I make $10K/month from 28 apps
Starter Story
Dec 12, 2025
Max is a full-time developer who builds apps before and after work. His philosophy is simple: ship fast, don’t get attached, and move on. In this video, we break down his entire process for finding app ideas and shipping them fast.
Find your next business idea → https://clickhubspot.com/b2b1ab
Ship your next app → https://build.starterstory.com/select-plan?promo=28APPS&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=28APPS
Follow Max: https://x.com/maks6361
🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild
🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
1:20 - Max's background
3:04 - How Max finds app ideas
4:16 - Spot trending app ideas (The Hustle sponsor)
5:29 - The tool Max uses to spot ideas
6:24 - How Max ships fast
7:46 - 28APPS
8:56 - 6-Step Building and Shipping process
10:55 - Tech stack and costs
12:18 - Final piece of advice
13:05 - Pat's notes and reflections
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.
Chapters
Stack
Transcript
Chapters
Stack
- Custom Built (link)
In
eight
months
I've
built
and
shipped
over
28
apps
This
is
Max
a
full
time
developer
who
spent
years
building
apps
with
no
success
I
had
my
like
mobile
pet
project
I
really
wanted
to
grow
and
I
like
spent
so
much
time
on
it
like
try
different
techniques
Nothing
worked
out
Until
one
day
he
decided
to
try
something
different
Instead
of
trying
to
build
the
perfect
app
he'd
ship
dozens
of
apps
really
fast
I
have
a
record
one
app
I've
built
in
two
hours
In
just
eight
months
he
shipped
28
apps
and
went
from
200
a
month
to
10
000
a
month
all
while
working
his
full
time
job
Once
the
app
is
live
just
let
it
go
and
move
on
to
the
next
project
Most
people
think
you
need
one
big
app
to
win
but
Max
proves
that
you
can
be
successful
with
a
portfolio
of
tiny
bets
I
asked
Max
to
come
onto
the
channel
to
break
down
his
entire
system
and
in
this
video
we'll
dive
into
his
step
by
step
process
for
finding
ideas
that
actually
can
make
money
exactly
how
he
ships
apps
in
just
a
few
hours
and
his
step
by
step
playbook
you
can
use
to
ideate
build
and
launch
your
next
app
in
48
hours
This
one
right
here
is
for
the
builders
You
cannot
miss
it
I'm
Bow
Walls
and
this
is
Starter
Story
All
right
Max
welcome
to
the
channel
Tell
me
about
who
you
are
what
you
built
and
what's
your
story
My
name
is
Max
I'm
a
father
of
two
a
loving
husband
and
an
iOS
engineer
in
my
daily
job
During
my
off
work
hours
in
eight
month
time
I've
built
a
portfolio
of
28
simple
mobile
apps
that
are
now
bringing
me
10
000
monthly
revenue
And
the
total
subscribers
across
all
apps
is
over
1
000
subscribers
and
the
daily
users
like
4
000
5
000
across
all
my
apps
And
the
biggest
chunk
of
revenue
comes
from
the
four
apps
and
each
one
brings
around
1
500
And
the
rest
they
generate
very
small
numbers
So
basically
there's
a
clear
example
of
the
famous
80
20
rule
We're
going
to
get
into
that
and
how
you
ship
these
so
fast
But
first
I
got
to
understand
how
do
you
even
get
to
this
point
What's
your
background
Are
you
a
developer
How
do
you
get
to
this
point
where
you're
shipping
a
new
app
basically
every
week
I
started
my
career
in
software
engineering
as
an
iOS
developer
That
was
around
eight
years
ago
And
like
many
of
us
did
I
had
my
mobile
pet
project
I
really
wanted
to
grow
And
I
like
spent
so
much
time
on
it
like
try
different
techniques
Nothing
worked
out
And
then
February
this
year
I
came
across
Adam
Sleitel's
video
on
YouTube
And
that
literally
changed
my
entire
understanding
of
how
to
build
apps
The
old
understanding
was
you
have
your
one
project
you
have
to
grow
it
and
just
focus
all
your
effort
all
your
time
into
it
And
then
Adam
Sleitel
he
showed
that
you
could
keep
building
simple
apps
You
create
one
app
one
feature
ship
it
forget
about
it
and
jump
onto
another
app
So
that
was
something
that
I've
never
thought
about
And
I
was
so
surprised
this
approach
exists
And
I'm
happy
that
I
went
that
way
OK
so
