I Turned $150 into $2M/Year

Summary

Joseph, once a novice in coding, turned a $1150 investment into a $2 million AI app business, 'Stealth GPT', which generates undetectable AI text. Despite a previous $150,000 setback from a failed crypto venture and legal issues, he leveraged online tutorials and marketing strategies to scale his subscription-based SaaS. Joseph emphasizes the importance of learning, problem-solving, and effective marketing, sharing his journey from ideation to success with Starter Story.

Takeaways

• 😲 Joseph turned $1150 into a $2 million business by creating an AI app called Stealth GPT, which generates undetectable AI-generated text.
• 💡 Joseph's initial investment was just $150 for the domain name, and he leveraged YouTube tutorials to learn coding and develop the app.
• 🏠 Joseph's success journey began as a solar entrepreneur and later pivoted to the AI industry after a failed crypto venture led to a $150,000 penalty from the federal government.
• 📈 The business model of Stealth GPT is a subscription-based SaaS, which reached $190,000 in monthly recurring revenue in about 15 months.
• 💰 The profit margin for Stealth GPT is between $10,000 to $30,000 a month, with significant reinvestment into marketing and customer acquisition.
• 📊 Joseph emphasized the importance of marketing, stating that it is as crucial as the product itself for gaining visibility and distribution.
• 🔧 The technical stack of Stealth GPT includes Next.js, React, Vercel for deployment, and Superbase for the database.
• 🤝 Joseph's team was assembled through Twitter posts, focusing on building a strong product without traditional pedigrees.
• 🗓 Joseph's daily routine involves checking systems, monitoring ad performance, ideating, and staying updated with industry trends on Twitter.
• 💡 For aspiring entrepreneurs, Joseph advises focusing on solving broad problems and being critical of one's own ideas to ensure market demand.
• 🚀 Joseph encourages leveraging current technologies like AI, Vercel, and Superbase to build and launch products, emphasizing the unprecedented opportunity for creators.

Q & A

How did Joseph turn $1150 into a $2 million AI app business?

Joseph started with a small investment, bought the domain for $150, and used YouTube tutorials to learn coding. He launched his AI app in March and grew it to a $200,000 monthly business through strategic marketing and continuous improvement.

What is the name of the AI app that Joseph created?

The AI app created by Joseph is called 'Stealth GPT'.

What does Stealth GPT do?

Stealth GPT is a web app with a subscription-based model (SaaS) that generates AI text that is undetectable or can make text from other AI sources undetectable.

How long did it take for Joseph's business to reach $190,000 in monthly revenue?

It took Joseph approximately 15 months to reach $190,000 in monthly revenue.

What was the monthly profit of the business after expenses?

The monthly profit of the business after expenses was between $10,000 to $30,000.

How much did Joseph spend on marketing and customer acquisition?

Joseph spent about $100,000 on marketing and customer acquisition, which was a significant portion of their reinvestment into the business.

What was the initial financial setback Joseph faced before starting Stealth GPT?

Joseph faced a $150,000 penalty from the federal government due to a failed crypto business idea, which led to a $400,000 total settlement and a $50,000 cost before trial.

How did Joseph validate the idea for Stealth GPT?

Joseph validated the idea for Stealth GPT by reverse engineering an AI detector and finding a way to consistently make it classify AI-generated content as human-generated.

What marketing strategy did Joseph use to grow Stealth GPT?

Joseph used a UGC (User-Generated Content) strategy on TikTok and Instagram to educate the market about Stealth GPT. Later, he found success with Google Ads, which allowed for low cost per conversion and significant scaling.

How did Joseph's first customers find out about Stealth GPT?

Joseph's first customers found out about Stealth GPT through a mention on a TikTok video by a content creator named Phil, who covers various products obsessively.

What advice does Joseph give for someone looking to start a business?

Joseph advises focusing on solving broad problems, being passionate about the area, being honest with oneself about the viability of the idea, and leveraging the power of current technologies like AI and platforms like Vercel and Superbase.

What is Joseph's daily routine like for running his business?

Joseph's daily routine involves checking all systems for issues, monitoring ad performance, engaging in ideation, communicating with the team, and staying updated on trends and ideas by scrolling Twitter.

