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I challenged him to make $1,000 in 30 days (he failed)
Starter Story
Aug 22, 2026
Meet Gaurabh. He built almost 100 apps in 60 days. But... he had a problem. Despite shipping all these projects, he has made exactly ZERO dollars. What happened? What was going on? Why hadn't he made any money?
In this first episode of the Starter Story challenge, we challenge him to finally monetize his app. Can he actually do it?
Side project ideas you can build with your 9-5: https://clickhubspot.com/jzxl
Apply for the challenge → https://forms.gle/eFqR1QdT4N5tBWyo9
Follow Gaurabh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaurabhmathure/
Check out his projects:
- https://attn.design/
- https://vuemagnet.com/
- https://mastersofattention.com/
🔔 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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No tools listed for this business.
A
few
weeks
ago
I
got
this
DM
someone
who's
watched
Starter
Story
forever
said
I
want
to
make
my
first
dollar
But
when
everyone
on
Starter
Story
is
so
successful
why
wasn't
he
Why
hadn't
he
made
any
money
What
was
really
going
on
And
what
was
the
real
issue
So
I
gave
him
a
challenge
Can
you
make
1
000
in
30
days
And
this
video
we're
going
to
follow
him
along
on
his
journey
what
he
built
what
didn't
and
ultimately
see
how
much
money
he
generated
and
you'll
never
believe
what
happened
by
the
end
of
this
episode
This
is
episode
one
of
the
Starter
Story
Challenge
Well
welcome
Gaurav
Thanks
for
coming
on
Welcome
to
the
challenge
Can
you
give
me
a
little
bit
of
background
on
you
and
where
you
come
from
Hey
I'm
Gaurav
I'm
a
product
designer
by
Kraft
I
spent
my
career
building
digital
products
for
companies
like
Nike
Samsung
and
I
had
recently
been
a
founder
Through
that
I
realized
that
what
I
truly
enjoy
is
designing
products
and
really
kind
of
of
building
them
So
I
went
all
in
and
I
challenged
myself
to
build
about
100
apps
in
60
days
Eventually
I
got
to
about
72
apps
within
those
60
days
But
after
that
I
kind
of
didn't
know
what
to
do
So
I
did
not
really
get
any
revenue
from
them
mean
I
checked
out
some
of
the
stuff
you
built
and
they
look
really
really
awesome
Really
really
impressed
with
your
product
skills
design
skills
But
you
built
over
60
apps
in
100
days
and
no
revenue
was
generated
It
just
shows
the
changing
nature
of
building
products
and
software
in
2026
So
what's
the
problem
What
do
you
feel
is
the
biggest
blocker
for
you
Yeah
so
I'm
really
feeling
strong
about
two
of
the
products
Attention
Design
which
is
ViewMagnet
which
is
a
QR
code
platform
for
video
creators
as
well
But
I
don't
really
know
if
I
have
the
right
framework
to
pick
the
right
app
to
monetize
And
also
what
steps
I
should
take
exactly
to
get
to
that
you
know
1K
a
month
in
revenue
to
start
off
with
First
let's
start
with
my
diagnosis
because
I
think
that
the
issue
here
is
not
really
like
a
specific
product
that
you
haven't
figured
out
but
it's
more
of
an
issue
with
an
addiction
to
building
and
shiny
object
syndrome
and
maybe
a
little
bit
of
a
fear
of
rejection
So
I
would
push
you
in
the
next
30
days
to
go
cold
turkey
off
that
and
not
build
any
new
features
or
any
new
projects
or
any
new
ideas
And
then
the
goal
that
I
want
you
to
set
is
just
to
generate
1
000
in
revenue
for
your
business
So
over
the
next
30
days
these
would
be
my
two
non
negotiables
for
you
The
first
one
two
customer
conversations
a
day
phone
or
in
person
And
the
information
that
you
will
get
from
one
single
15
minute
conversation
is
more
valuable
than
the
70
apps
that
you
could
build
The
second
thing
is
to
post
once
a
day
on
one
platform
documenting
your
journey
I
think
the
highest
ROI
distribution
channel
for
you
right
now
would
just
be
your
personal
brand
and
just
sharing
what
you're
doing
every
single
day
So
I
want
to
ask
you
what
you
think
about
this
