[Video] How I made an app and sold it for $65,000 last year

[Jeannen]

Hey!

Last year I made a post about selling my first AI app after learning to code a couple of months earlier.

I learned video editing 2 weeks ago and turned the story into a video:

(Don't mind the cringe-ish guru thumbnail, kind of mandatory on Youtube now)

I would still HIGHLY recommend reading the original post and the links tho, lots of good behind the scene and details

 

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[Roli]

Amazing story! Well done.

 

[MichelleWood]

Congratulations! Love that you didn't wait until you were a master at code and just went for it. This is an awesome example of execution now, correct along the way!

Btw how did you learn to edit videos? It's something I've had on my list for a while but has always felt time consuming.

 

[Jeannen]

Amazing story! Well done.

Thanks!

 

[Jeannen]

Congratulations! Love that you didn't wait until you were a master at code and just went for it. This is an awesome example of execution now, correct along the way!

Btw how did you learn to edit videos? It's something I've had on my list for a while but has always felt time consuming.

My first real app was a complete mess, but still managed to make sales from it! You don't need to be an expert, just be good enough

For editing, yes it's incredibly time-consuming, I worked +14h/day most days to learn. I took this course: https://bringyourownlaptop.com to learn the basics them analyzed tons of videos I liked

 

[Felix Nachem]

This is gold.

About the payments, I saw in the fastlane beginner guide that you should make your LLC when you made your first sale.

Did you register yours before that or after that?

 

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[Kevin88660]

Hey!

Last year I made a post about selling my first AI app after learning to code a couple of months earlier.

I learned video editing 2 weeks ago and turned the story into a video:

(Don't mind the cringe-ish guru thumbnail, kind of mandatory on Youtube now)

I would still HIGHLY recommend reading the original post and the links tho, lots of good behind the scene and details

You learnt video editing in two weeks?

 

[Jeannen]

This is gold.

About the payments, I saw in the fastlane beginner guide that you should make your LLC when you made your first sale.

Did you register yours before that or after that?

Yes, I had my company already

LLC in the US is pretty easy, fill the paperwork, pay $300 then open a Mercury/Wise Bank account

 

[Jeannen]

You learnt video editing in two weeks?

I knew how to remove some parts of a video before but no creative editing.
I took 3 courses and watched YT videos for days to try to understand what makes a good video

 

[cmh]

Very cool video and thread. I have a couple of questions for you:

What service did you use to deal with user registration and logins?

What frameworks and such did you use to build the app this quickly?

I have been looking into prototyping an idea I have with Bootstrap + third party authentication like Auth0, but have been out of the programming game for a while and not sure if this is the best path.

 

[Dallas]

I was just watching this video on YouTube 15 minutes ago. I somehow stumbled onto TFLF and clicked on the SaaS tab, then saw your post. Wild how everything is connected.

Great job, nonetheless.

 

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[Activist]

What are the other 2 pre made AI models?

 

[Felix Nachem]

Yes, I had my company already

LLC in the US is pretty easy, fill the paperwork, pay $300 then open a Mercury/Wise Bank account

Yeah Ik in my country(Switzerland) you are F*cked when you want to open a LLC. You need a start capital of $20'000 to open one or the other option is register a sole proprietorship

 

[Happeep]

Hey!

Last year I made a post about selling my first AI app after learning to code a couple of months earlier.

I learned video editing 2 weeks ago and turned the story into a video:

(Don't mind the cringe-ish guru thumbnail, kind of mandatory on Youtube now)

I would still HIGHLY recommend reading the original post and the links tho, lots of good behind the scene and details

What a journey! Congratulations!

Can you talk about your coding learning journey? I'd really love to learn.
What language and software did you learn? Did you take any courses? And what app did you use to build the app? And when do you feel like you are good enough to create your app?

 

[Jeannen]

Very cool video and thread. I have a couple of questions for you:

What service did you use to deal with user registration and logins?

What frameworks and such did you use to build the app this quickly?

I have been looking into prototyping an idea I have with Bootstrap + third party authentication like Auth0, but have been out of the programming game for a while and not sure if this is the best path.

- I coded all the auth system myself, took me 1-2 days to understand how it works but now I can just copy/paste it into any new app
- Back then I didn't used any, all in JS/HTML/CSS, but now I use Nuxt + Tailwind, much much faster!

This doesn't mean this is the best way, use what works best for you. If you know how to use Bootstrap, use it, goal is to get something out asap!