What tools and technologies does Stealth GPT use for its infrastructure?

Stealth GPT uses Next.js and React for its tech stack, Vercel for deployment, Superbase for the database, and other tools like Discord for communication, Buffer for marketing management, Zendesk for support, and Google Suite for document collaboration.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 From $1150 to $2 Million: Joseph's AI App Success

Joseph transformed $1150 into a $2 million AI app, despite having minimal coding skills at the start. He purchased a domain in February, watched YouTube tutorials, and gained his first customers by March. His marketing strategy, focusing heavily on a specific channel, led to substantial growth. Despite previous business failures, including a costly crypto venture, Joseph persevered and shared his detailed process of ideation, product development, and marketing for building a successful AI app.

05:00

📉 Overcoming Financial Setbacks and Finding New Opportunities

Joseph faced a significant financial setback with a $150,000 penalty from the federal government due to a failed crypto business. He borrowed money from his parents to settle the issue, which was a difficult and humbling experience. This setback gave him a new perspective, eventually leading to the idea for Stealth GPT. Joseph shared how he reversed-engineered an AI detector to create Stealth GPT, an app that makes AI-generated text undetectable.

10:01

🔍 Innovating with Stealth GPT: From Concept to Market

Inspired by the rise of ChatGPT in 2022, Joseph saw a need for undetectable AI-generated content. After seeing a video about an AI detector, he reverse-engineered it to create Stealth GPT. He purchased the domain in February and launched the website by March. Offering free trials and multiple pricing tiers, Joseph quickly gained customers, partly due to a TikTok mention. His marketing strategy included leveraging user-generated content on social media and effective Google ads.

15:01

🛠️ Building and Scaling Stealth GPT with a Lean Team

Joseph built Stealth GPT using modern tech stacks like Next.js, React, and Vercel. He emphasized the importance of user feedback for quality and usability but avoided overly complex features. Starting as a solopreneur, he later expanded his team through Twitter hires. He shared insights on finding the right business idea by identifying personal problems and validating their market potential. His day-to-day involves system checks, ad performance reviews, team ideation, and continuous learning from social media.

🎯 Key Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Joseph highlighted the critical role of marketing in business success. He advised aspiring entrepreneurs to leverage AI tools and online resources to launch their ideas quickly. Emphasizing problem-solving, user feedback, and simplicity in product design, he shared that the best ideas often come from addressing personal pain points. Joseph encouraged potential founders to critique their ideas realistically and to focus on effective distribution to gain traction.

📈 Final Words of Inspiration and Resources

Joseph's story demonstrates the power of a simple idea combined with hard work and the willingness to learn. He encouraged viewers to start their own ventures, offering a free report with 52 micro SaaS ideas for inspiration. He emphasized the importance of taking action and leveraging available resources to build successful businesses. The video concluded with an invitation to share ideas for future content and a message of appreciation for the audience's support.

Keywords

💡AI app

An AI app, or artificial intelligence application, refers to software that uses machine learning or other AI technologies to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. In the video, the creator turned $1150 into a $2 million business by developing an AI app that generates undetectable AI-generated text, illustrating the potential of AI to transform industries and create new business opportunities.

💡SaaS

SaaS stands for Software as a Service, a software licensing and delivery model in which software is provided on a subscription basis over the internet. The video's subject developed a SaaS model for his AI app, which is a common approach for delivering and monetizing cloud-based software, allowing customers to use the service without the need for installation or maintenance.

💡Indie hacking

Indie hacking is a term used to describe the process of building and growing a software product independently, often by a solo developer or a small team. The video's protagonist is an example of an indie hacker, who started with minimal coding skills and built a successful AI app, showcasing the entrepreneurial spirit and self-sufficiency inherent in indie hacking.

💡Google Ads

Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers can create and display ads on Google's ad network. In the video, Google Ads is mentioned as a critical tool for customer acquisition and scaling the business, highlighting the importance of digital marketing in growing a SaaS product.

💡Revenue

Revenue refers to the income generated from the business's operations, excluding profits or expenses. The video discusses the revenue of the AI app, which reached $200,000 per month, demonstrating the financial success of the business and providing a benchmark for evaluating its performance.