challenge
and
see
if
you're
in
Absolutely
It's
definitely
pushing
me
towards
a
new
space
And
one
of
the
things
I
do
think
about
is
you
know
you
should
do
the
things
that
make
you
uncomfortable
So
super
excited
about
it
And
thanks
for
the
advice
Awesome
I'm
excited
to
see
you
come
back
on
in
30
days
and
show
the
hundreds
of
thousands
of
subscribers
that
we
have
the
results
you
had
and
hear
what
happened
It's
been
about
a
week
since
the
start
of
story
challenges
started
and
I
have
nothing
All
right
we
are
about
to
check
back
in
with
Gaurav
He
has
just
completed
his
challenge
But
before
I
do
I
do
want
to
share
one
quick
thing
with
you
Gaurav
started
building
apps
as
side
projects
This
wasn't
even
his
full
time
thing
His
ultimate
goal
by
the
end
of
this
challenge
is
simply
to
make
money
from
his
projects
But
as
you've
seen
here
the
hardest
part
for
him
is
finding
the
right
idea
and
having
confidence
on
knowing
which
one
is
worth
building
and
what
he
should
go
all
in
on
So
if
you're
in
a
similar
spot
you're
not
exactly
sure
what
to
work
on
Well
we
put
together
a
free
list
of
over
100
side
project
ideas
that
you
can
get
started
on
right
now
Every
idea
that
we
show
you
in
this
database
is
backed
by
real
data
real
revenue
numbers
pricing
models
and
the
growth
tactics
that
are
actually
working
The
database
is
right
down
there
in
the
description
and
has
everything
you
need
to
validate
your
first
idea
So
if
you're
ready
to
start
your
side
project
head
to
that
link
in
the
description
down
below
and
you
can
grab
it
all
100
for
free
All
right
let's
catch
up
with
Gaurav
and
see
how
he
did
So
we
are
here
back
60
days
later
and
there's
a
reason
for
that
We
had
caught
up
in
30
days
but
then
you
had
let
us
know
that
you
were
almost
on
the
precipice
of
a
breakthrough
So
I'd
love
if
you
could
dive
into
that
Can
you
walk
me
through
once
we
got
off
the
call
last
time
and
then
the
next
30
days
after
that
what
did
those
first
30
days
look
like
for
you
Yeah
So
when
we
got
off
the
call
the
first
thing
that
we
talked
about
was
building
out
a
cadence
to
post
content
out
there
so
that
I
could
build
my
own
distribution
But
I
didn't
have
any
specific
channel
that
I
was
aligned
with
So
I
posted
everywhere
I
had
some
followers
on
X
I
had
some
followers
on
LinkedIn
I
went
and
participated
in
Reddit
forums
I
also
posted
on
YouTube
So
I
did
a
lot
of
things
but
I
don't
think
I
really
got
any
value
from
it
especially
X
You
know
I
didn't
see
too
much
response
there
With
Reddit
forums
it
takes
a
lot
of
work
There's
a
lot
of
nurturing
You
have
to
be
useful
You
can't
promote
any
product
And
then
the
part
which
was
around
speaking
to
customers
I
did
not
have
any
connections
in
the
space
of
content
creation
I
did
manage
to
get
some
conversations
started
but
it
wasn't
that
much
that
I
would
get
so
much
insight
In
reality
I
managed
to
get
one
person
to
buy
one
of
the
products
Attention
Design
was
about
99
This
was
a
big
challenge
for
me
like
really
finding
customers
within
the
space
So
you're
at
the
end
of
the
30
days
you've
done
something
you've
made
100
payment
How
did
that
feel
Where
was
your
head
at
at
that
point
I
think
then
the
payment
came
in
it
was
somewhere
closer
to
the
end
of
the
30
days
I
was
already
kind
of
feeling
like
the
challenge
hadn't
gone
properly
from
a
revenue
perspective
But
I
think
what
was
really
exhilarating
for
me
was
that
I
had
gotten
into
the
groove
of
content
creation
Although
there
was
no
revenue
I
suddenly
had
this
new
superpower
that
I
was
building
up
And
that's
one
thing
that
I
know
is
a
lot
of
successful
founders
is
it's
not
about
revenue
And
especially
in
a
short
amount
of
time
like
30
days
it's
about
the
signals
that
will
eventually
lead
to
the
revenue
which
in
the
next
30
days
something
different
happens
So
could
you
walk
us
through
the
second
30
days
Yeah
So
from
the
signals
I
got
I
realized
that
LinkedIn
was
a
place
