Starter Story · 2025-11-19

Our Mobile App Made $85K in 8 months

Brothers Jack and Nick Sweeney built Coherence, a breathwork app, after validating ideas with content first. They test ideas as posts on X, move winners to Instagram/TikTok short-form, then YouTube. A viral 'vortex breath' tweet led to the app; the MVP was built with Cursor and launched February 2025. A polarizing short video ('something they don't want you to know') hit ~8M views and became a series. Eight months in: 15,000 downloads, ~$85K revenue, ~$11K/month average, $22K best month, costs $5-6K/month at ~50% margin.

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7 tactics

Coherence · B2C · breathwork app

Post about topics you love, then build the app around the post that goes viral

A viral 'vortex breath' tweet became the app; ~$85K in 8 months

Before building anything, both founders posted content on topics that genuinely excited them (Jack: threads on spiritual/esoteric topics; Nick: breathwork). They watched which ideas went viral. Jack's tweet about the 'vortex breath' went super viral overnight, which became the idea for the app; they then built the MVP with Cursor in a few weeks and launched February 2025. 'We basically reverse engineered the content into the app.'

Workedvalidationfounder-brand

Starter Story · 2025-11-19

Coherence · B2C · breathwork app

Test ideas as posts on X, then remake the winners as Reels, TikToks, then YouTube

Founders say it shows what the market wants; no numbers

Use X as an 'idea battleground': post many ideas as text. When a post gets traction, treat it as validated and turn it into an Instagram short-form script, posting on Instagram and TikTok. If the short video does well, make it into a YouTube video. Move 'upstream' to longer, more impactful formats only with proven ideas.

Workedorganic-short-videoorganic-social

Starter Story · 2025-11-19

Coherence · B2C · breathwork app

Film 30 to 60 short videos in one go and post every day

Founder says it lets them out-post everyone; no numbers

Nick's playbook: pick a painful niche and make lots of content about it; batch content ideas weekly; film in bulk, 30-60 videos in a session ('hook, film, done, another one'), giving about two months of content; see which pieces work; then 'outmarket everyone': make as many Reels as possible, hire clippers if you can. As bootstrapped founders, Nick is the face and posts 'like a madman every single day'. Planned next step: put Spark and Meta ad money behind the winning organic videos to test willingness to pay.

Unknownorganic-short-videofounder-brand

Starter Story · 2025-11-19

Coherence · B2C · breathwork app

Open a video with "Do you want to know something they don't want you to know?"

~8M views across platforms, 1M the next day; turned into a series

A short health video framed in a polarizing way, opening with 'Do you want to know something that they don't want you to know?' ('they' left ambiguous, implying forces keeping you sick). Nick almost reshot it three times because he thought it was bad. After it took off it was turned into a recurring series.

Workedorganic-short-video

Starter Story · 2025-11-19

Coherence · B2C · breathwork app

Spend ~$2,500 a month on video editors and $800 on a thread ghostwriter

Core of their organic model; business runs at ~50% margin

Largest cost line is about $2.5K/month on video editors, 'pretty core to the organic content model'. A ghostwriter helps write X threads for $800/month. A virtual assistant handles admin for $500/month. Total costs $5-6K/month.

Unknownorganic-short-videoteam-process

Starter Story · 2025-11-19

Coherence · B2C · breathwork app

Start spending $1,000-2,000 a month on influencer partnerships

Just getting started; no results yet

Beginning to work with influencers, spending about $1-2K/month on partnerships. No details on terms or creators.

Unknowninfluencerpartnerships

Starter Story · 2025-11-19

Coherence · B2C · breathwork app

Give a 3-day free trial on the $40 yearly plan only; charge $10 monthly upfront

Subscription with two plans: yearly at $40 with a 3-day free trial, and monthly at $10 billed immediately with no trial.

Unknownpaywallpricing

Starter Story · 2025-11-19

Numbers mentioned

Who	Metric	Value	Context	When
Coherence	downloads	15K downloads approximate	Downloads since launch (8 months)	1:12
Coherence	revenue	USD 85K approximate	Revenue in the first 8 months since launch	1:12
Coherence	revenue	USD 11K/month approximate	Average monthly revenue since launch	1:32
Coherence	revenue	USD 22K/month	Best month so far	1:32
Coherence	users	2,000 users approximate	'Just surpassed 2,000 users' (distinct from 15,000 downloads; likely paying subscribers, not stated)	1:32
Coherence	views	8M viewsper video approximate	One polarizing short video, views across all platforms	8:39
Coherence	views	1M viewsper video /day approximate	Same video, views by the day after posting	8:39
personJack Sweeney's university YouTube channel	followers	20K subscribers approximate	YouTube subscribers on Jack's earlier channel, before Coherence	1:52
Coherence	cost	USD 2,500/month approximate	Video editors for the organic content model	11:02
Coherence	marketing spend	USD 1,000–2,000/month approximate	Influencer partnerships, just starting	11:02
Coherence	cost	USD 800/month	Ghostwriter who helps write X threads	11:02
Coherence	cost	USD 500/month	Virtual assistant for admin	11:02
Coherence	cost	USD 300/month approximate	AI coding agents	11:02
Coherence	cost	USD 5,000–6,000/month approximate	Total monthly costs (editors, influencers, ghostwriter, VA, coding agents, RevenueCat ~$100, other tools ~$100)	11:02
Coherence	margin	50% approximate	Operating margin	11:02
Coherence	price	USD 40/year	Yearly plan with 3-day free trial	10:02
Coherence	price	USD 10/month	Monthly plan, no trial	10:02