💡Profit

Profit is the amount of money left after all expenses have been deducted from revenue. The video mentions a profit of $10 to $30,000 a month after expenses, which indicates the financial health and sustainability of the business, as well as the potential for reinvestment and growth.

💡Marketing strategy

A marketing strategy is a plan for reaching a business's marketing-related goals, including how it will promote its products or services. The video's subject used a marketing strategy that involved social media platforms and Google Ads to grow his business, emphasizing the role of strategic marketing in business development.

💡Product development

Product development is the process of creating a new product or improving an existing one. The video discusses the product development journey of the AI app, which involved ideation, coding, and continuous improvement based on user feedback, illustrating the iterative nature of product development.

💡Ideation

Ideation is the process of generating ideas or concepts, often used in the early stages of product development or creative projects. The video's subject had an idea for an AI app that could generate undetectable AI text, which he then developed into a successful product, showing the importance of ideation in the innovation process.

💡Customer feedback

Customer feedback is information received from customers about a company's products or services, which can be used to improve or adapt offerings. The video mentions using customer feedback to refine the AI app, indicating the value of customer insights in enhancing user experience and product quality.

💡Scaling

Scaling refers to the process of increasing the size, capacity, or scope of a business operation. The video's subject scaled his AI app from an initial idea to a $200,000 per month business, which involved increasing marketing efforts, hiring staff, and investing in technology, demonstrating the complexities and opportunities in business scaling.

Highlights

Joseph turned $1150 into a $2 million AI app with little initial coding knowledge.

He bought the domain 'stealth' for $150 and utilized YouTube tutorials to develop his product.

The AI app, stealth GPT, can generate undetectable AI text or modify existing AI text to be undetectable.

Joseph's business reached $200,000 in revenue within 15 months.

Profit margins are between $10,000 to $30,000 a month after expenses.

Majority of expenses are allocated to marketing and customer acquisition.

Joseph's team consists of 6-7 people, with plans to hire more, focusing on reinvestment for growth.

The company has had 400,000 sign-ups and 8,500 active subscribers.

Joseph's initial interest in coding stemmed from creating a RuneScape bot.

He experienced a $150,000 penalty from the federal government due to a failed crypto business.

Joseph's idea for stealth GPT was inspired by the rise of AI-generated content and the need for content authenticity.

He managed to consistently trick AI detectors into believing his content was human-generated.

The first customers were acquired through free trials and word-of-mouth from a TikTok influencer.

Scaling the business involved a user-generated content strategy on social media and Google Ads.

Joseph emphasizes the importance of building a solution to a broad problem and keeping the user experience simple.

The tech stack includes Next.js, React, Vercel, Superbase, and other tools for efficient development and deployment.

Joseph advises that marketing is as crucial as the product itself for business success.

He encourages leveraging current technology and not wasting the opportunity to build something impactful.

