Building an AI tool in a half-day hackathon and hitting $20k/mo

I love how you prove that you don’t need a technical background to build something meaningful on the internet — just curiosity, persistence, and a genuine love for creating. The fact that you were building for years before any “major success” says a lot about your mindset.

Turning a hackathon project into a product doing $15k–$20k/month (with annual-only plans!) is seriously impressive. And pushing through DDoS attacks without losing momentum? That’s resilience.

This is a really impressive tool.
I’m curious how you deployed it so quickly after development.
What does the tech stack look like, especially the voice model you’re using?
Thanks for sharing!

"Hitting $20k/mo after a hackathon is the dream! Did you focus on a specific marketing channel in the early days, or was it mostly organic word-of-mouth?"

I'm blown away by the story and how good the product is ..

Love seeing a 'no-code' stack like Bubble and Xano scaling to $20k MRR. As a software engineer, it’s a great reminder that users don’t care about what’s under the hood—they care about the value. AudioPen is a perfect example of 'Founder-Product Fit.' The way you handled those DDoS attacks is a true 'welcome to the big leagues' moment. Keep building!

Well done! I love the story. What really resonates with me is not just the $20K MRR, but the fact that you started with a clear and simple value turn messy thoughts into clean text, and you proved that people really used it, before you built more. That’s so much more effective than just guessing about what features to build next.

A couple of quick thoughts:

Measure the core value early — if you can tightly couple your product promise to simple signals (eg how much people actually use the core feature), you learn faster and build less useless stuff.

Growth wasn’t just “be on Twitter” — it was be where your audience is and already cares about this. I think that’s the part other builders miss — it’s not just be where people are, it’s be where people care they need what you’ve built.

Annual-only pricing makes a lot of sense for stability, but you could pair that with a low-barrier trial or freemium to validate demand without having to sell commitment up front.

Also, the fact that you hit painful, real infra issues (DDoS) so early means your product isn’t imaginary — people are actually using it! That’s a good (if painful) problem.

The DDoS part is interesting — most early products focus on infra attacks first, but as usage grows, the bigger risk usually shifts to auth flows and API trust boundaries.

Really cool seeing something go from hackathon → real revenue. That’s rare execution.

This was a super grounding read — especially the part about starting as a tiny tool on your own site and letting real usage guide what to build next.
As someone working on AI products too, the “fuzzy thought to clear text” positioning really stands out because it’s so specific and outcome-focused. Also love the annual-only decision from a solo founder perspective; optimizing for fewer, committed users instead of chasing vanity MRR feels like an underrated strategy.
Curious what, in hindsight, was the single highest-leverage decision you made in the first 6 months that you’d absolutely repeat?

Very inspiring — especially building something awesome without a technical background and scaling it consistently over time.

That's an awesome idea back in the day!

That's some great advice. I do believe that you need to get to a certain level of traction before word of mouth starts working. At the same time one has to have all the mechanisms in the app in place to make it easier to spread word of mouth - using share links or screen captures or such.

Right now, I'm learning that building is actually the easy part — getting the first real users is the hard one. Always interesting to see when that turning point happened for others.

Seeing these numbers is incredibly inspiring, Louis. The way you've managed to keep AudioPen so lean while hitting $20k MRR is a masterclass in 'less is more.' I’m currently building an AI-first app (Manifest) and I’ve been studying your focus on 'magic' UX specifically how you make the AI feel like a seamless extension of the user's thought process. Did you find that your growth was driven more by the 'utility' of the transcription or the 'aesthetic/feel' of the output?

The part about word of mouth being the main growth channel really stands out. It's like the best marketing you can do is just build something people genuinely want to tell others about. Sounds simple but it's incredibly hard to manufacture.

Also cool that he built this with no-code tools. Too many of us (myself included) overthink the tech stack when the real question is whether anyone actually wants what you're making. Half-day hackathon to $20k/mo is a solid reminder that shipping fast and iterating beats planning forever.

