I Built A $30K/Month App: Here's My Exact Process

0:00I decided to really lock in and focus on

0:02building one specific product and we've

0:04gone from zero to 30k MRR ever since.

0:07This is Benji [music] and in the last

0:09year he's built over 45 apps and his

0:12latest one just hit $30,000 a month in

0:15less than 4 months.

0:16>> In the past year or so I've built over

0:1845 apps.

0:19>> But this isn't a story about one app.

0:22It's about the system behind all of

0:24them. The exact process he follows every

0:27single time to go from idea to revenue

0:29fast.

0:30>> The entire process usually takes around

0:324 to 5 hours to actually get a good app

0:35built out.

0:36>> So I asked Benji to come on to the

0:37channel to break it all down step by

0:39step and in this episode we'll dive into

0:42how he goes from an idea to a working

0:44app in just a few hours, the simple

0:47distribution strategy that makes his app

0:49thousands of dollars every month, and

0:51the complete playbook he follow if you

0:53were starting a mobile app again from

0:54scratch today. If you're building apps

0:57right now, this is the episode. Let's

0:59dive in. I'm Pat Walls and this is

1:01Starter Story.

1:04Okay Benji, welcome to the channel. I'm

1:06pumped to have you on here. Tell me

1:07about who you are, what app you build,

1:09and what's your story?

1:10>> Hey guys, my name is Benji. Today I'm

1:12talking about Snag, which is an app that

1:14my team and I at 10X Studio had launched

1:16around 4 months ago and we've gone from

1:18zero to 30k MRR ever since. And I'm

1:20really excited to share the entire

1:21playbook that we used to scale Snag.

1:24>> Okay, awesome. Before we get into the

1:26whole process of you building it and

1:28growing it, let's talk about what you

1:30built and how it's doing. Could you pull

1:31up some of your dashboards, show me the

1:33revenue it's making, and just show me

1:34what you built?

1:35>> As you can see here in Superwall, we

1:37have around 30,000 US dollars in monthly

1:41recurring revenue. We have over 100,000

1:43authenticated users on Snag, 9,000

1:45conversions, and over $80,000 in total

1:49proceeds. Snag is an app that helps

1:50people find free items near them. This

1:52is the main page of Snag where users

1:55literally will gain access to free items

1:57near them. They can select what they

1:58want here, either by searching it or

2:00filtering it. You can store the good

2:02items that you like in the favorite

2:03section. We do weekly, monthly, yearly,

2:07one-time subscriptions. We have around

2:093.3 K ratings on App Store, which is

2:12very important social proof when you're

2:14promoting consumer apps.

2:16>> Amazing. $30,000 a month in just 4

2:19months shows you how fast apps can grow.

2:21We talked a lot of founders that are

2:23growing apps very fast. So, I think it's

2:24awesome. Tell me how you get here. How

2:26do you get to the point where just in a

2:27couple months you have an app that's

2:29absolutely crushing it. What's your

2:31background?

2:32>> I grew up in Asia, and growing up I

2:34always played by the books, worked

2:35really hard in school, had a 4.0 GPA,

2:37but really didn't explore myself enough

2:39to the point where I knew what I wanted

2:41to do with my life. And then sold my

2:43first media company for six figures,

2:46then proceeded to work in Congress,

2:48investment firms. I was doing quant

2:50research, also worked in media companies

2:52before. I was just trying to explore

2:53myself before ultimately pursuing

2:55software products. And then in the past

2:57year or so, I've built over 45 apps. My

3:00first ever app is an app called Pillar.

3:02It's a self-improvement app. We scaled

3:04to 11,000 users with basically zero CAC,

3:07and basically stopped because I had

3:09shiny object syndrome. I proceeded to

3:11build my second app, which is called Hi

3:13GPT. Again, shiny object syndrome, just

3:15proceeded to build the next 43 products,

3:19and then decided to really lock in and

3:21focus on building one specific product

3:24that could scale over time with amazing

3:26people.

3:27>> So, you mentioned shiny object syndrome.