Transcripts

this guy turned $1150 into a $2 million

AI app but what's even crazier is he

barely even knew how to code in February

I bought the domain sgt. for $150 watch

a bunch of YouTube tutorials and we got

our first customers in March he invited

us into his house in Lakeland Florida to

show us exactly how he started this

thing as a solar preneur and the

marketing strategy he used to grow to

$200,000 Mr we started leaning up a lot

into and just found a tremendous amount

of Success Through that channel before

the success Joseph tried and failed

several business ideas unfortunately one

of those was crypto and it left him with

a

$150,000 penalty from the federal

government we talk about what he learned

from this and how it gave him New

Perspective that eventually led to a new

business idea that would change his life

after a few days of like trialing it I

cracked it in this video Joseph shares

his exact ideation product development

and marketing blueprints that he used to

build a $200,000 per month AI app I'm

Pat walls and this is starter

story hi Joseph thank you for having me

in your beautiful home tell me about

this business that you built yeah so we

made uh stealth GPT it's a web app

subscription based model like a SAS and

basically what it does is it can

generate AI generated text that's

undetectable or it can take text from

things like Claude chat gbt Gemini and

make that undetectable we got to

$190,000 Mr recently took us about 15

months to do it wow let's talk about

some of the financials around this like

how much revenue how much profit is this

doing profit we're doing

about10 to $30,000 a month after all of

our expenses and everything most of our

money goes into marketing a new customer

acquisition um it's a lot of

reinvestment into the current business

so that we can continue growing at the

rate that we're growing at we spend

about

$100,000 we're we're on a pace like it

always is adjusting upward we've also

brought in a staff so six to seven

people we're actually hiring two more

people right now we spend I think about

like 50 to $60,000 a month on salaries

alone other than that it's like our

database and our hosting and you know

our AI stack and everything like that

kind of composes of probably about an

additional I want to say like $5,000 so

I think gave you about

$160,000 worth of a picture so in the

lifespan of stealth we have had 400,000

signups about 15 to 20,000 subscribers

as a whole active subscribers we're

looking at about 8,500 wow yeah that's

amazing yeah can you give me a timeline

of how you get into coding how you get

into Indie hacking I was a big fan of

RuneScape when I was a kid like giant

RuneScape head and I remember when I was

coming out of college

I started looking at RuneScape again I

was like now I'm a bit older I'm a bit

more mature I don't want to spend 13

hours a day playing RuneScape anymore

and I kind of like the idea of coding I

I know that's something it's an

important skill so I'm like let me

figure out how to make a bot to do some

gold farming and in RuneScape I started

Harvard's like CS 50 class watch a bunch

of YouTube tutorials started building

for my for myself like so for example I

built a website for myself and I built

like a blackjack game took a few years

to you know learn how to code that kind

of thing and build stealth GPT all right

let's talk about failure for a second so

I know that in your journey you had

something that kind of really set you

back can you tell me a little bit more

about that I was 23 years old I started

my first company J squared invest and I

started because I was getting involved

with like crypto and stuff like that I

saw there's like a huge Market need for

people who didn't understand how to get

into Bitcoin or ethereum they didn't

know what coinbase was they didn't know

how to open up a wallet so I just an

opportunity like any other entrepreneur

I had no money so I bought I made I got

a loan from my father got the lawyers

got the company ready all that kind of

stuff and we just started taking in

clients 2017 markets were great very

bullish everything went to the moon

until 2018 came around and um pretty

much I lost all my money um I had a lot

of money in the crypto markets of course

the company got rinsed and then a few

months later I get hit with this email

out of nowhere from the cftc I guess

there's like some like accusations of

like oh I took client money or stuff

like that every time I got an email from

these people it was

like it was devastating it was

devastating to get an email from them

but it was also devastating every day

thinking like are they going to do

something today are they going to email

me today are they going to who knows

what cuz you're at their full Mercy

you're at the full mercy of the

government um at that point and you got

really nothing we later settled with

them after I think like two or three

years of dealing with this issue it was

like a $400,000 total settlement

um still paying for it to this day the

whole process cost us

$50,000 um before we even got to a trial

before anything like that because I was

broke at the time I couldn't pay any of

it I had to completely borrow it from my

parents having to do that was like

devastating um you as like a child you

want to make your parents proud and you

want to make them happy everyone was

really happy for me when I first started

my company and they were very impressed

and all that kind of stuff and then here

I am having to beg for their help or

else I'm going to get crushed like a bug

like by the government

and it was um it was a horrific

situation but um thank God my parents

I'm blessed to have loving parents and

they're always there for me um and they

always have been there for me so really

appreciate that yeah coming off that how

do you find this idea for stealth GPT

how do you come up with the idea 2022

rolls around and chat GPT is like a

thing and I was like okay this is going

