This App Makes $25,000/Month
Starter Story
Jun 25, 2025
This is how Lukas Hermann built a simple app to $25,000/month.
Build on a growing marketplace → https://go.starterstory.com/lukas
Build your own simple app→ https://build.starterstory.com/build/ai-build-accelerator?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=lukashermann
Follow Lukas: https://x.com/_lhermann
🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild
🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:45 - Who is Lukas?
1:19 - Validating idea on Reddit
2:12 - Building MVP
3:08 - Running the business with his wife
4:06 - Lukas’ background
5:15 - Build on a marketplace
6:40 - Growing the app
8:03 - Word of mouth growth
9:09 - Tech stack
9:51 - Costs to run the business
10:18 - How Stagetimer works
11:00 - Why would people pay for this?
11:35 - How he found this idea
12:19 - Lessons learned
12:55 - “Just get started”
13:43 - Final word
Chapters
Stack
Transcript
Chapters
Stack
I
built
a
simple
countdown
timer
into
a
25k
per
month
app
Meet
Lukas
a
solopreneur
from
Germany
who
built
arguably
the
world's
simplest
app
In
this
episode
we
dive
into
how
Lukas
turned
a
stupidly
simple
idea
into
a
business
that
allowed
him
to
quit
his
job
and
ultimately
change
his
life
This
single
Reddit
post
with
58
upvotes
changed
everything
Plus
we'll
get
into
the
exact
Reddit
post
he
used
to
get
his
first
paying
customers
why
he
hired
his
wife
to
help
him
run
the
business
and
his
framework
for
finding
more
simple
ideas
that
can
make
thousands
All
right
let's
dive
in
I'm
Pat
Walls
and
this
is
Starter
Story
Welcome
Lukas
to
the
channel
Tell
me
about
who
you
are
and
what's
your
story
I'm
Lukas
Hermann
I'm
a
software
developer
from
Germany
I
turned
a
simple
idea
into
a
SaaS
business
and
eventually
was
able
to
quit
my
job
and
work
full
time
I'm
a
solopreneur
and
I
built
this
business
with
my
wife
and
a
child
So
we've
reached
25
000
revenue
per
month
and
we
have
a
total
of
20
000
users
that
are
using
our
app
4
400
of
those
are
paying
or
have
paid
at
any
point
in
time
and
we're
getting
86
000
unique
visitors
per
month
Cool
Before
we
get
into
what
your
app
actually
does
let's
talk
about
how
you
validated
this
idea
and
got
your
first
customers
for
your
SaaS
How
did
you
do
that
So
I
did
it
on
Reddit
And
the
reason
is
I'm
building
something
for
people
that
I
don't
know
I'm
building
it
for
people
that
are
in
a
video
production
industry
Where
are
they
Where
do
they
hang
out
I'm
looking
for
a
subreddit
It
took
me
quite
a
while
to
actually
find
one
These
are
quite
hidden
It's
a
very
small
niche
stuff
And
I
think
you
know
what
Let
me
post
it
here
So
I
put
a
link
in
here
and
I
say
hey
try
it
out
Give
me
some
feedback
What
do
you
think
Is
this
useful
to
you
You
can
see
like
people
make
literally
lists
that
they
tell
me
no
do
this
do
this
I've
been
waiting
for
such
an
app
And
because
there's
no
price
attached
to
it
on
the
website
it's
also
not
He
just
wants
to
have
our
money
It
works
really
well
And
then
the
other
thing
is
I
don't
spam
it
So
one
post
per
subreddit
That's
great
All
right
right
So
you
got
this
Reddit
post
you
validated
it
but
let's
talk
about
the
MVP
and
how
you
built
that
original
free
tool
What
tools
did
you
use
and
what
features
did
you
include
So
my
first
MVP
it
had
like
basically
just
one
feature
which
was
click
on
a
button
here
and
a
timer
starts
counting
over
there
I'm
using
all
the
technologies
I
already
know
I
use
JavaScript
I
use
Vue
js
I've
used
Node
js
There's
no
reverse
cell
It
was
new
at
the
time
and
I
just
didn't
know
it
and
I
didn't
use
it
If
I
would
have
used
new
unknown
technologies
I
would
have
had
to
learn
them
understand
them
find
out
they
have
limitations
I
didn't
know
before
And
it
was
good
because
I
could
ship
my
MVP
in
three
days
and
then
build
upon
it
slowly
and
comfortably
in
the
one
hour
that
I
had
in
the
evening
instead
of
building
on
it
for
three
months
just
to
have
something
that
is
usable
And
then
because
it
was
a
side
business
a
side
project
it
took
me
224
days
to
actually
get
my
first
dollar
And
that's
totally
okay
It
grew
from
