B2C · dictation app for seniors
How Voicy grows
8 tactics and 24 figures from 1 interview.
Voicy is a speech-to-text app, started as a Chrome extension and now on desktop and mobile, run as a side project by its founder. It grew from free store traffic and Reddit posts at launch to search as its main engine, and it focuses on seniors and people with disabilities rather than the fast typists funded rivals chase. The founder said it makes $16-20K a month.
- Voicy got its first ~100 users from Chrome Web Store traffic after about five friends left reviews, then reached about 200-300 by reposting one angle across subreddits until Reddit blocked it.Voicy (1)Voicy (2)
- The founder called SEO Voicy's real source of growth: about 200 blog posts and 30 landing pages in four or five languages, though he gave no traffic numbers.Voicy
- User calls showed 20-30% of users were seniors or people with disabilities who loved the basic product, so Voicy refocused on them; it now offers a 20% disability discount that about 20% of users take.Voicy (1)Voicy (2)
- An AI For Seniors YouTube series aimed at that audience took the channel from about 1,000 to 12,000 subscribers in about a month.Voicy
- A lifetime plan at about $260 sits next to the $8.49 monthly plan, which the founder said is why monthly revenue of $16-20K runs above the 11K MRR.Voicy
Summary written 2026-10-15 from the tactics below. Figures are as founders stated them.
About Voicy
- What it is
- Speech-to-text app using OpenAI's Whisper API that lets you dictate anywhere on your computer or phone, available as a Chrome extension and Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android apps.
- Who it's for
- Older people and people with disabilities who cannot type comfortably
- Business model
- subscription plus lifetime deal
- Team
- Kourosh, solo founder, as a side project
- Funding
- bootstrapped
As described in the interviews, not independently verified.
Voicy's 8 tactics
Voicy by the numbers
| Metric | Value | Context | Said in |
|---|---|---|---|
| revenue | USD 16K–20K/month approximate | Includes lifetime-deal sales on top of MRR | Starter Story 2026-10-142:29 |
| revenue | USD 18K/month approximate | Host intro 'over $18,000 a month'; also the episode title and description figure. Within the guest's $16-20K range. | Starter Story 2026-10-140:12 |
| mrr | USD 11K/month approximate | From the revenue dashboard shown on screen | Starter Story 2026-10-142:29 |
| price | USD 8.49/month approximate | Monthly plan | Starter Story 2026-10-142:29 |
| price | USD 260/one-time approximate | Lifetime plan | Starter Story 2026-10-142:29 |
| users | 2,500 users/day approximate | Daily active users | Starter Story 2026-10-142:53 |
| users | 10K users/month approximate | Monthly active users | Starter Story 2026-10-142:53 |
| paying users | 1,400 subscriptions approximate | Active subscriptions | Starter Story 2026-10-142:53 |
| discount | 20% | Disability discount, given to anyone who emails the founder | Starter Story 2026-10-142:53 |
| share | 20% approximate | Share of users on the disability discount | Starter Story 2026-10-142:53 |
| time to milestone | 2 weeks approximate | Idea to Chrome extension MVP, built by prompting ChatGPT | Starter Story 2026-10-145:57 |
| time to milestone | 3 months approximate | Time to build the Windows (Electron) app; the Mac app took another month | Starter Story 2026-10-146:44 |
| activity volume | 5 reviews/one-time approximate | Friends asked to review the Chrome extension at launch | Starter Story 2026-10-148:26 |
| views | 10–20 page views approximate | Chrome Web Store page views right after launch; period unclear | Starter Story 2026-10-148:26 |
| users | 100 users estimate | First users, from Chrome Web Store traffic | Starter Story 2026-10-148:26 |
| activity volume | 5–6 posts approximate | Reddit posts of the same content angle before being blocked | Starter Story 2026-10-148:49 |
| users | 200–300 users approximate | Total users after the Reddit posts | Starter Story 2026-10-148:49 |
| count | 200 blog posts approximate | Blog posts on the website | Starter Story 2026-10-149:11 |
| count | 30 landing pages approximate | SEO landing pages | Starter Story 2026-10-149:11 |
| count | 4–5 languages approximate | Languages the website is localized into | Starter Story 2026-10-149:11 |
| followers | 1,000 YouTube subscribers approximate | Before the AI For Seniors series | Starter Story 2026-10-149:11 |
| followers | 12K YouTube subscribers approximate | About a month after starting the AI For Seniors series | Starter Story 2026-10-149:11 |
| share | 60–70% estimate | Share of user-call participants who were fast-typing professionals wanting ~10% more productivity | Starter Story 2026-10-1410:02 |
| share | 20–30% estimate | Share of user calls with people with a physical disability or less tech-savvy seniors; these users loved the product | Starter Story 2026-10-1410:02 |
Topics
Interviews
- I built this app for my dad. Now it makes $18K/month · Starter Story · 2026-10-14