you
find
this
new
kind
of
way
of
thinking
about
how
to
approach
building
apps
Don't
have
any
ego
around
your
idea
Ship
lots
of
different
things
We're
going
to
get
all
into
that
Before
we
do
I
want
to
understand
how
do
you
actually
find
good
ideas
for
apps
Very
first
step
just
to
find
the
right
keyword
Basically
how
I
look
at
it
if
a
user
has
a
problem
they
open
the
App
Store
and
start
searching
by
entering
search
term
or
a
keyword
into
the
search
bar
And
here's
my
process
First
of
all
my
main
source
of
ideas
is
a
well
known
ASO
tool
Astro
And
then
I
pick
a
random
category
or
something
that
I
really
want
to
build
myself
and
search
for
various
relevant
keywords
I
also
try
looking
at
areas
that
might
have
been
closely
related
keywords
that
target
the
same
group
users
but
solving
slightly
different
problems
For
example
if
you
take
study
apps
you
can
target
physics
AI
chemistry
AI
math
AI
So
these
are
different
keywords
but
they
are
related
to
students
That
gives
me
an
opportunity
after
creating
one
app
to
quickly
jump
into
the
closely
related
keywords
in
just
no
time
When
I
do
my
research
I
make
sure
the
keyword
has
at
least
20
of
popularity
and
60
or
70
difficulty
When
I
find
interesting
keywords
I
usually
check
top
competitors
and
look
at
their
monthly
revenue
which
you
could
do
with
a
sensor
tower
or
similar
tools
My
benchmark
is
at
least
100
or
200
euros
per
month
If
the
competitor
does
less
meaning
there's
not
that
much
money
in
that
market
so
it's
not
worth
going
there
What
Max
is
doing
here
is
genius
He
has
this
very
fine
tuned
system
for
finding
ideas
shipping
fast
and
then
moving
on
to
the
next
one
If
you
stick
around
to
the
end
of
this
video
he's
going
to
talk
about
exactly
how
he
does
this
which
I
think
you
will
enjoy
But
this
whole
thing
got
me
thinking
If
you
love
watching
people
build
fast
and
think
big
like
Max
then
I
definitely
think
you
should
check
out
The
Hustle
who
is
the
sponsor
of
today's
video
The
Hustle
is
a
free
daily
email
that
makes
business
news
actually
fun
to
read
They
cover
offbeat
stories
like
Max's
every
single
day
and
it's
the
kind
of
stuff
that
will
actually
inspire
you
to
build
and
launch
that
business
idea
no
matter
how
crazy
it
sounds
sounds
I've
been
reading
The
Hustle
for
years
and
it's
one
of
the
few
emails
I
actually
look
forward
to
opening
It's
fast
it's
punchy
and
it
always
gives
me
at
least
one
story
to
talk
about
with
my
friends
Plus
it
makes
me
sound
way
smarter
than
I
actually
am
If
you're
building
apps
looking
for
your
next
side
hustle
or
just
love
discovering
business
ideas
before
everyone
else
The
Hustle
is
for
you
Hit
the
link
in
the
description
subscribe
to
The
Hustle
and
you'll
get
daily
stories
to
keep
innovators
like
you
in
the
loop
with
stories
on
business
tech
and
the
internet
Thank
you
to
The
Hustle
for
sponsoring
this
video
Let's
get
back
to
the
story
Max
that
Astro
tool
seems
really
cool
Could
you
just
show
me
an
example
of
how
you'd
find
an
idea
Let's
say
it's
the
tree
identifier
idea
Basically
what
I
do
I
create
a
temporary
app
and
then
you
can
add
keyword
and
then
you
go
with
the
tree
identifier
and
then
you
bring
up
the
apps
and
then
you
just
pick
some
clauses
related
This
is
obviously
not
the
one
that
we
want
This
is
probably
a
nice
one
And
then
you
look
through
the
keywords
and
then
you
just
go
popularity
that
just
I
mentioned
say
starting
from
20
and
difficulty
70
So
you
see
the
like
wood
identification
Kind
of
popular
and
the
difficulty
is
very
low
I
would
build
that
because
I
probably
might
target
for
this
keyword
and
get
some
good
results
And
then
like
I
select
my
keywords
that
I'll
be
targeting
add
them
to
selection
and
then
what
I
do
I
open
the
App
Store
to
see
the
revenue
of
this
app
And
if
it's
nice
enough
like
if
it's
big
then
I
just
go
for
that
Okay
cool
So
let's
talk
about
that
What
is
your
build
process
like
How
do
you
build
all
these
apps
And
how
do
you
build
them
so
quickly
First
I
pick
two
three
competitors
and
just
study
the