that
I
could
see
a
lot
of
interest
that
was
developing
in
what
I
was
doing
My
first
angle
was
to
take
the
learnings
from
YouTube
and
publishing
a
different
type
of
content
on
LinkedIn
like
vlog
like
content
on
LinkedIn
which
is
really
popular
on
YouTube
That
really
created
a
pattern
break
You
see
a
lot
of
launch
videos
you
see
a
lot
of
like
expert
interviews
on
LinkedIn
but
you
don't
see
this
vlog
style
content
I
really
kind
of
used
that
as
my
entry
point
And
you
can
see
that
anything
that
was
a
video
started
getting
a
lot
of
impressions
The
second
part
of
LinkedIn
was
also
another
kind
of
reframing
that
I
was
focusing
on
the
wrong
customer
When
I
started
posting
on
LinkedIn
and
started
looking
at
people
I
realized
that
there
are
a
lot
of
people
like
me
who
are
experts
or
professionals
who've
had
a
bunch
of
experience
who
want
to
create
their
personal
brand
but
they
don't
know
how
to
create
content
or
videos
So
I
also
really
narrowed
down
on
the
target
audience
You
niche
down
That's
like
classic
startup
advice
that
like
almost
always
works
and
is
almost
always
the
right
decision
But
what
I'm
curious
to
see
is
like
what
are
some
of
the
numbers
behind
this
How
much
content
were
you
creating
How
many
impressions
was
this
leading
to
Show
me
some
of
the
stats
behind
your
content
Yeah
So
as
you
can
see
here
my
LinkedIn
graph
and
interest
was
definitely
kind
of
on
an
uptick
or
isn't
an
uptick
I
need
to
maintain
it
A
lot
of
my
content
was
editorial
like
how
we
do
things
So
if
you
look
over
here
there's
250
link
engagements
which
is
basically
people
clicking
on
links
who
are
interested
in
Now
if
you
think
of
the
professionals
a
lot
of
those
are
in
high
spending
cities
So
there's
a
signal
that
these
people
are
ready
to
spend
Think
of
these
as
high
value
audiences
right
right
Like
founders
co
founders
product
managers
all
these
people
are
paid
well
and
they
have
expertise
that
they
want
to
share
Yeah
You
want
to
serve
customers
that
are
willing
to
spend
money
They're
not
going
to
bat
an
eye
to
a
10
subscription
to
have
a
painful
problem
solved
Tell
me
about
what
you
learned
about
talking
to
customers
and
having
conversations
with
customers
because
I
remember
that
was
something
that
I
really
tried
to
push
you
to
do
So
tell
me
a
little
bit
more
about
how
that
went
in
that
second
30
days
Yeah
So
now
that
I
was
getting
interest
I
was
also
cold
outreaching
and
then
getting
somebody
to
say
hey
great
that
you
did
a
little
bit
of
research
about
us
I'd
like
to
see
something
So
I
offered
doing
mockups
for
them
I
also
sent
personalized
demos
of
the
entire
platform
got
product
feedback
from
some
of
the
editors
who
would
potentially
be
customers
of
this
product
That's
amazing
This
is
another
classic
startup
concept
which
is
do
things
that
don't
scale
go
above
and
beyond
for
specific
customers
especially
in
those
early
days
But
what
I
want
to
see
now
is
let's
look
at
some
of
the
numbers
Obviously
you
only
did
about
100
in
the
first
30
days
How
much
revenue
did
you
do
in
the
second
30
days
Could
you
break
this
all
down
by
what
product
and
what
were
the
results
So
after
60
days
I
have
6
500
in
revenue
and
here's
how
it's
broken
down
Attention
design
is
the
gateway
So
there's
a
free
version
You
can
get
inspired
You
can
start
learning
And
then
there
was
a
pro
plan
You
know
that
is
something
that
has
five
customers
are
paying
99
The
second
product
ViewMagnet
which
is
for
later
stage
creators
which
I
hadn't
expected
to
be
the
hero
of
the
story
ended
up
getting
visibility
of
agencies
who
realized
that
they
can
actually
use
this
to
manage
multiple
creators
and
all
of
the
lead
magnets
and
all
of
their
offers
and
see
analytics
around
it
Right
That
agency
plan
which
was
like
a
higher
value
plan
charging
more
Right
Clearly
it
worked
for
you
So
I
just
want
to
congratulate
you
on
hitting
over
6
000
in
revenue
And
it
looks
like
most
of
the
revenue
