Anton Lebedev

@FightyAI @starter_story Thanks! I get distracted too — you see everyone shipping everything and feel like you need to do more to keep up. But it's actually the opposite. Do fewer things, do them really well. That's what works.

@starter_story @Samarsky That is very true; staying focused is essential. However, in today's world, there are so many distractions that it is difficult for anyone to maintain that focus. I hope that through your case study, I can become more clear-headed and gain a better perspective.

Guy makes $250,000 per month with a VERY simple app. Keep. it. simple. stupid! @Samarsky and I talked for a few hours. Here’s the top 4% of our chat: > His simple app that generates $3m/year (1:30) > The ONE thing $0 MRR founders ignore (3:44) > How to build simple apps in 2026 (7:20) > The tools that power his $250k MRR app (10:55) > The steps he would take if he had to start over today (12:08)

@franbmacedo @starter_story Yes, we reinvest everything. Profit is basically zero on purpose — all goes back into growth. We pay ourselves enough to live comfortably, but that's it. Not optimizing for profit right now, optimizing for scale.

@starter_story @Samarsky "....Thanks for being transparent about your numbers" ---> well @Samarsky you just mentioned the costs. What is your profit? do you just reinvest everything in the business?

@thejeneshnapit @starter_story $250K is pre-cuts, but most revenue comes through Stripe, not app stores — so platform fees are much lower. Profit is zero on purpose. We reinvest everything into growth.

@starter_story @Samarsky Revenue: $250K MRR Expenses: $30K + $5K + $200K = $235K So if the MRR is pre-platform cuts, then is it even making a profit?

@LeCodeBusiness @starter_story You can clone the UI in 48 hours. But it'll feel like a cheap knockoff — slow, buggy, no polish. Users notice and leave. The moat is the whole system: acquisition channels, community, and retention data built over years. That's not cloneable and that's what makes it sustainable.

@starter_story @Samarsky Simple apps usually have the highest churn because they are easily cloned by vibe-coders in 48 hours. What is Anton's actual moat beyond first-mover advantage? I want to see if the $250k is sustainable or just a temporary capture of a trend.

@RobinAndTheDog @starter_story If your app gets flagged as spam — maybe it's worth asking what makes it different. You don't need more features. You need a clear angle — simplify, improve the design, or bring something new. If you can't explain "why mine?" — that's the real problem.

@starter_story @Samarsky if you submit something simple you get rejected for app store spam, then you add features and fock over the basic intention of the app, anyone?

@skar_connect @starter_story The profit is zero — everything is reinvested back into growth. We pay ourselves enough to keep a comfortable life, but we're definitely not rich yet. Here are more details on how we spend it: x.com/Samarsky/statu…

@starter_story @Samarsky Question is what's the profit. How much he spends for advertising and marketing

@GrammarHippy A

Starting a YT channel this month. What should my first video be? A - Don’t build a big following - from someone with 200k followers B - Facebook ads for info products starting with very low budgets C - Suggest. (Obviously those are now got hooks/SEO headlines. Just ideas). Vote 👇

@matt_elevenlabs 11B

We just raised $500M at an 11B valuation 🎉 To celebrate, we’re giving away 1,000 free credits so you can test our platform. For the next 6 hours, comment “11B” below and we’ll DM you the credits (must follow) 👇

@GrammarHippy Build get paid built get paid build get paid :)

How product people think about building: Build build build build build get paid get paid get paid get paid get paid. How marketers think about building: Get paid build get paid build get paid build get paid build get paid build get paid. Which approach is more healthy?

@udaysy @starter_story And a mountain of new test cases to maintain for every release 😅

@starter_story every feature you add is a support ticket you havent written yet. learned this the hard way after building 3 features nobody asked for

MORE FEATURES ARE KILLING YOUR STARTUP This guy makes $250K/month with LESS FEATURES THAN YOU. Instead of adding more features, he ruthlessly removes them. And instead, focuses on what users ACTUALLY care about: > UX > Simplicity > "Is this easy to use?" UX > features > code

@bygregorr @starter_story You actually need extreme clarity on the user's goal to build a simple UI. Making an app feel "simple" often requires complex logic behind the scenes to handle the friction. We choose to optimize for the user's experience, not the simplicity of the code.