there
What
I
love
about
your
business
is
that
it's
a
family
business
Tell
me
a
little
bit
more
about
that
Yeah
So
after
I
earned
the
first
dollar
and
we
had
our
first
customers
I
thought
well
there's
also
a
marketing
we
need
to
do
and
we
need
to
now
answer
these
customer
service
emails
And
my
wife
was
at
a
point
that
she
didn't
want
to
do
her
old
job
anymore
teaching
And
I
said
why
don't
you
join
me
Why
don't
you
learn
marketing
and
take
over
these
parts
of
the
business
And
she
was
really
excited
about
it
And
she
really
learned
quickly
And
now
she
does
Google
Ads
She
does
all
the
sales
emails
She
does
all
the
customer
support
emails
And
we
have
an
amazing
support
People
are
really
happy
with
it
And
I
do
the
product
the
finances
the
development
and
kind
of
the
overall
direction
right
Like
CEO
work
And
sometimes
we
walk
over
the
street
and
talk
about
how
we
grow
StageTimer
Sometimes
we
just
look
at
any
business
like
how
would
you
grow
this
shoe
business
over
there
We
think
about
these
business
terms
together
which
is
really
fun
It
makes
for
a
lot
of
great
conversations
That's
awesome
I
think
that's
super
cool
how
you
have
that
set
up
Let's
take
a
step
back
I
want
to
learn
a
little
bit
more
about
your
background
how
you
got
started
and
how
you
got
to
this
point
where
you
have
this
amazing
SaaS
business
Yeah
so
my
first
development
shop
was
in
2007
I
was
younger
I
was
in
high
school
I
literally
rode
my
bicycle
to
work
back
then
and
built
HTML
pages
2017
I
start
studying
My
father
really
wanted
me
to
have
a
paper
So
I
did
At
the
same
time
I
start
freelancing
I
wanted
to
know
how
it
is
to
have
your
own
business
as
a
developer
I
get
into
a
startup
once
I'm
done
2020
I
have
my
degree
But
already
my
mind
is
like
how
can
I
build
my
own
product
right
So
soon
later
I
just
start
tinkering
on
this
thing
So
shortly
after
November
2020
right
as
Corona
was
hitting
first
commit
for
StageTimer
That
was
when
I
built
the
MVP
And
then
a
few
days
later
I
post
this
post
on
Reddit
And
by
2022
my
wife
encouraged
me
hey
why
don't
you
quit
Because
StageTimer
was
already
making
enough
money
to
just
get
by
3
000
a
month
So
I
did
quit
Thanks
to
her
I
probably
would
have
been
much
longer
in
a
job
if
it
wouldn't
have
been
for
my
wife
And
then
by
September
2023
we
reached
a
10K
monthly
revenue
mark
that
every
solopreneur
is
aiming
for
All
right
Before
we
dive
deeper
into
how
Lukas
built
this
into
a
25
000
per
month
business
let's
talk
about
something
a
lot
of
early
stage
founders
overlook
Distribution
is
everything
You
can
build
the
best
tool
in
the
world
but
if
nobody
sees
it
it
doesn't
matter
That's
why
we're
excited
to
partner
with
the
money
com
app
marketplace
Money
com
has
over
245
000
customers
using
the
platform
across
200
plus
industries
from
HR
and
IT
to
operations
and
event
planning
And
here's
the
kicker
90
of
enterprise
accounts
use
money
com
apps
In
other
words
there's
massive
built
in
demand
And
unlike
other
platforms
it's
not
overcrowded
yet
It's
a
great
time
to
get
in
This
is
the
perfect
moment
for
solopreneurs
to
get
in
early
build
niche
tools
and
solve
solve
real
user
pain
points
Even
better
money
com
gives
you
everything
you
need
to
succeed
Robust
APIs
flexible
SDKs
detailed
docs
and
a
dev
team
that
actually
supports
your
growth
You
build
the
app
set
up
your
pricing
and
monetization
is
all
built
in
Billing
subscriptions
payment
processing
it's
all
taken
care
of
We
teamed
up
with
money
com
to
create
a
free
resource
that
breaks
down
exactly
who
their
are
and
where
you
might
find
your
next
winning
idea
Click
the
first
link
in
the
description
to
grab
it
and
take
advantage
of
this
opportunity
Thank
you
to
money
com
for
sponsoring
Now
let's
get
back
into
the
video
Let's
talk
about
how
have
you
driven
customers
to
your
app
to
sign
up
and
grown
this
thing
to
over
25
000
MRR
We
have
about
50
of
our
traffic
comes
from
Google
And
then
a
third
of
our
traffic
really
comes
from
people
recommending
our
tool
to
others
And
we
have
done
a
lot
of
work
that
this
is
the
case
right
People
want
to
talk
about
us
or
do
inadvertently
share
our
tool
