They Make $1.4M/Year With AI
Starter Story
Jun 22, 2024
This is the breakdown of how the boys at Castmagic built an AI app from $0 to $120,000 a month in just 9 months.
๐ 52 Micro-SaaS Business Ideas - https://www.starterstory.com/micro?utm_campaign=castmagic&utm_source=youtube
0:00 - Intro
1:04 - The AI app
1:36 - Building with AI
1:59 - Finding the idea
2:42 - Launching an AI app
3:23 - Marketing & growth strategies
4:43 - Solo marketing hacks
6:10 - Tools for building
6:48 - Pricing strategy
7:19 - Competition with AI apps
8:08 - Will you get replaced by ChatGPT?
8:40 - Financials & Numbers
9:42 - Marketing Strategy
9:13 - Building with 3 founders
10:29 - VC Funding vs Bootstrapping
12:26 - Staying consistent
11:44 - Schedule & Day in the life building
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Chapters
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Transcript
Chapters
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No tools listed for this business.
These
guys
went
from
0
to
120
000
a
month
with
an
AI
app
And
the
crazy
part
is
they
did
it
in
less
than
a
year
I
drove
out
to
Miami
Florida
to
ask
them
exactly
how
it
works
and
how
one
platform
got
them
10
000
paying
users
in
a
matter
of
days
So
it
was
sort
of
like
a
great
springboard
for
us
in
order
to
establish
a
solid
brand
The
boys
started
their
journeys
working
at
VC
backed
startups
But
they
grew
sick
and
tired
of
the
system
So
they
got
together
to
build
something
for
themselves
and
along
the
way
discovered
something
that
would
change
their
lives
The
main
reason
I
think
Cast
Magic
won
In
this
video
Blaine
Ramon
and
Justin
share
their
exact
blueprints
on
how
to
come
up
with
a
million
dollar
idea
how
they
built
it
in
two
weeks
and
how
they
scaled
it
to
six
figures
in
MRR
in
just
10
months
I
think
one
of
the
key
things
here
I'm
Pat
Walls
and
this
is
Starter
Story
Hi
Ramon
Thank
you
for
having
me
We're
here
in
this
beautiful
Miami
apartment
with
your
two
co
founders
Blaine
and
Justin
And
we're
here
to
talk
about
this
amazing
app
that
you
built
Tell
me
about
what
you
built
built
Yeah
so
we
built
castmagic
io
which
leverages
AI
to
create
with
the
context
of
your
videos
audio
files
conversations
any
media
really
You
can
repurpose
it
And
we
started
Cast
Magic
about
10
months
ago
and
today
we're
north
of
120
000
in
MRR
Let's
talk
about
the
opportunity
of
AI
apps
What's
going
on
here
I
think
if
you
can
embed
yourself
into
an
existing
and
radically
remove
the
friction
of
the
barrier
to
entry
to
doing
something
such
as
creating
a
podcast
those
are
the
tools
that
are
really
taking
off
And
I
think
these
are
real
needs
and
not
just
a
sort
of
vitamin
It's
more
the
painkiller
analogy
thing
Yeah
All
right
so
we
got
Blaine
here
He's
the
co
founder
and
he
runs
product
Tell
me
about
how
you
found
the
idea
for
this
app
Yeah
so
essentially
I
host
DTCPod
with
Ramon
and
I
noticed
this
problem
which
in
my
mind
at
the
time
was
just
about
how
do
you
write
show
notes
from
your
podcast
I
can't
just
assign
it
to
a
random
VA
who
isn't
going
to
understand
the
context
context
of
the
person
I
talk
to
and
all
of
that
So
that
was
kind
of
the
inspiration
when
we
saw
AI
coming
up
We're
like
wait
a
minute
I
think
AI
might
be
able
to
do
this
The
real
lesson
there
for
any
founder
is
just
by
doing
something
and
putting
yourself
in
a
situation
where
you're
constantly
doing
you're
going
to
unearth
problems
that
are
worth
solving
and
maybe
those
problems
have
bigger
implications
than
you
thought
they
would
in
the
first
place
Yeah
You
figure
out
this
problem
that
you
have
and
then
you
decide
to
make
it
a
product
What
happens
after
that
I
think
distribution
for
an
early
stage
startup
is
something
that's
super
super
critical
Starting
with
yourself
at
the
core
of
it
build
something
for
yourself
and
then
very
quickly
get
as
close
to
the
customer
as
you
can
Either
create
content
that