was
even
generated
towards
the
back
end
of
that
last
30
days
And
that's
just
a
lesson
there
which
is
don't
give
up
a
lot
of
the
stuff
that
you
did
in
that
first
30
days
that
spray
and
pray
where
you
just
were
like
OK
let
me
figure
out
X
Reddit
and
then
you
crack
LinkedIn
But
those
are
the
learnings
that
led
to
the
dollar
So
for
anyone
who's
watching
this
right
now
who
wants
to
build
their
own
business
and
it's
not
happening
in
that
first
30
days
well
here
is
the
perfect
example
of
your
reason
to
keep
going
So
the
last
question
that
I
want
to
ask
you
is
you
know
looking
back
on
this
last
60
days
what
were
your
like
lessons
learned
What
advice
would
you
have
for
people
who
are
watching
this
that
also
want
to
do
the
starter
story
challenge
alongside
you
If
I
have
to
look
back
at
the
last
60
days
here
are
the
four
things
that
I
learned
The
first
one
was
to
live
the
problem
you're
solving
If
it's
something
that
you
know
is
outside
of
you
it's
really
hard
to
understand
the
sentiments
of
your
customer
and
understand
what
is
it
that's
going
to
make
them
buy
Like
what
are
the
pain
points
The
second
one
was
around
start
where
you
already
have
a
network
I
tried
a
lot
of
different
social
media
platforms
because
they
were
cool
or
a
lot
of
people
said
they
would
work
But
eventually
I
went
back
to
something
that
you
know
I
leaned
on
for
my
entire
professional
life
and
I
already
had
credibility
in
While
it
is
hard
to
put
myself
out
there
in
a
very
different
context
it
was
something
that
provided
a
lot
of
signal
And
the
third
one
is
really
about
meeting
the
customers
where
they
are
Initially
I
entered
this
entire
space
thinking
that
oh
everybody
knows
what
it
means
to
be
a
creator
By
diving
into
this
and
realizing
that
actually
not
everybody
is
where
I
am
was
really
important
So
that
led
to
me
adjusting
the
positioning
Like
initially
it
said
the
attention
library
for
YouTubers
And
now
it
kind
of
talks
about
LinkedIn
where
experts
become
creators
Right
So
it's
really
about
what
stage
is
your
customer
at
And
that
really
helps
you
align
or
helps
them
align
with
your
product
Right
Because
then
that
resonates
And
the
fourth
thing
is
that
video
is
definitely
the
language
of
the
Internet
And
it's
also
what
all
the
platforms
are
really
prioritizing
If
I
want
to
reach
the
audience
who's
going
to
buy
my
product
video
is
going
to
be
the
way
for
me
to
not
only
reach
them
but
also
to
demonstrate
that
my
product
works
Crazy
to
experience
all
those
learnings
in
just
30
to
60
days
So
congratulations
But
my
question
now
is
what's
next
What
is
your
next
goal
Do
you
have
a
future
revenue
goal
Do
you
want
to
continue
working
on
these
projects
And
what's
your
timeline
looking
like
on
that
Yeah
So
this
is
definitely
the
beginning
What's
really
going
to
happen
next
is
me
focusing
on
these
two
products
and
this
ecosystem
that
I
showed
you
and
just
nurturing
it
Even
if
I
can
keep
the
six
thousand
dollars
per
month
for
the
next
six
months
and
then
kind
of
accelerate
that'll
be
great
All
right
Well
I
love
that
for
anyone
watching
this
who
enjoyed
this
format
Let
us
know
This
is
our
new
format
If
you
are
interested
in
doing
the
Starter
Story
Challenge
we
have
a
link
down
there
in
the
description
where
you
can
apply
Thank
you
Gaurav
for
coming
onto
the
channel
and
doing
the
Starter
Story
Challenge
I
know
it
wasn't
easy
You
poured
hundreds
of
hours
into
this
and
I'm
so
glad
it
worked
out
for
you
If
you
want
to
follow
Gaurav
online
and
see
what
he
does
next
we'll
put
that
in
the
description
as
well
Congrats
on
your
success
and
hopefully
we'll
have
you
in
a
future
episode
when
you're
doing
one
hundred
thousand
dollars
a
month
Thanks
for
having
me
on
the
challenge
It
was
a
really
good
way
to
push
me
out
of
my
comfort
zone
and
I
hope
to
do
a
lot
lot
more
and
looking
forward
to
coming
back
on
Starter
Story
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