How I built my first SaaS without an audience ($25K/month)

I took everything that I knew and built my first SaaS.

Meet Hassam, a non-technical guy who launched an app with Cursor.

So I spent literally all day for the next 48 hours building it out. This is what I did. But he had no audience, no distribution, and no way to reach customers. So he did something I've never seen anyone do before. He found a distribution channel overnight. Then 90 days later, his app was doing over $20,000 a month. If you can spend 1,000 hours on a project and implement your domain knowledge, you're going to be successful. So I asked Hassam to come on the channel and share exactly how he did it. And in this video, we'll get into how to find the perfect business idea customized to you, how to save yourself years figuring out distribution, and his six-step playbook on how he would do this all again if he had to start over today. All right, let's get into it. I'm Pat Walls, and this is Starter Story.

All right, Hassam, welcome to the channel. Stoked to have you here. Tell me about who you are, what you built, and what's your story.

I'm Hassam, and I turned my Amazon business into Launch Fast. I built it with Cursor in 48 hours. I pitched it to a coaching company with a massive audience, and now we're earning $20K+ MRR. I'm excited to share my story with you today.

Okay, that's amazing that you did it so fast. Before we get into how you built it and everything, I do want to understand what is this business? Is this SaaS? What is it?

Launch Fast is an AI-powered Amazon product research tool built for private label sellers. It helps you find, validate, and source products in minutes instead of weeks. The growth timeline has been steady. Day zero, we launched with the partnership with Legacy X. About 30 days in, we were at $10K MRR. Around day 60, we were at $17K to $18K with steady growth. And now, 90 days in, we're at about $21.8K MRR. We offer a $50/month price to the coaching customers of Legacy X and a regular pricing model of $199/month for the general public. We also have an official Chrome extension with 330 active users and all our users are paying because we launched in a unique niche built for that audience.

That's really impressive, man. To be doing over $20,000 MRR in 90 days is amazing. This is a super cool story. Before we get into how you built this and everything, I want to understand a little bit about your background. Do you have a coding background? Are you a developer? What's your background?

I have a non-technical background. I was working a corporate job while running two Amazon brands on the side. Just a classic side hustle grind. Because of Twitter, I discovered Cursor and AI tools early on. I was fascinated that I finally had the power to build things without a CS degree. I built about 10 to 12 projects across different spaces. Most never made it to production, but I learned something from each project. So when I started building tools for my Amazon business, I realized I had something most developers don't: niche domain knowledge on Amazon. I thought instead of solving theoretical problems, I could build a tool I wish I had as an Amazon seller. So I decided to put Cursor to use and built the tool to monetize my knowledge.

Okay, I want to dive into the idea because you mentioned 10 to 12 failed projects, but then this one took off. Walk me through how you found that idea and how you knew it could be something big.

This idea came out of pure frustration. While I was launching products, I was spending 20 to 30 hours researching each product idea, copy-pasting data into Google Sheets. It was exhausting. All the tools I tried seemed like they were solving important problems on paper but didn't tackle the real bottlenecks. But I also realized I had zero audience, and zero audience means zero distribution. So even if I built the best tool out there, no one would know about it. Then I remembered that two years ago I had bought a coaching program called Legacy X. They already had distribution and thousands of active Amazon sellers looking for a new tool. So instead of trying to build an audience and my own distribution, which can take years, I partnered with someone who already had distribution. I gave up equity, but I got instant access to my target customers.

Okay, super smart. You solved the problem a lot of builders run into: AI tools can help me build quickly, but now I have a bigger problem, distribution. I really like how you saw this. Can you explain how you solved the distribution problem?

I reached out to Legacy X and said, "Guys, I can build you a better product research tool than anything on the market. Give me 48 hours and if you like what you see, we can partner. No strings attached and you have nothing to lose." So I spent literally all day for the next 48 hours building it out. For the first four hours, I mapped out their existing systems and SOPs, what data they had, workflows they use, and then I combined it with my own processes to build the MVP foundation. Once I had that, for hours 5 to 12, I used Cursor to build the core features. It didn't have to be perfect, just functional. Then I spent hours 13 to 20 testing bugs and iterating. Cursor was a lifesaver. At hours 21 to 30, I polished the UI to make it look professional. Branding is everything. After that, hours 31 to 40, I tested edge cases and made sure it all worked. Then it was final polish, prepping the demo, and I recorded the video and sent it over. Next day, I woke up to the call: quit your job, we're doing this full-time. Even though I traded equity for distribution, I got instant validation and a built-in customer base. When it comes to software, instead of sacrificing resources like time, I'd trade equity any day to get access to someone else's distribution. Even if it's at 50%, I'd say 50% of $20K MRR is better than 50% of $0 MRR.

What I love about Hassam's story is that he did it with zero coding experience. He had an idea. He shipped it with Cursor and with the right distribution strategy, he hit $20,000 a month. So I wanted to ask you, what's your idea? What have you been planning to build? And are you ready? Now AI is making it possible for anyone to become a builder and Hassam is proof of that. If you've made it this far, you might want to become a builder too. So I want to invite you to check out Starter Story Build.

It's our program where we teach you how to build apps with AI. In just a few weeks, you'll go from idea to launch and finally build that idea that's sitting in your head right now. Our next boot camp starts soon. If you're ready to build, head to the first link in the description to join Starter Story Build. All right, let's get back to the video.

