How Nico built 17 apps and sold two for $265,000

Executive overview

Nico quit a bank job at 19, locked himself in a hotel room, and taught himself to code in two months. He then shipped 17 apps in a year — most failed, two sold for a combined $265,000.

The pattern: validate fast with a hard deadline, get to first revenue before polishing, then scale the winners with paid ads.

Ship volume beats waiting for the right idea — small wins compound into big exits.

Idea selection criteria

• Perceived value: does solving this problem matter to people, or is it a minor inconvenience?
• Scale: must have a market beyond a handful of users
• Personal skills: can you build it yourself?
• Distribution: is there a profitable channel to reach users?
• Best ideas came from personal need — he built what he wanted to exist

Build process

• Set a hard deadline first — constraints force focus on what's essential
• Planning phase: list only essential features, cut everything else
• Source design ideas from Dribbble, Google Images, or generate interfaces with v0
• Prototype in Figma only for complex UIs; otherwise build directly and improve as you go
• Add SaaS boilerplate (auth, payments) as a reusable layer across projects
• Build the landing page as a sales pitch before optimising anything else
• Finish with SEO and mobile optimisation

Launch shortcuts

• Use no-code tools (e.g. Typeform) to capture data and payments before building a backend
• No automation, not scalable — but proves demand with real sales
• First sales signal is enough to justify building the proper product

MakeLogo.ai

• AI logo generator; one-time payment, packs of 5, 10, or 15 logo options
• Built and sold in ~6 months (November to March)
• Target: small entrepreneurs who didn't want to pay a designer but wanted something custom
• Sold on Acquire.com for $65,000 cash; total revenue including sales: ~$85,000

StartNote / TalkNote

• Voice-note-to-formatted-text app; started with one-time payments, switched to $6/year or $12/month subscription
• ~10,000 users
• Validated organically to $1,500 MRR before spending on ads
• Scaled with paid Facebook/Instagram ads; reached $77,000 in sales before selling for $200,000+

Paid ads strategy

• Search ads (Google, Bing): capture demand at the right moment
• Interruption ads (Facebook, Instagram): stop the scroll, lead with the problem, name the product late
• Organic-looking video ads outperform polished studio ads — a guy recording in his office converts better
• Spent $20–$100/day; kept budget low due to limited creative and support capacity
• Dedicated landing pages per audience segment drove the biggest growth

Selling on Acquire.com

• List the startup like a landing page — showcase it as a product
• Underprice intentionally to generate competing buyer interest
• Ego and urgency close deals: a buyer who doesn't want to lose to a competitor will move fast
• Acquire.com connects buyer and seller but does not handle the transaction — wire transfers are arranged independently

Tools and stack

• Nuxt (JavaScript framework) + Nuxt UI component library
• Cursor for AI-assisted coding
• v0 for generating UI interfaces
• Ahrefs for SEO
• feedbackwidget.co (self-built) for user feedback
• testit (self-built) for A/B testing and conversion optimisation

Advice for early builders

• Don't get emotionally attached to products
• Make technical prototypes quickly, then talk to users immediately
• Don't target $100,000 or even $10,000 on your first project — aim for your first dollar
• Compounding small wins beats waiting for a big opportunity