3:28I think it's super common. I've

3:29experienced it. Pretty much everyone

3:31who's building anything experiences I

3:33see it all the time with people we bring

3:34on the channel and people who want to

3:35build stuff. Let's talk about that for a

3:37second. You said you built 40 apps. You

3:39probably got pretty good at building

3:41apps. What was your process to build

3:43over 40 apps? That seems crazy. What was

3:45your process?

3:46>> The highest leverage thing you could do

3:47is to find a great idea. So, you start

3:50from the marketing. So, you reverse

3:51engineer the value proposition that you

3:53want to show in your app first, then you

3:55could think, "What would the app look

3:56like if you want to attract a user in 3

3:59seconds?" Then, you go to Figma,

4:00wireframe it, design it, feed the

4:03designs to Claude code in your IDE, and

4:06code it. The entire process usually

4:08takes around 4 to 5 hours to actually

4:10get a good app built out without the

4:12back end.

4:13>> Personally, I love Benji's process for

4:16building apps. Why? Because it's a

4:18simple, proven system where he can ship

4:20things fast. If you've gotten to this

4:22point in the video, you might be

4:23thinking about your app that you're

4:25going to build. Well, that's why we

4:26launched the free iOS bootcamp. [music]

4:29In just a few days, this bootcamp will

4:31walk you from idea to a real working app

4:33in the App Store. [music] You'll learn

4:35how to think about the right ideas, how

4:37to build with AI, and how to actually

4:39ship. So, if you're ready to actually

4:42build your next app, just head to the

4:44first link in the description, and you

4:46can get started for free. [music] All

4:47right, let's get back to the episode.

4:50You mentioned something crazy, which is

4:51you're building apps in 4 to 5 hours. I

4:53expected you to say like 4 to 5 weeks or

4:55something like that. You've built so

4:56many apps, you probably have like a nice

4:59little tool set. What are those tools?

5:00>> Yeah, it's a pretty much a streamlined

5:02approach for me right now to build apps.

5:05So, I use Cursor as my IDE. I use Claude

5:08code to max to code pretty much the

5:11entire thing. I use GoDaddy to host my

5:13app's domain. I use Loops to send out

5:16emails to churn the users so that I can

5:18convert them back to the app. I use

5:21Superwall IDE test my paywalls. I use

5:23Mixpanel to track whether my onboarding

5:25process is good enough or not. I have an

5:28Apple developer account, Figma

5:30subscription, and finally, I host

5:32everything on Supabase as my back end.

5:35>> On a separate topic, before we get into

5:36the whole build and how you build stuff

5:38and how you grow it, how do you think

5:39about ideas now? How to come up with a

5:42good idea that could make $30,000 a

5:44month like yours?

5:45>> YouTube and Twitter is a great source of

5:47inspiration because you just see people

5:49making money from all sorts of different

5:51ideas. And I think you can discover

5:53pinpoints that are underserved and

5:55actually impacts you as a person. Or you

5:57can go on Sensor Tower to search for

6:00ideas that are making a lot of money and

6:02you can literally copy the same app but

6:04make it 10% better. A great example of

6:06this would be Height GPT that I built.

6:09After we launched Height GPT, there were

6:11around 20 different copycat apps but

6:14they're all so making hundreds of

6:16thousands of dollars because they have a

6:17better user interface, they have better

6:19marketing, they have better funnels. So,

6:22ideas don't really worth much if you

6:24cannot provide the product to the end

6:25user in a better way.

6:27>> Thanks for sharing that. Ideas are

6:29worthless but they're also kind of

6:30everything. You still got to have a good

6:32idea. But if you can launch the Height

6:34GPT app and there's 20 other

6:35competitors, you need something else.

6:38And it's what everyone in the comments

6:40are going to say right now, Starter

6:41Story, you don't talk enough about

6:42marketing. Building is easy now. So,

6:44let's talk about it.

