Esc
$18K/Month From This Ridiculously Simple App Idea
Starter Story
Jul 26, 2026
Ryan is a former product designer who quit his job to finally build his own app. With the help of AI coding tools, the first app he ever built hit $18K/month.
But here's the crazy part... this type of app has been built hundreds of times. Why was his successful?
In this video, we will dive into the simple app he built, how he got his first users, and his advice on how to pick winning app ideas.
Free: iOS Bootcamp: go.starterstory.com/lp-test-2-ios-bootcamp-description
Follow Ryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanqyao/
Check out Cat on Chair: https://catonchair.app/en/
🔔 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.
Chapters
Stack
Transcript
Chapters
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No tools listed for this business.
I
am
obsessed
with
finding
niche
apps
that
make
money
And
today
I
have
one
to
show
you
that
will
blow
your
mind
With
the
help
of
AI
we
built
an
app
that
makes
over
18K
a
month
now
Meet
Ryan
He's
a
normal
guy
who
quit
his
designer
job
and
decided
to
start
building
apps
I
left
my
200K
job
to
build
my
own
business
And
the
first
one
that
he
built
already
crossed
18
000
a
month
And
when
he
showed
me
what
this
app
does
I
knew
I
had
to
bring
him
onto
the
channel
In
this
episode
we're
going
to
dive
into
the
ridiculously
simple
app
idea
that's
making
him
18
000
a
month
exactly
how
he
found
this
idea
and
built
it
100
with
AI
and
his
advice
for
building
apps
that
stand
out
from
the
rest
All
right
this
is
one
that
you
cannot
miss
Let's
dive
in
I'm
Pat
Walls
and
this
is
Starter
Story
Ryan
welcome
to
the
channel
I
am
pumped
to
have
you
on
here
and
talk
about
this
super
cool
app
that
you
built
So
tell
me
who
you
are
what
you
built
and
what's
your
story
Hi
I'm
Ryan
a
product
designer
turned
to
indie
developer
I
left
my
200K
job
to
build
my
own
business
It
took
a
few
years
but
with
the
help
of
AI
and
my
girlfriend
we
built
an
app
that
makes
over
18K
a
month
now
Okay
cool
You're
a
solopreneur
With
the
help
of
your
girlfriend
you
were
able
to
build
an
app
that
makes
18
000
a
Let's
see
it
What
is
the
app
that
you
built
And
then
also
if
you
could
pull
up
some
of
your
Stripe
screenshots
to
show
that
this
is
legit
So
the
app
is
called
Cat
on
Chair
It's
a
Pomodoro
timer
for
cat
lovers
We
didn't
want
to
build
another
boring
cold
productivity
app
We
want
to
have
some
fun
So
for
this
app
it's
not
just
a
regular
timer
but
when
you
start
focusing
the
cat
will
jump
on
the
chair
and
just
be
there
with
you
and
once
you
are
done
the
cat
will
leave
you
a
gift
gift
Overall
we
crossed
127K
downloads
and
for
our
sales
we
made
close
to
80K
for
a
span
of
8
9
months
In
the
last
30
days
from
April
13th
we
made
over
18K
That's
our
sales
and
in
terms
of
first
time
downloads
it's
around
24K
downloads
It
is
a
free
app
Everyone
can
download
it
use
it
but
we
have
many
pro
features
and
our
lifetime
plan
is
29
99
and
our
annual
is
19
99
We
also
have
a
family
share
which
people
can
buy
it
and
share
with
up
to
six
people
Most
of
our
sales
come
from
the
lifetime
so
at
the
peak
we
hit
rank
three
for
free
productivity
apps
and
rank
11
for
all
free
apps
in
Taiwan
Alright
cool
So
one
thing
I
love
about
your
app
is
it's
super
fun
It's
designed
really
well
I
can
see
why
it
potentially
went
viral
and
you
had
all
this
