I made $1M flipping apps
Starter Story
Oct 21, 2025
Meet Domenico, a non-technical founder, who set out on a challenge to build and sell a SaaS in 30 days back in January 2022. Since then, Domenico has successfully sold 6 micro-saas projects for $60K, scaled Softgen from $20K to $500K ARR, and sold it for over $1M. In this video, Domenico will share his playbook for building and selling micro-SaaS projects.
🛠️ Want to build your own app with AI? Check out Starter Story Build → https://build.starterstory.com/build/ai-build-accelerator?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=domenico
What Dom's working on right now: https://www.kortix.ai/
Follow Dom: https://www.linkedin.com/in/domenicogagliardi/
🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild
🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:55 - Who is Domenico
1:17 - Dom's background
2:06 - Build-and-sell challenge
4:12 - Dom's build-and-sell framework
6:39 - What makes apps successful
7:10 - Building while working 9 to 5
7:59 - Tech stack
8:53 - Dom's next step
9:16 - Dom's advice to entrepreneurs
10:20 - The final word
This video is an educational case study of one 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.
Chapters
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Transcript
Chapters
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No tools listed for this business.
I
made
1
million
building
and
selling
apps
using
this
five
step
strategy
Meet
Domenico
While
working
a
9
to
5
job
he
set
out
on
a
challenge
challenge
to
build
and
sell
a
new
app
every
30
days
So
I
started
a
challenge
where
I
just
build
scale
and
sell
projects
In
fast
forward
three
years
Dom
had
quit
his
9
to
5
sold
seven
different
apps
and
even
exited
one
of
the
apps
for
over
seven
figures
I
think
the
secret
to
building
a
successful
app
is
So
today
I
brought
Dom
onto
the
channel
to
break
down
his
five
step
process
for
building
scaling
and
selling
an
app
how
he
shipped
a
new
project
every
month
while
working
a
full
time
job
and
his
method
to
get
users
without
writing
a
single
line
of
code
If
you're
looking
to
build
on
the
side
this
one
is
a
must
watch
Let's
get
into
it
I'm
Pat
Walls
and
this
is
Starter
Story
All
right
Domenico
welcome
to
the
channel
Tell
me
about
who
you
are
what
you
built
and
what's
your
story
Thanks
Pat
I'm
Dom
and
I
built
and
sold
six
Microsoft
projects
while
working
a
full
time
job
Then
I
applied
the
same
strategy
to
SoftGen
and
we
grow
it
from
20k
RR
to
half
a
million
RR
in
three
months
selling
it
for
nearly
three
times
multiple
of
RR
Well
before
we
get
into
all
these
businesses
you
built
and
sold
which
I
think
is
really
cool
I'd
just
like
to
get
a
little
bit
of
a
background
on
you
What's
your
timeline
How
do
you
get
up
to
this
point
Yeah
sure
Between
2017
and
2019
I
tried
to
launch
different
projects
and
small
startups
while
enrolled
at
university
I
studied
economics
Then
in
2019
I
launched
my
first
physical
business
in
the
micromobility
field
Then
I
had
a
co
founder
break
up
and
then
I
left
it
Then
I
worked
for
different
companies
as
a
full
time
employee
as
an
analyst
role
My
main
goal
has
always
been
to
start
something
from
scratch
my
own
project
or
my
own
business
and
work
for
something
that
was
bigger
than
the
traditional
nine
to
five
job
I've
always
used
these
set
projects
to
escape
from
the
nine
to
five
and
try
to
reach
something
different
All
right
so
you're
in
this
job
you
want
to
do
something
bigger
so
you
decide
to
do
the
Build
Sell
Challenge
Can
you
tell
me
a
little
bit
more
about
what
that
was
What
were
the
rules
or
the
idea
behind
the
challenge
challenge
and
what
you
built
during
that
challenge
Yeah
sure
So
the
Build
Sell
Challenge
was
really
simple
You
needed
to
launch
validate
and
sell
microbusiness
in
30
days
The
first
product
was
Pitch
2
0
a
pitch
deck
generator
I
worked
only
for
45
days
on
this
project
I
made
300
and
then
we
decided
to
sell
it
for
2
500
I
thought
this
is
the
challenge
this
is
the
fast
execution
you
can
apply
to
the
products
So
let's
try
to
do
the
same
the
same
the
same
month
after
month
Then
the
second
product
we
launched
was
OneTap
ai
OneTap
ai
was
I
would
say
a
very
