Esc
I turned a viral idea into a $25K/month app
Starter Story
Nov 4, 2026
Ben turned one viral idea of himself singing in French into Canary, an app that teaches languages through music. Less than a year later, it makes about $25K a month, and he runs it solo. This video is a playbook for how to test an app idea with content, build a simple first version, and grow it fast.
Database: 229 consumer iOS apps generating $10K+/mo in revenue: https://clickhubspot.com/8k8k
Say hi to Ben: https://x.com/bengu_ez
Check out Canary: https://www.singwithcanary.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.
Chapters
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Transcript
Chapters
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No tools listed for this business.
I
launched
like
nine
months
ago
and
last
month
we
made
25
000
This
is
Ben
About
nine
months
ago
he
launched
his
very
first
app
and
just
last
month
that
app
made
25
000
I
never
like
code
one
line
in
my
life
so
it
was
my
first
app
But
here's
the
thing
to
no
surprise
he
is
not
a
developer
In
fact
he
found
this
idea
from
just
one
piece
of
content
and
he
turned
that
one
piece
of
content
into
a
very
simple
and
very
viral
app
idea
It's
an
app
where
you
can
learn
a
language
with
songs
train
with
AI
and
practice
with
people
The
app
itself
honestly
is
so
genius
that
I
knew
I
had
to
have
him
on
the
channel
and
break
down
exactly
how
he
did
it
So
in
this
episode
we're
going
to
dive
into
the
app
that
he
built
that
now
makes
around
25
000
a
month
how
he
validated
that
idea
from
one
Instagram
post
and
the
really
simple
playbook
he
follows
to
grow
his
app
every
single
month
This
one
is
going
to
be
fun
Let's
dive
in
I'm
Gus
and
this
is
Starter
Story
All
right
Ben
welcome
to
Starter
Story
Super
excited
to
have
you
on
the
channel
Could
you
share
with
us
who
you
are
what
you
built
and
what's
your
story
Well
first
thanks
for
having
me
Gus
My
name
is
Ben
and
I'm
building
Canary
It's
an
app
where
you
can
learn
a
language
with
songs
I
launched
like
nine
months
ago
and
last
month
we
made
25
000
That
is
amazing
Congratulations
Could
you
tell
us
just
a
little
bit
about
Canary
What's
the
app
Who
are
some
of
your
users
How
does
it
work
So
yeah
you
learn
language
with
songs
that
you
love
for
example
like
Treme
for
French
or
Bad
Bunny
for
Spanish
and
you
also
can
like
practice
with
people
all
over
the
world
Most
of
our
users
are
people
like
trying
to
learn
a
language
but
for
some
reason
like
either
like
Duolingo
is
not
working
for
them
and
they
want
something
a
little
little
bit
more
like
fun
or
exciting
So
we
got
50
000
downloads
so
far
We
have
2
000
paying
subscribers
and
the
business
model
is
pretty
simple
We
have
a
freemium
and
also
like
a
premium
is
like
a
subscription
membership
10
a
month
or
we
do
a
yearly
79
and
60
of
our
users
choose
the
yearly
package
If
you've
been
watching
the
channel
you'll
know
that
this
is
the
year
of
consumer
apps
and
honestly
I
really
don't
think
this
is
going
to
stop
anytime
soon
If
you've
been
wanting
to
build
an
app
but
you
don't
really
know
where
to
start
we
have
something
that
I
think
is
really
going
to
help
you
out
It's
a
list
of
over
200
proven
ideas
in
dozens
of
app
categories
Once
you
download
this
database
you
can
pour
through
all
the
research
find
your
idea
and
finally
start
to
build
If
you're
interested
just
head
to
the
link
in
the
description
and
download
it
100
for
free
All
right
let's
get
back
to
Ben
Ben
could
you
pull
up
your
revenue
dashboard
just
to
show
the
audience
that
this
thing
is
legit
So
we
have
like
25
000
bugs
that's
28
days
our
MRR
is
almost
like
14
000
