I Locked Myself In A Room, Made 17 Apps, & Sold 2 for $265,000
Starter Story
Mar 31, 2025
I met this guy named Nico. He locked himself in a hotel room, taught himself how to code, built 17 apps, and sold 2 of them for a life changing amount of money. Enjoy!
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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.
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I
built
and
sold
two
apps
for
265
000
after
teaching
myself
to
code
in
just
two
months
This
guy
locked
himself
in
a
hotel
room
taught
himself
to
code
and
started
building
And
just
two
months
after
I
launched
my
first
app
He
started
small
but
over
the
course
of
that
year
he
built
over
17
apps
Most
of
them
failed
except
for
a
couple
which
he
then
sold
for
a
combined
quarter
of
a
million
dollars
So
what
did
he
do
right
I
grew
my
app
from
0
to
7
000
of
monthly
recurring
revenue
with
Facebook
ads
when
everyone
said
it
wouldn't
work
But
what's
even
cooler
is
the
secret
he
learned
along
the
way
on
how
to
quickly
monetize
these
ideas
I
sat
down
with
Nico
for
a
couple
hours
and
got
all
the
sauce
And
in
this
video
you'll
learn
exactly
how
he
taught
himself
to
code
and
build
apps
how
to
sell
your
app
the
right
way
and
a
full
breakdown
of
his
special
secret
paid
ads
Sit
down
strap
in
and
let's
go
I'm
Pat
Walls
and
this
is
Starter
Story
All
right
welcome
Nico
to
Starter
Story
Thanks
for
coming
on
Can
you
tell
me
a
little
bit
about
yourself
and
what
you
built
My
name
is
Nico
I've
built
17
apps
in
a
year
and
I
sold
two
of
them
for
265
000
USD
The
first
one
is
makelogo
ai
which
generated
26
000
USD
of
sales
Plus
I
sold
it
for
65
000
So
that's
around
85
000
in
total
revenue
from
this
project
alone
The
next
one
I
did
was
TalkNotes
which
generated
77
000
of
sales
before
I
sold
it
for
200
000
last
July
I'd
love
to
get
a
further
breakdown
of
the
two
apps
that
you
built
that
you
sold
for
a
combined
quarter
of
a
million
dollars
So
makelogo
was
an
app
to
generate
logo
using
AI
The
business
model
was
just
one
time
payment
So
you
can
select
a
pack
of
logos
So
there
was
options
for
like
5
10
or
15
options
And
then
you
had
a
few
options
to
customize
it
So
for
example
add
some
text
next
to
it
or
just
change
position
etc
I
started
working
on
it
I
think
in
November
The
transaction
was
closed
in
March
So
that
would
be
around
six
months
Most
of
the
customers
were
people
who
were
just
curious
about
AI
in
general
But
I
also
had
lots
of
small
entrepreneurs
who
didn't
necessarily
want
to
pay
a
designer
for
a
full
logo
but
still
didn't
want
to
have
something
super
generic
The
next
one
I
did
was
TalkNotes
TalkNotes
is
an
app
that
helps
you
turn
any
kind
of
voice
notes
you
can
record
into
proper
formatted
text
In
terms
of
pricing
I
started
with
one
time
payments
It
was
like
a
one
year
pass
And
eventually
I
switched
to
subscription
which
was
60
a
year
or
12
per
month
In
terms
of
customers
I
think
I
had
around
10
000
users
for
the
app
I
had
like
different
targets
like
people
who
often
need
to
brainstorm
ideas
and
write
them
down
so
they
can
remember
it
later
Let's
go
into
what
got
you
building
online
Give
us
a
timeline
of
going
from
working
for
someone
else
to
learning
to
code
and
making
a
living
with
your
own
projects
I
got
started
because
I
had
a
summer
job
in
a
bank
and
I
really
hated
it
So
I
resigned
after
three
days
I
was
19
years
old
back
then
I
think
And
I
had
like
no
clue
what
entrepreneurship
was
or
what
I
was
doing
So
I
was
just
like
trying
things
out
After
around
one
year
I
decided
to
create
a
brand
of
ties
made
in
France
Obviously
