The Story
Dustin Stout built Magai - an AI platform that aggregates all major AI models (GPT, Claude, Gemini, image generators) into one subscription. The app now makes almost $100K/month with over $1M in total revenue in just 2.5 years.
Dustin's background is unconventional. He grew up in small-town Pennsylvania, moved to California to pursue acting, hated waiting tables, and started a business instead. He discovered he had a knack for social media and technology, taught himself web design and marketing, and started an agency.
But agency work didn't scale well for a perfectionist like Dustin. He pivoted to digital products in 2014, starting a WordPress plugin company. After some partner disputes and a couple of failed products, he found himself at a low point - not sure if he had anything left to give.
Then ChatGPT launched. Dustin saw the writing on the wall and realized the world was about to change. He noticed ChatGPT was missing features he wanted - search, folders, quality of life improvements. More importantly, he saw that people would need 5-6 different AI subscriptions to get the best tools. What if he could solve that problem?
With no money and no coding experience, Dustin taught himself no-code development through an online course. In just 8 weeks, he built a full MVP using Bubble. He launched thinking nobody would buy it - but made $3K in the first month, $10K by month three, and $30K/month after one year.
Key Insights
Why Magai Succeeded
- •Solved subscription fatigue - one subscription for all AI models
- •Quality of life features ChatGPT was missing
- •Built on 10 years of personal brand and 100K email subscribers
- •Generous recurring affiliate program drove word-of-mouth
The 8-Week No-Code Build
- •Learned no-code development through online courses
- •Built MVP entirely on Bubble
- •Launched with minimal features, iterated based on feedback
- •No coding experience required
Growth Strategy
- •10 years of personal brand building = built-in audience
- •100K email subscribers from personal blog
- •Building in public - people want to see the journey
- •Generous affiliate program with recurring commissions (not one-time)
- •Friends in the industry who are great marketers
What Magai Does
- •Access all top AI models in one dashboard (GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, etc.)
- •Switch between models mid-conversation
- •Image and video generation (DALL-E, Flux, Ideogram)
- •Quality of life features: search chats, folders, organization
Pricing Model
- •$20/month for solo users
- •$40/month for teams (up to 5 users)
- •Additional team members: $20/user/month
- •Pay for extra usage as needed
- •No freemium - strictly paid model
Tech Stack
- •Bubble (frontend, no-code)
- •Stripe (payments)
- •ConvertKit (email marketing)
- •OpenRouter (unified API for LLMs)
- •Fal.ai (image/video/audio models)
- •Direct API connections to OpenAI (highest tier)
- •Google Analytics (user tracking)
- •Ahrefs (SEO monitoring)
Key Advice
- •Don't let past failures define you
- •People rejected the products, not you
- •Build something you need yourself
- •Leverage personal brand if you have one
- •Affiliate programs with recurring revenue drive sustainable growth
Resources
- •Follow Dustin: https://x.com/dustinwstout
- •Magai: https://magai.co/