with
others
So
we
have
a
niche
tool
right
Very
niche
A
niche
small
enough
that
most
big
companies
wouldn't
really
bother
with
it
But
for
us
as
solopreneurs
perfect
And
I
decided
we
will
see
if
we
can
grab
stuff
that
people
are
already
doing
in
our
niche
and
then
combine
our
tool
with
it
So
if
you
look
for
countdown
timer
stream
deck
companions
we
created
a
documentation
page
that
shows
very
precisely
how
you
use
our
tool
together
with
this
integration
for
this
physical
device
We
also
created
a
video
and
put
it
on
YouTube
Or
when
you
look
in
YouTube
and
you
search
for
this
video
it
doesn't
have
many
views
But
the
trick
is
the
people
that
do
search
for
this
and
the
people
that
do
look
for
this
on
YouTube
they
want
to
have
their
question
answered
right
They
have
a
concrete
problem
and
they
want
to
have
a
solution
for
it
So
they
find
you
and
they're
so
much
more
likely
to
purchase
So
this
is
a
super
niche
keyword
The
way
we
find
these
keywords
is
we
put
up
documentation
put
up
articles
and
then
we
look
with
a
sense
for
what
do
people
actually
click
on
and
then
double
down
About
a
third
of
your
customers
come
from
word
of
mouth
Talk
to
me
about
that
Yeah
So
from
the
beginning
I
wanted
to
be
like
Dropbox
You
know
Dropbox
you
create
it
and
then
it
says
oh
you
want
to
have
five
gigabyte
more
space
You
know
share
the
link
with
a
friend
have
them
sign
up
And
I
thought
how
can
I
integrate
this
into
my
own
app
It's
called
product
led
growth
And
I
just
made
sure
every
single
link
that
people
share
my
logo
is
on
it
And
not
only
is
my
logo
just
like
a
picture
it
has
the
name
stagetimer
io
in
the
logo
It's
like
literally
written
there
And
it's
a
name
easy
enough
to
remember
that
people
often
just
see
it
even
tell
us
oh
I
saw
it
on
an
event
and
I
used
it
myself
That's
the
one
way
And
the
other
way
is
we
make
it
a
freemium
model
By
doing
this
we
capture
a
lot
of
freelancers
that
work
in
this
space
and
they
bring
it
along
to
the
events
that
they
are
invited
and
somebody
says
ah
we
need
a
timer
timer
So
they
say
ah
let
me
just
pull
up
stagetimer
They
pull
it
up
It
works
so
well
People
are
really
excited
Eventually
they
want
to
use
it
for
their
next
event
hit
some
kind
of
limit
and
say
ah
it's
worth
it
Let's
purchase
it
Happens
very
often
So
having
a
free
tier
works
really
well
for
us
That's
great
What
kind
of
tools
and
languages
did
you
use
to
build
the
app
and
then
also
to
run
the
business
So
as
a
developer
right
I
use
Sublime
Text
and
Sublime
Merge
These
are
old
tools
The
fact
is
for
me
like
copy
pasting
into
Cloud
and
generating
code
there
and
causing
it
is
literally
faster
than
integrated
IDEs
like
cursor
or
copilot
One
tool
I
love
is
Airtable
We
use
it
as
CRM
It
works
incredibly
well
It's
like
a
big
Excel
sheet
with
all
our
customers
in
it
But
what
you
can
do
is
you
can
do
automations
on
top
of
that
And
then
on
top
of
this
we
use
a
postmark
to
actually
send
out
emails
I'm
a
big
fan
of
postmark
It's
like
an
email
sending
platform
but
really
made
for
solopreneurs
These
are
really
the
bread
and
butter
tools
that
I'm
using
for
Stagediammer
That's
amazing
Your
business
makes
25
000
MRR
What
does
it
cost
to
actually
run
this
business
The
SaaS
business
is
very
very
cheap
to
run
We
have
a
server
and
infrastructure
cost
of
280
a
month
Then
we
spend
250
on
tools
and
services
That
is
everything
from
what
I
mentioned
Airtable
postmark
all
of
this
together
And
then
we
spend
1
400
on
paid
ads
So
the
profit
margin
is
80
or
higher
like
between
80
and
90
Nice
That's
a
good
business
Now
let's
finally
talk
about
what
you
built
Can
you
show
me
what
app
you
built
and
how
it
works
and
what
it
does
Yeah
so
this
is
the
app
That's
it
Imagine
you
are
on
a
TED
Talk
and
you
have
the
speaker
on
stage
And
they
want
to
know
how
much
time
do
I
have
left
in
my
presentation
So
you
put
this
in
front
of
him
And
on
my
computer
I
have
the
control
interface
for
this
very
timer
And
I
can
just
click
start
and
you
can
see
how
it
starts
counting
Or
you
are
holding
your
microphone
too
far
away
You're
not
loud
enough
So
I
show
you
this
message
like
hey
hold
your
microphone
