My Apps Make $36K/Month: Watch Me Build One in 17 Minutes

Right now, the most important thing you can do is build and ship apps fast. But

most people don't even know what does it really mean to ship fast. I needed to find this answer. So, I invited Max, one of the fastest builders I've ever [music] met, to share his exact process

for building and shipping apps fast in 2026. Over the past year, Max has built

2026. Over the past year, Max has built and shipped over 30 [music] apps that make a combined $36,000 a month. And

over the next 30 minutes, you're going to see his exact process for [music] building and shipping apps fast. In this

video, we're going to go over how to research $10,000 per month ideas with a single keyword, how to set up a real project for success, and we will come out the other side of this video with a

real working app ready to ship to the world. If you're thinking about building

world. If you're thinking about building apps in 2026, this is the video. Let's

dive in. This is how I build from Starter Story. Real quick before we get

Starter Story. Real quick before we get into this episode, I think this is one of the best times ever to be building and shipping apps. If after watching this you get inspired to build, well, we

have a free resource linked in the description below to help you build your first app. We'll talk a little bit more

first app. We'll talk a little bit more about that later, but for now, let's get into the episode. All right, Max, welcome to Starter Story Build. Tell us

who you are and what you built.

>> Hey, I'm Max. I've built a mobile app portfolio of almost 40 mobile apps. Most

of them were built while I was working full-time at 9 to5 and starting this year, I'm going full indie uh to build more apps and other cool stuff.

>> Okay, Max, I'm super impressed by you.

We're going to walk through your actual build process. Can you dive in and show

build process. Can you dive in and show me the first thing that you do?

>> Okay, the first step is keyword research. So, let's start with that. For

research. So, let's start with that. For

the keyword research, I usually use Astro, but you can use any ASO tool of your choice. It doesn't really matter.

your choice. It doesn't really matter.

So, before starting research, you usually want to have an app idea. But if

you don't have anything, you can just think about any like category, any area, or even go to X Twitter and just uh browse, see what other people do, see if there's something interesting comes up.

For this video, I had an app idea that I've really wanted to build another AI identifier. So the app is called stamp

identifier. So the app is called stamp identifier. So what that does, it just

identifier. So what that does, it just scans a post stamp and send it to AI and ask for its value and some interesting historical insights. So what I do, I'll

historical insights. So what I do, I'll just tap add keyboard. So let's uh type in stamp identifier and let's add it.

Okay. So right now we see it's actually has a good popularity and difficulty which tells us that there might be some interesting apps in this category. And

what I usually do, I just open the competitors and just look through them.

So I pick the first one. It has like 2,000 almost 3,000 ratings. So pretty

big. hit that button and uh it'll pull up all the keywords that kind of relevant to this app. And what I do, I just set the popularity, I just uh

filter out not popular keywords and also I don't want to target any difficult keywords. So I just set it to 60. And

keywords. So I just set it to 60. And

since uh there's a plenty of keywords, not everything is related to our app.

Since we targeting stamp, then we just type stamp and filter out the keywords that related to the stamp. Let's just

add these ones and uh these ones too.

And so we're adding them. The the ISO tool brings us all the data about these apps. So we can filter by popularity and

apps. So we can filter by popularity and see which one is the most popular. Let's

take a look at the competitors for this particular keyword. Can see that this

particular keyword. Can see that this one is basically the name of this first app. So cannot use it because it's been

app. So cannot use it because it's been already used by by this app. So app

store won't allow you. Second one might be interesting again. uh but uh this one is taken as well by the app. So we

cannot really use this particular keyword. And if we just look through the

keyword. And if we just look through the other ones that left, I don't like this one with these columns. If we look just at the stamp identifier itself and we bring up all the competitors, we can see

that it's kind of competitive keyword.

But if we look through the each app that uses this keyword, we can see that there's only four apps that have ratings more than 100. You can see that the release date is almost for all of them

2025. So it says that the app is very

2025. So it says that the app is very new. We can technically target and kind

new. We can technically target and kind of win some traffic if we make a good app. So by looking at this keyword, I

app. So by looking at this keyword, I think I'm happy with it and I consider the keyword research is done. Uh and the reason that we go for keyboard first because the keyword is actual like a problem that user wants to solve. So

when they want to identify like trees or stamps in this example, they go into the app store and search for the st identifier. So it means that uh this is

identifier. So it means that uh this is what their problem is.

>> Okay, cool. I really like that strategy.

Obviously, billions of people use iOS apps or just apps in general. And 75% of app downloads on the app store start with a search. So, this is really,

really smart. I love this. What's the

really smart. I love this. What's the

next step?