it
didn't
work
out
because
no
one
is
wearing
ties
anymore
and
I
didn't
have
experience
But
it
got
me
started
into
e
commerce
and
marketing
which
ended
up
with
me
learning
about
dropshipping
on
Facebook
groups
So
I
gave
it
a
try
I
didn't
really
get
much
success
for
me
at
first
but
I
learned
how
to
run
ads
on
Facebook
Thanks
to
this
I
was
hired
as
a
freelancer
for
a
Belgian
clothing
brand
Eventually
the
owner
of
the
brand
I
was
working
with
told
me
that
we
would
have
to
stop
because
he
was
going
to
work
with
someone
cheaper
At
the
same
time
my
e
commerce
brand
wasn't
working
as
well
as
I
wanted
It
generated
sales
but
very
little
profit
So
I
decided
to
stop
everything
lock
myself
in
a
hotel
room
for
two
months
and
learn
to
code
It
was
hard
but
after
that
after
those
two
months
I
was
able
to
make
my
very
first
step
So
it
was
worth
it
at
the
end
How
did
you
find
the
ideas
that
ended
up
being
successful
And
just
generally
how
do
you
find
ideas
For
that
I
have
four
main
criteria
The
first
one
is
the
perceived
value
Is
that
something
valuable
to
other
people
Are
they
valuing
solving
this
problem
Or
is
it
just
like
a
slight
inconvenience
that
they
don't
really
care
about
The
second
one
is
the
scale
Is
there
like
a
market
for
that
Or
is
this
like
three
people
worldwide
Then
the
idea
is
not
going
to
go
far
So
I
want
to
have
something
that
people
want
and
that
many
people
want
Last
two
ones
are
more
related
to
me
So
that
would
be
my
own
skills
So
is
that
something
that
I
can
do
myself
And
the
last
one
is
distribution
So
is
there
a
way
for
me
to
reach
users
in
a
profitable
way
But
I
would
say
most
of
the
successful
ideas
I
had
came
to
me
like
organically
in
a
sense
that
I
needed
that
for
myself
and
I
just
made
it
All
right
so
let's
talk
about
how
you
actually
build
products
What's
your
step
by
step
process
to
go
from
zero
to
one
with
a
new
idea
So
I
usually
start
by
fixing
a
hard
deadline
If
I
don't
have
any
constraint
in
time
then
there
will
always
be
something
to
add
something
to
make
you
know
the
perfect
app
etc
And
it
forces
me
to
only
focus
on
whatever
is
necessary
Then
the
next
step
is
the
app
prototype
So
that
would
be
the
very
first
interface
to
interact
with
the
tech
So
I
usually
start
with
like
some
kind
of
planning
phase
So
that's
where
I
write
down
all
the
features
not
the
nice
stuff
only
what
is
just
essential
Once
I
plan
all
that
I
like
to
look
for
for
example
design
ideas
for
the
interface
on
Dribbble
and
Google
Image
And
recently
V0
has
been
really
useful
to
generate
interface
And
then
once
I
have
lots
of
ideas
and
I
have
a
better
idea
of
how
my
interface
is
going
to
look
like
then
I
either
make
like
some
kind
of
prototype
on
Sigma
if
that's
a
really
complex
user
interface
where
I
have
to
put
lots
of
things
together
or
I
just
do
it
directly
by
coding
and
improving
on
the
go
Then
the
next
step
is
to
add
like
SaaS
layers
So
that's
things
like
authentication
payment
like
anything
you
need
In
a
SaaS
that's
typically
the
boilerplate
code
that
you
reuse
from
one
project
to
the
other
Once
I
have
all
that
ready
I
go
to
the
landing
page
part
So
this
is
going
to
be
the
sales
page
So
just
making
a
landing
page
that
is
as
compelling
as
possible
you
know
to
make
people
want
to
either
sign
up
or
purchase
the
app
or
whatever
is
the
goal
of
this
project
Once
I'm
done
with
that
I
focus
on
optimization
like
optimizing
for
SEO
et
cetera
fixing
like
small
issues
that
is
any
or
optimizing
for
mobile
et
cetera
et
cetera
Okay
so
this
is
a
lot
of
the
build
stuff
Tell
me
a
little
bit
about
the
launch
which
is
you
know
are
there
any
either
