How he makes $250K per month from a simple app (Letterly Breakdown)

Anton

• Built Letterly after 15 years of trying to create startups.
• Tried about six or seven startups before Letterly worked.
• Launched Letterly two years before the interview.
• Came across the idea while building a different startup with a team.
• Saw early ChatGPT and OpenAI transcription apps that felt powerful but poorly implemented.
• Stopped the previous startup to focus on Letterly.

Letterly

• Turns speech into well-written text.
• Helps people create notes, messages, emails, social media posts, and meeting notes.
• Serves people for whom speaking is easier than typing.
• Focuses heavily on simplicity, ease of use, and user experience.
• Offers a paid application with a free trial.
• Provides a recording screen with a multi-speaker option.
• Transcribes quickly and is moving toward real-time transcription.
• Lets users rewrite text in multiple ways.
  • Users can favorite rewrite actions so they appear at the bottom of a note.
  • Users can generate takeaways from pasted or recorded text.
  • Users can scroll between rewritten versions and choose what they prefer.
• Includes one-click copy because the team found it was easier than sharing for many users.
• Supports sharing to tools like Google Docs and Notion.
• Is building a feature that lets users add more recorded text to an existing note.

Metrics and Financials

• Makes $250,000 per month in revenue.
• Has 30,000 monthly active users.
• Has 20,000 paid subscribers.
• Reached 150,000 downloads over two years.
• Has a team of 10.
• Spends about $30,000 per month on salaries.
• Spends about $5,000 per month on AI costs.
• Spends about $200,000 per month on advertising.

Product Philosophy

• Treats simplicity as the main competitive advantage.
• Designs every screen and interaction around eliminating friction.
• Believes every point of friction can hurt revenue.
• Sees user experience as a multiplier for onboarding, retention, conversion, and word of mouth.
• Avoids assuming that more features automatically create more value.
• Asks whether a requested feature should be built or whether an existing feature should be made easier.
• Chose a tested idea and made it much simpler rather than chasing something completely unique.

Simplicity Playbook

• Treat simplicity and user experience as a separate feature.
• Iterate repeatedly at different stages.
  • Start with prototypes and simplify through discussion and testing.
  • Reassess during development before releasing.
  • Use post-release feedback and user behavior to simplify again.
• Accept postponing features when more time is needed to make them easier to use.
• Build something that is novel but already validated by someone else.
• Avoid spending too much time or money validating a completely new idea.
• Build something that can generate money from day one.

Tech Stack and Tools

• Started with React Native for the mobile apps.
• Later changed the Apple app to Swift.
• Uses Python on the backend.

Lessons and Advice

• Work with co-founders from day one.
• Build something that can launch in one or two months, while allowing extra time for user experience.
• Go all in when there is traction and revenue.
• Focus 100% once the idea shows it can work.