attracts
people
to
you
and
so
they
can
kind
of
come
inbound
So
that's
why
I
think
personal
brand
putting
out
content
is
such
an
important
thing
Or
find
a
distribution
partner
that
can
really
help
you
scale
So
we're
talking
with
the
team
at
AppSumo
and
they
said
hey
we've
got
this
opportunity
would
you
guys
be
down
to
launch
two
weeks
from
now
And
we're
like
oh
shit
two
weeks
but
that's
a
really
good
opportunity
to
get
distribution
and
start
growing
basically
Let's
talk
about
marketing
and
growth
You
guys
grew
zero
to
120k
MRR
in
nine
months
How
did
you
do
that
So
AppSumo
was
sort
of
like
a
great
springboard
for
us
in
order
to
establish
a
solid
brand
We
launched
with
them
and
I
think
it's
been
one
of
the
most
successful
launches
ever
on
AppSumo
So
around
350
000
in
revenue
generated
Gave
us
probably
around
10
000
users
or
so
We
offered
a
lifetime
deal
which
means
that
our
customers
have
access
to
us
and
our
services
forever
For
people
that
sell
subscriptions
say
well
why
in
this
world
would
I
ever
do
that
when
I
can
get
recurring
subscription
But
we
needed
to
build
a
brand
we
needed
to
build
a
foundation
we
needed
the
feedback
The
other
thing
that
worked
really
well
for
us
as
creators
we
started
incentivizing
people
to
create
content
on
socials
Some
people
we
were
paying
some
people
we
were
reaching
out
to
be
an
affiliate
And
one
of
the
best
ways
to
do
this
is
like
scrape
Instagram
scrape
the
platforms
find
companies
that
might
be
adjacent
industries
look
up
those
hashtags
and
then
build
volume
Once
you
build
volume
and
responses
now
you
have
leverage
to
negotiate
with
the
rates
and
then
just
go
from
there
and
start
paying
out
based
on
CPMs
and
then
decide
who's
worth
sponsoring
and
get
enough
volume
to
test
if
it's
a
viable
channel
for
you
or
not
You
have
a
one
man
marketing
team
You
don't
have
some
big
marketing
team
You've
grown
this
business
to
100
000
120
000
MRR
How
do
you
operate
a
marketing
team
with
one
person
I
have
contractors
that
help
me
on
a
specific
vertical
but
something
people
don't
do
enough
is
like
research
You
can
actually
go
and
like
map
out
how
did
this
company
that
is
similar
to
us
that
serves
our
same
exact
customer
base
how
did
they
get
distribution
And
so
in
our
case
I
went
back
and
tried
to
find
businesses
that
really
grew
through
affiliates
So
like
how
do
I
set
a
system
here
And
a
tangible
example
here
is
I
noticed
myself
going
back
and
forth
with
a
bunch
of
the
creators
on
like
ideating
content
concepts
And
then
I
was
like
this
isn't
going
to
scale
So
I
created
a
whole
notion
document
of
a
bunch
of
concepts
Now
I
don't
have
to
get
on
a
call
with
them
and
strategize
on
the
content
So
it
really
just
all
comes
down
to
systems
Ramon
and
the
boys
are
proof
that
you
don't
need
funding
to
start
and
build
a
million
dollar
business
in
less
than
a
year
All
you
really
need
is
a
simple
idea
and
the
right
strategies
to
bring
it
to
life
And
the
best
way
to
do
that
like
Ramon
said
is
by
studying
other
businesses
So
if
you're
serious
about
building
your
own
product
like
the
boys
at
Cast
Magic
but
don't
know
where
to
start
Well
right
now
you
can
download
our
Deep
Dive
SaaS
report
for
free
It'll
break
down
over
52
different
micro
SaaS
business
ideas
making
millions
along
with
trending
ideas
growth
strategies
and
tons
of
other
stuff
you'd
want
to
know
Just
head
to
the
first
link
in
the
description
to
get
it
Now
let's
get
back
to
how
these
guys
actually
built
this
thing
All
right
let's
talk
about
tools
What
coding
languages
and
what
tools
did
you
use
to
build
this
app
In
the
first
two
weeks
I
can't
emphasize
enough
how
much
you
have
to
accept
building
an
imperfect
product
A
bit
of
an
unconventional
choice
to
a
lot
of
people
I
built
this
with
Elixir
It's
very
stable
It's
a
language
that
scales
really
well
And
because
Elixir
has
a
tool
called
Phoenix
and
LiveView
you're
able
actually
to
build
the
entire