word
of
mouth
so
we're
going
to
talk
more
about
that
But
before
we
do
let's
talk
about
your
background
Have
you
always
been
building
apps
Were
you
working
a
job
before
How
do
you
get
to
this
point
where
you
have
an
app
that's
doing
almost
20
000
a
month
Yeah
so
this
is
actually
the
first
app
we
released
So
I
was
a
product
designer
at
various
tech
startups
but
I
always
felt
like
I'm
wasting
my
potential
because
I
was
only
doing
design
work
So
I
quit
my
job
and
tried
to
build
something
on
my
own
So
about
a
year
ago
AI
coding
became
a
viable
option
for
building
iOS
apps
and
it
was
always
my
dream
to
ship
one
So
I
just
decided
to
try
I
love
the
app
that
Ryan
built
I
think
this
is
super
cool
Why
Because
it's
proof
that
you
do
not
need
a
complicated
app
to
make
real
money
All
you
need
is
an
idea
and
the
right
tools
to
ship
it
And
this
is
why
we
launched
the
iOS
Bootcamp
which
is
our
free
program
where
we
will
help
you
come
up
with
an
idea
build
it
with
AI
and
get
it
ready
to
ship
to
the
app
store
If
you
join
this
bootcamp
within
a
few
days
your
app
idea
could
be
live
and
ready
to
make
money
So
if
you
are
finally
ready
to
start
building
just
head
to
the
first
link
in
the
description
click
that
and
you
can
get
started
on
your
app
for
free
All
right
let's
get
back
to
the
episode
That's
super
cool
because
hopefully
there's
a
lot
of
product
designers
on
here
watching
this
right
now
that
maybe
two
three
five
years
ago
weren't
able
to
build
things
because
they
weren't
technical
But
you
because
of
AI
coding
you
were
able
to
take
your
really
great
design
skills
and
actually
build
stuff
So
let's
talk
about
this
Can
you
give
me
the
timeline
of
how
long
it
took
to
build
this
and
exactly
how
you
built
it
What
tools
you
used
I
started
around
May
2025
It
actually
took
a
while
for
us
to
get
the
first
version
up
and
running
So
after
a
few
weeks
we
finally
got
a
simple
pomodoro
timer
done
Then
we
started
fleshing
out
the
concept
and
the
mechanics
like
how
to
show
the
cat
animations
By
August
we
finally
had
the
first
version
ready
We
invited
thousands
of
people
on
red
notes
to
beta
test
it
We
spent
about
a
month
gathering
feedback
fixing
bugs
iterating
on
it
The
app
launched
August
27th
We
had
about
3
000
downloads
in
the
first
week
but
it
wasn't
really
a
smooth
selling
There
were
so
many
bugs
even
after
a
month
of
testing
Some
of
the
bugs
were
pretty
serious
like
data
not
syncing
between
devices
It
wasn't
until
around
December
or
January
that
we
had
a
relatively
stable
version
During
that
time
we
had
a
few
small
viral
moments
on
red
notes
but
the
app
truly
took
off
when
some
Instagram
influencers
started
sharing
app
collection
posts
featuring
us
and
one
of
them
exploded
and
hitting
over
2
million
views
From
there
someone
in
Taiwan
saw
it
shared
our
app
on
threads
where
it
went
viral
all
over
again
That
chain
of
events
essentially
doubled
our
downloads
and
revenue
overnight
That's
super
cool
And
as
I
understand
it
this
is
mainly
for
Chinese
and
Taiwanese
markets
Is
that
where
most
of
your
users
come
from
That's
quite
as
for
now
It
was
mainly
because
my
girlfriend
had
a
red
note
account
before
sharing
her
illustrations
and
so
she
had
some
followers
there
already
So
that's
where
we
started
in
the
beginning
But
now
we
are
definitely
targeting
more
to
the
English
audience
or
pretty
much
worldwide
That's
super
cool
You
know
we
talked
