I Turned My Hobby Into a $25K/Month App

Ken

• Background and origin story
  • 21-year-old college student majoring in CS at San Diego State University
  • Had never built anything before; started learning guitar about 1.5 years ago and became obsessed
  • Began doing UGC content for brands in the fall, which taught him how to create viral content and opened his eyes to the power of social media
  • Was struggling to get internships and wanted a project for his resume
  • Built Tone Adapt over Thanksgiving break in about a week — his very first project
  • Pivotal moments and turning points
    • Realized he was using ChatGPT to figure out guitar tones but it wasn’t accurate enough
    • Talked to other guitarists on Reddit and Instagram comment sections and confirmed many had the exact same problem
    • Decided that if he had the problem, there were likely thousands or tens of thousands of others with the same pain point
    • The first video he posted about Tone Adapt went viral overnight, validating the idea immediately
  • Business growth and current status
    • Reached over 100,000 users and $25,000/month in revenue in under 5 months
    • $45,000 in website revenue with 1,400 new subscribers in the past 3 months
    • Mobile app launched recently, doing over $14,000 in the past 4 weeks with 397 active subscribers
    • Combined revenue across website and mobile app exceeded $115,000 in the past 4 weeks

Products and Offerings

• Tone Adapt — a website and mobile app for guitarists
  • Allows any user to sound like their favorite song in under 30 seconds
  • Users input their guitar, amp, and pedals; the app looks up any song and returns the original artist’s gear, amp settings, and effects
  • Adapts the tone to the user’s specific gear, recommending presets, pickup choices, and amp setup adjustments
  • Database includes over 1,500 guitars and 2,000 amps
  • Subscription tiers: $10/week and ~$60/year

Metrics and Financials

• $25,000+ per month in combined revenue (website + mobile app)
• $115,000 in total revenue across both platforms in the past 4 weeks
• 1,400 new website subscribers in the past 3 months
• 397 active mobile subscribers in the first month after launch
• Over 100,000 total users

Strategy and Growth

• Overall vision and positioning
  • Focused on a dead-simple, useful tool for a niche audience rather than chasing trends
  • Positioned as the bridge between guitarists and their gear, telling users exactly how to set up their rig
• Primary growth engine
  • Social media content posted 3 times per day across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook
  • Put his face behind the brand immediately to build trust and make users feel like they were joining the journey
  • Reposted across as many platforms as possible
• Key tactics
  • When a content format converted, he scaled it aggressively
  • Once a winning format was found, remade it 50 times with small variations
  • Plans to hire UGC creators to copy winning formats 60 times per month and put money behind them on Meta and TikTok ads
  • Core philosophy: post relentlessly until finding one winner, then pour gasoline on it until it stops working, then repeat

Tech Stack and Infrastructure

• Web app
  • Entirely vibe coded using Cursor — not a single line of code written manually
  • Supabase for database
  • Vercel for hosting and analytics
  • Mailgun for emails
  • Stripe for payment processing
  • OpenAI API and Tavily web search API
• Mobile app (iOS, built natively in Swift)
  • Supabase for database
  • RevenueCat for payment and subscription tracking
  • Superwall for paywalls and A/B testing
  • React for backend API routes

Lessons and Advice

• Pick a hobby or niche you already know — you are your own customer and understand the pain points without any market research
• Find a tiny problem — if you have a small pain point, there are likely thousands or tens of thousands of people with the exact same problem
• Ship V1 on the web immediately — don’t spend hours picking a logo or polishing anything; build something, put it on the internet, and charge money for it the same day
• Post 3 times per day on social media for at least a month — commit to it and you will get users and make money
• Any content is better than no content — once a format converts, scale it aggressively
• Start posting on social media today, even if you’re not selling anything — it is the most valuable skill for growing a business in today’s world
• Don’t be embarrassed to put your face out there — the first video is the hardest, and after that there’s no embarrassment anymore