This chronic side hustler just hit $26k in 30
days
After building dozens of side projects, Yoni Smolyar built an audience. Then, he became a social media addict. And then, he built the Brainrot app to help himself.
Within 30 days of launch, the app brought in $26k.
Here's Yoni on how he did it. 👇
Finding Success with the Brainrot App
My name is Yoni Smolyar and I'm a software engineer and chronic side hustler. I've started and failed dozens of projects and businesses over the last decade, and finally found some traction with my new app, Brainrot — a screen time mobile app that shows your brain "rot" the more time you spend scrolling. It's a subscription-based app that generated $26k in the first 30 days.
About 450 days ago, I started posting daily vlogs to social media, sharing my journey and learnings as a scrappy entrepreneur. I thought, "Surely I'm not the only one starting a bunch of side projects over the years, and maybe my successes and failures can encourage or help others."
Turns out, I was right, and my accounts grew to about 250k followers over the last year.
But, through posting videos on social media every day, I became chronically addicted and dependent on my phone. Social media likes/comments/followers are intentionally dopaminergic. They keep you coming back to the apps over and over throughout the day.
I felt true "brain rot" — short attention span, no long-term memory — I felt like I was experiencing cognitive decline at age 27.
I saw myself becoming less present in the real world, and I knew I needed to do something about it. I built the app to solve the problem in my own life.
Building a 250k following
I started posting videos to overcome the feeling of cringe — I didn't like the way I looked or sounded on camera, but knew it was a worthwhile mountain to climb.
So, I made a new account with zero followers and started posting into the void. No grand plan, no fancy edits. My first video was me looking into the camera and saying, "Today is Day One of doing nothing for every foloower I gain. Follow me to find out."
It was nonsense, but just like that, I had posted my first video. It got 200 views and 3 likes. I kept posting just to form the habit. Virtually nobody was watching.
Slowly, I became comfortable and started sharing my progress on my various projects. I had an e-commerce business at the time and I talked about growing it. That business started to pick up some traction until I was hit was a Cease and Desist, and shut it down.
By the time I shut it down, I had I gained about 50k followers in eight months. Then, I pivoted into AI and tech, and that's where things really took off. By the time I launched Brainrot, I was around 200k followers.
I thought of it as producing a low-production-quality TV show of my life — new episodes daily. This is what people follow for. They want to follow the story that you're telling. My story was of a scrappy and relatable entrepreneur and side hustler.
Building it and rebuilding it
I didn't do user research or market validation before building Brainrot. I had a problem — screen time addiction — and I wanted to solve it for myself. If other people liked it and wanted to pay for it, great. If not, at least I solved my problem.
I had never built a mobile app before, so there was a bit of a learning curve. I used Swift for the app, Superwall for the paywall, and Posthog for analytics. That's it, super lean.
I spent two months building it, starting over, and rebuilding it because my vision for the product evolved throughout the initial build.
The app got rejected from the App Store six times before eventually being approved.
Marketing as a technical founder
As a software engineer, I can sit down and make an app. But growing the app has been a whole new frontier. I'm figuring it out as I go.
In 2025, consumer app marketing has a playbook, but there are many ways you can take it. Influencer marketing, UGC marketing, Meta ads, carousels, clipping, ASO/SEO, retainer deals, CPM deals, agencies, etc. But I'm a solo technical founder, and all of these things are new to me. And despite building a personal following online, I am not a social media expert.
I'm strongly considering partnering with someone who is an expert at these things. Someone who has found success through these strategies in the past. There are only so many hours in the day and it's a grind to find the time.
A Product Hunt hack
I launched on Product Hunt and got #1, and that's awesome as well. Over 10,000 downloads in one day.
Some alpha for you: Product Hunt sends out an email every morning spotlighting a few of the products launching that day. They made the title of their email "Cure your brainrot" and the whole first section of the email was about brainrot. Total luck - they saw my submission and liked it. By 7 a.m. I was already #4. Insane. This was almost certainly the reason I was able to get to #1 so easily.
You can reach out to them and ask if they are willing to give you a spotlight, it's worth the ask.
Leveraging social media
My social media following has also been tremendously advantageous. When I launched the app, I made a quick video about it and got 5,000 downloads in one day.
Since then, it has been my primary growth driver. Instagram reels, X posts, and a few Reddit posts.
It has given me a phenomenal feedback loop with my users as a result, and now I can build for them rather than just randomly building whatever features come to mind.
