TL;DR Kletchi, a 22-year-old immigrant, built two mobile apps that generated $1.5 million in revenue within 12 months, accumulating over 700,000 downloads. His first app, Social Wizard, an AI-powered tool for improving social skills, stemmed from a personal dating experience and quickly scaled to $25,000 MRR within a month, eventually collecting over $500,000. His second app, Clean Eats, a health and fitness scanner, was sold within four months for an undisclosed sum. Kletchi's "secret sauce" for growth is a "show don't tell" distribution strategy, primarily leveraging micro-streamer collaborations on platforms like TikTok. He emphasizes finding viral content formats, producing high-volume content, and scaling outreach to creators, even in adjacent niches, to achieve deterministic virality. He advises aspiring app founders to prioritize distribution, build with efficient tech stacks like React Native, and maintain an exceptional level of obsession with their goals.
Information Mind Map
- Background:
- 22-year-old from Nigeria, moved to the US with $100.
- Inspired by an app founder on X (formerly Twitter).
- Overall Achievements (within 12 months):
- Generated $1.5 million in revenue from two apps.
- Over 700,000 total downloads across App Store and Play Store.
- Secret Sauce: Distribution (not SEO or TikTok organic alone).
- First App: Social Wizard
- Idea Origin:
- Failed previous social app (
Casp). - Personal experience: Interest in a girl on
Casp, search for "life advice" apps, no good solutions. - Leveraged OpenAI LLMs to build a
NestJSscript for texting advice. - Validated by friends at homecoming.
- Failed previous social app (
- Growth & Numbers:
- Launched: Early 2024.
- First sale: $10 (late January).
- Cracked distribution: Within 4 weeks.
- MRR: $3.5K in 2 weeks, $25K in 1 month.
- Cash Collected: $250K by month 6, ~$500K by year-end.
- Downloads: Over 600,000.
- Marketing Spend: $0 after initial distribution crack.
- Monetization:
- Subscriptions: Weekly ($10), Monthly ($20), Yearly ($80).
- User Base: Guys aged 16-24.
- Core Value Proposition: Selling confidence (e.g., easier to reply to DMs).
- Idea Origin:
- Second App: Clean Eats
- Launch & Exit:
- Launched after Social Wizard was on autopilot.
- Revenue: $10K within 2 weeks.
- Exit: Sold to a UK-based company ~4 months later.
- Functionality:
- Scans food product barcodes.
- Tells users how food affects their skin or weight.
- User Base: Women aged 18-28.
- Core Value Proposition: Selling confidence (e.g., "don't eat this food product 'cause it's going to mess up my skin").
- Launch & Exit:
- Core Principle: Distribution is a "show don't tell" game. Demo the product, don't just sell it.
- Streamer Strategy (for Social Wizard):
- Viral Format Identification:
- Initially made content himself to find what stuck.
- Key feature: Take screenshot of girl's story, app generates reply hints.
- Goal: Make the viewer pause (e.g., "pretty girl" hook).
- Integrate app naturally: Show problem (what to say?), then solution (use app).
- Creator Collaboration:
- Target: Very micro/degenerate streamers with some viral potential (100k-200k views), but not yet huge.
- Example: Paid a creator $120. Video hit 2 million views, generated tens of thousands of dollars.
- Insane ROI compared to paid ads or UGC.
- Scaling: Reproduce the successful format across multiple creators and videos.
- Viral Format Identification:
- Overarching Philosophy: Product development alone is insufficient; distribution is paramount.
- Step 1: Niche Analysis & Initial Content Strategy
- Question: Is there a large volume of content already being produced in this niche?
- If YES: Go to mid-size to large creators.
- If NO: Focus on making content yourself.
- Crucial: Do not outsource this process initially to learn as much as possible.
- Step 2: Produce the Content (Volume Game)
- Creator Outreach:
- It's a volume game: May need to reach out to 100 creators to find one that works.
- Leverage successful creator videos to onboard more creators.
- Goal: Find something that kind of works, not necessarily a viral format from day one.
- Platform Focus:
- Use TikTok for finding viral formats, not Instagram.
- TikTok is easier for new accounts to go viral.
- Content Volume & Consistency:
- Start with 3 videos/day on 2 accounts (e.g., 2 on one, 1 on another).
- Scale up: After 1-2 weeks, increase to 10 videos/day, then 20.
- Goal: Achieve 100 videos/day (700 videos/week).
- Principle: Virality is deterministic, not luck. High volume increases chances.
- Creator Outreach:
- Step 3: Scale Distribution
- Work with as many creators as possible.
- Reproduce successful content.
- Adjacent Niches: Don't limit to direct niche creators.
- Example: Social Wizard worked with Fortnite streamers.
- Example: Health & fitness app could work with cooking creators.
- Keep trying to find what sticks.
- Education Niche: Massively overlooked.
- Current trend: Health & fitness, lifestyle.
- Opportunity: Package information (e.g., "how to get better at boxing," "swimming," "persuasion").
- Tech Stack:
- Frontend:
React Native(performative, easy with tools likeExpo). - Backend:
NestJS(deployable anywhere:Render,Heroku). - Database:
Firebase(simple, scalable, affordable). - Analytics:
Mixpanel. - Optimization: Choose a stack for fast product launch and high scalability.
- Frontend:
- Costs & Margins:
- Infrastructure: Low, $1-2K/month.
- Primary Expense: Marketing (90% of budget).
- Profit Margins: Over 90% (after Apple's cut) due to low running costs.
- Cash Flow: Insane if distribution is cracked properly.
- "You're not crazy for being extremely obsessed with your goals."
- "You're not weird if you choose not to go out on the weekends because building is all you love to do."
- Quote from Alex Hormozi: "To be exceptional, by definition, you have to be the exception."
- Key Takeaways:
- Keep it simple.
- Build stuff that solves problems.
- Focus on distribution.
- Use AI coding tools to build apps quickly.