front
end
and
back
end
in
the
same
language
For
the
landing
page
we
built
it
in
Webflow
We
could
make
it
look
good
using
templates
and
therefore
we
could
spend
all
of
our
time
as
a
development
team
working
on
the
part
that
mattered
most
to
our
users
which
was
the
product
All
right
let's
talk
about
pricing
How
is
Cast
Magic
priced
and
how
did
you
come
to
that
strategy
We
offer
a
subscription
billed
monthly
with
a
cap
on
usage
It's
funny
we
really
just
kind
of
threw
out
numbers
that
we
wanted
to
test
and
found
that
it
worked
And
we
are
always
analyzing
what
we're
spending
on
LLMs
and
transcription
making
sure
that
we
have
enough
margin
to
justify
the
outputs
that
we're
giving
our
customers
And
so
far
we've
been
able
to
keep
those
in
balance
so
that
both
our
customer
and
us
can
win
from
the
relationship
Okay
we
are
back
with
Ramon
to
talk
now
about
AI
It's
changing
like
crazy
differentiation
Tell
me
why
was
Cast
Magic
successful
when
there
are
thousands
of
other
AI
apps
that
weren't
So
the
main
reason
I
think
Cast
Magic
won
is
for
three
reasons
Number
one
we
solved
our
own
problem
Number
two
we
build
a
brand
by
partnering
with
the
right
creators
And
number
three
we
built
and
continue
to
invest
in
the
product
to
increase
the
quality
of
the
outputs
That's
really
what
it
boils
down
to
in
an
AI
product
It's
not
just
how
does
the
platform
work
but
what
is
the
quality
of
the
output
that
I'm
getting
here
And
are
they
taking
any
shortcuts
in
the
back
end
And
clearly
we
weren't
So
then
the
customers
are
now
invested
into
us
You
have
to
ask
yourself
how
do
I
position
myself
and
how
do
I
build
a
brand
for
the
long
term
here
All
right
so
what
do
you
do
when
ChatGPT
comes
out
with
a
new
model
and
then
they
essentially
replace
your
product
How
do
you
think
about
that
We
are
solving
a
workflow
problem
And
there's
always
ways
in
which
you
can
continue
to
optimize
that
process
more
and
more
That
is
in
ChatGPT's
business
ChatGPT
is
there
to
provide
the
infrastructure
They
have
a
future
not
a
product
They
solve
one
small
pain
point
They
don't
solve
an
entire
solution
that
only
a
platform
that
covers
a
workflow
from
A
to
Z
can
solve
Tell
me
some
of
the
numbers
some
of
the
financials
behind
this
business
Churn
single
digits
like
net
churn
is
single
digits
That
goes
back
to
the
value
of
solving
an
existing
problem
not
creating
a
novelty
We
have
over
120
000
in
MRR
We're
growing
over
20
month
over
month
I
think
one
of
the
key
things
here
is
we
don't
spend
over
20
of
our
revenue
on
marketing
Marketing
always
has
to
be
less
than
20
And
that
is
because
we
want
to
make
money
We
want
to
be
profitable
So
far
it's
working
And
you
know
those
are
principles
I
think
that
we'll
continue
to
use
to
grow
the
business
So
you
guys
built
this
three
friends
Tell
me
about
why
your
team
works
and
why
you
guys
work
so
well
together
I
think
the
reason
we
work
so
well
together
is
because
we've
all
been
through
the
journey
and
we
know
it's
a
long
one
And
initially
in
the
beginning
we're
not
getting
stuck
in
the
small
details
And
we
also
know
when
to
have
fun
Yesterday
we
were
meeting
We
did
our
whole
roadmap
thing
and
we
took
out
some
time
to
go
and
play
nine
holes
of
golf
It's
not
that
serious
So
I'm
curious
on
Blaine's
take
here
though
and
Justin's
Yeah
I
mean
I
think
the
biggest
thing
is
just
like
alignment
right
I
think
so
many
co
founders
especially
maybe
first
time
around
they
partner
with
people
out
of
personal
convenience
or
because
out
of
necessity
almost
rather
than
like
true
true
alignment
The
second
thing
that
I
think
is
so
so
important
is
that
you
have
skills
that
complement
each
other
so
everyone
can
stay
in
their
lane
Having
a
team
that
doesn't
like
overly
overlap
and
step
on
each
other
toes
I
think
is
massive
So
I
think
finding
not
only
alignment
but
also
people
that
you
can
build
with
that
you
like
vibe
with
but
also
complement
each
other