to dominate online content people are

going to produce all this content with

AI and they're going to put it online

naturally there's going to be some kind

of push back there's going to be people

who care is the content that I'm reading

right now human or is it Ai and Tik Tok

because it I guess spies on the neural

Nets of your brain or something like

that just knew I was thinking about this

and served me up a video in my timeline

it's like hey there's this AI detector

called gp0 they're able to scan with

like a 99% accuracy is this content AI

generator not so I started going to work

just reverse engineering it really

trying to figure out can and I

consistently beat this AI detector and

keep making it say that this is human

generated after a few days of like

trialing it I cracked it like eventually

it just every single response I was

throwing through the AI detector was

coming up human and I was like okay we

got something here and so around January

is like when I first had the idea for

steal GPT after seeing that Tik Tok

video and then in February I bought the

domain steal gp. for 75 bucks a year and

they make you buy two years minimum so

it's $150 by March we had our first uh

real website with nextjs and react live

and we got our first customers in March

Joseph was able to change his life

because of one simple SAS idea he turned

into millions he showed us that all it

really takes is a willingness to learn

from others paired with a solid problem

to solve if you're serious about doing

something similar but you're still

looking for an idea well you're in luck

you can download our 52 micro SAS idea

report to show you ideas just like

Joseph's that will give you inspiration

to get started on your your own project

just click the first link in the

description and you'll get it all for

free and if you're serious about

actually building it alongside other

successful Founders consider joining

starter story and we'll help you with

that much love and hope you guys enjoy

the rest of the video you build your MVP

how do you get your first customer I

listed the website on future pedia which

I saw some people talking about we kind

of let people use the service for free

like 10 tries for free and then they

would have to pay for subscription so we

offered like three different tiers of

pricing for as low as like

$4.99 to like 15 bucks yeah and then we

got these two customers and I remember

thinking at the time I was like how the

heck did these guys find us like in the

in the wide ocean the internet and

they're like oh well we actually heard

about you mention on the show from this

Tik Tok guy this guy named Phil covers a

lot of products like basically every

single day like obsessively over like

every project so when we listed on

futurepedia I guess he follows that and

tracks that and it was like a cool

little cute video and that's how we got

our our first customer so Bill thank you

wherever you are thank you so much

that's the power of just posting your

stuff you never know what's going to

happen right exactly yeah that's true so

you got this product it's pretty much

validated and now you're trying to scale

it how do you actually scale a business

like this yeah we kind of went at it

with like a ucg type strategy on like

Tik Tok and Instagram talking about like

the service and just kind of letting

people know at that point it was like

Market education because something like

this has never existed before we need to

tell people like hey what is stealth GPT

what does it do just kind of intrigue

them into it so a lot of focus on just

explaining what the product is and why

people need a product like self GPT when

we got past the summer we started

leaning a lot into Google ads and really

investigating Google ads and just found

a tremendous amount of Success Through

that channel they were converting like

insanely low cost per conversion $10 $15

$20 in the early days and that allowed

us to scale a ton so we would get a lot

of money in and then we just pour more

into Google ads and it was just like

putting gasoline on a fire just kind of

kept going and going and going so you've

built this software to hundreds of

thousands of users what's your approach

to building a great product when you're

trying to build a solution to a problem

you're trying to make money on it you're

trying to build a business you need to

make a solution to as broad of a problem

as possible and so yes I talk to my

users I do get their feedback I do ask

them like hey what would you want to see

on these different tools and whatnot

sometimes I'm like okay that that that's

a good suggestion let's let's kind of

play around with that that could help a

lot of other users but then sometimes

I'm just like n that's something that

maybe you would like and that would be

great for you and no I'm not going to

spend hundreds of hours building this

whole complex like method that you want

or feature that you want so really what

I use our customers for as far as

feedback goes is how is the quality and

then also with the experience like how

is it using the app was it easy to

figure out what this tool does what that

tool does and that's where the users

come in and they're very helpful as far

as like other features and stuff like

that like core stuff Engineers out there

and coders they really want to build

like the most complex like high

powerered application out there and give

the user so much Freedom that's horrible

people want to use the internet like

this I want to be able to give you my

problem and in one click get that

problem solved don't make it complicated

don't add all that stuff now not every

problem can be solved in one click but

as much as it can be try to get it to

one click yeah let's talk about tools

and languages what is this company built

on we're built on xjs and react I think

that's like the best stack that you can

work with these days one thing that was

very critical to our infrastructure was

like versel uh versell works really well

