He made $0 for years, then built a free app and hit $122K/month

Aditya had a problem.

He was a software developer in Bangalore trying to build Shopify apps.

He'd lurk in Reddit groups and Shopify forums looking for problems merchants needed solved.

He'd DM them.

Call them. Ask what they struggled with.

Nobody responded.

Then he had an idea.

What if instead of asking for their time, he gave them something valuable for free first?

He built a simple popup app.

Free forever. Email capture with discount codes.

But here's the sneaky part.

He added live chat support to the free app.

Every time a merchant installed it, he got a notification.

And he'd message them first.

"Hey, how are you liking the app?"

Because they were getting free value, they actually talked to him.

And during these conversations, one problem kept coming up.

Shipping profiles in Shopify.

Drop shippers import hundreds of products every week.

Each product has to be manually assigned to a shipping profile.

One by one.

No bulk option.

Merchants told him they'd pay to solve this.

So Aditya built Shipper in April 2023.

One button. Bulk assign. Done.

But here's where it gets interesting.

He didn't charge for it right away.

Kept it free for two months just to collect reviews.

Because in the Shopify App Store, reviews aren't just social proof.

They're rankings.

More reviews = higher you show up in search.

Then he did something most developers never think about.

He named his second app "Shipping Calculator - ShipMagic."

Not just "ShipMagic."

Why?

He typed "ship" into Shopify's search bar and watched the autocomplete suggestions.

"Shipping calculator" was a high-traffic keyword.

So he put it directly in the app name.

App name has the highest ranking weight in Shopify's algorithm.

By June 2023 he made his first dollar.

Around $200-300/month from Shipper.

Launched paid plans for ShipMagic in September.

Hit $1,000/month by December 2023.

He couldn't believe it. Every product he'd built before made zero dollars.

But then he added another traffic source nobody talks about.

He Googled problems his app solved.

"How to charge per item shipping rates in Shopify."

Found forums and Reddit threads on page one of Google.

And just commented with a link to his app and a quick tutorial video.

That's it.

This strategy now drives 15% of his traffic. Consistently. For free.

Today Aditya makes $122,000/month across three Shopify apps.

And he works 2-3 hours a day.

How?

He noticed 80% of support tickets were asking the same 20% of questions.

So he recorded detailed videos for those questions.

Now when someone asks for help, he just sends the video link.

No manual setup. No hiring support.

His apps grow 10-15% every month while he builds his next product.

What he did differently:

• Built a free app to get merchants to talk to him (cold DMs failed)

• Kept paid apps free initially just to farm reviews for rankings

• Put high-traffic keywords directly in the app name

• Commented on top Google results with links to his app

• Built fast and messy (12-18 hour feature turnarounds)

• Automated support with 20% videos that solved 80% of problems

Pricing:

• Looked at competitor pricing

• Stayed in that range

• Gave early free users 50% off for life

The result:

• $122K/month MRR

• 3 apps on autopilot

• Works 2-3 hours/day

• Went from $0 to 6 figures in one year

Three lessons:

1. Give value before asking questions

People won't tell you their problems when you cold DM them. But give them a free tool first and they'll talk to you!

2. Reviews are distribution

Aditya delayed revenue for two months just to collect reviews. In app stores, reviews control your rankings. Rankings control your revenue.

3. Keywords in the name beat perfect branding

"Shipping Calculator - ShipMagic" ranks higher than "ShipMagic." SEO isn't just for websites. It's how customers find your app.

If you're building a product but you’re stuck at an MRR (be it $0 or $1000), your product is probably Failing THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES TEST.

What is it? It’s a test I devised after auditing about 70+ startups and understanding that something in their first five min experience is broken. It could be jargon filled page, or pricing that when compared to competitors LOSE.

I have helped founders fix it, and they were able to get double the results without changing their ad spend or their pricing.

I can help you do it too!

Just because you’re a friend who reads my emails, you’ll be having a 25% OFF

Use the code “IAMASUB” during checkout.

You can know more and buy here

See you inside!

Arunima