you
should
do
this
is
it
will
give
you
a
lot
more
information
to
work
with
influencers
later
to
know
actually
what
videos
sell
Like
just
experiment
with
different
formats
every
day
until
you
find
something
that
goes
goes
until
it
doesn't
work
anymore
With
one
video
you
can
literally
reach
5
to
10k
MRR
It
happened
to
us
actually
One
video
got
6
million
views
and
that
converted
to
around
10k
MRR
Step
six
and
beyond
probably
needs
another
video
It's
scaling
You
can
scale
your
organic
through
GDC
influencers
or
paydads
and
in
the
meanwhile
work
on
your
funnel
From
the
moment
someone
watches
your
video
until
they
pay
focus
on
fixing
broken
things
instead
of
optimizing
what
already
works
So
that
would
be
our
six
step
playbook
if
we
had
to
start
from
scratch
and
do
all
of
this
again
Okay
cool
Thanks
for
sharing
all
that
I'm
curious
and
I
think
a
lot
of
people
watching
might
be
as
well
How
does
this
app
even
work
Would
you
be
able
to
give
me
like
a
quick
demo
of
how
your
app
works
and
how
it
makes
makes
money
So
the
main
functionality
is
actually
quite
simple
You
can
block
apps
like
TikTok
or
Instagram
for
example
like
here
I
have
TikTok
And
then
you
can
go
and
exercise
and
every
pushup
you
do
will
give
you
one
minute
of
screen
time
And
then
you
can
use
that
time
to
unlock
TikTok
temporarily
And
then
on
top
of
that
we
have
difficulties
and
more
exercises
such
as
squats
or
plank
And
there's
a
full
blown
journey
tab
to
LingoStyle
to
keep
you
engaged
and
workouts
where
you
literally
have
to
do
a
series
of
exercises
in
order
to
earn
your
screen
time
Okay
cool
Thanks
for
showing
me
that
I
want
to
change
topics
a
little
bit
and
understand
how
you
guys
actually
built
this
What's
the
tech
stack
and
what
tools
run
this
app
So
in
our
case
we're
using
Compose
Multiplatform
to
build
a
cross
platform
app
We
also
have
Superbase
for
backend
database
and
authentication
We
have
Superwall
to
show
and
test
tables
Amplitude
for
analytics
Sentry
for
back
reports
and
finally
ThoughtCode
Max
for
coding
Well
thanks
for
sharing
that
and
being
transparent
around
how
you
built
this
in
the
numbers
Last
question
that
I
have
for
everyone
who
comes
on
the
channel
You
guys
were
just
very
recently
successful
with
this
app
If
you
could
go
back
in
time
to
before
you
built
this
app
before
you
have
this
30
000
per
month
app
what
advice
would
you
give
yourselves
or
what
advice
would
you
give
for
anyone
watching
this
channel
that
wants
to
build
apps
like
you
guys
Building
an
app
you're
going
to
invest
a
lot
of
your
time
So
don't
be
afraid
to
also
invest
money
I'm
a
bit
cheap
but
time
is
money
And
paying
an
expert
200
for
advice
could
have
a
huge
return
on
investment
And
most
importantly
build
your
consumer
product
with
distribution
in
mind
first
and
It
will
literally
make
your
life
10
times
easier
in
the
long
run
Well
that's
great
advice
Thank
you
Alejandro
and
Mario
for
coming
on
I
think
what
you
guys
did
is
amazing
Congratulations
and
I'll
be
looking
forward
to
what
you
guys
do
next
See
you
Thank
you
to
Alejandro
and
Mario
for
coming
onto
the
channel
and
sharing
this
whole
process
when
they
didn't
have
to
They
did
what
most
people
are
not
willing
to
do
Instead
of
the
exciting
part
of
going
in
and
building
something
and
spending
all
that
time
they
did
the
hard
part
by
focusing
on
distribution
first
They
had
a
viral
video
They
had
hundreds
of
people
begging
them
to
build
this
app
They
built
it
and
all
of
a
sudden
it
was
making
money
and
they
had
a
successful
app
This
is
exactly
the
type
of
framework
that
we
teach
inside
Starter
Story
Build
how
to
come
up
with
an
idea
how
to
build
it
quickly
and
how
to
get
it
out
into
the
real
world
in
the
hands
of
real
users
If
you
want
to
check
that
out
I'll
put
a
link
in
the
description
to
Starter
Story
Build
including
the
free
content
first
playbook
that
we
did
with
Alejandro
and
Mario
I
hope
you
enjoy
it
Otherwise
I'll
see
you
guys
in
the
next
episode
Thank
you
guys
for
watching
Peace
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