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> I built and shipped a Swift app to the App Store, currently generating $10,200 in MRR, exclusively using LLMs. My experience is that people who claim they bu

by mvdtnz 2y ago

> I built and shipped a Swift app to the App Store, currently generating $10,200 in MRR, exclusively using LLMs. My experience is that people who claim they build worthwhile software "exclusively" using LLMs are lying. I don't know you and I don't know if you are lying, but I would be willing to bet my paycheck you are.

csomar 2y ago
They are also usually selling another AI-wrapper. I don't know the parent poster either but if your LLM product is generating $10k/month, your moat is really weak and you'll probably shut the f* up because your only moat is obscurity. Why risk that?
- jahnu 2y ago
  We shouldn’t assume the app created the customer base anew or solves a novel problem. Maybe this one does, we don’t know. But, what if the app is just an app version of a existing website store? As an example I could imagine a clothing brand wanting an app that customers can install instead of using their phone browser. $10k/month in that context isn’t as surprising or impressive.
  - csomar 2y ago
    In which case the LLM contribution to the $10K/month is equivalent to hiring a mobile developer to build such an app which (given the implied simplicity) should be a few thousands one time cost. Not the $120K/month implied by PP. And don't get me wrong, paying a few dozen dollars to get a few thousand dollars worth of software is quite the value.
- mvkel 2y ago
  I hope someday that people will understand that you can use AI to build "boring" non-AI apps.
- csa 2y ago
  > I don't know the parent poster either but if your LLM product is generating $10k/month, your moat is really weak and you'll probably shut the f* up because your only moat is obscurity. Why risk that? It sounds like they are doing productized consulting, so the relationship is the moat.
mvkel 2y ago
I mean, I'm pretty upfront on my personal site that I've built successful companies in the past. Not sure why I would lie about this one, especially when I'm admitting that I'm not doing the work :) See comment above for more context.
csa 2y ago
It sounds like they are doing productized consulting, in which case the software doesn’t have to be particularly complex. The relationship also builds a natural moat.

by mvdtnz 2y ago

csomar 2y ago

They are also usually selling another AI-wrapper. I don't know the parent poster either but if your LLM product is generating $10k/month, your moat is really weak and you'll probably shut the f* up because your only moat is obscurity. Why risk that?

jahnu 2y ago
We shouldn’t assume the app created the customer base anew or solves a novel problem. Maybe this one does, we don’t know. But, what if the app is just an app version of a existing website store? As an example I could imagine a clothing brand wanting an app that customers can install instead of using their phone browser. $10k/month in that context isn’t as surprising or impressive.
- csomar 2y ago
  In which case the LLM contribution to the $10K/month is equivalent to hiring a mobile developer to build such an app which (given the implied simplicity) should be a few thousands one time cost. Not the $120K/month implied by PP. And don't get me wrong, paying a few dozen dollars to get a few thousand dollars worth of software is quite the value.
mvkel 2y ago
I hope someday that people will understand that you can use AI to build "boring" non-AI apps.
csa 2y ago
> I don't know the parent poster either but if your LLM product is generating $10k/month, your moat is really weak and you'll probably shut the f* up because your only moat is obscurity. Why risk that? It sounds like they are doing productized consulting, so the relationship is the moat.

mvkel 2y ago

I mean, I'm pretty upfront on my personal site that I've built successful companies in the past. Not sure why I would lie about this one, especially when I'm admitting that I'm not doing the work :) See comment above for more context.

csa 2y ago

It sounds like they are doing productized consulting, in which case the software doesn’t have to be particularly complex. The relationship also builds a natural moat.