It's
less
than
the
month
because
again
we're
doing
like
yearly
a
lot
so
we
push
for
the
yearly
and
we
have
23
000
active
customers
for
the
last
month
I
want
to
understand
how
do
you
get
here
Tell
us
a
little
bit
about
your
background
How
do
you
get
to
a
point
where
you
build
this
25
000
per
month
app
So
I
moved
to
the
US
13
years
ago
and
then
I
started
a
couple
of
businesses
I
sold
one
three
years
ago
and
then
I
become
like
a
digital
nomad
and
also
become
like
like
a
content
creator
I
grew
to
like
one
million
followers
across
social
media
So
a
year
ago
I
posted
a
video
of
me
singing
in
French
with
the
lyrics
and
the
translation
And
I
got
like
a
lot
of
engagement
mostly
in
terms
of
share
in
terms
of
like
people
that
follow
me
after
this
video
So
I
thought
there
is
something
there
So
I
created
a
page
just
for
that
The
page
really
grew
like
really
fast
Now
it's
like
200
000
followers
I
say
okay
this
is
like
a
social
proof
that
people
want
this
kind
of
content
and
want
to
learn
with
songs
And
that's
how
I'm
like
I
decided
to
make
a
MVP
for
that
You
kind
of
posted
something
it
went
mini
viral
and
you
kind
of
knew
you
had
something
potentially
that
could
you
know
be
turned
into
an
app
One
of
the
things
we're
going
to
see
in
the
comments
is
oh
well
of
course
he
had
a
million
million
followers
That's
why
he's
successful
Any
thoughts
on
like
someone
who
may
have
some
skepticism
about
your
app
because
you
are
a
content
creator
I
think
it's
super
helpful
to
have
a
community
behind
you
But
my
audience
I
really
use
it
as
like
a
way
to
prove
the
concept
Then
I
created
like
a
page
and
the
page
is
not
about
me
was
not
using
my
audience
And
the
page
just
grew
like
faster
than
my
own
personal
page
It
got
like
200
000
followers
under
one
year
Like
having
an
audience
can
help
but
you
can
also
like
create
an
audience
from
scratch
in
order
to
like
see
if
your
idea
is
good
And
it
can
go
like
really
viral
pretty
fast
Yeah
I
mean
I
think
we
get
that
comment
all
the
time
People
are
going
to
say
oh
you
know
he
only
had
success
because
he
has
followers
But
he
also
worked
really
hard
to
like
get
those
followers
So
like
you
know
it's
kind
of
chicken
or
the
egg
to
some
degree
Tell
us
about
how
you
built
this
What
was
kind
of
the
build
timeline
build
process
for
you
to
build
this
app
I'm
not
a
developer
developer
So
I
am
like
a
developer
And
then
about
like
four
months
ago
I
started
to
bytecode
myself
And
it's
been
like
a
game
changer
for
me
in
terms
of
like
speed
and
just
like
making
a
feature
quick
or
getting
feedback
and
changing
things
on
the
app
directly
The
first
MVP
was
maybe
a
month
but
it
was
really
ugly
and
really
bad
But
for
me
my
mindset
is
just
like
launch
something
and
get
like
feedback
as
soon
as
possible
Yeah
I
mean
I
think
Cloud
and
Codex
and
all
these
tools
have
made
it
so
easy
to
build
You
know
people
like
you
people
like
me
who
don't
have
kind
of
that
technical
background
can
actually
build
something
that
looks
good
and
works
On
that
note
what
is
the
tech
stack
or
tools
that
you
use
to
build
this
And
then
some
of
the
tools
you
use
to
run
the
business
now
So
I'm
using
Firebase
for
backend
It's
200
bucks
I'm
running
Cat
for
subscription
and
pay
while
API
testing
2
2
160
Posthog
for
analytics
and
experimentation
It's
2
50
Cloud
for
bytecoding
200
Behave
for
the
email
169
OpenAI
on
top
for
like
AI
feature
in
app
So
it's
150
extra
AppFlyers
for
install
tracking
97
ManyChat
because
now
I
do
like
some
automation
on
social
media
And
that's
30
bucks
Super
lean
I
love
it
So
I
want
to
talk
about
the
early
days
Now
you're
making
25
000
a
month
But
how
did
you
first
get
it
off
