How I Built a $100K App SOLO, Then Sold It (my story & what I learned)

So recently I sold one of my apps for five figures. It started out as a small browser extension for ChatgPT that I built for myself. And before I sold it, it has earned me over $100,000 in revenue. And the biggest win wasn't even about money. It was the confidence, lessons, and mindset shifts I gained along the way. It was what gave me the ability to quit my 9 to5 tech job and start building my own apps and businesses, working entirely solo, building products I actually care about. So, I want to walk you through my full story from why I built it to why I decided to sell it and show you what the exit process actually looks like for selling an app that you've built from scratch. So, first let me bring you back

to the beginning. This was around the time chat GBT first launched and everyone was obsessed with it, building their own workflows to be more productive. But the more I used it, the messier my chat history became. I had chats for coding, business ideas, random research, all stacked into one long sidebar. And coming from a coding background, I was used to folders and subfolders and an organized file structure, and I just wanted the same thing for Chat GBT. Back then, I had zero experience building browser extensions. And the coding agents were nowhere near as powerful as they are today. So, I just had to learn by building and figure things out as I went along. And I eventually launched my first version of Easy Folders to the public. And this was all during when I had a full-time job as a software engineer. So I had to manage my time effectively to build it in my free time and spend many weekends debugging and improving it. And obviously adding a folder system into ChatgBT was nothing groundbreaking. I had a feeling Open AAI would eventually get around to implementing it themselves. But it was just a matter of when. It was actually the first app I built I was genuinely proud of because it taught me the mindset of shipping fast and actually talking to my users to gather feedback and improve the product. It was also the first app that I actually put effort into marketing. And from doing that, it earned me my first ever online dollar. I would promote the app everywhere I could. Places like Reddit, Facebook groups, OpenAI forums were some of the platforms that I got the most engagement from. And I still remember the days where I would obsess over my Stripe dashboards to see how many users have signed up and if any of them has purchased something because before this, making money online felt like something that was out of reach for some reason. But when I got that first paying customer, something suddenly clicked and I felt like I was on the right track. Now, the money I earned from the app was nothing life-changing, but it did change my self-belief as a programmer back then because it showed me software wasn't just something I could build for an employer. It was something I could create and own and then put it out there to the public and hopefully get paid for it as another income stream. And I would say getting my first batch of users and customers actually made me more hardworking and disciplined to succeed because I felt like I owe it to them to make sure they get their money's worth for buying my product. I would respond to emails before I go to bed, fix bugs first thing in the morning, and write down any new features that come to mind throughout the day. And through doing all of that, it also opened my eyes to all the skills I needed beyond coding if I wanted to become a successful founder or entrepreneur. Things like marketing, sales, talking to users, and iterating quickly. And now with AI changing how software gets built, I think those skills matter even more than before. Just noticing text these days is not enough. Knowing what to build, how to judge AI output and how fast you can get your product to the market is what actually gives you the edge. Now, the app didn't make me rich, but it proved I could build something people were willing to pay for. And eventually, that proof also gave me the courage to quit my comfortable, stable 9 to5 tech job and start betting on myself and build my own businesses full-time. I was still young and didn't have many responsibilities. And I saw the window to take the risk that I won't have again in the future. And that's what also led me to start this YouTube channel. And making the decision to document my journey on YouTube has been a great way to hold myself accountable and stay motivated to keep building, growing, and sharing lessons learned with you guys. If you need advice and resources to build and grow your apps with the latest AI tools, feel free to check out my private community startup club. It's a community of solo founders helping each other to build profitable apps. I provide a variety of resources, code templates, and AI skills to help you get started. first link in the description if you're interested. But as time went

on, ChachiBT was moving fast as a platform. And that meant every update had the potential to break something. Is the platform risk you take when you build on top of another fastmoving product because you can't control when they update, whether they'll release something that will overlap with your core feature or whether your app suddenly becomes harder to maintain overnight. And then came the release I was dreading the most and that was when ChatBT released the projects feature. It didn't make easy folders completely useless straight away, but it did make the extension less essential because ChatGBT now had native organization features. And it was at this point where honestly I was really considering selling the app because I had to keep fixing their breaking changes and OpenAI just released a feature that directly competes with my extension and I had already started other projects and I wanted to focus on those instead. And since I had already quit my job at this point, selling the extension would give me more buffer and runway for my expenses and travels and allows me to focus on my future projects. And this is just one of the realities of being a solo founder or entrepreneur. Sometimes you just have to live off savings whilst trying to make the next thing work or become stable. Now, finding the right

buyer took longer than I would have liked. The main platforms I used were Acquire. com, Posting on X, and the Trustmr Acquisition Marketplace. Initially, I had interested buyers messaging me about purchasing. But it took about a month for a serious buyer to come through and actually move forward with the buying process. And one thing I noticed is that an interested buyer wants to move fast. So ideally, you should organize a call with your buyer within a couple days of chatting. And the first big lesson I learned from this exit process was timing. Because the sale took longer than I expected, I think that was mainly due to the growth of the app stagnating. The app was still making money, but it wasn't trending upwards or growing. And if you're looking to sell your app, that matters a lot to the buyers. Ideally, you want to list your app for sale when you are growing and the numbers are all trending upwards because that makes it more appealing to the buyers to jump in and take advantage of the momentum and it also allows you to justify a higher valuation for your app. So, don't repeat the same mistake as me waiting too long as I think that actually cost me a couple thousand in my total exit price. The second lesson is that serious buyers care about whether the business is easy to take over. When you hop on a call with a potential buyer, you'll likely talk about metrics like revenue, traffic, the amount of customer support required, how much is growing, how much maintenance is needed, and how transferable all the assets of the app are. At a high level, the process of making your first exit is pretty simple. First, the buyer shows you their interest. Then, you'll likely hop on a few calls with them and answer any questions about the business. Then, the buyer will do some due diligence and do some independent research themselves about your business. If they are happy with everything, they'll likely send over an agreement. After the agreement has been signed by both parties, the buyer will either pay you upfront or send the money to an escro service where it's held until you transfer over the assets. So after the money is sent, you will transfer the assets like the codebase, the website domains, payment accounts, or any documentation for the handover. And looking back, the handover matters more than I expected because the cleaner you can explain how the app works and what needs to be transferred, the easier it is for the buyer to trust you go forward with the deal. I'll also link this useful article from Mark that I used throughout the process of my first exit. But once the sale was

completed, it felt bittersweet because Easy Folders represented my first real win as a solo founder. It was something that I built from scratch then grew into something that generated a decent amount of revenue. And now that I've sold for a decent amount of money that I can use to support myself and focus on my next projects. And once you realize any app you build can become an asset, it makes you want to build the next one even faster and better. So, the app I sold was just a small browser extension that solved a real problem for myself and other people. And the money I got from the exit was nothing huge, but it did prove to me that a small product can become a real asset. Building and selling it has boosted my confidence as a builder. And it's also changed the way I think about work. Because I really do think everyone should learn how to build something they own from start to finish and most importantly, learn how to show it off to the world. Because in these new times in tech, you can't just sit back and expect opportunities to come to you. You need to go out there and create your own and rely less on other people's decisions. And if you're building your own app right now and you need feedback, accountability, resources, and a community of solo founders shipping alongside you, that's exactly why I started building Startup Club. And it's a community I wish I had when I started. If you want to check it out, it's the first link in the description. And if you want more videos on building and growing apps as a solo founder, like and subscribe, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye-bye.