to
a
lot
of
founders
who
build
apps
for
US
market
or
even
just
English
English
market
that
shows
just
how
big
the
world
is
in
building
apps
We're
going
to
get
to
that
But
before
we
do
I'm
just
curious
what
tools
you
use
to
build
this
because
you
were
a
designer
You
didn't
know
all
the
lay
of
the
land
in
terms
of
developer
tools
What
were
the
actual
tools
that
you
use
to
build
this
and
turn
into
something
that's
used
by
hundreds
of
thousands
of
people
Yeah
right
now
I
mainly
use
ChaiGPT
Pro
plan
for
the
coding
part
I
also
use
the
other
tools
like
RevenueCat
which
is
super
popular
Paywall
and
subscription
management
tool
It
costs
around
200
to
300
depends
on
our
revenue
of
the
month
AppLyra
is
an
ASO
optimization
tool
It
costs
10
a
month
Zerjoid
which
is
a
user
feedback
board
It's
free
OK
cool
One
reason
why
it
seems
like
your
app
blew
up
you
just
built
something
really
cool
People
loved
it
They
shared
it
organically
They
shared
it
through
word
of
mouth
You
don't
hear
about
that
as
much
anymore
So
I'd
love
to
talk
about
how
did
you
actually
come
up
with
the
idea
for
this
And
how
did
you
know
it
could
be
something
that
hundreds
of
thousands
of
people
would
potentially
use
it
How
did
you
have
the
conviction
to
go
all
in
on
this
cool
cat
on
chair
Pomodoro
timer
idea
The
idea
actually
came
from
a
necklace
my
girlfriend
made
It's
a
little
cat
sitting
on
a
chair
I
named
it
cat
on
chair
and
I
really
loved
the
name
So
I
knew
I
had
to
use
it
to
build
something
around
it
And
everyone
knows
cats
love
crawling
up
beside
you
while
you
work
As
cat
owners
we
especially
know
there
are
some
things
so
calming
healing
about
those
moments
So
having
a
cat
sit
on
your
chair
while
you
focus
just
made
the
perfect
sense
My
girlfriend
is
a
big
Animal
Crossing
fan
So
she
suggests
we
should
add
some
customization
to
the
app
like
different
furnitures
different
cats
backgrounds
So
the
whole
experience
feels
more
personal
and
give
people
more
reasons
to
keep
coming
back
Okay
I
think
that's
super
cool
because
it's
just
different
I
mean
I'm
a
huge
fan
of
Animal
Crossing
as
well
It's
one
of
my
favorite
games
played
it
as
a
kid
And
I
can
see
why
this
is
popular
for
a
certain
sort
of
niche
audience
right
That
kind
of
likes
cats
They
like
cute
things
They
want
to
collect
different
furniture
Like
you
do
in
Animal
Crossing
So
it
kind
of
makes
sense
to
me
But
I'm
still
trying
to
understand
how
this
thing
actually
makes
almost
20
000
a
month
month
when
it's
really
just
a
Pomodoro
timer
I'm
curious
why
this
does
so
well
when
there
are
thousands
of
Pomodoro
timers
out
there
It's
really
hard
to
innovate
on
the
feature
set
of
Pomodoro
timers
There
are
already
tons
out
there
But
combined
with
the
cat
theme
and
the
customization
mechanics
we
are
able
to
add
unique
features
that
motivate
people
to
keep
using
it
A
lot
of
best
features
come
from
asking
how
do
we
replicate
the
physical
experience
of
having
a
cat
in
the
digital
app
The
gift
collection
system
was
just
inspired
by
the
memes
of
cats
bringing
dead
mice
to
their
owners
So
we
thought
why
not
have
the
cat
leave
a
gift
after
a
successful
session
and
leave
a
trash
if
the
session
fails
We
have
codes
for
each
cat
based
on
their
backstory
and
personality
Our
users
push
us
even
further
further
So
they
wanted
to
actually
interact
with
a
cat
They
pet
a
cat
So
we
added
a
meow
animation
that
triggers
