# How I Build Apps SOLO That ACTUALLY Make Money in 2026 Channel: Erik Cupsa Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKWS0bSiCT4 Duration: 9 min Language: English Words: 1946 Transcript page: https://viewrankai.com/tools/youtube-transcript/KKWS0bSiCT4 --- [0:00] Live coding is the most addictive thing ever in 2026 because you can literally build anything, any idea you've had in a couple days, and I literally did that with my own app 4 months ago in just 23 days, and now 4 months later we made today $123 lifetime 16.5k and monthly recurring revenue $1,400, and I haven't touched the code base since November. I haven't marketed it since November, and it's still actively growing and generating new revenue. I'm about to teach you in the next 5 to 10 minutes everything that you need to know to copy me because this is the single [0:34] best opportunity in 2026, I promise you. Yeah. Hey. Okay, first of all, let me take you through the app. So, my app is an AI resume generator and review tool. You could go in and create your own resume based off of what got me and thousands of other people big tech jobs, and then the best part is this AI review feature, which breaks down your resume and helps you figure out what you need to do [music] bullet point by bullet point on your resume to actually get in that yes pile instead of constantly getting rejected. Okay, now how do you actually find that 10k per month app idea? You [1:11] might think you already have that million-dollar startup idea in your head, and sure, maybe you do, but I'll be blunt. In this day and age, especially with AI, ideas mean basically nothing. With all the AI tools, automations, etc. at your disposal, it has never been easier to build and ship something. So, your ideas alone are not worth anything. This means shipping fast has to be your priority. So, if I were starting again, I would personally not sit around trying to come up with the best idea possible. I would instead use resources that already show me what successful people have done so I could replicate them. The first resource that [1:43] I would use is YC's own request for startups. This is basically Y Combinator telling you what problems they want founders to solve, so you already have that idea validated. The second is actually what I used for this app, and that's Trust MRR. The idea is you can see a list of previous apps as well as how much money they make, so you could kind of see what app interests you and how you could replicate ideas that actually generate revenue. And you might think, but Eric, that idea already exists. It's not special. That's not going to work. Get it through your head that originality is dead. Zoom existing [2:13] did not stop Google Meets. ChatGPT existing didn't stop thousands of AI rappers. Just because Pizza Pizza exists doesn't mean Domino's can't be successful as well. Remember, especially as a solo developer, you do not need to own the entire market yourself. You just need to capture a tiny chunk of that pie that already exists and you'll be pretty successful. So, one quick tip when choosing your idea, pick something [2:33] that's tied to a real human pain point. That could be like CalAI and calorie tracking, or it could be job searching, so AI resume generator like myself. The whole point is if it's tied to a real pain point that's validated, you'll know that people will be willing to spend their own money and time on it. All right, now let's get into the real work [2:50] and build this thing. Yes, no-code tools like Level Up and Replit exist and they are pretty cool, but I still firmly believe you need to understand the basic concepts at a minimum of coding before you could build any app at scale. So, if I were starting from scratch, what I would do is focus [3:04] on JavaScript above anything else. Learning JavaScript personally was one of the best decisions I ever made because it was one of the coding language that was most used at my job at Amazon and it's now the entire foundation that's built my startup at 22. It lets you build the front end, which is what users see, and the back end, which handles all of your server logic, API, database integrations, all that kind of stuff. The whole point is JavaScript covers every single thing you need to build an app end to end. To learn the basics, I highly recommend starting with the full JavaScript crash course by freeCodeCamp on YouTube cuz [3:32] that will walk you through all the syntax, theory, and fundamentals that you'll need. Now, after you have all these fundamentals down, I would go to this website called Full Stack Open because it lets you do something called project-based learning, which means instead of watching someone build something, you get to build stuff out from scratch yourself. So, you get those reps in. It's like with the gym, you're not going to get buff by watching someone exercise. You need to actually go in, pick up some weights, and throw them around so you can actually get better at it. In particular, I would focus on the React JS, Node JS, and [3:57] React Native routes that they have. Thanks to JetBrains, the creator of the Kotlin programming language, for sponsoring this video. One thing I've been thinking a lot about recently is how much the Java ecosystem has evolved. Java was actually the first programming language that got me a software engineering job, and learning it taught me a ton about object-oriented programming, type safety, back-end architecture, and how real production systems are built. But, after working at Amazon, I realized that the Java ecosystem is not just Java anymore. A lot of teams were actually using Kotlin for their real enterprise work. This is because Kotlin lets you stay inside the JVM