the
ground
What
were
some
of
the
marketing
growth
things
that
you
did
early
on
to
you
know
know
get
beyond
that
initial
validation
and
actually
start
to
grow
your
app
I'm
a
big
believer
in
like
A
B
testing
and
even
like
A
B
C
D
E
testing
Like
I
try
to
test
a
lot
of
things
So
I
was
trying
to
post
in
every
platform
and
different
content
different
format
I
also
spend
a
lot
of
time
studying
like
other
apps
and
listening
to
like
founder
podcasts
Actually
one
of
my
routine
was
when
I
was
going
to
the
gym
I
was
listening
to
you
guys
like
startup
story
every
day
and
taking
notes
on
things
I
should
test
I
tried
like
Google
Ads
after
hearing
one
of
your
founders
talk
about
it
I
even
reached
out
to
some
of
your
guests
like
Nicole
and
paid
her
for
like
a
consulting
session
to
help
improve
the
onboarding
of
the
product
So
basically
every
day
I
was
trying
to
learn
something
ship
something
and
test
something
you
know
Yeah
Well
that's
super
cool
to
hear
that
you
got
inspiration
from
Starter
Story
and
even
reached
out
to
all
those
guests
Because
they've
come
on
Starter
Story
there's
a
good
chance
they're
like
willing
like
willing
to
share
a
little
bit
more
maybe
than
other
people
Okay
so
you
start
to
get
a
little
bit
of
traction
improve
the
product
post
about
it
everywhere
So
then
how
do
you
go
from
that
to
now
last
month
you
made
25
000
So
you
have
to
choose
your
platform
because
you
don't
want
to
be
overwhelmed
with
every
platform
My
main
was
like
Instagram
and
TikTok
And
then
for
me
it
was
really
like
Reels
that
was
really
working
for
me
So
I
was
like
just
doubling
down
on
Instagram
And
you
add
some
tools
like
for
example
for
me
it
was
Minichat
to
convert
engagement
into
traffic
And
what
you
can
do
is
like
when
you
see
like
content
that
performs
very
well
organically
you
can
always
like
boost
it
for
social
ads
And
Meta
is
really
powerful
because
you
can
test
also
a
lot
of
different
things
like
the
creative
the
audience
the
caption
And
you
can
just
kill
the
winner
and
like
kill
the
loser
ad
So
that's
kind
of
like
the
playbook
you
know
You
post
a
lot
you
find
a
winner
you
make
some
variation
you
boost
the
winner
with
paid
social
you
kill
the
loser
and
then
you
look
at
the
number
and
you
just
repeat
I
love
how
like
simple
that
you
know
framework
is
You
know
post
a
lot
figure
it
out
repeat
look
at
the
numbers
numbers
and
just
kind
of
keep
going
over
and
over
again
What
advice
would
you
give
to
someone
watching
who's
trying
to
find
their
first
idea
for
an
app
to
build
Yeah
for
me
it's
in
social
media
I
think
it's
a
great
place
to
look
for
ideas
because
you
can
really
spend
time
on
content
from
like
the
niche
that
you
enjoy
Maybe
you're
interested
to
do
a
product
for
And
you
can
see
what
people
complain
about
or
what
they're
struggling
with
For
me
it
was
like
a
lot
of
my
followers
they
were
like
using
Duolingo
but
they
didn't
really
like
learn
anything
When
I
was
asking
them
OK
tell
me
something
in
French
and
they
would
blank
And
the
only
thing
they
remember
is
like
Voulez
vous
coucher
avec
moi
It's
not
because
they
want
to
sleep
with
me
it's
just
because
they
remember
the
lyrics
of
a
song
you
know
know
So
I
was
like
OK
people
remember
lyrics
so
maybe
we
should
make
like
an
app
for
this
So
yeah
social
media
is
a
great
place
to
find
ideas
That
is
super
smart
And
we
have
so
many
founders
who
come
on
and
say
I
found
my
idea
because
I
was
just
scrolling
scrolling
and
it
kind
of
occurred
to
them
after
that
So
for
people
who
are
scrolling
like
just
pause
a
little
bit
and
like
try
to
see
if
there's
an
idea
hiding
right
there
I
want
to
see
the
app
in
action
Could
you
show
us
