I'm 14 And I Built A $14K/Month App

Evan

• Built Locked, a gamified health and fitness app, and scaled it to $14,000 per month within a few months.
• Became interested in entrepreneurship as a kid when he chose to develop Roblox games instead of only playing them.
• Tested multiple business models before apps, including drop shipping, reselling, clipping, and vending machines.
• Built Problem Pal as his first app, which peaked at about $2,000 per month and was later sold.
• Built Clear AI in a few weeks, but it did not gain traction.
• Got the idea for Locked after a friend said he struggled to stay on task and motivated.

Locked

• Helps users stay on task by turning productivity and health habits into a gamified experience.
• Uses character selection, leaderboards, motivational features, badges, levels, XP, and tasks.
• Lets users add custom tasks and also provides basic tasks to start.
• Awards 100 XP when a user checks off a task.
• Includes rankings for all time, the last 7 days, and the current day.
• Includes a motivational screen featuring Jeremiah.

Metrics And Pricing

• Reached more than $14,000 per month in revenue.
• Charges $40 per year or $7 per week.
• Offers a 3-day free trial on the yearly plan.
• Shows a discounted transaction-abandon paywall for $20 per year when users exit the first paywall.

Build Process

• Designed the app in Figma over about 2 weeks.
• Transferred the designs into Xcode after the Figma work was complete.
• Used YouTube tutorials, existing knowledge, and Claude Code during development.
• Took about a month and a half from idea to App Store launch.

Influencer Growth Strategy

• Grew primarily by partnering with influencers who already had audience trust.
• Targeted creator deals where the CPM was lower than his $2 to $3 RPM.
• Typically aimed to close creators around a $1 to $1.50 CPM.
• Worked with Jeremiah Jones because his content aligned with staying locked in and on task.
• Required the app to appear within the first 15 seconds of sponsored content.
• Saw one Jeremiah video generate about $3,000 and about 1,800 downloads from roughly 1 million views across platforms.
• Paid about $800 with a 600,000 minimum view clause for that partnership.

Influencer Partnership Playbook

• Find creators in the app’s niche by searching related terms on Instagram or TikTok.
• Message creators with a simple opener that starts with paid promo.
• Get interested creators on a call.
• Close a deal where the CPM is lower than the app’s RPM.
• Choose from four deal structures:
  • Flat rate for creators who consistently get enough views to hit the target CPM.
  • CPM deal with a hard cap on total payout.
  • Minimum view clause deal, which Evan uses most often.
  • Bonus deal with extra payment if the video reaches a milestone.
• Send video requirements, send a contract, and set a 1-week deadline for the first video.
• Continue working with creators who generate meaningful revenue.

Tech Stack And Costs

• Uses Figma for design.
• Uses Claude Code for development with the $200 per month subscription.
• Uses Superwall for paywall A/B testing, which takes 1% of earnings.
• Uses Supabase as the database, which is free for the app.

Lessons And Advice

• Believes he should have worried less about school and put more time into building his business.
• Thinks people are taught there is only one default path through school, college, and a stable job.
• Says seeing through that path early creates a major advantage.