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Hello, I'm Vadim. I'm 19 years old and I built an artificial intelligence app called Vola that makes me over $10,000 every month without any programming experience. This is Vadim. He is 19 years old, and 5 months ago he launched his first app. And today, this app earns over $10,000 per month. But here's what I think is cool. This is not a story about clever hacks or development tricks. He didn't have a big budget and he didn't really use any cuts. He developed his app by doing one thing every day, which took him This will sound absolutely crazy So I invited Vadim to the channel to tell us everything. And in this episode, we'll dive into the app he built in 5 months that's now
making over $10,000 a month, the 45 -minute daily routine behind all of his growth, and the biggest mistake every app founder makes when it comes to growing their business, and what you should do instead. I am very happy about this. Let's get started. I'm Gus, and this is Starter Story. Okay, Vadim, welcome to Starter Story. I'm glad to welcome you to the channel. Can you tell us who you are, what you've created, and what your story is? Hello, I'm Vadim. I'm 19 years old and I built an AI-powered app called Vola, an AI-powered video editing platform that makes me over $10,000 every month. And I built this app in just 5
months without any Okay, Vadim, I'm happy to talk about Vola, how you created it, how you developed it. So let's talk about it. What is Vola? Who are your users? How does it work? And then open your Stripe or revenue dashboards to show your audience that it's legit. Yes, completely. So, Vola is essentially an AI-based video editing agent that can turn any piece of content into viral, edited, beautiful clips. And my target audience, both as clients and ICPs, is essentially clippers, content creators, agencies, and long-form content brands. So this is Vola, and it's essentially an AI-powered video editing agent that can turn any long piece of content into viral clips that look exactly the same. In the last 4 weeks alone, we have generated about $11,200 in monthly
recurring income. And in the past 4 weeks or so, a few months, Vola has had about 10,000 signups, and we have about 400 paying users. Man, I just love everything Vadim is telling us now. His story is wonderful. But it made me think that once you have clients like Vadim, they become the most valuable part of your business. It doesn't matter what you create, it only matters who pays for it . It is extremely important to know your customers, what they need, so that you can continue to grow your business. But many founders have this information scattered all over the place.
Emails, note-taking apps, spreadsheets. And that's why I'm excited to talk to you about Smart CRM from HubSpot. With HubSpot's Smart CRM, all your information is in one place so you know what's happening with your customers and can continue to grow. And the best thing is that you can get started for free. Just follow the link in the description and check out Smart CRM by HubSpot. Okay, let's get back to Vadim. Cool, Vadim, thanks for sorting all this out. How did you get here? What is your experience? What did you do before you created Vola? Yes, absolutely. So, I started working at one of the top marketing startups in my city when I was a junior in high school, when I was about 17 years old. And then everything was going
pretty well for me, but ever since I was a kid, I was selling lemonade, slime, for example, in elementary school. So I always wanted to make my own money. I quit that job to focus on building a web application with absolutely no programming experience. That's how I started building my SaaS, that is, burning all the bridges. And that's how I forced myself to start building a startup at about 18 years old. This is great. So, do you know how you came up with this particular idea for Vola? Yes, tell us about it. So, this idea literally came to me like this: one day I was flipping through the pages and I noticed, man, every time I flip through the page, I
see a podcast clip, a game clip, a live stream clip. So when I realized, you know what, since there 's already a proven market for video editing and clipping, I thought, why don't I just create another clipping tool? For example, if I can get a tiny percentage of the total TAM of the market, then I can make a lot of money. So, I've already seen that there is a proven market. There will always be short content. It will continue to grow. You know what? Let me take advantage of this trend before it gains even more momentum and start generating a good income for myself. That's how I got there.
This is cool. I like what you said about recognizing that clipping is pretty big right now. So that brings me to, you know, creation. How did you create this? What was the process like? What were the deadlines? How long did it take you? Yes. So, this won't sound completely crazy. I'm literally your vibe coder. I have a Loveable subscription, and I was literally a Loveable prompter of sorts, which is kind of like a cloud wrapper, if you think about it, or a Codex wrapper. I was on this platform for about 4 months trying to build Vugola. So, that's how I started creating. And then, over time, using lovable, I watched more videos on YouTube, more like tutorials and instructions. Oddly enough, I started asking Claude, "Hey, I want to
leave lovable and actually learn how to code and build a product." And then he started recommending tools like GitHub, Vercel, Supabase to me. Essentially, all these versatile tools that lovable had, it's like you can do the same thing for much cheaper. So, that's how I got into Vibe coding. I went from lovable, then moved on to Claude, and now I'm on Codex. And yes, that's how I got into it This is cool. What were the terms of Vugola's creation? For example, when were you just starting out and when did you have an MVP? Tell us Yes. So, the initial idea for Vugola came to me back in October. So I spent 4 months creating it. And then I started promoting it, say, 5-6 months ago. Perfectly.
Steeply. And tell us what technology stack you're using, the tools you used to build it, and you've already mentioned some of them, and maybe the tools you're using now to run the business. Yes. So all the tools I use now are mainly Codex, then I use GitHub, Supabase, then Vercel, then Cloudflare, PostHog, and then DataFast. And we also use AWS, which is the number one infrastructure for video rendering. Steeply. Incredible. Let's talk about the first days. So, you said you launched it around March. Tell us about that first step from zero to your first few thousand dollars in income.