6:45>> Specifically what we did is we ran UGC

6:47campaigns at scale and then turned those

6:50creatives into paid ads. So, essentially

6:52how this works is you reach out to a

6:55bunch of creators first and then filter

6:57them one by one by interviewing them to

6:59see whether they have that virality

7:01built in them. And typically we get a

7:0210% conversion rate. So, for every 100

7:05creator we interview, we get actually

7:07like nine to 10 good ones. Then you put

7:09them on a monthly retainer plus a CPM

7:12structure and then you test them. If

7:14they're doing over 50,000 views per

7:16video, then those are great videos that

7:18you can run on Meta ads. So, you can set

7:21up test campaigns on Meta ads and then

7:24figure out their ROAS on it. So, if your

7:26ROAS is greater than one, that means

7:29you're making money from your app. And

7:31Meta ads is not a linear growth

7:32structure, meaning that if you're making

7:3510% profit margin when you're spending

7:37$100 a day on Meta ads, it does does

7:40imply that if you spend 200, then you

7:42get 20% because there's diminishing

7:44marginal return. So, you have to see

7:45whether your ads are fatiguing or not on

7:47Meta ads and then basically pump out

7:49more creatives so that you can test more

7:51options and to figure out the most

7:53optimal creatives to run on Meta ads.

7:56>> I like that because yeah, working with

7:58UGC creators is a pain over the very

8:01long term and switching over to paid ads

8:04when it starts working is smart because

8:06you don't have to deal with as much of

8:07that headache of rehiring and the churn

8:08and all that. We're going to get into

8:10the paid ad side of things, but I'd love

8:12if you could just show me an example of

8:13the UGC that you did. Maybe a successful

8:16post that led to actual revenue for your

8:18business.

8:19>> As you can see, this video is soft

8:21selling the app.

8:23>> I like seriously can't believe she just

8:25put him on Snack for free.

8:26>> So, this video got 240,000 views. What

8:30we typically see is with every 100,000

8:33views, we can make around 1 to 2,000 US

8:36dollars that we can directly make from

8:38subscription profits.

8:40>> Thanks for showing that. Kind of shows

8:41how simple these videos can be. This

8:44video got 240,000 views and I'm sure you

8:47created a bunch of other videos like

8:48that that also crushed it. You mentioned

8:50that then once the video like that

8:52works, then you run paid ads on that

8:56specific TikTok video. How does that

8:58work?

8:59>> There's a two-step approach that we

9:00usually take. First is we set a test

9:02campaign. So, we [music] spend around

9:04$50 a day. We just test whether a

9:07specific creative is worth it or not to

9:10keep running and to scale up. And if you

9:12have a greater than one ROAS or a really

9:16high CTR, then you could assume that

9:18it's going to probably do pretty well

9:20when it's ran as paid ads. So, you just

9:22gradually scale up the number from

9:23there. So, you start off with 50, next

9:26day 100, 200, 300 for this ad. We placed

9:29around $3,000 in total for this ad

9:31before the ROAS became negative. That's

9:34why the number of creatives matters a

9:35lot when you're running paid ads so that

9:37you get more tickets to the lottery.

9:39>> Thank you for showing that and thanks

9:40for sharing some of your numbers. I want

9:42to switch topics a little bit. You've

9:43launched so many apps. For anyone

9:45watching this right now, like let's say

9:46you had to start over from scratch. What

9:48would be your playbook for building a

9:50consumer mobile app in 2026?

9:53>> Keep in mind that this literally worked

9:54for me for even my first app and I

9:56didn't really have any money as a

9:58college student. So, this would actually

9:59apply to everybody. So, step one is

10:01figuring out an idea that is actually

10:03scalable and that you can implement

10:05properly. This is probably the highest

10:07leverage thing you could do. Think of it

10:08like this. A good product doesn't really

10:10need much {quote} unquote marketing.

10:12People convert at a higher rate and

10:14people don't want to cancel subscription

10:16on your product because your product is

10:17providing so much value to them. For

10:19Snag, it was very simple. You pay us a

10:21few dollars a month and then you get

10:22access to products that are worth

10:24hundreds of dollars and hence why I

10:25think we have a very high conversion

10:27rate.

10:28>> Yeah, I agree with that. My favorite

10:29apps are apps that help you make more

10:31money or help you save more money. This

10:34is a very simple value proposition. I'm

10:35happy to pay for that. What's the next

10:37[music] step?

10:37>> Step two is to start building. So, open

10:40your IDE and start using Cloud Code to

10:42actually code out your app. Most likely

10:44when you're starting off, you're

10:45probably going to be building single-use

10:47case apps where it's pretty much like a

10:49API wrapper, which is perfectly fine.