Tried many speech-to-text apps. Haven't tried yours, but will.
FYI: I only subscribe to them on a monthly basis, instead of being locked-in if a better app is released meanwhile. You may be missing a lot of business like mine by not offering shorter terms than annual.

"Eventually, you will strike gold" — needed to hear this. My wife and I just launched an AI tool two weeks ago. $0 MRR so far, still figuring out distribution.

The part about Twitter being key early on resonates.

We're doing the same — spreading across multiple channels hoping something sticks. But it's good to hear that word of mouth eventually takes over once you hit a critical mass of users.

The hardest part right now isn't building — it's the patience of waiting for things to compound.

This is inspiring — especially building something meaningful without a technical background and scaling it consistently over time.

The part about word-of-mouth taking over after initial traction really stands out. It shows how powerful product value and user experience can be compared to just marketing.

Curious — at what point did you start seeing organic growth kick in? Was there a specific milestone or feature that triggered it?

Really motivating story for early-stage builders. Thanks for sharing.

Word of mouth only kicks in when the product is genuinely good. You can't hack that part. Build something people actually need first.

The annual-only pricing is brilliant and underrated. Most founders chase monthly recurring revenue because it feels safer, but Louis nailed it — annual plans filter for serious users and give you cash flow to actually build instead of chasing churn.

I'm building an AI secretary and we're debating the same thing. Annual forces you to build something people actually commit to, not just impulse-buy and forget. The "serious users only" filter is real.

Also love that he started with Bubble/Xano. The "non-technical" excuse is dead — the barrier to ship has never been lower. Great story.

Love stories like this. I’m building an AI Chrome extension and the biggest lesson for me was shipping fast instead of over-engineering.

Early users didn’t care about fancy features — they cared about instant value (reading pages faster, understanding docs, saving time).

Curious — what was the one feature that made users stick in the beginning?

Love this, Louis — especially the part about building even if you don't make money. That's the real secret, I think. The ones who stick with it aren't just chasing a payday.

I'm in a similar boat with FontPreview — a free font testing tool I built because I was tired of guessing how fonts would look with real text. Non-technical too (just a designer who learned enough HTML/CSS to be dangerous).

Quick question: You mentioned using Bubble and Xano. How steep was the learning curve moving from no-code to something that handles $15k–$20k MRR? I've been considering diving deeper, but the "non-technical" label makes me hesitate sometimes.

Congrats on AudioPen. Two years in and still growing — that's the dream.

I come from a 20 year career working in backend with only light work in front end via ROR. AI takes away the intimidation and keeps the momentum swinging forward at full speed. These new "tools" are essential for anyone in the creator/developer fields. Excellent app Louis!

Saw this story about someone building an AI tool in a hackathon and scaling it to ~$20k/mo — love how simple builds can grow when they solve a real problem and people actually use them. It reminded me of what I’m working on too: a music site powered by Lyria3. im where anyone can generate music without complicated tools. It’s early, but the focus is on making something useful and fun first — curious what you all think of AI music tools like this.

Really inspiring journey — especially building something like AudioPen without a technical background. Did you work with a technical co-founder at any point, or have you built everything on your own?

Not easy. Just consistent.
The compounding is invisible until it isn’t.

The friction-free internet angle really resonates. I'm building something right now and the hardest part isn't the product it's finding those first pockets of the internet where people actually care about the problem you're solving. You mentioned Twitter was huge for AudioPen in 2023 but the algorithm has changed, curious where you'd focus if you were starting from scratch today?

This story hits especially hard as someone who’s also building AI tools without a deep traditional engineering background. The way you went from a small, useful tool on your site to a focused product with the “fuzzy thought to clear text” promise is such a clean example of finding a sharp value proposition instead of trying to do everything at once.

Loved reading this. It’s honestly reassuring to see someone build something meaningful without a hardcore technical background. The part about just keeping building really stuck with me, most people quit too early, but stories like this show how consistency pays off over time. Also, relatable how word of mouth eventually becomes the biggest growth channel once the product genuinely helps people.