app
and
pay
close
attention
to
the
main
feature
that
closely
related
to
the
keyword
So
I
don't
bother
with
anything
else
Then
I
tell
ChatGPT
or
Gemini
that
I
want
to
build
an
app
for
a
given
keyword
I
provide
some
specific
UI
UX
constraints
and
I
ask
for
a
detailed
implementation
plan
Next
I
create
a
project
I
drag
and
drop
some
UI
elements
custom
buttons
views
like
screens
So
instead
of
building
a
new
setting
screen
over
and
over
again
I
just
drag
and
drop
And
same
with
onboarding
and
paywall
And
for
some
apps
I
basically
copy
like
90
of
the
code
which
gives
me
like
the
instant
time
for
the
building
And
the
app
is
shipped
like
in
a
couple
of
hours
Then
once
the
app
is
ready
I
open
Figma
create
a
new
project
there
and
I
copy
screenshots
and
app
icon
templates
from
old
projects
And
then
once
I
have
everything
ready
so
the
app
is
built
then
I
finally
ask
ChatGPT
to
generate
the
app
description
I
fill
in
all
the
metadata
make
sure
they
are
relevant
to
the
keyword
that
I've
selected
originally
Then
the
app
is
ready
for
distribution
And
my
process
usually
takes
it
depends
on
the
app
Some
apps
might
take
a
week
because
like
I
need
to
do
one
thing
the
other
thing
But
I
have
a
record
one
app
I've
built
like
in
two
hours
from
the
idea
just
came
into
my
head
till
I
submitted
to
review
to
the
App
Store
Okay
before
we
finish
the
video
I
wanted
to
pop
in
real
quick
and
share
how
cool
I
think
this
whole
thing
is
that
Max
is
doing
Find
the
idea
build
it
ship
it
next
project
This
strategy
is
genius
because
building
software
is
changing
When
anyone
including
your
grandma
can
build
an
app
how
fast
you
can
ship
apps
really
matters
And
this
is
exactly
the
kind
of
stuff
that
we
teach
inside
Starter
Story
Build
In
Starter
Story
Build
we
will
not
only
show
you
how
to
build
an
app
with
AI
but
more
importantly
we
will
teach
you
a
framework
that
you
can
use
to
ship
apps
over
and
over
again
If
you
join
Starter
Story
Build
in
just
a
few
weeks
you
will
have
a
real
working
app
And
in
just
a
few
months
you
might
be
quitting
your
job
and
going
all
in
on
building
apps
If
you've
gotten
to
this
point
in
the
video
right
here
I
have
a
deal
for
you
Just
put
code
28apps
at
checkout
for
20
off
your
next
Starter
Story
Build
bootcamp
Our
next
bootcamp
starts
this
week
and
this
offer
won't
last
forever
So
if
you're
ready
to
build
head
to
the
link
in
the
description
description
to
check
out
Starter
Story
Build
And
remember
to
use
the
code
28apps
that's
2
8
A
P
P
S
for
20
off
All
right
let's
get
back
to
the
video
Okay
that's
crazy
how
fast
you
can
ship
these
apps
I
really
think
there's
something
there
building
and
shipping
new
apps
every
single
week
So
for
anybody
who's
watching
this
right
now
I'd
love
if
you
just
broke
down
the
steps
steps
from
actually
taking
an
app
from
Idea
to
shipping
it
to
the
App
Store
Break
down
the
exact
steps
on
how
to
do
this
if
you
were
starting
over
today
I
always
begin
with
finding
strong
keywords
Make
sure
the
popularity
difficulty
is
great
ratio
and
make
sure
the
top
apps
are
making
real
revenue
So
you
want
to
build
apps
in
the
market
that
pay
because
I
don't
want
to
waste
my
time
on
building
apps
that
don't
bring
any
revenue
Step
two
study
competitors
and
define
the
core
feature
Review
the
top
apps
in
the
category
analyze
them
and
choose
the
single
core
feature
that
will
solve
the
main
user
problem
better
and
more
efficiently
Step
three
plan
fast
with
AI
Use
the
AI
tool
to
generate
a
clear
development
roadmap
feature
breakdown
and
UX
structure
That
removes
the
guesswork
and
lets
you
start
building
with
clarity
and
speed
I
use
Courser
or
Claude
and
I
just
ask
them
to
write
down
all
the
screens
and
all
the
features
and
the
flows
so
I
can
see
the
clear
picture
and
I
can
understand
which
screens
I
need
to
build
which
screens
I
need
to
copy
over
from
the
previous
projects
Step
four
build
lean
and
ship
quickly
Focus
on
shipping
a
clean
MVP
with
the
only
features
necessary
to
deliver
value
Step
five
release
and
move
to
the