 

[Jeannen]

I was just watching this video on YouTube 15 minutes ago. I somehow stumbled onto TFLF and clicked on the SaaS tab, then saw your post. Wild how everything is connected.

Great job, nonetheless.

Seems like the YT algo knows how to recommend

 

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[Jeannen]

What a journey! Congratulations!

Can you talk about your coding learning journey? I'd really love to learn.
What language and software did you learn? Did you take any courses? And what app did you use to build the app? And when do you feel like you are good enough to create your app?

Thanks a lot!

I will make a video about it, but in the meantime, I wrote everything there: Nico Jeannen - Entrepreneur

Languages, courses, etc, everything is in there. Also LOTS of stuff if you check my fastlane links (actually most of the blog post is from the fastlane forum, I just compiled it on my blog)

 

[MTF]

Yeah Ik in my country(Switzerland) you are F*cked when you want to open a LLC. You need a start capital of $20'000 to open one or the other option is register a sole proprietorship

You don't need an LLC in Europe. Plenty of small businesses operate as sole proprietorships. Don't use it as an excuse because it doesn't matter.

 

[BlackSheep01]

That was amazing! congratulations for your success! I'm curious how can I learn more from you about your journey in detail?

Hey!

Last year I made a post about selling my first AI app after learning to code a couple of months earlier.

I learned video editing 2 weeks ago and turned the story into a video:

(Don't mind the cringe-ish guru thumbnail, kind of mandatory on Youtube now)

I would still HIGHLY recommend reading the original post and the links tho, lots of good behind the scene and details

 

[Dome]

Yeah Ik in my country(Switzerland) you are F*cked when you want to open a LLC. You need a start capital of $20'000 to open one or the other option is register a sole proprietorship

You could open a UG in Germany for 1€ with the same benefits as a German GmbH (LLC) but it would make taxes a lot more complicated.

You don't need an LLC in Europe. Plenty of small businesses operate as sole proprietorships. Don't use it as an excuse because it doesn't matter.

You don't need an LLC, but it depends on what you want to do. If he would like to start a web app/SaaS I would never go sole proprietorship with private liability. With all the rules in Europe, especially in Northern/Western Europe countries, one small fail and you're f*cked and will pay for the rest of your life for it thanks to private liability of sole proprietorship.

 

[pmusu]

I enjoyed your storytelling and video editing, to the point and entertaining. You want full Pieter Levels with your app

Hey!

Last year I made a post about selling my first AI app after learning to code a couple of months earlier.

I learned video editing 2 weeks ago and turned the story into a video:

(Don't mind the cringe-ish guru thumbnail, kind of mandatory on Youtube now)

I would still HIGHLY recommend reading the original post and the links tho, lots of good behind the scene and details

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[Tom440]

How long did it take to learn coding? I've had app ideas i wanted to try but never did because i always thought learning to code would take me years

 

[Dome]

How long did it take to learn coding? I've had app ideas i wanted to try but never did because i always thought learning to code would take me years

Not OP but it depends on your skills you already have and what you want to do. Could be some months or some years. But there are also no code tools like www.bubble.io where you can work with a visual editor.

 

[JesseEisenbart]

Inspiring story man, great video!

 

[Charles520]

Absolutely incredible!

 

[halfouroboros]

I didn't know you were on here, I follow you on Twitter, great story, I will save some of your threads for later, thanks for sharing!

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[Jeannen]

That was amazing! congratulations for your success! I'm curious how can I learn more from you about your journey in detail?

Thanks a lot!
I wrote a LOT of stuff on my blog if you want to check, but lots of day-to-day journaling, so not everything is interesting

Also check my history on fastlane forum, I posted a lot back then

 

[Jeannen]

I enjoyed your storytelling and video editing, to the point and entertaining. You want full Pieter Levels with your app

Thanks a lot! Yes, Pieter is a big inspiration for me

 

[Jeannen]

How long did it take to learn coding? I've had app ideas i wanted to try but never did because i always thought learning to code would take me years

I also thought it would take me years, but it only took me 2 months to learn the basics

I went hardcore tho, locked myself in a hotel room and did that all day long

 

[canone]

Hey!

Last year I made a post about selling my first AI app after learning to code a couple of months earlier.

I learned video editing 2 weeks ago and turned the story into a video:

(Don't mind the cringe-ish guru thumbnail, kind of mandatory on Youtube now)

I would still HIGHLY recommend reading the original post and the links tho, lots of good behind the scene and details

Hey, the video seems not to be available. Can you post the url after the slash?

Edit: never mind it worked. Thx