Kyle Fowler - How I make $42k/mo passively with simple no-code apps (copy me)

Before building, Kyle posted the idea (a baseball card cataloging/scanning app) in r/baseballcards, a fairly small subreddit, after seeing on Twitter that you should validate first. 10-15 people replied that they would use it. A Redditor later DMed him asking whether he was still building it, which got him to finish the unfinished app.

When the app was done, Kyle posted in r/baseballcards as the founder: 'I made this baseball card scanning app; a few months ago I posted about it and got a good response; now it's built and it's $4.99 on the App Store', with a link to the app and to the original post. Referencing the validation post made it feel like a community member following up rather than an ad. He kept posting updates for new features. A friend who later did marketing posted in r/footballcards and got banned for self-promotion.

Cardstock launched as a $4.99 one-time paid download (lifetime access). Kyle doubted anyone would pay $5 recurring, but people who tried to recruit him kept telling him to switch to a free trial. In 2021 he made the app free with subscriptions: $5/month, $50/year and $99 lifetime (lifetime offered first). He now says there is no reason to charge upfront; if you insist on paying up front, go free with a hard paywall instead.

The app was originally just called 'Cardstock' with no subtitle, so it only got people searching the name. Apple's $100 free Apple Search Ads credit pushed Kyle to learn about keywords; he read Sensor Tower and Appfigures posts on ASO, brainstormed a list of terms, checked their popularity with a Sensor Tower free trial, and picked the highest-value ones that fit. Title became 'Cardstock Sports Card Scanner' ('baseball card scanner' didn't fit the character limit) with a subtitle along the lines of 'find value for baseball cards', ordering keywords by priority. It was the first baseball card scanner app. He now tracks keywords in Astro and suggests Sensor Tower's 1-month free trial ('with as many emails as you want') plus checking popularity before choosing a niche.

Modeled on big-brand TikTok (Duolingo, Brita), Kyle and Jacob started posting on the Cardstock account with ring lights, mimicking dropshipping-style videos, memes and silent pack openings. The assumption was that growing the brand page would lead viewers to the link in bio.

After the brand-content flops, they found a format with the app in hand and condensed it into a hook-and-demo series filmed at sports card shows and value bins: show a desirable card for 3-5 seconds with on-screen text like 'What is this MJ card worth?', scan it with the app, reveal the value. Jacob voices over it as a vlog ('I was at a card show in Orlando and I found this Michael Jordan card'), since they really use the app to find underpriced cards (e.g. bought a $500 card for $30 and flipped it). The goal is 'what's the app?' comments; the app name is rarely said and a 'link in bio' CTA seemed unnecessary. They picked this format because every element (hook text, first image, story) is controllable and testable, unlike negotiation videos. Kyle wrote a TikTok strategy doc as a checklist (hook, storytelling, 'every action, text, word should have a purpose', clear the idea as fast as possible, feel organic).

Instead of hiring an agency or an experienced TikToker, Kyle hired his friend Jacob, then working at Wendy's, to make videos. They sat down daily: Jacob made videos, Kyle gave feedback and suggestions, and Kyle wrote his repeated feedback into a strategy doc used as a checklist. They learned from Twitter and Consumer Club but chose to solve it themselves first. Later a second friend, Pack, joined. Kyle's reasoning: you have to learn enough to recognize someone great, and a bootstrapped company can't afford a wrong $5-10K agency bet.

Cardstock showed a paywall right at first open with no free trial; it could be closed with a hidden X button. Users who closed it got 5 free scans before having to pay.

After TikTok took off over Christmas, Cardstock replaced the soft paywall (closable, 5 free scans) with a hard paywall. Kyle recommends a hard paywall over charging for the download.

Added the Cardstock logo at the top of the scanner. Scanemon has a hidden setting, used by the content team, that shows the app promo/brand name and marketing text in the scanner for videos and slideshows (not shown to normal users). Idea copied from Fig and Cal AI's scanners, even though it breaks Apple's design guidance. Rationale: conversion from organic content is almost impossible to measure, so make every small tweak that should raise it.

Jacob built a repeatable TikTok slideshow format of card-show/collecting tips, copied from other tips slideshows in the niche, with the app plugged into the slides. Pack posts it on an in-house account (Pokemay) whose profile picture is an AI-generated girl, because it appeals more to girls and guys don't mind. Once posts worked, they systemized the format (hook images, captions, pre-written hooks) so others could post it. Kyle's own slideshow attempts a year earlier had failed.

Once the tips-slideshow format was proven in-house, they loaded it into Nois: 38 hook images, ~230 body images with captions, and a set of pre-written text hooks. Nois auto-generates a slideshow for each creator, who posts it on their own account; Nois handles attribution and payouts. The brand pays ~$1-2 CPM and Nois keeps half. Most posts get few views, but the volume adds up. The dashboard breaks results down by text hook and image, so the best hooks are visible. Nois put them in a Slack channel with advice. Earlier they tried paying creators CPM directly (a campaign on Growe, hiring via Sideshift, DMing people on TikTok) with a Google Drive of photos and pre-made hooks.