a
little
demo
of
Canary
and
how
it
works
So
this
is
Canary
The
first
thing
you're
going
to
see
is
like
a
feed
with
a
bunch
of
songs
that
you
can
enjoy
and
you
can
see
the
lyrics
the
translation
You
can
type
in
new
words
so
you
can
like
save
it
into
your
vocabulary
list
You
can
do
like
some
quiz
some
gamification
You
can
do
karaoke
to
practice
We
have
like
this
game
that
you
can
also
like
it's
going
to
help
you
to
practice
like
like
every
word
you're
going
to
see
you
have
to
translate
it
very
fast
And
then
we
also
have
the
social
angle
our
community
here
so
you
can
practice
with
people
that
is
going
to
speak
the
language
you
learn
and
learning
the
language
you
speak
So
it's
like
kind
of
a
match
like
this
That's
pretty
much
it
Again
I
think
it's
just
such
a
really
cool
and
simple
idea
That's
why
I
wanted
to
have
you
on
the
channel
Our
final
question
that
we
ask
people
who
come
on
Starter
Story
is
you
know
if
you
were
standing
on
your
shoulders
you
know
a
year
ago
or
for
someone
watching
who
you
know
is
just
getting
started
what's
one
big
lesson
you've
learned
or
piece
of
advice
you
would
give
to
yourself
back
then
Or
again
to
somebody
who's
watching
this
video
So
I
really
believe
that
perfection
is
the
enemy
of
good
You
just
need
to
like
learn
something
even
if
it's
ugly
even
if
it
doesn't
really
work
at
the
beginning
just
to
get
out
there
to
get
some
feedback
and
then
you
improve
it
I
have
so
many
friends
that
are
like
way
smarter
than
me
Like
they
have
been
working
on
an
app
for
like
a
couple
of
years
and
it's
still
not
live
I'm
like
why
I
say
no
it's
not
like
it's
not
perfect
yet
It's
not
ready
And
I
don't
believe
in
that
I
say
like
ready
is
always
a
work
in
progress
So
just
launch
something
I
love
that
That's
really
great
advice
Ben
congrats
on
Canary
Super
cool
app
Thank
you
so
much
for
coming
on
Starter
Story
And
we'll
be
excited
to
have
you
back
when
hopefully
you're
at
100K
per
month
or
more
Thank
you
so
much
Thanks
for
having
me
All
right
I
just
wrapped
up
with
Ben
learning
language
with
music
I
think
it's
like
just
such
a
really
smart
and
genius
idea
And
that's
one
of
the
reasons
I
want
to
have
him
on
the
channel
channel
The
wrong
lesson
to
take
from
this
video
is
oh
he
was
just
a
content
creator
who
had
a
bunch
of
followers
and
that's
why
he
was
successful
Obviously
we've
had
a
ton
of
people
on
the
channel
that
have
big
followings
And
of
course
that's
a
piece
of
the
reason
why
he's
successful
But
what
I
think
is
even
more
interesting
is
the
fact
that
he
was
creating
content
for
a
long
time
before
he
came
up
with
this
app
idea
And
it
was
from
one
of
those
pieces
of
content
that
he
turned
into
this
app
idea
that
is
now
making
25
000
a
month
So
for
me
the
lesson
is
making
content
that
people
resonate
with
putting
creative
stuff
out
there
I
think
is
an
opportunity
to
connect
with
people
to
come
up
with
ideas
and
hopefully
to
come
up
with
a
business
idea
that
could
potentially
change
your
life
Obviously
not
easy
to
do
but
simple
enough
to
figure
out
So
if
you're
interested
in
more
simple
consumer
app
iOS
app
ideas
we
have
a
link
in
the
description
below
with
the
database
of
proven
iOS
app
ideas
that
you
can
go
get
inspiration
from
and
then
start
building
yourself
All
right
That's
it
for
this
episode
Go
ahead
and
leave
a
comment
if
you
have
one
or
a
question
if
you
have
one
I
read
every
single
one
of
them
even
the
bad
ones
So
don't
worry
It
doesn't
hurt
my
feelings
But
you
know
I
would
appreciate
some
really
nice
comments
as
well
That's
it
for
this
episode
We
will
see
you
in
the
next
one
Peace
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