Prompt Pulse is now 🍌 AI Makers!

Hold on! This is not spam. You actually signed up for this - a while back. It was called Prompt Pulse, then. After a short hiatus, we are back! With a new name and a new concept: every week, you can read about one person building a money-making business with AI's help.

In this first (rebranded) issue, you’ll meet Louis Pereira, who built AudioPen - a voice recorder that’ll turn your rambling into an understandable summary. In just a month, he got over 500 paying subscribers!

Louis wishes to keep the exact revenue to himself but invites amateur mathematicians to draw their own conclusions: I was one of the first to buy the lifetime access at $29 (a steal). At the moment, the annual pass is priced at $60, and the lifetime deal is at $120.

If all of the 500 first-paying customers paid $29, that means Louise earned $14 500 during his first month. And that is really low-balling it.

From 0 to 500 paying users in 1 month

Q: Describe AudioPen. What does it do? What problem does it solve? Who is the target audience?

Louis Pereira: AudioPen is a tool that transcribes and summarizes your voice notes. It's the easiest way to turn your messy thoughts into clear and structured text. And it's free to start using.

Think of it as a friend who likes to listen to you talk. Now, imagine this friend holding a pen and rewriting all your thoughts in a style, structure, and length of your choice. Heck – imagine that friend being able to rewrite it in a foreign language as well. That's AudioPen.

It is most useful for communicating with others. Especially when your thoughts around a topic are messy, but you want to communicate them clearly. You can just talk to your phone (or laptop), and AudioPen will convert it into text that you can use as an email, SMS, or even a blog post.

You can also use it for more personal stuff – to record book notes, capture ideas, or even as a private journal.

It's versatile and extremely easy to use. All you have to do is hit record and start rambling. AudioPen will do the rest.

Q: How did you come up with the idea - what happened from then to when you had the first version?

AudioPen was an accidental discovery. No market research or gut feeling was followed.

I was playing around with a bunch of APIs and launching multiple 'Tiny Tools' on my website. My goal was just to learn how to use them.

I built a mini version of AudioPen there, and it received lots of interest and positive feedback. So I decided to double down on it and turn it into a standalone product.

I built the first full version in under 12 hours during an event called Half Day Build, which I host every couple of months. Participants in Half Day Build aim to build stuff and go from idea to revenue within 12 hours. I succeeded in launching AudioPen and attracting paying customers during the event.

Q: Explain how it is built, technically. What tools (no-code/code) are you using, and how is it all put together?

AudioPen is built with Bubble. It’s my favorite tool to use. I use OpenAI's Whisper and GPT4 APIs. I also use LemonSqueezy to process payments, Progressier to create a Progressive Web App, Loops to send out emails, and Zapier to connect a few things.

Q: How have you been marketing AudioPen?

I don’t have a strategy here, but I’ve just been building stuff in public.

I talk about AudioPen on Twitter (sometimes a little too much tbh). I share progress updates, future plans, as well as things I learn along the way. I tell people about my small wins and losses along the way.

I even share the rationale behind some of the product decisions I make during my journey.

Twitter serves as a great medium for me to reach potential customers, and connect with existing ones to hear their feedback and get their input on the changes the product direction for AudioPen.

I often worry that I share too much, but I hope it helps entertain some people, educates others about the process of building a product, and inspire a few to start building stuff on their own.

Q: You crossed 500 paying customers in a month. What are the main reasons for this growth and success?

I think it was just the fact that I accidentally stumbled upon a product that solves a real problem in a way that feels like magic. I’ve never built a product that I didn’t need to market actively. People who are paying customers just keep talking about it. Tweeting about it. Sharing it with their friends.

I don’t think I did anything special. I just got lucky here. I’ve rolled the dice multiple times. This time it landed on 6.

Q: What are your plans for the future?

I’m just going to keep my ear to the ground and take it one step at a time. I want to keep talking to customers and listening to what they like about the product and what they dislike.

Fortunately for me, this product is growing without much any active marketing, so I can focus on just making the product better.

I want to keep shipping improvements without adding unnecessary complexity. My goal is to ensure that the product keeps delivering value while continuing to feel like magic.