when
you
tap
on
a
cat
or
just
say
its
name
out
loud
And
definitely
my
girlfriend's
illustrations
play
a
huge
role
in
this
Her
style
is
truly
unique
and
there's
nothing
quite
like
it
in
the
market
So
when
we
put
everything
together
cat
on
chair
it
adds
playfulness
personality
that
the
competition
doesn't
have
Some
of
our
users
shared
great
feedback
with
us
One
user
told
us
after
her
cat
passed
away
she
found
a
similar
looking
cat
in
our
app
and
they
feel
like
she
could
see
her
cat
again
Wow
There's
something
about
this
that
I
just
love
it
Is
this
app
it
feels
like
handcrafted
It
feels
like
a
piece
of
art
It
feels
unique
like
no
one
else
could
build
this
app
other
than
you
and
your
girlfriend
because
of
this
idea
that
you
have
I
just
think
this
is
so
cool
This
feels
like
the
future
of
software
software
Yes
I
can
use
my
Pomodoro
timer
and
it
gives
me
utility
and
I
could
build
that
in
two
hours
with
AI
coding
But
what
AI
can't
do
is
build
this
like
handcrafted
this
experience
I
don't
know
if
you
have
any
thoughts
on
that
on
other
app
ideas
that
you
want
to
build
build
or
for
anyone
watching
this
that
wants
to
build
cool
unique
and
simple
apps
and
clearly
is
working
for
you
So
I
don't
know
if
you
have
any
advice
or
ideas
on
that
I
would
say
just
start
from
finding
an
app
you're
already
using
or
you
are
generally
interested
in
and
then
go
deep
on
your
computations
like
study
all
the
app
store
reviews
social
media
everything
And
then
think
about
how
you
can
remix
features
or
mechanics
from
other
industries
The
games
are
definitely
a
good
place
to
start
because
they
are
full
of
elements
designed
to
motivate
and
retain
users
And
of
course
if
you
can
find
an
illustrator
to
collaborate
with
or
use
AI
to
develop
a
distinctive
visual
style
that
definitely
would
help
to
set
your
app
apart
Okay
cool
Well
thanks
for
sharing
that
I
think
there's
huge
opportunities
in
this
space
to
build
playful
software
I
think
it's
super
cool
So
on
that
note
I'd
love
to
see
it
Could
you
give
us
a
demo
of
this
cat
on
chair
productivity
app
that
makes
almost
20
000
a
month
Yeah
So
here's
the
app
Once
you
open
the
app
you
will
see
the
timer
obviously
and
like
different
backgrounds
The
gifts
down
there
are
the
ones
you
collect
from
doing
the
focus
session
and
you
can
play
around
with
it
So
once
you
start
the
cat
will
show
up
and
jump
on
the
chair
So
when
you
are
done
the
cat
will
leave
you
gifts
You
can
take
a
break
like
follow
the
traditional
point
or
timer
format
but
you
can
also
like
focus
10
more
minutes
and
then
you
can
sell
your
gifts
Again
there's
some
cute
animation
here
which
will
give
you
a
fish
You
can
go
on
your
shop
and
switch
to
different
cats
We
also
have
different
furnitures
and
different
backgrounds
I
have
an
animated
background
as
well
We
have
different
features
like
the
timeline
where
you
can
see
what
your
focused
history
and
you
can
add
a
sticker
here
as
well
We
have
a
to
do
list
as
well
and
a
whole
bunch
of
other
features
Okay
Well
thanks
for
sharing
that
Super
cool
Super
unique
Never
seen
anything
like
it
Hopefully
people
watching
get
some
inspiration
on
what
you
can
do
with
software
now
and
how
software
is
going
to
change
be
more
playful
be
more
fun
Maybe
that
is
the
future
of
apps
But
anyways
the
last
question
that
we
have
to
ask
everyone
who
comes
on
to
Starter
Story
is
if
you
go
back
in
time
you
know
when
you