simple
Excel
formula
generator
So
you
just
needed
to
type
in
plain
English
what
you
want
to
do
on
Excel
Excel
and
the
tool
was
going
to
give
you
the
exact
formula
to
use
in
your
spreadsheet
In
this
case
we
made
like
almost
7
000
and
we
sold
it
for
almost
25
000
after
three
months
Then
we
launched
yourcoverletter
com
and
we
sold
it
for
7
000
after
40
days
Very
interesting
product
because
you
could
generate
a
cover
letter
based
on
the
job
application
Then
we
worked
on
recapugpt
com
an
AI
summarizer
So
basically
you
could
summarize
whatever
you
want
YouTube
videos
presentation
docs
And
we
sold
it
for
34
000
after
six
months
Then
we
had
tweetsbot
io
So
basically
you
could
generate
tweets
based
on
a
doc
or
on
a
website
It
was
not
so
successful
successful
We
made
1
000
and
we
sold
it
after
three
months
for
5
000
The
last
product
was
AIwebdesigner
io
You
could
generate
a
landing
page
by
just
prompting
We
made
1
200
and
we
sold
it
after
three
months
for
12
000
in
that
case
And
then
we
got
Sofogen
ai
Sofogen
ai
was
one
of
the
first
AI
web
coding
apps
And
we
grew
it
from
20
000
to
half
a
million
RR
and
then
we
sold
it
after
three
months
Wow
I
mean
that's
amazing
Could
you
break
down
your
framework
for
anyone
watching
on
how
to
think
about
building
and
selling
apps
right
now
Yeah
sure
The
first
step
is
of
course
you
need
to
set
your
goals
Do
you
want
to
sell
it
in
three
months
six
months
or
more
So
this
is
important
because
it
defines
of
course
of
course
your
product
roadmap
development
your
needs
and
how
fast
you
need
to
go
Start
with
of
course
defining
what
you
want
to
do
with
your
product
The
step
two
is
the
validation
stage
I
usually
validate
the
product
by
using
a
single
landing
page
builder
named
yep
so
My
only
goal
was
to
distribute
the
landing
page
on
my
X
channel
collect
emails
from
interested
people
and
use
the
building
public
strategy
I
usually
consider
like
a
15
conversion
rate
on
my
landing
page
as
a
good
bar
Then
we
have
the
step
three
which
is
the
building
stage
So
once
it's
validated
I
can
start
building
the
product
with
I
call
it
the
feedback
loop
approach
So
in
this
case
you
need
to
build
one
key
feature
You
need
to
send
the
product
link
to
the
first
batch
of
users
who
left
the
emails
on
the
landing
page
you
built
You
can
ask
the
feedback
and
based
on
that
you
can
improve
the
product
and
relaunch
it
So
it's
going
to
be
you
know
a
sort
of
loop
of
build
feedback
edit
and
rebuild
feedback
edit
The
step
four
of
course
is
the
growth
So
you
need
to
grow
your
product
One
key
strategy
here
I've
always
applied
to
the
organic
growth
has
been
the
building
public
strategy
as
mentioned
before
And
then
the
last
step
is
the
selling
stage
You
need
to
package
you
know
the
business
as
an
asset
someone
else
can
run
The
most
important
thing
buyers
want
to
know
are
RR
growth
margins
average
revenue
per
user
lifetime
value
customer
acquisition
costs
return
rate
So
these
are
all
key
values
and
you
should
always
work
on
getting
the
best
as
possible
here
All
right
Pat
from
the
future
here
we're
putting
the
finishing
touches
on
this
video
and
I
just
love
the
specific
steps
that
Dom
is
sharing
to
go
from
an
idea
to
a
bank
wire
from
the
buyer
The
key
here
is
to
ship
fast
and
if
that's
something
you're
struggling
with
well
I
have
something
for
you
We
just
launched
something
called
Starter
Story
Build
It's
a
program
where
you
will
learn
how
to
use
AI
to
build
and
launch
a
project
to
the
real
world
And
the
best
part
is
that
you
don't
need
to
have
any
coding
experience
We'll
give
you
the
right
prompts
to
use
so
that
AI
does
the
work
for
you
If
you're
actually
ready
to
build
and
launch
your
product
head
to
the
first
link
in
the
description
to
check
out
Starter
Story
Build
All
right
let's
get
back
into
Dom's
story
When
you
look
back
at
the
projects
you
built
what
was
the
difference
maker
What
was
the
trend
in
the
really
really
valuable
stuff
and
the
stuff
that
didn't
really
pan
out
One
interesting
point
here
regarding
the
products
I
sold
is
that
everything
started
from
I
would
say
X
Like
all
the
projects
were
based
on
trends
and
you
know
know
sentiment
analysis
I
would
say
I
code
on
X
The
main
difference
between
