How I Built A $10K/Month Instagram Messaging App At 16 Years Old
Who are you and what business did you start?
Hi, I'm Matthew, a 16-year-old high school student, and I built Konvo to target people who want to quit scrolling and only use Instagram as a social tool to message.
Unlike many screen time apps out there, they all give YOU a screen time limit you can control, whether thats unlocking the Instagram app for 5 or 15 mins. But Konvo does it differently. I realised that the main factor that is holding people back from deleting Instagram completely to cure their scrolling is their messages. Because think about it: people are faced with this dilemma where, if they delete Instagram, they can cure their scrolling addiction but basically will lose all their friends and messages.
So why did I just build an app for both? And thats why I built Konvo, and I just hit my first 10k month.
How do you come up with the idea for Konvo: DM's Only?
Konvo came from a personal problem. I've tried to quit my scrolling addiction as a teenager for 2 years, I've tried a lot of different screentime apps but none of them actually worked.
Until i decided to delete instagram for 2 weeks, where by then my urge to scroll completely disappeared and I had cured my scrolling addiction.
But when i redownloaded the app, I saw over 15 unread messages from my friends and saw that I had ghosted and ignored all of them. I felt really bad for my friends for not responding them thats why I decided that i couldn't delete instagram again.
So I thought to myself,
How could I only keep my Instagram messages so i can stay connected with my friends, and at the same time remove all the distracting parts so I don't scroll?
And thats why I buitl Konvo. It stemmed from a very personal problem I faced firsthand.
This was my first mobile app, but I was experienced in building websites, and I literally validated the idea through myself and one other friend, because we knew this product was exactly what people needed.
How did you launch Konvo: DM's Only and get initial traction?
I first launched Konvo on Linkedln and it reached over 220,000+ impressions within the first 3 days.
Going viral on linkedln was not easy, but this was a huge signal that I knew Konvo would become build.
I basically copied the structure of another linkedln creator whos app went viral and just plugged mine in lol. But apart from that, it was probably because the idea was very good.
Everyone in the comments on the linkedln post loved it, they loved the concept, and everything. I was surprised, because I didn't expect that much traction from a problem that I was solving for myself.
The lesson I learned is, look at posts that went viral, and see if you can plug your app or product in it. I wouldn't have done much differently, I felt like this traction was good for a launch.
Ok about making my first dollar, my app actually got accepted to the appstore, 3 days before I launched, and I think on the same day, I randomly checked revenuecat and I was shocked to see 3 people started a yearly trial on my app, because I didn't start my marketing yet or even told anyone about it yet.
Literally took me 1 day to make my first dollar, on my first app which is pretty wild. At the end of the day, you have to absolutely love your product and it must be good You need to build a product for yourself and use every day (i used Konvo for 2 weeks while building it at the same time) because business is the easiest when you are the ICP.
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What was the growth strategy for Konvo: DM's Only and how did you scale?
After launching Konvo on linkedln, I turned to using instagram trial reels and tiktok to get more customers. I started content creation a year ago, and wanted to leverage my followings and traction to post on trial reels (my instagram account: @matthewasherelol). Additionaly since I have been posting content for the past year, I knew how to edit on capcut and link all the neccessary tools.
I just started school when I started posting instagram trial reels so I mainly posted these low effort reels that were driving some traction, maybe 20, 30 downloads a day not too much. The main traction I got so far was from that one linkedln post and I felt like I was platueing, doubting myself, is this really it (i know we all feel this).
Then on 7 pm on September 28th 2026, I posted a trial reel of me explaining my age and my app that later went viral and got 2M views in less than 24 hours. My parents told me to make that reel. They wanted me to post a video that was simple and straight to the point, because my app was simple and easy to get attention because that is what people are not aware of but immediately need. You can watch it yourself here: viral reel
I dont have much to say about it, but I used a tool called InstantDM so when people comment the word "app", they would be sent the link and that specifically drove a lot of traction.
If I could give some advice for aspiring entrepreneurs to grow their business, I know its very generic but they need a really good hook. This is the most important. I started off with "I'm 15" because that would make a viewer go "wait what? hes only 15" and then continue watching the video. So think about something unique about yourself that can get people's attention to care about... Thats why for you highschoolers out there, use your age!!
Below, I have attached a screenshot of my viral reel and the number of trial reels I posted previously that gave little results!
My viral reel
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What were the biggest lessons learned from building Konvo: DM's Only?
The cost of success is sacrifice, building my first app was extremely difficult; I had to sacrifice almost my entire summer break, learning about how to navigate App Store Connect, upload, submit, set up the paywall and on top of that, get users.
I was a complete beginner at this kind of stuff, but what I knew I had was high agency: "you have a strong belief and the practical ability to control your own life and shape your outcomes, rather than letting external events dictate your path."
I quickly understood that everything I did, was under my control, if I didn't give 100% then I won't get 100% of the results.
I kept trying and did not give up. Most people dont know this, but I didn't see any results for 2 weeks after my launch, and was doubting myself so heavily.
So please learn how to edit videos on capcut, please know how to make good content too! Distribution is very very important bc no matter how good your product is, if nobody knows or cares about it.. it doesn't matter.
I'm 16 and I had so much belief and faith in Konvo, because I genuienly loved the product, so if you are reading this.
You can do it too. Keep on grinding.
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peace out
Discover Similar Business Ideas Like Konvo: DM's Only
More about Konvo: DM's Only:
Who is the owner of Konvo: DM's Only?
Matthew Chan is the founder of Konvo: DM's Only.
When did Matthew Chan start Konvo: DM's Only?
2026
How much money has Matthew Chan made from Konvo: DM's Only?
Matthew Chan started the business in 2026, and currently makes an average of $120K/year.
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