The Story
Alejandro and Mario built PushScroll - a mobile app that helps users break their doom-scrolling addiction by requiring them to do push-ups before they can continue scrolling on social media. The app uses AI-powered pose detection to count push-ups and only unlocks your phone after you complete the required exercises.
But here's what makes their story unique: they validated the idea BEFORE writing a single line of code.
Instead of building first and marketing later (the mistake most founders make), they created a fake product demo video using AI push-up detection footage from YouTube. The hook was simple: "What if you could stop your doom scrolling addiction by doing 20 push-ups?"
They posted it on TikTok. The video got 80K views and 500 comments from people literally begging them to build it. Only THEN did they start coding.
Their MVP was embarrassingly simple - just 3 screens. But it worked. PushScroll now has 300K downloads, 4,000 paying customers at $30/year, and generates $30K/month. All their initial revenue came from organic TikTok content - zero paid ads.
Key Insights
The Viral Validation Strategy
- •Created a video showing the concept using AI push-up detection footage from YouTube
- •Hook: "What if you could stop your doom scrolling addiction by doing 20 push-ups?"
- •The video visualized the VALUE, not the features
- •80K views, 500 comments begging them to build it
- •Only then did they build a 3-screen MVP in 2 weeks
Content-First Philosophy
- •"For consumer apps, it's extremely important to validate your idea first with virality"
- •"The biggest mistake most founders make is they build first and then try to market later"
- •All revenue at the beginning came from organic content
App Stats
- •300K downloads across App Store and Play Store
- •~4,000 paying customers
- •$30/year subscription (hard paywall)
6-Step Content-First Playbook
- •Warm up TikTok account - Watch videos in your niche, interact, comment, follow creators for 3 days
- •Come up with viral ideas:
- •App needs one visually heavy element
- •Must be explainable in 3 words
- •Must solve a fundamental human desire/problem
- •Post daily videos - Validate any idea until one takes off
- •Create a waitlist/community - Discord to keep everyone updated and convert to users
- •Build embarrassingly simple MVP - Their MVP was literally 3 screens
- •Post organic content until 5-10K MRR - Experiment with formats, find what goes viral, rinse and repeat
Creating the Viral Video
- •Hook must be clear enough for a 5-year-old
- •Create a curiosity gap
- •Must be novel and original
- •Visualize the VALUE, not features
- •Strong call to action: "Should I build this?"
Tech Stack
- •Compose Multiplatform (cross-platform)
- •Supabase (backend, database, auth)
- •Superwall (paywalls)
- •Amplitude (analytics)
- •Sentry (crash reports)
- •Claude Code Max (coding)
Resources
- •Follow Alejandro: https://x.com/skyirezumi
- •Follow Mario: https://x.com/null_deref
- •Content-First Playbook: https://build.starterstory.com/build/playbook-validate-app-idea