next
build
Once
the
app
is
functional
polished
enough
and
live
just
let
it
go
Move
on
to
the
next
project
Let
data
decide
which
apps
sync
on
which
float
When
you
just
ship
the
app
you
get
this
famous
app
store
boost
but
then
over
time
it
fades
away
and
then
I
see
if
it
keeps
going
down
or
it's
kind
of
stabilized
or
even
growing
And
if
the
app
is
not
syncing
it
means
it
has
potential
And
the
last
step
step
six
return
to
winners
and
scale
with
ads
So
after
some
time
I
do
revisit
apps
that
show
organic
traction
or
retention
And
for
once
the
ones
that
float
I
start
improving
them
do
some
polishing
do
some
bug
fixes
and
add
ads
just
to
double
down
on
the
results
and
to
make
sure
that
they
grow
And
that's
pretty
much
my
playbook
for
all
the
apps
that
I
launch
I
want
to
switch
topics
slightly
and
talk
about
tech
stack
How
do
you
build
your
apps
What
tools
do
you
use
and
what
languages
are
they
built
on
I
don't
have
a
lot
of
tools
but
here
they
are
Flutter
this
is
the
framework
that
I
use
for
the
app
development
Fastlane
this
is
the
thing
that
I
use
for
shipping
everything
fast
Then
I
use
Coursor
for
AI
coding
Firebase
this
is
everything
This
is
my
apps
backend
This
is
the
authentication
database
and
even
website
hosting
I
also
use
OpenAI
and
Gemini
for
image
recognition
and
the
AI
work
Mixpanel
is
for
analytics
And
I
use
Astro
for
iOS
and
FoxData
for
iOS
and
Android
And
on
a
similar
note
I'm
curious
about
costs
and
margin
You're
making
over
10
000
a
month
from
over
28
apps
What
are
the
costs
to
run
this
whole
app
empire
Coursor
goes
for
20
a
month
Fastlane
this
is
a
free
tool
so
0
a
month
OpenAI
is
a
bit
costly
It's
like
200
a
month
Gemini
goes
for
50
a
month
Firebase
even
though
there's
so
much
going
on
it
doesn't
cost
much
because
I
don't
really
go
over
the
free
tier
So
it's
around
5
to
10
a
month
Mixpanel
I'm
using
a
free
plan
so
I
don't
pay
anything
Astro
goes
for
10
a
month
month
And
FoxData
I'm
also
on
the
free
plan
so
it's
0
a
month
OK
well
thanks
for
sharing
that
being
super
transparent
about
the
numbers
Cool
to
see
how
lean
you
actually
run
this
operation
Last
question
that
I
have
for
everyone
who
comes
on
to
Starter
Story
If
you
could
give
one
piece
of
advice
to
Max
just
a
year
ago
on
what
to
do
what
to
work
on
or
for
anyone
watching
right
now
who
wants
to
do
the
same
as
what
you're
doing
what
would
be
your
advice
The
most
important
advice
would
be
not
to
be
afraid
of
shipping
Don't
waste
your
time
on
polishing
an
app
thinking
about
adding
one
more
killer
feature
that
would
definitely
get
you
a
ton
of
users
No
don't
do
it
Get
it
ready
box
free
just
one
single
feature
ship
it
and
let
users
tell
you
what
they
think
about
it
while
you're
building
another
app
That's
amazing
Best
advice
I
heard
all
month
Max
Thank
you
for
coming
on
sharing
all
this
It's
amazing
what
you're
doing
I
think
it
might
be
the
future
of
building
apps
and
software
So
super
cool
to
see
and
I'm
sure
it's
going
to
keep
growing
Thanks
for
coming
on
Thank
you
Thank
you
to
Max
for
coming
onto
the
channel
I
think
that
his
approach
is
really
cool
The
fact
that
he
did
it
all
while
he
had
a
full
time
job
he's
making
10
000
a
month
with
28
apps
That
just
shows
you
what
is
happening
in
the
software
and
app
landscape
right
now
Need
to
be
able
to
build
stuff
fast
reuse
different
components
and
just
try
a
lot
of
different
things
Building
that
shipping
muscle
is
super
super
important
And
I
imagine
that
one
day
he's
going
to
stumble
onto
a
very
very
big
idea
and
be
able
to
execute
on
it
flawlessly
flawlessly
And
again
this
is
exactly
what
we
teach
inside
Starter
Story
Build
We
help
you
build
that
shipping
muscle
We
help
you
come
up
with
an
idea
build
it
launch
it
and
get
it
into
the
hands
of
real
users
And
it
takes
a
lot
of
courage
to
build
something
and
put
it
out
into
the
world
shamelessly
All
right
guys
I
hope
you
enjoyed
this
episode
Thank
you
for
watching
We'll
see
you
in
the
next
one
Peace
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