He Made $10M with 3 iPhone Apps After Learning to Code with AI

"I taught myself to code with ChatGPT, and my apps have made over $10 million to date."

This is the story of Blake Anderson, who in less than two years, went from knowing no code to co-founding three AI apps that generate nearly $20 million per year combined.

1. The $20M/Year App Portfolio

Blake taught himself to code in mid-2023. By mid-2024, he had built and co-founded a suite of wildly successful apps:

Riz GPT: An AI dating assistant. Reached $2.5 million in annual revenue.
Umax: An AI "glow-up" application. Did almost $5 million in revenue in its first year.
Kiki: An AI social app. Launched 6 months ago and is already doing over $1 million per month.

2. The Opportunity: Why Apps are Booming

According to Blake, there are two primary reasons why the app market is so lucrative right now:

The AI Revolution: Tools like ChatGPT make it possible to solve complex problems at a much lower cost. It would have been nearly impossible to build an app like Riz GPT without modern LLMs.
New Distribution Channels: Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are in a "bloodbath competition" and are heavily incentivizing new creators. This makes it easier than ever to funnel millions of people to your product through organic content and influencer marketing.

"TikTok and Instagram are very solvable right now. You can figure out the various influencer strategies... to funnel millions of people to your product."

3. The Founder's Journey: From Rock Bottom to Riches

Blake's story didn't start with success. After college, while his friends landed six-figure jobs, he was broke and living at home.

"I had moved back home, family isn't doing well financially, house is going up on the market, my older brother is giving me loans for groceries... I was like, 'Okay, I got to figure something out.'"

He set a goal: make $50,000 on his own in 12 months. This pressure, this urgency, became his greatest motivator.

He saw friends struggling with what to say on dating apps and had an idea. He spent May-June 2023 learning to code with ChatGPT and launched the first, very rough version of Riz GPT in July.

Initial promos flopped. Then, he found two small creators and paid them $50 each.

"Overnight, 5-10 million views total, 45,000 downloads in that first big day... We're at 80k MRR from the jump. That's pretty much all profit."

4. Blake's Blueprint for Building a Million-Dollar App

Here is the exact process Blake recommends for building and marketing an app from scratch:

1. Finding the Idea:

Solve a Problem You See: Riz GPT came from observing his friends' real-life struggles.
Find Monetized Niches: Umax was born from seeing people spend money on physical "glow-up" products (skincare, etc.) and realizing there was no software solution.

2. Validating the Idea:

Become the Target Market: Create a burner social media account and immerse yourself in the niche. Consume the content, understand the pain points, and then build what you would want.

3. The Tech Stack:

Design: Figma. Use other successful apps as references.
Development: React Native with the Expo framework. Use Cursor as your AI-powered IDE.
Banking: Mercury.
Hiring: Upwork. (His tip: hire 5-10 people for a small test task and stick with the best one).

4. The Marketing Engine:

Influencer Marketing: Find creators who have your target audience. Be relentless in contacting them. (He DMed influencers' moms to get in touch).
Internal UGC (User-Generated Content): Create your own content (slideshows, faceless videos) using CapCut and post it on branded accounts.
Iterate Ruthlessly: As soon as you find a strategy that works, "double down and double down and double down on that."

5. Monetization:

Subscriptions: The primary model for all successful apps.
Lower Price Points: Encourages more users and positive sentiment.
Use Superwall: A/B test different price points and offerings to maximize revenue per user.

5. The Real Costs & Profit

Apple's Cut: 15-20% of revenue up to $1M, then 30-33% after.
AI Costs: Surprisingly low, often sub-3% of revenue unless you're doing heavy image/voice generation.
Main Expenses: Marketing and staff.
Profit Margins: Umax does over $100,000 in profit per month. Kiki does a few hundred thousand in profit per month.

Blake's core lesson: Create a sense of urgency. His most successful periods came when he had a fire under his ass to get things done. If you feel like you have that "dog in you," use it.