The Story
Max is a full-time iOS developer who builds apps before and after work. His philosophy is radically different from most founders: instead of perfecting one app, he ships dozens of simple apps really fast. In just 8 months, he built and shipped 28 apps, going from $200/month to $10,000/month.
For years, Max had a "pet project" mobile app that he poured all his time into, trying different growth techniques. Nothing worked. Then he discovered a video by Adam Slles that changed his entire approach: instead of obsessing over one app, ship many simple apps, see what sticks, and double down on winners.
His record? Building and submitting an app to the App Store in just 2 hours. The 80/20 rule plays out perfectly in his portfolio - about 4 apps generate $1,500 each, while the rest make small amounts. But together, they create a sustainable $10K/month income stream.
Max's secret weapon is Astro, an ASO (App Store Optimization) tool that helps him find keywords with good popularity (20%+) and manageable difficulty (60-70%). He validates ideas by checking if competitors make at least $100-200/month - if there's no money in the market, he moves on.
Key Insights
The Portfolio Mindset
- •Don't get attached to any single app
- •Ship fast, let data decide which apps sink or float
- •Return to winners and scale with ads
- •Most apps will fail - that's expected
Finding App Ideas
- •Use Astro to find keywords with 20%+ popularity and 60-70% difficulty
- •Check competitor revenue using Sensor Tower (benchmark: $100-200/month minimum)
- •Look for related keywords targeting the same user group (e.g., physics AI, chemistry AI, math AI for students)
6-Step Building and Shipping Process
- •Find strong keywords - Make sure popularity/difficulty ratio is good and top apps make real revenue
- •Study competitors - Define the single core feature that solves the main user problem
- •Plan fast with AI - Use Cursor or Claude to generate development roadmap and UX structure
- •Build lean and ship quickly - Focus on clean MVP with only necessary features
- •Release and move on - Let it go, move to next project, let data decide
- •Return to winners - Revisit apps with organic traction, polish them, add ads to scale
Tech Stack
- •Flutter (app development)
- •FastLane (shipping automation, free)
- •Cursor ($20/month)
- •Firebase (backend, $5-10/month)
- •OpenAI ($200/month)
- •Gemini ($50/month)
- •MixPanel (analytics, free tier)
- •Astro ($10/month)
- •Fox Data (free tier)
Resources
- •Follow Max: https://x.com/maks6361