>> Next step is the project setup. So, over

time of building many apps, I've come up with the SDK like the boilerplate code that I use for building all my projects.

It saves me a lot of time and I don't need to redo basic things that I've done once. So basically I have my

once. So basically I have my dependencies set up. I have like onboarding and the pay walls. This is

what I use and I'm just reusing it over and over. Um I reuse some internal stuff

and over. Um I reuse some internal stuff like uh dealing with onboarding setting the premium.

>> For anyone who's watching this who's wondering, okay, how do I set up something like this? You can just go online. Uh there's lots of boiler plates

online. Uh there's lots of boiler plates out there. You can look up iOS

out there. You can look up iOS boilerplate, Android boilerplate. What I

love about this is that apps are generally the same. You're going to have onboarding. You're going to have payw

onboarding. You're going to have payw wall. You're going to have setting

wall. You're going to have setting screens. You're going to have payments.

screens. You're going to have payments.

You're going to have trials. If you do this, you don't have to focus on the tech. You can just focus on the most

tech. You can just focus on the most important stuff. That is super cool.

important stuff. That is super cool.

Once you have the boilerplate set up, Max, what do you do?

>> Once I have a boiler plate set up, the next thing I do, I just send the cloud prompt and ask it to create the actual app. Okay. So, here's my prompt. It's

app. Okay. So, here's my prompt. It's

mostly varies from up to app a bit, but uh mostly this is what I use for kind of most of the apps to get started. So I I ask it [clears throat] to build main feature screen for the apps, camera,

gallery identification collection history, and just wire it up in the main tab screen. Make sure it all compiles.

tab screen. Make sure it all compiles.

So I just paste it in, hit enter, and wait until it's done.

>> Cool. What Max is doing right here is awesome. He's already has the boiler

awesome. He's already has the boiler plate, and now he's working on the core features, the core functionality. And

what's amazing about this is that could just use one prompt. His prompt was two sentences. So we're fast forwarding

sentences. So we're fast forwarding through this right now while Claude is doing its thing and building the app.

And now it is done right about now. All

right. So Claude code has done its thing. It is fully compiled and we're

thing. It is fully compiled and we're about to look at the first version of the app. How did it do?

the app. How did it do?

>> Right. So I've just run the app. So I'll

just briefly go through the screens Claude has built. The thing that you see is the onboarding. It's very simple, straightforward. It has three steps. As

straightforward. It has three steps. As

you tap through the steps, uh, you change illustration. It's just to make

change illustration. It's just to make it nice, engaging and once you hit finish the onboarding, you you jump into the pay wall. I really focus on the onboarding and then the pay wall because as everyone knows, the most amount of

subscriptions comes from the onboarding.

The pay wall is very simple. You can see has four different paywall titles. It

has the icon, the pro badge, limited access. So for almost all of my apps, I

access. So for almost all of my apps, I use the combo of weekly subscription and yearly subscription. Some apps that are

yearly subscription. Some apps that are single use, I do put lifetime instead of yearly because most people they just use it once or twice. Try to charge them a bit more. I usually put free trial on

bit more. I usually put free trial on the weekly. So this is my setup. Once uh

the weekly. So this is my setup. Once uh

the onboarding is done, close the pay wall and there you go. You just land into the app.

>> What I love about Max is he has a system for [music] building and shipping apps.

And I know that many of you watching this are ready to build, too. So, our

team put together a free resource to help you build and ship your first iOS app in [music] just a few days. On day

one, you'll learn how to spot a viral app idea. By day three, you'll have a

app idea. By day three, you'll have a working prototype you can share with anyone. And by day seven, you'll have

anyone. And by day seven, you'll have actually shipped your app to test flight on the [music] app store. Once you have the system down, you'll be building and shipping apps as fast as Max. So, if

you're ready to build, head to that first link in the description to start building [music] today for free. All

right, let's get back to the episode.

>> Okay, so this is the app. So first up, it's a camera. It scans the stamp and it analyzes it. Since I'm building iOS

analyzes it. Since I'm building iOS simulator doesn't have camera, so that's why I have this honor. But I have these two buttons which you could bring up the library. You can select any stamp and

library. You can select any stamp and just hit a nice button and just send the data to open the Gemini AI of your choice and then ask for value and some historical insight. And there you go.

historical insight. And there you go.