I am still working to implement sustainable distribution strategies outside of my personal brand.
The most durable asset you own
BUILD IN PUBLIC. Don't operate in the shadows and move in stealth; don't be afraid of copycats. Share openly what you're working on, your successes and failures; let people get to know YOU as the entrepreneur behind the business.
Your personal brand is the most durable asset you own. It will outlast all of your failed side hustles. I am a huge proponent of building in public, and I attribute most of my success to this.
What's next?
I plan to keep building and growing brainrot. It's a work in progress and I'm totally transparent about that.
I'll keep building in public. And I would also love to detach it from my personal brand a bit and see if I can create some sustainable distribution beyond my socials.
Check me out on socials. My daily videos are @yoniman.mp4 on IG and TT, and I'm active on X @YoniSmolyar. And check out Brainrot!
Leave a Comment
The rebuild cycles resonate - I've been through similar iterations when building my SaaS products. Two months of rebuilding because your vision evolved is actually normal, not inefficiency.
Your tech stack choice (Swift + Superwall + Posthog) shows smart constraint focus. Easy to overthink tooling when you should be validating the core problem.
The Product Hunt email spotlight is interesting alpha. Most people focus on launch day tactics but miss that editorial relationships matter more than vote manipulation.
Question: How are you handling the marketing partnership evaluation? Finding someone who understands consumer apps vs B2B is crucial - the playbooks are completely different.
The personal brand durability point is spot-on. Your following survived the C&D shutdown and pivoted with you into tech
I wonder some side hustlers are posting earning in milliones which seems a little skeptipic and real market
Inspiring and super relatable — especially that phase where you’re just building things to solve your own pain point. I’m also juggling some micro-projects, and this reminds me that traction can come from really personal, unscalable starts. Appreciate the transparency.
thanks man! big proponent of transparency when building in public
Such a unique idea turned into a full product.
thanks paul!
I want to ask you one thing:
There are several apps available in the App Store and Play Store that do the same thing as Brainrot. How did you manage the competition and enter this market?
competition is a fake concept. it only applies at scale, not in this tiny indie hacker way. there are such an abstractly huge number of people online, you just need to get in front of a small subset of those people and show them what you built
Thats great advice, when i was a photographer people would say its a saturated market, I would say "there's room for everyone just be you and people will get you".
Incredible work, Yoni Hitting $26K in just 30 days from a side hustle is seriously inspiring.
As someone building Impartoo, ranking top stocks, ETFs, and crypto picks, I love how you turned a personal challenge into a thriving app.
Two questions if you're open to sharing:
What helped grow your audience the fastest? organic content, referrals, or partnerships?
At what point did you see the revenue begin to scale predictably month-to-month?
organic content, and the revenue is still not predictable month to month
Yoni, thank you very much for your response. Continued success.
Excellent Information
wow ! you've encouraged me to build my own apps , you story is fascinating ! i used to build projects for others but i always hesitated when it comes to build mine . thank you man
awesome! good luck!
Love how you bootstrapped smart, presold early, and let content + freemium do the heavy lifting. Inspiring path for indie founders.
thanks man!
This is one of the most relatable founder stories I’ve read in a while. Love how the problem (screen addiction) became the product, and how the product validated itself through personal need.
thanks!!
inspiring article
That’s truly incredible, reading this has given me so much hope! If you were starting again with no audience, what would you focus on first to get your product in front of the right people?
the social media algorithms are amazing at getting the right content in front of the right people. your job is just to post it!
This is very interesting
Woooww
Wow, this is great knowledge for me.
your story is really inspiring
i learnt a lot from it, as everything here is relatable
thanks!
Love seeing stories like this — from burnout to building a solution for yourself that helps thousands. Big respect.
thanks Jim!
Wow! Yoni, your journey is so hard - from building into the void to spinning a dopamine trap into a tool for growth.
Big respect for building in public and staying honest about the process.
appreciate the kind words man.
been running ads professionally for the last 7 years.
you know what I realized recently?
content is the king, not paid ads.
started my YT shorts and TikTok talking about google ads -- the best decision in my life.
you already know what it means to have followers. create a separate channel for brainrot, make viral videos, if one gets on fire, you will gain a huge amount of users.
virality is not random; it's science, there are viral frameworks; just use it.
thanks andrew!
take a look at DuoLingo's TikTok!