Really inspiring trajectory, especially as a non-technical founder. The part that stands out is how focused the product is — “fuzzy thought to clear text” is such a tight, understandable promise.

A lot of indie tools struggle because they’re feature-rich but conceptually vague. AudioPen feels like the opposite: simple input → clear output → immediate value.

Curious how much of your growth came from that clarity of positioning vs distribution channels.

Annual-only subscriptions are bold but smart for cash flow. Did you lose a lot of potential customers who wanted monthly, or does the "serious users only" filter actually improve retention?

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This really resonates. I'm building something in a similar spirit — a niche AI tool called FPVtune for drone pilots that analyzes their blackbox flight logs and suggests PID tuning changes. Super specific audience, but the pain point is real (anyone who's spent a weekend doing test flights just to tweak PIDs knows what I mean).

The "ship small, see what sticks" approach Louis took is exactly what worked for me too. Started with a simple log parser, people kept asking for more, so I kept building. Now it's actually making some money which still feels surreal.

The word of mouth thing is so true for niche tools. When your product solves a very specific problem well, the community talks about it for you. No need for big marketing budgets.

Curious about the Bubble + Xano stack — did you ever hit performance walls as usage grew?

Thanks for sharing my journey, James. I hope it encourages many people to create things, even if they aren't technical. Cheers!

Really inspiring journey. Building without a technical background and still reaching consistent revenue is impressive. The transparency about DDoS challenges and long-term persistence makes this story even more relatable. Proof that consistency and experimentation truly pay off. 👏

As a developer-starter, I'm going through the silent period: no exposure, no user and no incomes. This story is very inspiring for people like me to keep building until my product is seen!

Love this story. As a technical founder, it’s super inspiring to see a “non-technical” indie hacker ship something in half a day and patiently grow it to $20k MRR. The reminder to just keep building and let simple, useful products + word of mouth do the work is exactly what I needed to read today.

the ship small, see what sticks part is key.
He started with a tiny tool people were already using then scaled it.
that's different from just launching a finished product and hoping for adoption.

Word of mouth kicks in when people are actually getting work done, not from a perfect launch!

Hey 👋

Solo founder here. I was drowning trying to do sales, marketing, engineering, and ops all by myself. Couldn't afford to hire. So I built an AI team instead.

The setup: 11 AI agents, each with a specific role:

- Kestrel — Chief of Staff, orchestrates everything

- Scout — SDR, researches and qualifies leads

- Closer — Account Executive, sends outreach and manages CRM

- Viper — CSO, audits pipeline and sets strategy

- Quill — Content writer, publishes on schedule

- Atlas — CTO, makes architecture decisions

- Forge — Lead engineer, builds features

- Sentinel — DevOps, monitors infrastructure 24/7

- Ember — CMO, marketing strategy

- Harbor — Customer support

- Meridian — Market intelligence

What makes it different from just using ChatGPT:

1. Each agent has a "soul" — a persistent identity file that shapes how it thinks and communicates. Kestrel is calm and strategic. Viper is blunt and numbers-driven.

2. Memory persists — agents read their memory files every session. They remember past decisions, what worked, what failed.

3. They give each other feedback — Viper writes reviews of Closer's emails. Closer rates Scout's leads. The system self-improves.

4. They run on schedules — Scout runs daily at 9am, Closer at 10am and 4pm, Viper at 8pm. Kestrel coordinates via heartbeats.

Results after 6 days live:

- $2.7M qualified pipeline built from scratch

- 37 personalized outreach emails sent

- 31 leads researched across US, UK, EU, Singapore

- Built and launched a full SaaS product (Nueton — AI invoice processing) in 14 days

- 19+ days infrastructure uptime

- 0 human employees

The cost: ~$1,500/month (API calls + infrastructure)

Now I'm selling the framework:

- Starter Blueprint ($499) — complete framework and patterns

- Done-With-You ($2,500/mo) — guided implementation

- Done-For-You ($5,000+/mo) — we build and run it for you

Happy to answer questions about the architecture, what worked, what didn't, and the honest numbers.