You've got it. You do ask for review because it's very important to wait for this aha moment when the user get the satisfaction they get the result. I

don't display this review dialogue if the API call fails. I only show it for successful API calls. And here there you go. Here's the data for the app. Here's

go. Here's the data for the app. Here's

the history screen. You can see other historical scans that you have. Here's

the collection. You can add all the SS that you scanned and you see what the total value of your collection is. And

this is the settings. This is very simple screen that I've reusing everywhere in all of my apps. So this is the app. I mean, this is amazing. We're

the app. I mean, this is amazing. We're

probably less than 20 minutes into this video. We came up with an idea. We built

video. We came up with an idea. We built

really, really nice app here. Obviously,

you had some boilerplate set up because you've built a bunch of apps, but anybody watching this can do the same by using these AI tools to build something.

But here's the thing that the building is easy now, and we're showing this right here. Why are you successful with

right here. Why are you successful with shipping 30 plus apps and doing over $30,000 a month? I'm guessing it's less to do with the building and more to do with the ideas and the marketing around

it. So what's the next thing that you do

it. So what's the next thing that you do to make sure that your app gets downloaded and gets paying users? What

do we do next?

>> Okay, the app is built. So the next step, most important and my most favorite one is the visuals. Let me

share you my Figma file. First of all, I start with a small color palette. So

it's very small. The main thing that I do is find the accent color for the app.

And what I do, I ask Claude or any AI, I just explain what my app does. Just ask

if there's any nice colors that reflect to this type of the app. And then also just some kind of different shades to have something to work with. Once it's

done, then I'm going to the app icon. So

I have this kind of setup ready. As you

can see, it has the right width and height, which is what required by app store and Google Play Store. When it

comes to icon design, well, usually depends. Sometimes I have the idea in

depends. Sometimes I have the idea in mind. So for this case, I had idea of

mind. So for this case, I had idea of the postmark and with the magnifying glass over it. So what I did, I found simple icons and paste them into like Gemini asking to make it nice. Really

depends. Sometimes I just go into like Gemini and just ask to give me some ideas because I don't have any ideas. So

in this case I come up with this icon and it shows the postmark with magnifying glass. So very descriptive.

magnifying glass. So very descriptive.

It shows what the app does. Okay. What I

do I just copy these files and export them and use them into my app. Then once

the icons are ready the next thing what I do is the screenshots. And this is again very important part. What I do I go to Astro and take two, three, four different competitors. usually the ones

different competitors. usually the ones that have most like ratings that are big ones and just copy their screenshots. I

put them on the side and I don't blindly copy them. I just want to understand

copy them. I just want to understand what values they highlight. Maybe

there's something interesting, some features, something I could reuse. But I

do have my own style which I'm kind of happy with. This is what I follow. I

happy with. This is what I follow. I

have the app screenshots ready and I have app screenshots for the iOS and for the Android. So the sizes are perfectly

the Android. So the sizes are perfectly fit. So I don't need to adjust change

fit. So I don't need to adjust change anything. What I do, I just select the

anything. What I do, I just select the files and then upload them into the app store.

>> Okay, cool. I mean, this is amazing. You

can design it in just a few minutes with Figma. You're using AI tools like Gemini

Figma. You're using AI tools like Gemini to help you come up with logo ideas and then even take some logos and sort of change the colors and make them look cool. So, that's cool. You can use AI to

cool. So, that's cool. You can use AI to do that. And then you're getting

do that. And then you're getting inspiration from already successful apps. These apps have already spent some

apps. These apps have already spent some time working through their screenshots that they put on their app store. Well,

you're getting inspiration from that and saving a lot of time. I think that's super cool. And as you mentioned, this

super cool. And as you mentioned, this is the stuff that you don't want to automate with AI. Just a little bit of design work, learning how to use Figma can go a long way here. And you're proof of that because your apps make over $30,000 a month, yet you can do it in

just a few minutes. Let's get this thing on the app store. I think we have pretty much everything ready to go. How do we do that?

>> Okay, the last step is submitting to the app store. But before we do that, I just

app store. But before we do that, I just want to mention one thing. The ASO

research doc that I usually build at the start like during my creation of the boiler plate code. I ask LO to generate ASO research. And what this thing is the

ASO research. And what this thing is the highle overview of the app itself the topic cloud generates lots of different information. I don't use everything but

information. I don't use everything but it's nice to have it for just a reference if you want to market the app afterwards. If you want to use something

afterwards. If you want to use something like some data for filling up store metadata. So this doc is very nice. Like

metadata. So this doc is very nice. Like

I said I don't blindly follow it. But

what I usually use it for the onboarding titles. So it generates nice titles for

titles. So it generates nice titles for the onboarding that I showed you previously. And if I don't like them, I

previously. And if I don't like them, I usually ask to reorganize it. Next thing

is nice the payball feature list. It

brings me that four pay wall titles that I put in my pay wall. And also I use the printshot title section, but I don't blindly copy these titles. It just gives me an idea what I could use. This is