with NEX and allows us to like deploy

something out there in like a few

minutes and hey if a user has a problem

with it we can roll it back figure out

what the problem is and then push it

back into production and we use super

base for our database and they've been

phenomenal we use Discord a lot for our

communication and we use buffer for our

marketing management for like our

different channels Instagram Tik Tok

Facebook whatever zenes for like support

Google Sheets and Google Docs and

whatnot I mean they have a perfect suite

for like us to collaborate on our

documents and stuff like that you know

GitHub of course got to be in there cool

so you started this thing as a

solopreneur you did it all by yourself

tell me a little bit about that

experience when I first started out

building the idea I didn't really think

I needed too much you know it was going

to be like a very basic rudimentary idea

let's see if it works and after the

first 2 months once I actually started

to see like real traction I I knew at

that point in time I knew it in my gut

we got something good over here and if I

can just get some more hands in the in

the cookie jar that'd be really helpful

to help me build this thing cuz remember

I mean before that I didn't even know

how to Cod so we went out there and did

that I'm so happy that we did our team

is uh phenomenal all of our developer

hires have come through Twitter post so

no one has a pedigree no one has really

done anything before we've built this

thing and we're kind of just building an

amazing piece of software over here

let's talk about ideas a lot of people

watching this are looking for the right

idea what advice would you give to

someone who's looking for an idea that

can make money like yours so the best

way to kind of go through this is like

think about problems in your life and I

I've seen that as like common advice and

it's true think about a problem that you

have dealt with like something that

bothered you something that pisses you

off something that wastes your time

wastes your money everything like that

everyone's got problems like that or

talk to people and ask some like

problems in areas that are kind of

passionate to you because obviously if

you're working on something that you

care about you're passionate about you

it so much better than if you didn't

care it was monotonous and it was boring

also you need to honestly be able to

critique your idea and and be honest

with yourself to say is this actually

good will people actually buy this or am

I just kind of hyping myself up and

thinking I just came up with a next big

thing all right let's talk about Day in

the Life what is it like to have built

this business and run this business

fulltime the first thing in the morning

is just systematically like checking all

the systems making sure everything's

green everyone's good now we're done

with that let's check on our ads

performance so I go look at what our ads

are doing right now I look at what our

ads were doing yesterday after we get

through all that kind of stuff the rest

of the day is just kind of a lot of

ideation a lot of talking with the team

making sure everyone's doing what

they're supposed to be doing I'm very

like hands off for the most part like

I'm not like hey man what are you doing

it's more like you know what your role

is you know what your role is you know

what your role is and then constantly

kind of getting updates and feedback as

we kind of go through it and learning

like I actually spend like a

considerable amount of time like

scrolling the timeline on Twitter I see

a lot of your posts on there I see a lot

of other great like Indie hackers and

Founders and whatever and even some

accounts like a non account accounts

anime profile picture get no traction

they get maybe one or two likes on them

I'm like you know what that's a that's a

good idea like I'm I might give that a

shot a lot of learning like always

trying to stay up on the like the dayto

day we're never out of the loop and

that's very important to the process

yeah well the last question that uh that

we ask all of our Founders who built

these amazing businesses if you could uh

sit on Joseph's shoulder you know when

you're just starting out what if advice

would you have for him I would say like

the marketing really is just important

if not more important than the product

itself at the end of the day if you

cannot get distribution if you cannot

get eyeballs on what you're building

you're toast also there's never been a

better time to build you can if you have

a laptop and Wi-Fi even if you don't

have Wi-Fi there's a Starbucks down the

street or something that does you have

the power with AI with things like

versel and super base and the free tear

out there you have the power to put

something online today don't waste this

opportunity I love it thank you so much

yeah what you built is amazing follow

this advice and you'll make millions you

could make millions with AI good luck

all right see

you yo what's up guys thank you all for

watching Joseph's story I think the

coolest part is how he took just a very

simple idea and turn it into a massive

business thanks to this crazy AI track

he's proof that all it takes is a simple

idea and some hard work and you can

build a life-changing business if you're

serious about starting your own thing

but you still don't know where to start

or you need some inspiration head to the

first link in the description and we're

going to give you our free micro SAS

Deep dive report 52 different SAS ideas

exactly how much money they make and a

bunch of other cool information you'd

want to know just click the first link

in the description and we'll send it

over also leave a comment on some other

types of businesses that you want us to

cover or any other content you'd like to

see us do I'd love to hear your ideas

all right that's a wrap I appreciate you

guys a ton and I'll see you in the next

one peace

[Music]