10:51All you have to do is use the API

10:53properly, make sure the app is actually

10:55functioning and make sure that there's a

10:57way for you to authenticate the user for

10:59them to create an account so that you

11:00could actually get approved on App

11:02Store. That's pretty much it.

11:04>> In building nowadays, according to you

11:06and basically everyone else that we

11:07talked to on Starter Story, it takes 4

11:09to 5 hours. So, this part shouldn't be

11:12hard. What's the next step?

11:13>> Step three would be distribution. So, if

11:15you don't have money to hire UGC

11:16creators or influencers, start filming

11:19them yourself. I filmed probably

11:21thousands of videos for my previous apps

11:23by myself and then you can find an

11:25editor to edit your videos at scale,

11:27have a package deal to run them as paid

11:29ads.

11:30>> So, yeah, the greatest skill I think

11:32right now is the ability to create

11:34content and know how to get views and

11:36engagement in this sort of algorithmic

11:38Tik Tok world that we live in. That is

11:40probably my favorite one. What is the

11:42final step?

11:43>> The final step is just iterating on the

11:44product so that you have a better

11:46product so that you get higher LTV,

11:48lower CAC. So, focus on generating real

11:50value to your end users because

11:52ultimately, business is the transaction

11:54of value. They give you the money, you

11:55give them the value.

11:57>> Okay, thank you for sharing that. Last

11:59question that we ask all founders who

12:00come on Starter Story, if you could go

12:01back in time while you were, you know,

12:03in college or thinking about going that

12:05traditional career path, what would be

12:07your advice to your younger self or your

12:09advice to anyone who's watching this

12:10who's in the similar spot?

12:12>> Definitely create your own luck and meet

12:13the right people. I'm able to learn so

12:15much in the past few months because I

12:16met a guy called Blake Anderson. If you

12:18work with great people like that, you

12:20tend to want to improve yourself so you

12:22can match the pace and then to provide

12:24value. I'm not saying to do meaningless

12:26networking, but create your own luck

12:27meaning that just keep doing what you're

12:29doing right now, [music] iterate, learn

12:31from mistakes, and then you're going to

12:33be at a point where you're able to

12:35>> [music]

12:35>> work with great people and great people

12:36leads to great opportunities in which

12:38would just enable you to learn even

12:39more.

12:40>> One of my favorite phrases is that you

12:42are the average of the five people you

12:43surround yourself with. Just by

12:45surrounding yourself with people that

12:47are crushing it like Blake who has built

12:49a ton of cool stuff, it just makes

12:51everything easier when you're

12:52surrounding yourself with ambitious

12:53people. Thanks for coming on to the

12:55show. Love what you built. Hope to see

12:57it keep growing and you can come back on

12:58Starter Story and share more. Thanks for

13:00coming on.

13:00>> Thank you for having me.

13:02>> All right, Gus, producer of Starter

13:03Story. What did you think of this one?

13:05>> Yeah, Benji was awesome. When I first

13:06talked to him, I really liked his He's

13:08super chill, first of all, like

13:10personality, but loved hearing of just

13:12like this proven system he has. He knew

13:15what he was talking about. He had the

13:16numbers, he had the creatives,

13:18everything in his head there. So, that

13:19was really cool.

13:20>> He's not worried about the things that

13:22can go wrong or doing things wrong. He

13:25built 40 apps, very kind of straight

13:27into the point. You do this, do this, do

13:29this. Let's not really like

13:30overcomplicate it. And this is how smart

13:33builders act. Is like instead of

13:35worrying about is my idea not going to

13:37work? What are people going to think

13:38about me? Build apps. Get your ROAS up

13:40to this point and you're [music] good to

13:42go. So hopefully people watching this

13:44realize that hey, it can really be this

13:46simple. It's math. On that note, you

13:49still got to find your idea. You still

13:50got to build something. So I'll put a

13:51link in the description down there if

13:53you want to build an app. We'll help you

13:55come up with an idea. We'll help you

13:56build it. We'll help you ship it to the

13:57App Store. Put that all [music] down

13:59there in the description. You can

14:00download it and get started building

14:02right now. Hope you guys enjoyed this

14:03one. We'll see you in the next one.

14:05Peace.