What did you do? How was it? How did you start? When I first started promoting my app in March, it was exclusively on X on Twitter. So, I started building a personal brand on Twitter. And then, step two, I gradually, when I was in the Twitter space, started to notice that there were a bunch of these AI tools and trends that were just emerging and rapidly evolving. I'm like: you know what? What if I created something like an OpenClaw plugin or a video related to Vola, my AI- like OpenClaw? Anything you link to will go wildly viral. Essentially, I used formats and themes that were already virus-tested. And then I essentially plugged it into my
Vola software. That's how I promoted it on Twitter. This was our first monthly income from zero to $2,000-3,000. This was exclusively from Twitter. That's how you got your first income of a few thousand dollars. And now, but now you're making $11,000 a month and growing. What did you do differently? Take us through the next level to finally reach $10,000 per month. What did you do? Yes. So, this is the secret sauce. And honestly, I don't see anyone talking about it. People just water it down, or people who don't understand why no one is talking about it. And it's super-super simple. All you need to do is buy about 45 minutes a day. So,
for the first step, I created a new Instagram account. And then I also got a subscription to ManyChat. And I combined the two. I just analyzed and scrolled all day. I found my competitors' viral formats, their viral UGC campaigns, and their creators. And then as I scrolled down, I saw their already proven viral formats that their creators are already publishing. And then, step number three, I just stole everything. So I essentially used the same tactics as them. So I recorded my own face. And then I would just use the same tactics that they did, the same sound that they used, the same transitions, how long.I mean, is the chorus 3 seconds long, 4 seconds long?
How long is their demo? How long is their call to action? And, essentially, I just micro-analyzed and copied their entire format to a T, and I just tweaked and repeated for my own product. Step number four: I posted three to six times a day on Instagram. As you can see, this is my brand new UGC account that I started posting a few months ago. We already have 10.8k followers, just a new UGC account. And the secret ingredient is that it only takes me 45 minutes a day, because the real thing about these viral UGC formats is that the only thing that needs to be changed is your chorus and then the sound.
Your demo and your call to action can be literally the same. This video has received 132,000 views, 18,000 likes, 21,000 likes. For example, once you have already found a proven viral hook and format, you simply double its quantity, for example in viral formats. You will spam this single format every day until it becomes saturated. And then the last step is you just keep scrolling and then you keep following these brands. And whatever they publish, I'll probably just copy it because they've already found a viral format. So just keep scrolling, analyzing, and finding other new content trends in the tech UGC space.
Everyone rides the same trend wave until it gets too saturated, and then a new trend emerges, and then everyone posts the same trend. Nobody really says, "Oh, stop copying me." They help each other find viral formats. Yes, that's cool. I want to ask, is it just worth your time? You know, I think people worry about people having to hire people or spend money before I.Yeah, you know, talk about that a little bit Posting on Instagram costs you nothing. Video editing costs you nothing. The only thing it costs you is a subscription to ManyChat. For $15 a month, this is all you need to cross the $10,000 a month mark. If you're a B2C founder, your ICP is like a consumer flipping through pages. Why waste all that
time trying to spend money on other subscriptions and tools when you can create six pieces of content yourself, post them daily for free on Instagram, and, for example, post that content three to six times a day, and it only takes you 30-45 minutes a day. It's as simple as possible. You just need to put in a little effort. Steeply. I like this passion. I want to see this app that makes $10,000 a month. How does it work? Give us a demo lasting between 30 seconds and 1 minute. Yes, this is how Pictory works. So this is our toolbar, and it's essentially an AI-powered video editing tool. All you have to do is like the YouTube link, paste it here.
Clips will appear. The video will open and you can choose different subtitle styles, different formats. To do this, we'll simply do this, for example, without subtitles. And then you can choose different The most common option is 9 by 16, then you have to start cropping the video, and it will start cropping, and it will upload right here. And we are also launching a beta version. We also have our own agency video editor. So, basically, you can just edit the video here completely, from start to finish. It's like a cropping tool and an AI cropping tool rolled into one. So for long-form video editors, content creators, this is essentially the best tool they can use to edit their videos.
I like it. Simply. Let's move on to the last question we ask all founders in this Startup Story. You know, if you were standing on the shoulders of someone who was there a year ago, or if you were watching someone who was just starting out, what would be your last piece of advice to yourself or them? Simplify everything you do. It could be like code, how you build a product, how you promote your product. Whatever you do, I promise you, you can reduce your efforts and the time you spend on it by at least 50%, because as a solo founder in the age of artificial intelligence, your greatest asset is your time. So when you can simplify everything in your workflows and in your life, how you do your marketing, your marketing channels, building your
product, that's something I would clearly define, make it as simple and clear as possible. And I promise you that the easier it is for a user to understand your product, the more revenue you will also make. Here's what I would do. Hey, Vadim, that's great advice. Thank you for joining the Starting Story. Leave a question or comment in the comments section. Thank you for visiting. Maybe we'll invite you again when you're earning 50,000 or 100,000 a month. Cheers, and we'll talk soon, dude.
Yes, thank you for inviting me. Okay, I'm done with Vadim. I had to step back for a second. That's why I changed and put on something different. But, just a few brief thoughts about the interview with him. First of all, I think the coolest thing is that these AI-based coding tools have really changed who a builder is. So if you're looking, and if you're a marketer, if you've always dreamed of creating something, or if you have any skills that weren't technical or related to creating software, AI has now made it quite possible. So I hope you'll look at this and find some inspiration or support in it. Secondly, I liked how he laid out his very simple content strategy. I think he just said, "I do this three times a day, every day," and that's how I, you know,
grew to where I am today. It is clear that many factors are involved here. Just to clarify, I started doing this for my own apps that I build. My content is starting to get thousands of views, things I've never done before, and I was just inspired by Vadim. He said: " Three times a day, just from your personal account, copying formats that work, etc." And this is what I'm doing, and it's just starting to pick up steam, and I think I've stumbled upon something interesting. Which reminds me, you can download our free quick guide from the link in the description. It looks at different app founders and all their different development tactics that they used to grow their apps and achieve real success.
Okay, I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you very much for watching. See you next time. Peace.