world, so you can still use things [4:30] like Spring and existing Java libraries. But, the actual developer experience makes it feel a lot more modern. Null safety is built in, so you don't ship accidental NPEs. The syntax feels cleaner, and coroutines mean async code doesn't feel like a puzzle. And Kotlin is not just a back-end, either. You can use Kotlin multiplatform to share your code across iOS, Android, apps, or desktop. Compose multiplatform for shared UI, Ktor for back-end services, and Kôg if you want to build AI agents [4:57] directly in Kotlin. So, if you already know Java, or you want a modern language for back-end, multiplatform, and AI development, I highly recommend you guys check out Kotlin through the link in the description. All right, let's get back to the video. Now that you're ready to code, I would focus on what type of app you actually [5:11] want to build, and you have two options. The first is a web app, and this is basically a website. If you're doing this, I highly recommend going down the Next JS route, because it lets you build full-stack apps, handle API routes, improve SEO out of the box, and deploy easily. And when your app is ready, just host it on Vercel so people can actually use it. If you want to build a mobile app instead, I would use React Native with Expo Go, because this is the gold standard for Apple apps. I would not bother at all with Android, because the purchasing power is so small, it's [5:37] basically irrelevant. Now, for either path, you're going to need your database, and I highly recommend using Superbase, because their free tier is very generous. I would handle all of my authentication through something like Clerk or Firebase, and finally handle all my payments with Stripe. And of course, I'm a firm believer that the most important part is what AI tools to actually use. If you aren't using AI in your workflows in 2026, you are so behind, and the dev ecosystem is going to continue to grow exponentially. So, if you do not get on this wave right now, it is too late. So, what I highly recommend is copying my workflow, which [6:06] is using Warp as an AI terminal, and Cloud Code to handle basically all of your development. Okay, so now you've built the first version of the app. That's step one. If people actually start using it, you need to make sure it does not break or get abused. This means stuff like adding rate limits, so people cannot spam your login, sign up, or AI endpoints, etc. Using a real authentication provider, like I mentioned with Clerk or Firebase, lock down your database with row-level security, so users can only see their own data. Never expose your API keys or any secrets in your front end. Securely store them server-side in environment [6:39] files. Then, as you scale, focus on the basics. Cache repeated requests with Redis. Move heavy tasks like email sending, AI requests, PDF parsing into asynchronous jobs. And finally, load test before launching. Shipping the app is one thing. Making sure it doesn't fall apart when users actually use it is the more important part. All right, so now you have your app. Now what? This is the part where 99% of you are going to fail. And that's because in 2026, [7:06] building the app is not hard. Distribution is the real moat. So, here's everything you need to know to grow your app to the first 1,000 users based off of every single thing that I've tried and researched for the last year and a half. First of all, UGC is king. And this is basically when you post a bunch of different videos on your own social media page. To find ideas, it's really hard to be original, especially for people that aren't that good at marketing like yourself probably. So, go to TikTok, find your niche, and copy all of the viral video ideas. Just put your own little twist on [7:35] it, and change the call to action to point to your own app. For example, I did this video, which is copied off of another competitor that generated me 117,000 views and 900 sign-ups. Now, I know the majority of you guys out there are not going to want to put your own face on the content, and that's completely fair. So, you have these two options. You could pay micro-influencers, so people between the 1,000 to 10,000 follower range in your niche around $30 to $50 to build out the shorts that you're going to post on the pages that I just showed you. The other option is creating faceless slideshows, [8:08] stuff that showcases your app in use in real-world situations. Once you find a winning idea, go to TikTok Ads and Meta Ads and spend again another $30 or $50 per video boosting that video to 10,000 more people, and you'll start seeing the revenue come in. For example, with that video that I just showed you, for every $50 that I spent, I was getting around $130 back. So, you just keep boosting it until you stop seeing profits. It's all really just a numbers game with marketing. You have to keep your head down and keep on working. Now, that's all. That's the entire playbook that you need to copy me and build out your own [8:39] app that $5,000 per month goal that you've been dreaming of. It really is that simple, and after a month or two of hard work, you might have an app that could change your life. If you found any of this helpful, please leave a like and subscribe. I'll see you in the next one. --- About this transcript Read from YouTube's own caption track and laid out by ViewRank AI (https://viewrankai.com). ViewRank AI finds the videos already beating a creator's own average on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, transcribes them from the audio itself in more than 60 languages, and turns what worked into new ideas and scripts. 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