How I Built It: $30K/Month Micro-SaaS

Over the past few years, Sanskar has built over 30 products and he just hit $1 million in revenue. In this episode, he shares his exact process for finding product ideas, the marketing strategies that helped him generate $1M, and how he does it all by himself. This is a masterclass in how to build a portfolio of tiny bets! *Side project ideas you can build with your 9-5:* https://clickhubspot.com/83ig Say hi to Sanskar: https://www.instagram.com/sanskarr.tiwari/ & https://twitter.com/IndianAppGuy Check out his projects: https://www.sanskartiwari.io/ 🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild 🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs Chapters: Chapters 00:00:00 30 products, $1M 00:01:03 Meet Sanskar! 00:01:25 Building 8 projects 00:02:54 Numbers behind the business 00:03:26 More side project ideas 00:04:04 Common themes in the projects 00:05:29 How do you get here? 00:07:15 Finding app ideas 00:09:54 Building and tech stack 00:10:24 Marketing methods 00:12:49 Running experiments 00:13:20 Final advice1 00:05:07 Reflections and takeaways! This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.

Ben turned one viral idea of himself singing in French into Canary, an app that teaches languages through music. Less than a year later, it makes about $25K a month, and he runs it solo. This video is a playbook for how to test an app idea with content, build a simple first version, and grow it fast. *Database: 229 consumer iOS apps generating $10K+/mo in revenue* https://clickhubspot.com/8k8k Say hi to Ben: https://x.com/bengu_ez Check out Canary: https://www.singwithcanary.com/ 🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild 🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs Chapters: Chapters 00:00:00 $25K in 9 months 00:00:58 Meet Ben! 00:01:17 What’s the app? (Sing with Canary) 00:02:02 The year of apps! 00:02:30 Business breakdown 00:02:50 Ben’s background 00:03:46 Building with an audience? 00:04:34 How he built it 00:05:15 Tech stack and tools 00:05:54 Early growth 00:07:04 What marketing tactics are working right now? 00:07:59 Finding app ideas 00:08:54 Canary app demo 00:09:46 Final advice for builders 00:10:40 Reflections! 00:11:33 More simple app ideas This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.

Yoni built one of the most popular iOS apps in recent years: Brainrot. In this video, we break down the story behind how he took it from a simple idea to an app that is making an astonishing $400K/month. And, most importantly, we get his thoughts on what’s working right now for building and growing apps in 2026. *120+ Businesses you can start with less than $500:* https://clickhubspot.com/1tva Say hi to Yoni: https://twitter.com/YoniSmolyar Check out Brainrot: https://thebrainrotapp.com/ 🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild 🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs Chapters: Chapters 00:00:00 the $400K/month app 00:00:58 Meet Yoni 00:01:27 Brainrot 00:02:00 Yoni’s background 00:02:30 Start your own business 00:03:07 Building a personal brand 00:03:38 Idea behind Brainrot 00:04:11 Launch and early traction 00:04:41 More growth strategies 00:05:47 When to go all-in? 00:06:29 Building apps in 2026 00:09:04 Yoni’s advice for finding app ideas 00:10:04 Tech stack and tools 00:10:29 Brainrot demo 00:11:18 Final advice This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.

Jake built a simple, boring website called Excel Exercises. The main goal of the site? Help people learn Excel… that’s it! In this episode, we’ll dive into how this website makes $30K/month, how he built and grew it with very little effort, and his advice for people looking for dead-simple app ideas in 2026. *Simple apps making millions:* https://clickhubspot.com/guvq Say hi to Jake: https://x.com/shimota_tweets Check out Excel Exercises: https://excelexercises.com/ 🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild 🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs Chapters: Chapters 00:00:00 Simplest website I've ever seen 00:00:51 What's your story? 00:01:26 What is Excel Exercises? 00:02:15 Numbers behind the business 00:02:55 Simple ideas win! 00:03:35 Background 00:04:19 Finding the idea 00:05:42 Building Excel Exercises 00:06:17 Tech stack and tools 00:07:03 Zero to $10K/month 00:08:01 Growth to $30K/month 00:08:55 How Jake finds simple ideas 00:10:10 App demo 00:11:07 Final advice 00:12:22 Reflections: the simplest website ever This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.

Frederick is an indie app builder who went from $0 to $10,000 a month with a health and fitness app. He believes the specific app barely matters… what actually moves the needle is the repeatable marketing playbook behind it. This video breaks down his end-to-end journey and the exact methods he used to grow his app to $10K/month. *iOS App Ideas Database:* https://clickhubspot.com/obng Say hi to Frederick: https://x.com/frederickjames Check out channel: https://www.youtube.com/@frederickjaames 🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild 🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs Chapters: Chapters 00:00:00 Simple $10K/month app 00:00:50 What’s your story? 00:01:20 App metrics 00:02:09 App category 00:02:28 Founder background 00:03:12 Finding the app idea 00:03:52 iOS apps ideas 00:04:21 Building the app 00:06:14 Tech stack 00:07:28 Zero to $5K/month 00:09:23 $5K to $10K/month 00:12:35 Is this profitable? 00:13:16 Why choose paid ads? 00:14:57 Final advice 00:16:38 Reflections and takeaways This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.