closer
And
it's
much
easier
like
this
to
communicate
with
your
person
on
stage
stage
than
holding
up
a
paper
sign
you
can
imagine
The
first
question
anybody
watching
this
is
having
is
like
okay
why
would
I
pay
for
this
I
could
just
use
a
timer
on
my
iPhone
How
does
this
make
25
000
a
month
So
when
I
built
it
I
thought
no
way
this
is
going
to
make
a
lot
of
money
And
then
people
started
paying
And
we
started
understanding
that
in
real
life
events
real
life
video
productions
people
need
this
all
the
time
We
had
TV
broadcasts
that
do
broadcasts
for
elections
And
they
need
to
time
every
speaker
We
had
horse
races
by
it
So
it
turns
out
almost
everybody
needs
a
timer
And
the
iPhone
timer
won't
cut
it
because
it's
just
on
your
little
iPhone
screen
And
you
need
something
that
one
person
clicks
start
and
five
other
people
can
see
it
Awesome
We
haven't
even
talked
about
this
yet
How
did
you
actually
even
find
the
idea
to
create
a
timer
app
So
it
was
a
bit
of
an
accident
I
was
in
my
friend's
studio
And
he
used
this
very
old
flash
app
on
an
old
laptop
And
he
remote
controls
everything
from
his
nice
table
And
then
to
start
a
timer
he
has
to
get
up
walk
into
the
other
room
and
hit
a
button
and
walk
back
And
my
web
developer
mind
immediately
says
surely
there's
a
better
way
So
you
go
to
any
other
business
and
you
just
observe
people
doing
their
job
And
you
find
that
they
waste
hours
And
they
do
things
in
the
most
awkward
ways
that
you
would
have
automated
long
ago
These
are
the
really
the
simple
ideas
that
you
can
turn
into
a
lot
of
money
Okay
so
you
built
this
business
it
makes
25
000
a
month
What's
a
key
lesson
that
you
learned
in
the
journey
building
this
One
lesson
I
learned
conversely
is
that
there's
more
opportunities
out
there
than
we
think
There's
so
many
solutions
that
still
have
interfaces
from
1999
Ugly
as
heck
to
use
People
complain
about
it
all
the
time
especially
if
you
go
outside
the
developer
bubble
I
believe
there's
so
many
like
1
million
niches
with
little
apps
that
you
can
build
The
only
hard
thing
is
to
find
them
Once
you
found
them
it's
just
this
great
opportunity
that's
open
before
you
to
build
a
simple
app
Cool
Last
question
that
we
ask
anyone
who
comes
on
the
channel
If
you
could
go
back
in
time
stand
on
Lukas's
shoulder
when
you
ship
that
MVP
or
even
before
what
advice
would
you
give
him
So
I
would
go
back
and
tell
myself
Lukas
you're
a
German
You're
scared
of
regulation
You're
scared
of
like
the
financier
the
taxman
coming
to
you
and
saying
you've
done
everything
wrong
and
you
have
to
go
to
prison
now
But
I
would
tell
him
this
is
not
the
case
Just
get
started
There's
a
way
even
in
this
country
to
build
a
simple
business
to
scale
it
up
and
to
understand
how
it
works
Everybody
is
just
getting
by
somewhere
and
you
can
do
it
too
Any
Germans
or
Europeans
watching
this
Hopefully
that
inspired
you
Thank
you
Lukas
for
coming
on
to
start
our
story
and
keep
going
I
will
Thanks
Pat
Pat
Lukas
is
a
great
example
of
someone
who
turned
a
really
simple
idea
into
a
really
great
business
I
really
like
how
he
used
Reddit
to
validate
his
idea
because
you
don't
need
an
audience
audience
and
potentially
all
your
customers
are
hanging
out
in
one
little
subreddit
just
like
the
one
that
Lukas
had
posted
I
think
that
anybody
can
take
lessons
from
his
story
and
build
a
SaaS
build
a
cool
app
get
users
and
potentially
start
even
getting
paying
customers
So
if
you're
interested
in
building
something
similar
apps
and
simple
projects
then
you
should
definitely
check
out
Starter
Story
Build
In
Starter
Story
Build
we
show
you
how
to
find
an
idea
how
to
build
it
with
AI
tools
and
how
to
actually
ship
it
into
the
real
world
and
get
users
and
potentially
build
something
that
changes
your
life
What's
even
cooler
is
that
you'll
do
it
all
in
just
12
days
So
if
you've
got
that
simple
idea
or
you
want
to
find
it
maybe
turn
it
into
a
great
business
head
to
the
link
in
the
description
to
check
out
Starter
Story
Build
All
right
guys
hope
you
enjoyed
this
video
I'll
see
you
in
the
next
one
Peace
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