Other
skill
set
is
like
the
best
thing
that
you
can
do
I
think
a
big
part
of
that
is
the
trust
that
we
have
in
each
other
too
And
we're
very
honest
about
what
we're
building
We're
not
afraid
to
say
like
hey
this
isn't
as
good
as
it
could
be
And
I
think
that
shows
where
we
are
today
and
what
we've
built
Let's
talk
about
VC
You
guys
have
all
gone
through
the
VC
I'm
going
to
be
the
anti
VC
poster
boy
Tell
me
a
little
bit
about
your
past
with
VC
and
how
you're
thinking
about
these
days
Yeah
so
I've
had
two
venture
backed
companies
in
the
past
The
first
was
Seeded
They're
Series
C
They've
raised
over
80
million
to
date
The
second
one
was
called
OmniPanel
We
were
backed
by
CRV
We
raised
a
2
5
million
Seed
And
this
time
around
it
just
feels
very
different
It
feels
like
we
spent
all
the
time
we
would
have
spent
talking
to
VCs
explaining
the
broad
vision
for
our
product
and
we
just
spent
it
talking
to
customers
and
building
crap
for
ourselves
that
we
ended
up
using
So
I
think
that's
something
that's
really
valuable
for
anyone
who's
getting
to
start
Don't
seek
validation
elsewhere
Build
something
that
customers
want
they're
willing
to
pay
for
and
that
solves
a
problem
for
you
and
you'll
be
in
good
shape
And
then
if
you
want
to
take
VC
to
accelerate
that
growth
that's
up
to
you
and
you
can
figure
out
if
that's
the
right
decision
for
your
business
I
think
in
my
experience
I
built
a
business
called
Trend
io
I
tried
racing
for
that
business
for
almost
four
years
The
effort
that
it
took
to
actually
get
good
at
fundraising
it's
a
skill
set
in
itself
If
you're
not
great
at
building
a
business
and
generating
revenue
and
you
choose
to
get
great
at
fundraising
you're
just
going
to
have
the
whole
thing
backwards
How
do
you
guys
all
work
together
How
do
you
stay
aligned
How
do
you
meet
as
a
team
I
think
from
a
team
perspective
what's
really
cool
about
how
we
operate
is
Ramon's
in
Fort
Lauderdale
I'm
here
in
Miami
Justin's
in
Austin
A
lot
of
the
work
is
async
during
the
work
week
But
what
we're
really
mindful
and
the
reason
we're
all
here
today
in
Miami
is
because
every
quarter
we
get
together
for
at
least
a
week
to
meet
on
all
the
important
things
So
I
just
think
it's
a
really
great
model
for
startups
or
founders
who
are
looking
to
get
the
business
started
It's
not
like
where
you
are
where
your
office
is
etc
It's
like
find
a
great
group
of
people
wherever
they
are
in
the
world
and
do
your
own
thing
but
make
sure
that
you
also
get
together
to
get
really
aligned
on
the
things
that
need
to
happen
in
your
business
The
other
thing
that
we
do
just
in
terms
of
operationally
is
we
do
a
Monday
30
minute
stand
up
call
and
a
Friday
30
minute
stand
up
call
just
to
align
on
product
what
everyone's
doing
But
we
really
try
to
block
out
the
calendar
calendar
and
not
be
stuck
on
calls
all
day
and
more
focus
on
just
shipping
All
right
thank
you
guys
for
having
me
in
this
amazing
apartment
this
amazing
business
that
you
guys
built
Do
what
they
did
follow
this
advice
and
you
have
a
120
000
MRR
AI
app
Good
luck
guys
Hey
guys
I
hope
you
took
away
some
golden
nuggets
from
that
video
that'll
help
you
along
your
business
journey
And
for
anyone
that
still
feels
a
bit
lost
maybe
you
don't
know
where
to
start
or
you
need
some
inspiration
on
some
good
marketing
strategies
well
I
got
something
for
you
Right
now
if
you
head
to
the
first
link
in
the
description
description
you
can
download
our
Deep
Dive
SaaS
report
for
free
It
has
over
50
different
micro
SaaS
businesses
making
millions
along
with
the
tools
they
use
the
business
models
they
run
and
tons
of
other
stuff
that
will
help
you
on
your
journey
Just
click
the
first
link
in
the
description
to
grab
it
And
if
you're
serious
about
building
something
consider
joining
Starter
Story
and
we'll
help
you
do
it
Much
love
and
see
you
guys
in
the
next
one
Peace
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