Charlie bootstrapped his micro-saas, Links, to over $30K/month, which allowed him to quit his job... twice! In this episode, he shares exactly how he grew Liinks to $30K/month (even in a saturated market), and his advice for building a side project that might help you quit your full-time job, right now in 2026 *Side project ideas you can build with your 9-5:* https://clickhubspot.com/xls2 Say hi to Charlie: https://x.com/charliie Check out Liinks: https://www.liinks.co/ 🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild 🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs Chapters: Chapters 00:00:00 zero to $30K/month 00:01:03 What’s your story? 00:01:32 What’s the app? 00:02:34 Building side projects 00:03:30 Business metrics 00:04:15 Founder background 00:05:47 Finding the app idea 00:06:59 Liinks growth strategies 00:08:23 Pricing strategy and breakdown 00:09:40 Leaving the 9-5 00:10:53 Mindset behind quitting your job 00:12:45 Tech stack and tools 00:13:32 App demo 00:15:01 Final advice This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.

Rasty built and launched his first iOS app in 3 weeks. And today, that simple idea makes $41,000 per month. The secret? Well, he didn't dance on TikTok or spam Instagram. No, his old school approach is much simpler than that. This episode is about how a founder built something absurdly simple, out-marketed much bigger players, and built a successful app. *Free database: simple apps making millions:* https://clickhubspot.com/b4qr Say hi to Rasty: https://x.com/synopsi Check out Vaultaire: https://vaultaire.app/ 🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild 🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs Chapters: Chapters 00:00:00 $41K in a single month 00:01:08 What's your story? 00:01:44 What's the app? 00:02:51 More simple iOS app ideas 00:03:34 App statistics 00:04:45 Founder background 00:06:26 App growth strategy 00:07:44 AI agent marketing and content team 00:09:52 Tech stack 00:10:47 App demo 00:11:10 the FBI story!! 00:11:48 Final advice 00:12:47 Pat and Gus reflections: this dude is awesome! 00:14:36 Download simple iOS app ideas This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.

Kourosh built an app in a very crowded market... and yet still managed to grow it to over $18K/month. His secret is insanely simple: everyone else is chasing tech-savvy power users, but Kourosh built this app for a type of custer everyone is ignoring (his dad). This video is the story of how to build a successful product in a "saturated" market. *50+ AI app ideas making millions:* https://clickhubspot.com/q8ij Say hi to Kourash: https://x.com/BuildingWaves Check out Voicy: https://usevoicy.com/ 🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild 🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs Chapters: Chapters 00:00:00 He built this for his dad! 00:01:09 What's your story? 00:01:59 What's the app? 00:03:24 Founder background 00:04:14 More AI app ideas 00:04:56 Finding the idea for Voicy 00:05:50 Build process 00:07:28 Tech stack 00:08:21 Growth story 00:09:51 Unique customers 00:11:22 Building in a crowded market 00:13:06 Final advice 00:14:28 Reflections 00:15:17 FREE app ideas This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.

Vadim is 19 years old and, before this year, had never shipped an app in his life. In March, he quit his marketing job to build apps… 5 months later, he hit $10K/month with over 20K users. His process has been 100% building with AI and posting content on IG shamelessly. This video is proof that you do NOT need to be technical or have a clever growth hack to build an app business that makes real money. *Get HubSpot's free CRM, the one that updates itself:* https://clickhubspot.com/qy9n Say hi to Vadim: https://x.com/VadimStrizheus Check out Vugola: https://www.vugolaai.com/ 🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild 🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs Chapters: Chapters 00:00:00 Zero to $10K in 5 months 00:00:56 What’s your story? 00:01:22 What’s the app? 00:02:10 Know your customers! 00:02:52 Founder background 00:03:27 Finding the app idea 00:04:13 How he built it 00:05:05 Building the MVP 00:05:23 Tech stack and tools 00:05:51 Zero to $1K MRR 00:06:45 Hitting $10K per month 00:09:02 Time vs money with content 00:09:55 App demo 00:10:46 Final advice 00:11:45 Reflections: anyone can be a builder! This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.

Max built a simple iOS app to solve his own problem at the gym. But here’s the thing… before this app, he had never shipped a single line of code in his life. In fact, he was going down the traditional route: college, internships, everything. But he found apps and decided to go all-in. Today, his app makes $14K/month and is growing. This is his app story for anyone looking to get started with apps in 2026. *Get HubSpot's free CRM, the one that updates itself:* https://clickhubspot.com/2b1y Say hi to Max: https://x.com/MaxHirsch13 Check out Maxed AI: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/maxed-ai-smart-fitness-app/id6759180029 🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild 🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs Chapters: Chapters 00:00:00 Zero to $14K in 6 months 00:00:49 What’s your story? 00:01:19 What’s the app? 00:02:29 What makes your app different? 00:03:03 How to keep track of your customers 00:03:45 Founder background 00:04:49 Finding the idea 00:05:32 Tech stack 00:06:04 Growth and marketing 00:07:38 What’s working for growing apps right now 00:08:23 Building a personal brand 00:09:15 App demo 00:10:14 Final advice 00:11:15 Pat and Gus reflections This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.