shortcuts
or
kind
of
hacks
that
you
found
to
be
able
to
launch
faster
Yeah
for
example
for
make
logo
AI
I
use
Typeform
to
get
the
information
the
name
of
the
project
some
information
and
what
kind
of
logo
they
wanted
and
collect
the
payment
So
I
didn't
have
any
backend
at
all
It
was
not
automated
It's
definitely
not
scalable
but
I
was
able
to
get
something
going
and
I
got
my
first
sales
from
that
It's
probably
mean
people
are
interested
into
that
And
now
I
can
spend
more
time
making
a
proper
interface
Before
we
get
into
the
marketing
side
of
things
things
I
want
to
talk
about
something
else
first
If
you're
building
anything
in
B2B
then
you
need
to
stop
and
watch
this
I
talked
to
a
lot
of
founders
in
B2B
behind
the
scenes
about
selling
into
enterprise
and
just
how
much
it
changes
their
business
Imagine
adding
100
000
in
ARR
per
year
from
a
single
customer
because
you
landed
a
whale
Well
that's
what
happens
if
you
do
enterprise
right
But
everyone
in
B2B
knows
that
this
comes
with
a
huge
headache
Making
sure
your
app
is
compliant
with
SOC
2
ISO
27001
ISO
42001
HIPAA
etc
If
it's
not
you'll
probably
lose
the
sale
waste
a
bunch
of
time
and
feel
sad
because
you
know
just
how
much
money
you're
leaving
on
the
table
Well
that's
where
Vanta
comes
in
And
we've
partnered
with
them
because
I
think
what
they're
doing
is
awesome
Vanta
is
designed
to
get
your
startup
compliant
fast
so
you
can
close
those
deals
with
confidence
and
not
worry
about
the
massive
paperwork
headache
Not
only
does
Vanta
save
you
time
it
also
saves
you
money
This
new
IDC
white
paper
found
that
Vanta
customers
achieve
535
000
a
year
in
benefits
and
the
platform
pays
for
itself
in
just
three
months
Over
10
000
companies
like
Ramp
Atlassian
and
Pendo
use
Vanta
to
manage
risk
improve
security
in
real
time
So
if
you're
serious
about
getting
compliant
then
I
think
you
should
definitely
download
this
free
SOC
2
checklist
It
breaks
down
the
process
and
the
road
ahead
so
you
can
land
more
enterprise
deals
with
far
less
headache
Just
click
the
first
link
in
the
description
to
download
it
for
free
Thank
you
to
Vanta
for
sponsoring
this
video
I
think
what
you
guys
are
doing
for
founders
is
awesome
All
right
let's
get
back
into
it
Let's
talk
about
marketing
So
we
talked
about
how
to
build
how
to
launch
but
probably
the
hardest
thing
is
marketing
So
how
have
you
gained
thousands
of
users
and
made
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars
So
it
all
depends
on
the
project
and
the
resources
I
have
available
For
example
for
Metlogo
I
didn't
have
much
savings
so
I
didn't
want
to
spend
any
kind
of
money
on
ads
But
the
thing
is
I
was
the
first
to
have
like
AI
generated
logo
back
then
People
were
just
naturally
curious
For
Toknot
it
was
a
bit
different
I
didn't
start
ads
right
at
the
start
So
I
first
tried
to
validate
the
idea
organically
And
just
from
that
I
got
1500
MRR
or
something
like
that
And
once
I
got
to
this
point
I
knew
the
idea
had
potential
I
decided
to
start
running
ads
And
I
didn't
have
still
lots
of
resources
in
terms
of
creative
So
it
was
really
basic
static
ads
So
it's
just
like
an
image
with
a
headline
etc
etc
I
ended
up
making
landing
pages
for
specific
audiences
and
ads
for
those
audiences
And
that's
where
it
really
blew
up
For
the
marketing
cost
again
it
really
really
depends
on
the
project
For
Toknot
for
example
I
was
spending
between
20
to
100
per
day
I
mentioned
this
is
really
not
much
for
ads
But
I
also
had
limited
resources
to
both
make
creatives
and
a
lot
of
customer
support
etc
So
in
my
situation
it
wouldn't
make
sense
to
spend