were
a
product
designer
and
you
were
maybe
thinking
could
I
build
an
app
Could
I
not
build
an
app
What
would
be
your
advice
you
give
to
your
younger
self
or
for
anyone
watching
this
that
maybe
is
a
designer
and
wants
to
build
stuff
like
you
Yeah
I
would
say
just
keep
trying
be
consistent
It
took
me
a
few
years
to
really
find
what
I
love
to
do
and
what
I'm
good
at
And
it
took
me
a
couple
of
tries
to
build
this
app
Like
it
was
not
easy
smooth
sailing
thing
to
build
an
app
with
AI
Yeah
So
I
would
say
just
keep
trying
and
eventually
you
will
find
something
you
love
you
enjoy
doing
All
right
right
Well
that's
great
advice
Thanks
for
Ryan
for
coming
on
and
sharing
It's
super
cool
It's
going
to
inspire
a
lot
of
people
Thanks
for
coming
on
Thank
you
for
having
me
Gus
from
Starter
Story
What
do
you
think
of
this
one
Well
I
thought
it
was
awesome
One
of
the
reasons
I
wanted
to
bring
him
on
was
like
man
this
is
such
a
unique
and
cool
and
sort
of
chill
idea
that's
making
18
000
20
000
a
month
Too
cool
of
a
story
in
my
opinion
So
this
is
my
first
thought
Yeah
If
I
could
take
anything
away
from
this
and
it
may
not
be
what
people
are
expecting
me
to
say
but
is
that
if
you
have
some
sort
of
skill
lean
into
that
skill
for
the
business
that
you
decide
to
build
or
the
app
you
decide
to
build
So
for
him
he
was
a
designer
He
was
able
to
make
this
app
really
cool
and
unique
from
a
design
perspective
right
But
let's
say
that
you
are
maybe
more
of
a
I
don't
know
data
analyst
right
How
can
you
make
an
app
better
because
of
your
skills
that
you
already
have
Something
unique
that
only
you
could
do
So
I
think
that's
one
thing
And
then
the
other
question
I
had
for
you
is
we
didn't
talk
about
the
growth
of
his
business
at
all
because
it
did
seem
like
it
was
almost
random
What
did
you
think
about
that
Yeah
I
think
this
would
be
kind
of
a
guess
but
I
feel
like
what
made
it
grow
was
that
handcrafted
custom
doesn't
look
vibe
coded
doesn't
look
basic
kind
of
app
design
And
I
bet
that's
what
sort
of
went
viral
on
red
notes
because
I
would
imagine
people
saw
this
and
thought
wow
this
is
really
unique
This
is
different
I
want
to
use
it
And
I
imagine
that's
what
made
a
difference
Yeah
No
I
think
a
lot
of
people
go
Hey
I
want
to
build
an
app
And
then
they
expect
that
it's
going
to
blow
up
like
the
people
they
watch
on
here
Right
But
what
I
like
about
Ryan
and
the
vibe
that
I
got
was
like
he
wanted
to
build
this
because
he
wanted
to
exist
in
the
world
He
didn't
have
probably
any
expectations
of
how
much
money
it
would
make
And
because
of
that
because
it
was
cool
it
was
unique
And
he
put
care
and
love
into
the
product
Then
it
did
the
exact
opposite
which
is
that
it
went
viral
People
were
sharing
it
organically
So
that's
why
I
think
this
is
one
of
the
most
important
interviews
that
we've
ever
done
So
on
that
note
if
you
have
an
idea
if
you
want
to
put
care
into
something
that
you
build
or
use
your
skills
to
build
your
first
iOS
app
I'll
put
a
link
in
the
description
for
you
to
access
our
iOS
bootcamp
which
will
take
you
from
idea
to
actually
shipping
a
real
iOS
app
into
the
world
It
doesn't
need
to
be
the
perfect
app
but
if
it's
something
you
can
build
you
should
do
it
All
right
Hope
you
guys
enjoyed
this
episode
Let
us
know
what
you
thought
in
the
comments
We'll
see
in
the
next
one
Peace
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