The Story
Jack and Nick Sweeney are two brothers who built Coherence - a breathwork app that helps users regulate their nervous system through guided breathing exercises. In just 8 months, they've hit 15,000 downloads, 2,000+ paying users, and $85,000 in revenue (averaging $11K/month with a peak of $22K).
What makes their story unique is they did the exact opposite of most founders: content before product.
Nick's background is athletic - he was a Division 1 cross-country skier until injury ended his career. Doctors said he wouldn't walk normally again. Out of desperation, he started doing breathwork and was walking within 3 months, training full-time 6 months later. This personal transformation drove him to help others through breathwork.
Jack had a content background with a 20K subscriber YouTube channel. After COVID, he started building simple web apps with no-code tools - the first few flopped, but he kept iterating.
Instead of building the app first, they started making content about things that genuinely excited them. Jack wrote threads on spiritual topics, Nick focused on breathwork. They used X (Twitter) as an "idea battleground" - when a post got traction, they'd turn it into an Instagram/TikTok short, then a YouTube video if those did well.
The breakthrough came with the "Vortex Breath" tweet that went viral. That's when they knew what to build. Using Cursor, they coded the MVP and launched in February 2025.
Key Insights
The Content-First Playbook
- •Pick a painful niche - Make content about a problem people experience
- •Batch ideas weekly - Present yourself as a solution through consistent content
- •Film in bulk - Pump out 30-60 videos in one session (2 months of content)
- •Amplify winners - Put ad money behind validated content pieces
- •Outmarket everyone - Post like a madman, hire clippers, use every means available
The Viral Content Strategy
- •Use X as idea validation - see what gets traction
- •Replicate winning X posts on Instagram/TikTok
- •Move upstream to longer formats (YouTube) for proven content
- •Frame content in polarizing ways: "Do you want to know something they don't want you to know?"
- •One piece of content got 8 million views across platforms
App Details
- •6 main breathing techniques: Coherence, Vortex Energy, Focus, Stress Relief, Sleep
- •Simple minimal interface with timer and volume controls
- •Gamification with streak counter
- •3-day free trial on yearly plan ($40/year) or $10/month
Tech Stack
- •React Native Expo (framework)
- •Supabase (database/backend)
- •Claude Code + Codeex (coding agents)
- •MixPanel (analytics)
- •RevenueCat (subscriptions)
- •Vercel + Next.js (marketing site)
- •Figma + Rot (design/3D)
- •ManyChat (Instagram DM automation)
Costs & Margins
- •Video editors: $2.5K/month
- •Influencer partnerships: $1-2K/month
- •Ghostwriter: $800/month
- •Virtual assistant: $500/month
- •Coding agents: $300/month
- •RevenueCat + other tools: $200/month
- •Total: $5-6K/month, operating at ~50% margin
Resources
- •Coherence: https://www.coherencebreath.com/