thousands
per
day
back
then
Well
let's
dive
into
that
a
little
bit
Because
you
know
a
lot
of
people
we
talked
to
on
this
channel
make
it
through
organic
short
form
you
know
this
sort
of
stuff
This
is
really
really
cool
that
you
did
this
with
paid
ads
So
can
you
just
walk
me
through
your
paid
ad
strategy
a
little
bit
So
it
really
depends
on
the
platform
For
example
you
have
search
platforms
like
Google
Bing
etc
So
in
this
case
that's
more
about
giving
people
what
they
want
at
the
right
timing
But
you
also
have
interruption
platforms
where
you
show
your
ads
while
people
are
doing
something
else
So
for
example
on
Facebook
or
Instagram
they're
just
scrolling
And
in
this
case
it's
really
all
about
catching
the
attention
and
making
the
user
want
to
learn
more
by
you
know
watching
the
ad
and
then
clicking
on
it
I
use
both
video
and
static
ads
depending
on
how
much
budget
I
have
etc
etc
I
have
one
ad
for
Toknot
that
worked
really
well
It's
not
really
like
a
professional
ad
It's
more
something
that
you
can
find
scrolling
on
your
feed
So
if
you
look
at
the
video
it's
not
like
professional
studio
or
whatever
It's
just
a
guy
that
I
paid
and
he's
recording
himself
reading
the
script
in
his
office
So
it
looks
really
like
organic
It
doesn't
really
look
like
an
ad
People
will
naturally
be
more
inclined
to
watch
the
ad
and
you
know
maybe
click
after
that
That's
one
of
the
things
that
made
this
ad
work
well
And
it
also
focuses
on
the
problem
So
the
name
of
the
app
like
Toknot
is
not
mentioned
until
way
after
in
the
ad
You
just
keep
giving
them
reason
to
watch
to
watch
to
watch
until
the
end
of
the
ad
where
you
have
the
call
to
action
And
it's
like
oh
now
if
you
have
all
those
problems
and
you
want
a
solution
then
have
a
look
at
this
product
for
example
Okay
cool
So
I
want
to
do
a
little
section
going
over
the
sale
process
Just
talking
about
Acquire
com
and
the
process
of
posting
your
idea
on
there
I
think
that
would
be
helpful
since
you've
gone
through
the
process
two
times
To
sell
the
app
the
first
thing
is
obviously
where
are
you
going
to
list
it
for
sale
In
my
case
I
went
for
Acquire
com
Now
they
don't
handle
the
transaction
themselves
So
they
just
put
you
in
touch
with
like
the
buyer
etc
etc
But
then
you
have
to
make
the
wire
like
sort
of
on
your
own
The
important
thing
is
to
make
sure
that
the
listing
is
like
a
landing
page
So
you
really
want
to
showcase
your
startup
as
like
a
product
Now
for
the
negotiations
it's
better
to
add
the
price
your
startup
to
get
buyers
interested
Because
the
thing
is
there
is
some
like
ego
play
So
for
example
for
MateLogo
I
think
I
got
like
50
000
then
maybe
55
000
or
something
Then
I
got
65
000
paid
over
a
year
And
then
the
last
call
of
the
day
the
guy
was
like
okay
I
don't
want
to
waste
time
like
bidding
against
other
buyers
etc
So
I'm
going
to
offer
you
65
000
cash
but
we
need
to
finalize
everything
in
the
next
two
weeks
I
don't
want
to
waste
time
Nico
can
you
tell
me
what
kind
of
tools
or
languages
you
use
to
build
these
products
and
run
your
businesses
I
use
Nuxt
as
my
main
JavaScript
framework
I
tried
like
different
frameworks
but
Nuxt
is
just
much
better
on
every
aspect
for
me
I
also
do
use
Nuxt
UI
that
goes
with
it
So
it's
like
a
library
of
components
So
that
way
I
don't
have
to
code
like
every
little
button
and
stuff
like
that
I
can
just
say
okay
button
here
allowed
me
to
code
like
three
times
faster
So
I
don't
have
to
remake
everything
Obviously
I
use
Cursor
for
coding
So
what
I
did
is
I
embed
the
documentation
of
Nuxt
and
Nuxt
UI
compared
to
before
when
I
was
not
using
AI
Nuxt
etc
I
just
