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I Built Two Apps That Make $120K/Month

Properties2
descriptionStarter Story — how one entrepreneur built two apps generating $120K/month in combined revenue.
tagsstarter-story, saas, app-business, revenue, entrepreneurship

3 min read

I Built Two Apps That Make $120K/Month

Author: Starter Story URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWnqY2Mav4s

Summary

Kyle Fowler built two sports card scanning apps that generate **120K/month** in combined revenue. CardStock (6 years old) has ~15,000 active subscriptions and ~75K monthly recurring revenue. Scanemon (1 year old, for Pokémon cards) has ~3,400 active subscriptions and ~$17K monthly recurring revenue. Kyle found his app ideas by solving his own problems and pursuing his hobbies rather than chasing trends.

Key Takeaways

  • Build around your hobbies and personal problems — The best app ideas come from solving problems you actually experience in your own life. Kyle collected cards since childhood and built an app to solve his own cataloging problem.

  • AI dramatically reduces build time — Scanemon’s MVP was built in a single day using Cursor’s AI agent, compared to 6 months for CardStock built with Stack Overflow. Tools like Cursor, ChatGPT, Claude, and RevenueCat make building easier than ever.

  • Five-step framework for building million-dollar apps:

    1. Find a problem or opportunity (keep a notes document for ideas)
    2. Determine the minimal solution that solves the problem
    3. Build it (AI can implement entire solutions now)
    4. Monetize with tools like Superwall or RevenueCat
    5. Market via TikTok slideshows

  • TikTok slideshows drive downloads — Simple, repeatable slideshow content converts well. Use platforms like Noise to distribute to creators, or start with your own accounts.

  • People are happy to help — Don’t worry about bothering people. Successful founders love sharing how they did it. Ask AI, read blogs, reach out to tool support teams.

  • Even without revenue, you win — If you build an app that solves your own problem, you’ve succeeded regardless of whether it makes money. The odds are others have the same problem too.

  • Building around hobbies is uniquely viable now — AI enables you to see a problem in daily life and ship within hours, then test in the market. This window of opportunity may not last.

Notes

Businesses:

  • CardStock — Sports card value scanner. Launch: 2019. 15K subs, $75K MRR, ~13K downloads/month
  • Scanemon — Pokémon card scanner. Launch: 2025. 3.4K subs, $17K MRR, ~16K downloads/month

Tech stack: Swift, SwiftUI, Core Data, AWS EC2, RevenueCat, Supabase, Railway, Cursor, Claude, ChatGPT, Notion, Framer

Timeline: Started CardStock in winter 2019, first downloads came quickly via Reddit update post. Three-month gap in development. Went from three friends in a basement to five people traveling worldwide generating $1.5M/year.

Marketing strategy: TikTok slideshows with a consistent format. Balance what converts with what gets views. Use “Noise” platform to distribute templates to creators who get paid per view.

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