Thanks for sharing, Yoni.
my pleasure
An inspiring story about how persistence and a steady side hustle can lead to significant results. It shows that even a newbie entrepreneur can quickly reach $26,000 in 30 days if he chooses the right niche and focuses on the strategies that really work. A very motivating story for anyone who wants to turn their hobbies and side projects into a stable source of income.
thanks! glad it could be motivating for you.
WOW thats amazing sound like something ill need
thanks! let me know what you think!
This was such a good read, many congratulations on your success - really inspiring for someone starting from 0 right now. Looking back, what would you say made the biggest difference early on with building your following? Anything you'd do differently if you were starting from scratch in 2025? Thank you for validating the struggle. It's reassuring to know it's normal!
thanks man! i think something big is being willing to be brutally transparent. share the numbers. "i spent $600 on a designer, and it wasn't worth the money" (not for brainrot but for an ecommerce business prior). people want to see the numbers and people want to see the wins and losses. but remember not to talk only about losses (because for me, it was just a lot of small failures to get here) talk about all of the small wins too!
A much needed app these days! Congrats on the success thus far?
thanks!
Wow, Yoni, congrats on that incredible $26k launch!
I love how you turned a personal challenge into a product that not only helped you but clearly resonates with others.
What was the biggest marketing channel or tactic that helped you grow so fast in just 30 days?
Also curious if you used any specific tools or frameworks to build Brainrot quickly. Thanks for sharing your journey!
thanks!
definitely my personal following on socials was the biggest driver of growth. also a successful product hunt launch gave me a big boost as well.
no specific tools or frameworks. wrote the app in Swift using Cursor and Claude Code.
I am a couple weeks away from a beta launch and I have been going through the same issue of creating awareness to get beta testing sign ups. I discovered that I should go the BUILD IN PUBLIC route and its validated here. Thanks for the story and validation. Also my beta is around app analytics, error/crash logs, and distribution. Lmk if you are interested in beta testing. .NET MAUI, iOS, and Android are currently supported. Flutter and React will be onboarded soon as well.
Wow, what an impressive leap! Yoni clearly turned experience into momentum—going from building side projects to launching Brainrot and rolling in $26K in just 30 days is inspiring. That’s the kind of hustle and insight that motivates me to keep experimenting.
Yoni’s journey shows how turning personal frustration into Brainrot led to impressive earnings in just a month. It proves that solving your own problems, starting small, and staying consistent can really pay off.
Regarding social media and your video...preferred platform?
That’s incredible — proof that persistence with side hustles can pay off in a big way. I like how this flips the narrative from “pick one thing” to “keep experimenting until something sticks.” What do you think made this project click compared to your earlier ones?
Thank you for sharing, it is very helpful.
I keep seeing build in public and I agree in general. But, 2 things
- if you totally new to social media, how do you start building "in public"? where do you get an audience? if you just post on X, people find you magically?
- also, seems like those who build in public, they launch 1-2-5 products while growing their audience. and the eventual "success" comes from already having an audience at a time of 6th-7th-Xth launch.
Seems like in the end the important thing is audience, and you can gain it by building (and failing) in public, until eventually something hits AND you already have an audience? Or am I just being negative haha
wow
Man I can see exactly myself in this whole blog post. The things I am trying and struggling with and finally someone to second my thought of partnering up with someone who really knows social media and marketing just hit that pressure point. I am going to frame this post and hang it in front of me.
Love this! You are def not the only one that has tried to start something and failed bunch of times. Currently in that journey! Thanks for sharing your story!
Its inspiring to see how Yoni turned personal frustration into Brainrot and earned sucha good amount in just a month. Proof that starting small staying consistent and solving your own problems can pay off big.
Wow, that’s an awesome hustle story—$26K in 30 days, congrats!
As someone who tinkers with little tools between projects (20 years in product design here), I totally get the “chronic side-hustler” vibe.
Quick thought: what was the signal that told you “this idea actually works”? Was it conversions, early user feedback, paid sign-ups, or something else? And how did you juggle priorities—full-time work vs. side project—without burning out?
I’d love to hear how you kept going day to day.
Inspiring! thanks for sharing
This is seriously impressive solving a huge problem. Will take your advice and start building in public! Love how it took you 7 attempts to get in the app store
What an impressive feat! In side hustles, dedication, smart strategy, and consistency can lead to earning $26K in 30 days. A focus on results can lead to big results.