worked
like
10
times
faster
with
just
those
three
ones
I
use
V0
a
lot
So
you
just
say
I
want
this
interface
and
they
just
make
it
to
you
You
get
the
code
So
I
just
have
to
convert
it
into
Nuxt
Then
for
SEO
even
if
it's
not
my
main
channel
I
still
try
to
do
a
little
bit
And
Ahrefs
is
amazing
for
that
To
collect
user
feedback
I
use
and
I
created
it
myself
FeedbackWidget
co
It's
just
a
way
to
easily
collect
feedback
And
the
last
one
I
would
say
is
Testit
which
is
the
one
I
created
It's
to
make
A
B
testing
and
increase
conversion
rate
or
test
different
boardings
etc
Let's
talk
about
day
in
the
life
You've
sold
multiple
apps
for
a
quarter
million
dollars
What
is
your
life
like
now
What
does
a
day
in
the
life
look
like
for
Nico
So
in
terms
of
routine
right
now
I
don't
really
have
a
strict
routine
I
wake
up
at
7
a
m
work
in
the
morning
and
in
the
afternoon
I
either
work
if
I
have
things
to
do
or
I
just
do
hobbies
play
video
games
with
my
friends
and
stuff
like
that
But
when
I
have
a
really
specific
goal
in
mind
and
it's
just
about
grinding
then
I
just
wake
up
at
like
between
5
30
or
6
a
m
just
go
to
the
gym
gym
and
then
I
just
work
until
7
or
8
p
m
I
move
really
really
fast
by
using
this
mix
of
like
try
hard
then
rest
a
bit
assess
and
try
to
find
what
I
work
on
next
That's
awesome
Okay
The
last
question
that
we
asked
everyone
on
Starter
Story
is
if
you
could
stand
on
Nico's
shoulder
shoulder
in
that
hotel
room
when
you
were
just
learning
how
to
code
what
would
you
tell
him
Yeah
I
would
say
don't
get
emotionally
attached
to
the
products
That's
something
I
already
had
But
yeah
make
technical
prototypes
quickly
to
solve
the
problem
then
go
to
talk
to
users
as
soon
as
possible
Another
thing
like
don't
try
to
make
100
000
or
even
like
10
000
for
your
first
project
If
you
haven't
got
any
success
yet
just
try
to
make
your
first
dollar
online
first
and
forget
about
scalability
or
anything
It's
just
compounding
small
wins
But
you
need
this
first
little
wins
to
push
the
snowball
until
you
get
like
a
bigger
one
at
the
end
of
the
slope
All
right
Well
that
was
awesome
Thank
you
Nico
for
coming
on
to
Starter
Story
Your
journey
is
amazing
20
apps
sold
them
for
a
quarter
of
a
million
living
the
dream
in
Bali
So
I'm
excited
for
what
you're
going
to
do
next
And
thanks
for
coming
on
and
sharing
everything
Thanks
That
was
a
pleasure
So
thank
you
Nico
for
coming
on
I
think
your
story
is
amazing
I
think
if
you
watch
this
it
might
feel
like
Nico
had
some
crazy
formula
for
success
But
I
really
just
don't
think
that's
the
case
He
got
started
shipped
a
crap
ton
of
stuff
And
while
doing
that
he
eventually
kind
of
stumbled
on
a
couple
of
things
that
worked
I
see
a
lot
of
people
waiting
waiting
for
the
right
time
to
start
sitting
on
the
sidelines
while
others
like
Nico
are
just
getting
started
playing
around
with
all
these
AI
tools
and
new
markets
and
just
shipping
stuff
every
week
If
you're
trying
to
do
something
similar
well
have
something
special
for
you
It's
called
the
AI
Build
Accelerator
And
in
two
weeks
you'll
ideate
build
and
ship
a
real
life
production
app
Imagine
what
would
happen
if
you
started
today
Imagine
where
you
could
be
in
two
weeks
If
you're
curious
about
doing
this
and
actually
building
something
then
check
out
the
link
in
the
description
if
you
want
to
learn
more
But
this
is
only
for
people
that
are
serious
about
actually
building
something
I'd
love
to
see
you
in
there
Just
click
the
first
link
in
the
description
and
let's
build
All
right
guys
I'll
see
you
in
the
next
one
Peace
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