just for me to have some inspiration and some idea what to put into my screenshots. Okay. So here's the app

screenshots. Okay. So here's the app store connect page. So the app is almost ready to be submitted. So the last thing before we submit, we usually set up app metadata. So first thing very important

metadata. So first thing very important is the name and subtitle. So this is what kind of drives the traffic. So this

is what actually makes ASO work. When it

comes to the name and subtitle, I don't rely on the ASO research dog. This must

be done manually. What I do, I just go back to Astro and I look at the keywords that we have and then I just try to come up with the kind of name. So since I selected this keyword, I want to put

this exact keyword into the name. This

is what I do. Then I do the same thing with subtitle. So I just add the

with subtitle. So I just add the keywords but if you have keywords try not to duplicate them. Next thing that I do manually as well is the keyword list.

This is again very important because you want to stuff as many keywords relevant to your app. In this example there's not that many keywords relevant to stop identifiers. So I had to find something

identifiers. So I had to find something kind of close related like appraisal finder coins antique and other stuff.

But you don't need to fill up all the 100 characters. Again you don't want to

100 characters. Again you don't want to repeat all the keywords that you put in name on subtitle. You just can put as many keywords relevant to your app as you have. And the last thing required

you have. And the last thing required for the metadata and this is done by it's the description. As far as I know, App Store ASO algorithm doesn't pay a close attention to the description. What

I do, I ask Claude to stuff it with the keywords, but make it natural. So don't

make a AI mess. Don't make a slope. Just

make it natural, readable, and try to put as many keywords as possible. Okay.

And once metadata is filled up, you have the screenshots ready. We have

description, title, subtitle. Now it's

time to hit that blow button and submit app for review. Okay. And it's done.

>> It's done. That's amazing. Just 5 10 years ago, you needed a team of four people to build a good iOS app like this. You need a designer. You need a

this. You need a designer. You need a developer. You need a product manager.

developer. You need a product manager.

You need a backend engineer. Look, we

just built an app that could potentially make thousands of dollars per month. Max

is proof of this because he's shipped over 40 apps to the App Store. And this

is his process. I asked Max to come on to the channel and share his exact process. Well, you just watched it right

process. Well, you just watched it right here. We may have skipped over a little

here. We may have skipped over a little bit of the technical stuff, but that stuff doesn't matter anymore because you can use tools like Claude Code like Max showed us to build stuff. Everything

comes back down to the idea, right? When

we started this, it was about finding a good keyword, finding inspiring apps, using tools like keyword research tools like he did to find apps that could work. Max, would you have any other

work. Max, would you have any other words of advice for anyone watching this who wants to also ship apps as fast as you do? Try things, throw stuff against

you do? Try things, throw stuff against the wall. What would be your advice to

the wall. What would be your advice to anyone watching this?

>> Okay, the key point is to find the right keyword that is not overcrowded and has some potential. I know it's not easy

some potential. I know it's not easy because there's plenty of apps and the thousands [music] of apps being released weekly to the app store, but it takes time. I've done my research as well.

time. I've done my research as well.

There are some keywords. They might not have huge traffic, but they do have some potential. So don't miss out. Try to

potential. So don't miss out. Try to

find them and build the app. And once

you found the keyword, make sure you build the good quality app. I know there are plenty of AI slope apps. And just

make sure that your AI slope is just better. And once you build it, just ship

better. And once you build it, just ship it as soon as possible to validate the idea. And remember one thing that I saw

idea. And remember one thing that I saw is crucial, essential for your app growth. But nowadays with the thousands

growth. But nowadays with the thousands of apps being there flooded the app stores, it's [music] not enough. It's

foundation. Think of it as a basement for the building. If you want your app grow, give it fuel growth with ads or some social media marketing like Tik Tok or Instagram.

>> Beautiful. Well, thank you for coming on, Max, and showing us your process. My

favorite part about you is that you shipped like 40 apps while you had a full-time job. After work, you're

full-time job. After work, you're shipping apps. You're shipping an app a

shipping apps. You're shipping an app a week is proof that you can do this. Now,

you're doing this full-time. You're

still shipping lots of apps. And I love your content. So, if you want to follow

your content. So, if you want to follow Max, we'll put a couple links in the description where you can follow him on X and see some of his content. Thank you

for coming on, Max and sharing this. The

future is for the builders. We'll see

you in the next one.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you for watching How I Build with Starter Story. If you guys enjoyed this,

Starter Story. If you guys enjoyed this, put a comment down there. What do you want us to cover next? Who do you want us to interview and show their process of building? Otherwise, we'll see you in

of building? Otherwise, we'll see you in the next one. pace.