Your reels are insane, love them so much. Keep sharing the ups (and esp downs i.e. when you shared the reasons for your app store rejections) as super valuable!
Amazing! Hitting 26K$ in 30 days shows the power of building a product rooted in a real personal problem.
I love how they embraced “building in public” and focused on engaging the community instead of traditional marketing.
An inspiring story for any indie hacker: start with what matters to you and share your journey honestly — the results will follow.
Thats great story and totally relatable, i've been building for everyone else over the years and now it's for me. The personal brand concept and not building in the shadows is an amazing tip... now where's my camera! :-)
Super inspiring journey, Yoni. I’ve also started building in public recently, but through writing rather than video — I’m not quite comfortable on camera yet, so still figuring out if writing can have the same effect in terms of building momentum and audience.
Your story really reminded me that the key is showing up consistently and being real with the journey, not overthinking perfection. Thanks for sharing so openly — it gave me a big motivation boost today.
Currently working on a keyword research tool for indie hackers to help them find high-search-volume ideas more easily — and your story made me want to keep going even more.
The Product Hunt launch getting editorial spotlight is fascinating. I’d love to know more about how that happened — was it pure luck or something in the way the listing was submitted?
Also curious how sustainable growth looks post-launch without leaning so hard on a personal brand. That transition feels like a key challenge for a lot of indie founders.
Great work!
Congratulations on reaching such a milestone! A $26K income in 30 days achieved by James Fleischmann illustrates the power of consistency, smart strategy, and leveraging scalable side hustles.
Awesome! Love seeing real numbers paired with honesty about the journey. I’m working on something of my own and this post gave me a good push to keep going!!!
very nice story !
Super inspiring, Yoni. Turning your own struggle into a product is powerful. Building in public really paid off!
felt this a lot!!! I’m building solo and did the same, posting just to kill the cringe, launching stuff cause i needed it
Also got stuck chasing likes even though i knew it was messing with my head. No big strategy, just showed up, built, rebuilt, tried again
I appreciate you sharing this exactly how it is
wow cool
Your journey really resonates with me, Yoni. It’s inspiring how you turned personal struggle into a meaningful product — Brainrot sounds like the kind of app our generation needs. That balance between sharing online and staying mentally present is something many developers and creators battle daily.
As a Flutter developer myself, I truly admire your execution. If anyone here is inspired and looking to build a powerful mobile app (like Brainrot) using Flutter + Firebase or even AI/chatbot features — feel free to check out my profile.
Let’s build products that solve real problems.
This is very interesting and inspirational!
Congratulations, this is an amazing achievement! I am wondering what were the biggest challenges in getting this published on the App Store, as well as getting this in front of his community?
What an inspiring achievement—making $26K in just 30 days as a side hustler is truly impressive!
Your story is a fantastic example of what focused content combined with product alignment can achieve. I would love to hear about the strategies you used to convert viral attention into paying customers and any lessons you’d like to share now that you’ve had some time to reflect.
Very interesting article!
Really inspiring achievement—hitting $26K in just 30 days as a side hustler is incredibly impressive!
I’m curious about a few things from your journey:
Content strategy and distribution seem to have been key—what initially convinced you that starting with YouTube Shorts and TikTok was worth the time? Did you follow a specific viral framework or evolve the approach as you went?
When one short video “took off,” how did you react—and how did you capitalize on that momentum to drive conversions or product sales?
Balancing content creation, product development, and sales can be taxing—how did you organize your workflow to make it sustainable during that intense 30‑day push?
Your story is a great example of what focused content + product alignment can achieve. I’d love to hear strategies you used for converting viral attention into paying users, and any lessons you’d share now looking back.
you really nailed timing + trust using your agency to spot the gap and build for your own clients feels like a smart move. did the early freemium users shape what became your best-selling features?
What an impressive feat! A side hustle can turn passion into profit through dedication, smart strategies, and consistent effort, as James Fleischmann demonstrated with $26k in 30 days
yes
Wow, great story
Looking for AI tools to feature in Shorts
Love this!
As a fellow tech founder, I feel the struggle of shifting from coding to growth. Your Product Hunt win and social media hustle are proof that building in public works.
Excited to see what’s next.
congrats man, this is super inspiring stuff. My friend and I both built SaaS after some validation but struggling to get traction. We're trying a fun b2c, to solve our own mini problem. definitely going to lean in to content.
good luck!
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