How two founders validated a fitness app with a fake demo before writing code

Executive overview

Most founders build first, then struggle to find users. Alejandro and Mario reversed this: they posted a fake app demo on TikTok, it got 80k views and 500 comments begging them to build it, then they built a three-screen MVP in two weeks.

PushScroll forces users to do push-ups before unlocking social media. It now has 300k downloads and $30k/month in revenue, all from organic content.

Content is the MVP — validate with virality before writing a single line of code.

The fake demo that started it all

• Hook: "What if you could stop doom-scrolling by doing 20 push-ups?"
• No real app existed — Mario stitched together an AI push-up detection clip from YouTube with phone-against-wall footage and a scrolling screen
• Viewers don't care how the problem is solved, only that it is solved
• A strong call to action ("should I build this?") drove the comment flood
• The video worked because doom-scrolling is a painful, widely felt problem — and the fix also makes you fit

The six-step content-first playbook

1. Warm up a new TikTok account — watch, comment, save, follow in your niche; signals you're not a bot and prevents shadowbans
2. Find a viral-ready idea — needs one visually heavy element, explainable in three words, and tied to a fundamental human desire
3. Post daily validation videos — keep going until one takes off; that's proof the idea can go viral again
4. Build a waitlist or Discord — no app yet, so you need a place to hold early believers and convert them at launch
5. Ship an embarrassingly simple MVP — their first version had three screens and a half-broken push-up detector; give it away free to early users, then hard paywall for everyone else
6. Post organic content until 5–10k MRR — one video hit 6 million views and converted to ~10k MRR; rinse and repeat formats that work before scaling to influencers or paid ads

How PushScroll works and makes money

• Users select apps to block (TikTok, Instagram, etc.)
• Each push-up earns one minute of screen time
• Additional exercises (squats, plank) and a Duolingo-style journey unlock deeper engagement
• Hard paywall at $30/year — ~4,000 paying customers out of 300k downloads
• Tech: Compose Multiplatform, Supabase, SuperWall, Amplitude, Sentry

Key lessons

• Distribution ignored = startup dead; master virality before anything else
• Time is money — paying an expert $200 for advice can have outsized ROI
• Fix broken funnel steps rather than optimising what already works
• Organic content remains cheapest proof; switch to paid only after you know what sells