I'm also curious about another thing. You mentioned you had 10 to 12 products that went nowhere. Why do you think this product really took off?

I felt like this project was successful because I had niche domain knowledge in the Amazon world. Previously, I was launching products like AI video generators or automating job applications. I didn't really know what the end user wanted or why the current software wasn't living up to the hype. With Amazon, I understood A to Z what problems new sellers were running into and what data they needed. That's why putting my domain knowledge into Launch Fast was successful versus the graveyard in my GitHub. Honestly, every person has a niche hobby or interest, and with AI you can monetize that knowledge. You know problems and solutions better than anybody in those niches. If you turn them into software, productize it properly, and get the solutions into the hands of other people, there's a huge opportunity waiting for you.

This is something I 100% agree with and it's something I tell a lot of people who join Starter Story: pick an idea where you have domain knowledge, skills, and expertise. Go build something in that area and you won't have to waste two years learning a whole new domain. For anyone watching who is questioning what their domain knowledge is or how to get started, what would be your playbook if you had to start over today?

If I were starting today, here are the exact steps I'd take. Step one: identify your domain knowledge and write down three to five industries or domains where you have deep knowledge and you've personally solved problems. Step two: find validated markets. From those three to five domains, look for niches that already have successful SaaS tools. If they're already making money, the market exists. Use tools like Sensor Tower, Ahrefs, or even Google Search Console to find competitors doing well. The key is you don't need a unique idea. Execute better in a proven market. Step three: do a deep dive on user pain points. Go where customers hang out. Dive into Reddit, Facebook groups, Twitter, and review sites. Identify who the user is, what their ultimate goal is, and what the current defects are in the tools they're using. Step four: build the MVP. Build the one feature with the highest ROI potential and the easiest implementation. Don't worry about perfect. Make it functional and get it into users' hands fast. Step five: don't build an audience from scratch. Find who already has access to your target customers. Is it coaching companies? Communities? Influencer groups? Send them the demo and offer a partnership for distribution. Remember, 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing. List five potential distribution partners and reach out to three by the end of the week. Step six: after launch, ship daily and iterate fast based on real user feedback. Take actionable insights from feature requests and bugs, and commit to shipping at least one improvement every day for 30 days. To wrap it up, you no longer need to be an engineer to build production software. If you can spend 1,000 hours on a project, test it thoroughly, and implement your domain knowledge, you're going to be successful.

Amazing. Thank you for sharing that playbook. I think it's super cool. I want to change the topic slightly. As someone who doesn't have a crazy development background, what is your tech stack for building a SaaS right now? What have you used for your product?

This is a tech stack anyone can use to go from idea to MVP in 48 hours. We use Cursor. We host on Vercel and deploy with the CLI. We use Supabase for database and storage. This replaces Firebase, and with the Supabase MCP there's no friction implementing it with Cursor. We make sure all onboarding emails are personalized and send them with Resend. We use Apify because a lot of niches depend on data aggregation, and Apify simplifies collection. We build the app on TypeScript and Next.js because it's the most modern and AI-friendly stack, and Cursor works best with it. The great thing is once you launch, your costs are minimal. Cursor is the only one with a max subscription at $200, and until you hit a winning product you won't hurt your pockets too much.

The last question we ask everyone who comes on Starter Story: if you could stand on young Hassam's shoulders before you built any software, what advice would you give yourself or anyone watching this that wants to build software and find distribution like you did?

If you're an ideas person, someone who sees problems and imagines solutions, you can now use AI to build those solutions. AI tools have closed the gap between idea and execution. I would tell Hassam to stop waiting, stop planning, just start building. Try to ship something this weekend, get it in front of at least 10 people, listen to feedback, iterate, and ship again. If it doesn't work, repeat it. The tools exist, the knowledge exists, and the only thing stopping you from shipping is yourself. So just ship and keep shipping.

Well, that's amazing advice, Hassam. Thank you for coming on. $20,000 MRR in 90 days is amazing. This is a great example of what's possible in 2025 and beyond. Thanks for coming on, thanks for sharing everything, and good luck in the future.

Thanks so much.

That was pretty fun. What do you think? What's your takeaways?

I mean, this story is absolutely insane. This guy who didn't know how to code, who didn't have an audience, he built the app in 48 hours. Obviously, they probably took some equity, maybe 50% equity in that, but now he's making $10,000 a month pure profit. The business was started in 2025, which is the year we're in right now. What do you think?

Yeah, I mean it's such a smart strategy, especially for people with no audience or a small audience. It's like a hack. It's a new way of thinking: how do I get customers? You always think Reddit, Twitter, and all this stuff, and I hadn't thought of something like this before. That's what I'll take away for sure.

I think a lot of people out there, no offense, but you suck at finding customers. You suck at marketing and it's going to take a long time to get better. This is a great way to shortcut that. You don't have to sell half your app for the next app you build. But for the first one, that's a pretty good deal. I would take that any day of the week. But again, reminder that none of this would be possible without the knowledge on how to build apps and an idea. So if you were inspired by Hassam and want to learn how to build stuff quickly, that's exactly what we teach you in Starter Story Build. In a couple weeks, you'll come up with an idea, build it with AI tools, and launch it into the real world and get it into the hands of real customers so you can do it over and over again until you become great like Hassam. If you are ready to get off the sidelines and get building, check it out. All right, guys. See you in the next one. Peace.