the
projects
is
based
on
the
trend
you
were
running
and
the
moment
So
basically
the
timing
you
know
that's
the
main
difference
My
other
question
that
I
have
for
you
is
around
building
with
a
full
time
job
You
mentioned
that
you
had
a
full
time
job
You
were
working
a
nine
to
five
How
did
you
work
on
your
projects
And
when
did
you
decide
to
quit
your
job
and
go
all
in
on
this
I
started
before
all
these
side
projects
while
working
full
time
And
I
was
you
know
looking
for
something
different
from
the
mess
to
just
quit
my
job
And
that
was
basically
SoftGen
I
quit
my
job
as
soon
as
I
understood
that
SoftGen
could
be
really
really
interesting
While
working
nine
to
five
I
organized
everything
in
my
calendar
So
I
used
different
techniques
I
would
say
the
most
useful
one
is
the
Pomodoro
technique
where
you
break
your
work
into
focused
intervals
and
typically
25
minutes
followed
by
very
short
breaks
That
was
one
of
the
most
important
techniques
I
used
All
right
let's
move
topics
a
little
bit
Could
you
walk
me
through
what
your
tech
stack
looks
like
right
now
and
what
tools
you
use
to
build
your
businesses
The
first
projects
were
built
using
Babbel
for
a
very
quick
development
Then
we
have
the
cobot
ai
com
which
is
a
Joe
Rush
product
Then
we
have
Pulsor
for
example
for
all
the
coding
part
Then
we
use
for
MailTrap
for
marketing
Futurebase
for
the
public
roadmap
Hunter
io
for
the
outreach
strategy
MakeUGC
ai
for
the
UGC
creators
Hapteo
com
for
the
CRM
Stripe
for
the
financial
services
TinyADZ
com
this
is
for
running
smart
advertising
campaigns
CreatorHunter
io
this
is
useful
if
you
want
to
start
a
marketing
campaign
with
influencers
Reddit
co
for
the
Reddit
marketing
Suna
so
for
general
agent
tasks
These
are
the
main
tools
I've
been
using
for
the
past
three
years
years
Well
thanks
for
sharing
that
Could
you
tell
me
a
little
bit
more
about
what
the
next
step
looks
like
for
you
Yeah
so
right
now
I'm
working
on
a
setup
named
Cortex
ai
Cortex
is
enabling
the
migration
from
human
to
AI
workforce
We're
going
to
answer
the
question
how
we
can
go
into
a
company
and
automate
up
to
80
of
the
manual
the
mundane
and
the
ordinary
tasks
that
humans
do
today
The
last
question
that
I
have
for
you
and
what
we
ask
everyone
who
comes
onto
the
channel
if
you
could
stand
on
young
Domenico's
shoulders
when
you're
working
that
nine
to
five
what
would
be
your
advice
My
advice
here
is
the
most
important
thing
today
adapt
yourself
to
different
situations
and
even
change
perspective
if
necessary
This
is
an
untold
story
Back
in
2024
I
was
almost
ready
to
quit
my
job
I
was
ready
to
jump
into
another
company
I
already
signed
everything
So
I
signed
the
new
contract
left
the
house
where
I
was
staying
They
called
me
and
they
said
hey
Dom
I'm
sorry
but
we
had
a
financial
problem
and
we
are
not
able
to
hire
you
In
this
case
the
event
of
course
was
a
negative
event
but
I
changed
my
perspective
and
said
to
myself
okay
maybe
this
is
the
right
time
the
right
opportunity
to
jump
into
something
different
that
was
subject
So
from
a
negative
of
course
to
a
positive
perspective
that's
my
advice
to
all
the
young
founders
I
think
what
you
built
is
amazing
And
I'm
really
excited
what
you're
building
now
over
in
SF
Thanks
for
coming
on
the
channel
Looking
forward
to
seeing
what
you
do
Thanks
for
having
me
Pat
I
want
to
thank
Dom
for
coming
onto
the
channel
It's
stories
like
this
where
someone
changes
their
life
completely
by
taking
action
on
their
dream
even
while
working
nine
to
five
These
always
inspire
me
If
you're
looking
to
do
something
similar
then
definitely
check
out
Starter
Story
Build
It's
our
program
where
we
will
help
you
find
an
idea
build
it
with
AI
and
ship
it
to
the
real
world
In
just
a
few
days
you'll
go
from
wanting
to
build
something
to
actually
building
it
even
if
you
have
a
full
time
job
like
Dom
did
Just
head
to
the
first
link
in
the
description
to
learn
more
about
what
we're
doing
at
Starter
Story
Build
All
right
that's
it
for
the
episode
Thank
you
guys
for
watching
Let
me
know
in
the
comments
what
you
think
what
you
want
me
to
cover
next
We'll
see
you
in
the
next
one
Peace
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