@starter_story What if the simplicity you're striving for is just a facade for more code and complexity, and you're actually just hiding the true problem: a lack of clarity on what your users really need?

@ciprian__b @starter_story It's not about the number of features, but whether you can make them intuitive. If you can make them all obvious to the user? Great. But that takes time. Usually, you have to choose: a few features that are crystal clear, or many features that risk confusing the user.

@starter_story I'm building a tab manager for chrome. Currently I plan to include: -auto-grouping (with automatic names) -auto-hiding tabs -multiple workspaces -and some power controls to manage multiple commands at once Obv also the usual search and basic actions Is this too many features?🤔

@andreyiscoding @starter_story I still fight that temptation every day. It actually gets harder as you grow More users -> more requests. More competitors -> pressure to keep up It takes a lot of discipline to say no and focus on UX instead of just shipping new buttons

@starter_story why does this feel so hard to do though? everyone knows this. but shipping the feature feels productive and going online, marketing, distributing, selling. This is uncomfortable and not sexy for most founders.

full episode on his app, and WHY simple ideas win: starterstory.com/stories/how-he…

@_m27e @kepano @obsdmd Time to put that theory to the test. A competitor just raised $95M. Let's see! :)

@Samarsky @kepano @obsdmd I'd say 99% of the time, the answer is a big fat no. Business in general is usually not a zero-sum game, i.e. their wins do not have to be your losses.

Why @obsdmd is 100% user-supported and not backed by VC investors: 1. We want to stay small, we don't need to hire lots of people 2. We follow strict principles that we do not want compromise 3. Our users are happy to support us, we don't need VC money Obsidian will not exist forever, no app will. However, the files you create in Obsidian are yours, and can hopefully last for generations. VCware is built with a five year horizon, it is not built to live on for decades. Many startup founders raise VC money because they need the upfront capital to build their product, or they see it as a shortcut to growth. For some products the capital truly is necessary, but too often it's fueled by impatience and the inertia of Silicon Valley. In the short term, VCware tends to subsidize pricing to acquire users. It's easier to grow if your product is cheap or free. But this generally comes at the cost of hoarding user data, and locking in customers. Once you're in you can't get out. To keep raising money, VCware must paint an increasingly enormous vision of their future, which becomes impossible to live up to. This leads to increasingly disparate priorities that gradually make the product worse. What starts off as a useful app become burdened with crap. Eventually all VCware must exit. That means being acquired or going public to pay back investors. It's expected that 9 out 10 startups will fail. That's just part of the math in a VC portfolio. The startups that have big exits pay for the ones that fail. It is now possible for tiny teams to make principled software that millions of people use, unburdened by investors. Principled apps that put people in control of their data, their privacy, their wellbeing. These principles can be irrevocably built into the architecture of the app. Principled people have always been able to make principled software. The difference is that now you need far less money and far fewer employees to reach far more customers. That wave is only just beginning. If you have principles and enough patience, being 100% user-supported is by far the most fun way to build.

@seraleev Good luck! Have the same issue, but haven't started to pay back.

Sometimes people ask me: Viktor, you share great results – but where’s the profit? The answer is simple: I’m paying off debt. I went through two lawsuits with corporations. Lost one. The second ended with a settlement. Huge thanks to the lawyers who gave me a credit line. Better not google how much that costs – nightmares guaranteed. I also failed a B2B SaaS. I should have shut it down, but instead I borrowed money to push it to launch. A bad decision that only increased my debt. Experience is expensive. Okay. I started from zero in a new country. Sold everything I had – and it still wasn’t enough. But last year was incredibly successful for me. I’ve already closed 65% of my debts. Another 6–7 months – and I’ll be able to say: I’m debt-free. Right now, I’m balancing growth, profitability, and debt repayment. Drop a 🔥 if you support me – I’ll feel it.

@GrammarHippy Yeah, the performance was really bad :(

@Samarsky You turned off all the ads??

Is everyone still complaining about Andromeda? Because our students and I are getting the best results we’ve seen in a LONG time.