“How do I make money with AI?” is the #1 question I get.

Given my background in tech startups, I have a bias towards building apps.

It’s definitely NOT the only way to make money with AI.

But, I want to share some real examples to inspire you 💡 

RizzGPT and UMAX

You might think you need a degree in computer science or years of coding experience to build an AI app.

But, let me share a little secret…

AI can rapidly accelerate development.

The path is NOT EASY.

Yet, today it’s easier than ever to build and launch a fully functional income-generating app, as a team of 1.

My jaw dropped when I came across the story of 23-year-old Blake Anderson who raked in over five million dollars in revenue in just one year.

He noticed a gap in the dating app market when his roommate desperately sought advice on flirting.

A lightbulb went off — could AI generate better responses?

💡💡💡

RizzGPT was born, letting users upload screenshots of messages to receive personalized AI-suggested replies. Later named to FlowGPT.

Shortly after launch, Blake pulled in $80,000 a month. 🤯

He solved a clear problem for a well-defined audience. So many entrepreneurs get lost in endless features instead of zooming in on the core value of their app.

But, Blake didn’t stop there:

Realizing that young daters wanted to appear more attractive, he used ChatGPT to build and launch a second app, UMAX.

It provides personalized AI-generated advice to help improve your appearance by analyzing users’ photos with GPT Vision, an AI image recognition API.

UMAX generated over $500,000 in revenue within months, also leveraging influencer marketing to go big fast. It’s all about target focus and execution.

Here’s the kicker:

Blake built both revenue-generating apps entirely with ChatGPT.

Claude Artifacts and Claude 3.5 Sonnet weren’t even released yet!

He breaks down his process here:

Pretty similar to my process in my Youtube series, Build SaaS with AI 😉 

Rebuilding $900k/mo Plant ID App

To emphasize the possibilities of AI-driven coding, I want to share a Youtube experiment I recently watched.

This entrepreneur researched plant identification mobile apps, then chose the top app in the category, PlantIn, which generates $900,000 per month!

Who knew plant ID mobile apps were a thing?!?

Then, he recreated the PlantIn mobile app entirely using Anthropic Claude AI and Google Gemini AI, WITHOUT touching a line of code and with ZERO programming background.

He uses Claude to build the image upload interface where users can submit plant photos. He also enables live camera uploads, put in UX essentials like a navigation bar and footer, and uses Tailwind CSS for styling.

Then, he plugs into Google Gemini API to analyze plant images and return the analysis back to users in the app.

Finally, he uses Replit to test, run, and deploy everything directly in browser.

Whenever he runs into a bug, he uses AI to quickly diagnose and fix it.

AI explains what caused the bug, so that over time, he learns important programming fundamentals and how to avoid similar issues.

Here’s the full Youtube walkthrough:

Last Thoughts

Imagine launching an income-generating app, as a team of 1, without any technical or programming background.

How would this change your life?

I personally think mobile apps are a great place to start with AI-driven coding because the UI/UX is heavily constrained (limited screen space) and we’re accustomed to downloading a mobile app for 1 specific purpose (niche).

Not to mention, the built-in distribution of the App Store!

With a SaaS app, on the other hand, users typically expect more features and there is no equivalent of the App Store for distribution.

In addition to bringing in near-term revenue, building and owning (equity) an app often gives you the option to sell it to an acquirer later, typically at a multiple of the current revenue. To get a sense of multiples and valuations, I recommend browsing a startup M&A marketplace like Acquire.com 

Going back to web vs mobile apps, I’m paraphrasing Blake Anderson:

Did I miss anything?

Have ideas or suggestions?

Message me on LinkedIn 👋

Sabrina Ramonov

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