I vibe coded a $20K/month mobile app in 14 days

Summary

Connor, a 23-year-old entrepreneur, shares his journey of building successful mobile apps that generate over a million dollars annually. Using AI tools like Claude and Cursor, he builds apps quickly, focusing on creating simple yet effective features and powerful onboarding. His app-building process includes app validation, designing user-friendly interfaces, and utilizing influencer marketing and paid ads to drive growth. Connor’s success lies in his ability to launch fast, iterate rapidly, and ensure user conversion from day one, proving that anyone can build a profitable app with the right approach.

Takeaways

• 😀 Connor, a 23-year-old entrepreneur, built mobile apps generating over $1M in sales annually, with his latest app reaching $20,000/month in revenue within 50 days.
• 😀 Connor's journey into entrepreneurship started 3 years ago after watching YouTube videos and staying optimistic, even without a computer science background.
• 😀 His most recent app, Payout, helps users find class action lawsuits they are eligible for, with a unique value proposition that directly appeals to people's desire to make money.
• 😀 Connor's approach to building apps involves starting with a deep research phase, downloading similar apps, and redesigning their user interfaces to fit his desired aesthetic and functionality.
• 😀 A successful onboarding process is crucial for app conversion, and Connor emphasizes the importance of invoking emotion, showing strong incentives, and personalizing the user experience.
• 😀 Connor uses a simple and efficient app-building process called 'vibe coding,' leveraging AI tools like Claude to speed up app development by feeding AI detailed instructions and design elements.
• 😀 Validation of app ideas can be done by looking at trends on platforms like TikTok and Instagram to check if there’s a demand or market for a similar product.
• 😀 Marketing apps involves influencer campaigns and user-generated content (UGC), where partnering with influencers drives organic traffic and creates viral content for future paid ads.
• 😀 Paid ads are an essential part of scaling apps, with Facebook ads requiring a balance between entertainment value and product conversion to drive growth efficiently.
• 😀 For building apps, Connor uses a minimal tech stack: Figma for design, Mixpanel for analytics, Claude for AI coding, and Expo for cross-platform build management, along with GitHub and Vercel for hosting and version control.
• 😀 Connor's key advice for aspiring app developers is to start by building something simple with great onboarding. A few good features combined with effective onboarding can lead to substantial revenue.

Q & A

How did Connor get started in app development?

Connor got started in app development after watching YouTube videos and staying optimistic about building something. He had no coding background but decided to pursue his idea after waking up one night with an app concept. He sold items around his room to buy an old MacBook and began working on his first app, Hotspot Events, which took about 6-8 months to build but ultimately failed.

What types of apps has Connor built?

Connor has built several apps, with his most recent one being Payout, a class action lawsuit discovery app. He has around six apps in total, and his apps have generated over a million dollars in revenue.

What is the key to successfully building a money-making app?

Connor emphasizes designing apps that make money from day one. He follows a specific set of steps, including researching apps in the same niche, creating an onboarding process that converts, and ensuring the app offers clear value to users.

What is the importance of onboarding in app development?

Onboarding is crucial because it's the first thing users see, especially if the app is behind a paywall. It should evoke emotion, highlight the app's benefits, and make users feel that the app is personalized for them. Additionally, charts and graphs can help make the app appear more credible.

How does Connor 'vibe code' his apps using AI?

Connor uses AI tools like Claude to 'vibe code' his apps. He prepares by designing data structures and providing AI tools with visual and textual documents, then uses these tools to quickly generate the app's code. The process may require refining, but he focuses on speed rather than perfection.

What strategies did Connor use to grow his app, Payout, to $20,000 a month?

Connor used influencer marketing and organic social media content to drive traffic to his app. He collaborated with influencers in the app’s niche, creating relatable, viral content. Once successful content formats were identified, he scaled the effort by working with multiple creators and leveraging paid ads to maintain consistent growth.

What is the significance of validation when building an app?

Validation is key to ensuring that an app idea has the potential to succeed. If you're creating a modified version of an existing app, it’s already validated. For new ideas, Connor suggests checking platforms like TikTok or Instagram to see if people are talking about the problem your app aims to solve.

What advice does Connor give to aspiring app developers?

Connor advises aspiring developers to build something simple with great onboarding. He believes that a simple app with one to three core features and a strong onboarding process can be highly successful and generate substantial revenue.

What tech stack and tools does Connor use to build and run his apps?

Connor uses a variety of tools to design, build, and analyze his apps. For design, he uses Figma. He uses Claude for vibe coding and tools like Nex.js, TypeScript, Expo, and Vercel for development. For analytics, he uses Mixpanel, and for subscription management, he uses Revenue Cat.

Why does Connor believe apps that tap into basic human desires, like making money, are successful?

Connor believes that apps that fulfill fundamental human desires, such as the desire to make money, are inherently attractive to users. The Payout app’s value proposition is simple and resonates with people who want to get money from class action lawsuits, making it easy for them to invest in the app.