This newsletter breaks down real-world cases of people making serious money with apps in the AI era.
Today’s subject: Sarah Perl.
Sarah Perl had zero programming experience.
She had never written a single line of code.
Yet she built an app using AI tools — and just two months after launch, it reached $300K in monthly recurring revenue.
But the most interesting part isn’t the AI.
It’s what she did before building the app.
Sarah first built a massive audience through short-form content. One of her tarot videos went from fewer than 150 followers to 900K+ views. Another reached more than 5 million views.
She then turned that audience into a $1M+ coaching business before eventually converting the business into an app.
Her approach was essentially:
Build distribution → discover unmet needs → build the product.
And when she finally built the app, AI dramatically reduced the technical barrier.
She used:
Claude Code for development
Claude and Google AI Studio for design and supporting work
Just 2 days to build her first working MVP
A 38-screen onboarding flow
A paywall with a free trial and countdown timer
Then came the growth machine.
Her short-form content uses carefully engineered viral mechanics, while Instagram comments trigger an automated ManyChat → DM → App Store funnel.
One particularly interesting finding:
A UGC-style video with just 510K views generated more conversions than videos with several million views.
The lesson is simple: views don’t necessarily equal revenue.
I broke down the entire playbook on Onbo Hub, including:
How Sarah built an audience from zero
The viral content formats behind her growth
Her 38-screen onboarding
How she built the app without coding
The ManyChat lead-generation funnel
Why UGC converted better than polished influencer content
Her “distribution first” approach to building products
Read the full breakdown on Onbo Hub →
A 25-Year-Old Who Can’t Code Built an App With AI and Hit $300K a Month in 8 Weeks
Going forward, I’ll be publishing these deep dives on Onbo Hub, where I break down the onboarding, monetization, and growth strategies behind successful apps.
Read the full article on Onbo Hub → https://onbo-hub.com/newsletter