The 'fuzzy thought to clear text' value proposition is so strong. It's interesting that you only offer annual/two-year subs—that’s a bold move that clearly filters for high-intent users. I’m currently building an AI tool suite for designers and often struggle with the 'subscription vs. credit' model. Did you start with annual-only, or was that a pivot once you saw how people were using the tool?

Turning a hackathon project into something real is awesome! Did you spend much time posting anywhere besides Twitter? It's hard to tell what might actually get the word out vs. yelling into the void.

How did you find the growth on Twitter? Any particular groups/communities you targeted?
Do you think the hackathon gave the product much more exposure?

Really cool progress. How did you make sure to keep the product updated with new features? What makes it standout in 2026?

The annual-only pricing is such an underrated move. I run 4 side projects and the ones where I tried monthly first had brutal churn, like 15% some months. Switched one to annual-only recently and the mental shift is wild, you stop obsessing over month to month and actually build for people who are committed. Curious how he handled the early days though, did people push back on no monthly option or was it just not a thing because the price point was low enough?

Love this — "I would build tools online even if I didn't make money doing it." That's the real differentiator. The hackathon origin story is great too. Half-day build to $20k/mo shows how much the barrier has dropped. The DDoS part is wild though, glad you pushed through. What's your current biggest churn trigger?

Great work, Congratulations!

Stories like this highlight how speed to validation matters more than perfection. Launching quickly and learning from real users beats months of building in isolation. The key seems to be solving a clear pain point rather than building something “cool.”

I'm in a similar boat: non-technical, built a mobile app (iOS + Android) entirely with AI. No coding background, just stubbornness and a clear idea of what I wanted. It's wild how the barrier has shifted from "can you code?" to "can you clearly articulate what you want?" Love that AudioPen started as a small tool people actually used. That's the pattern ship something tiny, see if it sticks, then double down. Congrats on $20k/mo and excited to see where the 10x goal takes you!

Great work Louis!

Wow, amazing Louis... Really appreciate your experience and your sharing. "Overcoming DDoS attacks

At one point, I started receiving random DDoS attacks from unfamiliar parts of the world. These attacks temporarily brought down the site. Some even marked the site as spam for many email providers.

Responding to each person and restoring normal operations took a huge amount of effort.

I don't think I would have done anything differently, though — I don't think it could have been avoided. It's the nature of the game we play online. I wish it hadn't happened, but it did, and I'm glad it's over.

Hopefully, it doesn't happen again."

This was scary... and mature from you to keep on going. That's grit and respect because a lot of people would've gave up if it was too much. Thanks for the sharing!

Great share, Louis — really appreciate you pulling back the curtain on AudioPen.

This part really stood out to me:

"I would build tools online even if I didn't make money doing it."

That's the thing people don't get. The ones who stick with it aren't just chasing a payday — they actually like building stuff. I'm the same way. Been designing for years, launched FontPreview last month, and honestly? I'd probably keep tinkering with it even if no one showed up.

The DDoS bit hit close to home too. I'm non-technical as well (just a designer who learned enough HTML/CSS to be dangerous), and the thought of dealing with that kind of attack while trying to keep things running sounds exhausting. Glad you made it through.

Quick question — you mentioned using Bubble and Xano. How steep was the learning curve moving from no-code to something that handles $15k–$20k MRR? I've been considering diving deeper, but the "non-technical" label makes me hesitate sometimes.

Congrats on AudioPen. Two years in and still growing — that's the dream.

Inspiring story of building an AI tool quickly and validating it for $20K/mo. Would love to hear more about your user acquisition strategy and lessons learned from scaling post-hackathon.

Really inspiring story. The part that stood out to me most is that it didn’t start as a “big startup idea” — it started as a small tool people actually found useful.

I’ve seen the same pattern: when people naturally keep using something and talking about it, growth feels very different from forced marketing.

Also a good reminder that you don’t need perfect conditions to start. Ship small, watch what people use, then double down on that.

Thanks for sharing the numbers. How are you thinking about retention as you scale?