Starter Story · 2026-05-17

My Two Apps Make $150K/Month Each

Nicole (@madebycol) runs design and distribution for four consumer apps built with co-founder Aaron: Glam Up (AI glow-up app for women, 1M users in 6 months, peak $150K MRR), Sprout (ex-PrepAI, swipe-to-apply job app, $250K MRR in 8 months, ~$200K steady) and two stealth apps at ~$200K MRR after 3 months. All hard-paywalled and grown by organic UGC: faceless slideshows, then 200+ trained creators driving 100M-500M monthly views. Playbook: test formats 2-3 weeks each, then source, interview, train (course + quizzes) and manage creators.

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10 tactics

Glam Up · B2C · AI makeup and glow-up app

Build the women's version of a hit looksmaxing app for men

1M users in 6 months; peak $150K MRR

“One of them was Umax. It's a looksmaxing app for guys, and we loosely got inspired by it, and we wanted to build a glow up app for women and makeup, and we realized that there's no apps like that existing on the App Store yet.”

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Starter Story · 2026-05-17

Sprout · B2C · swipe-to-apply job app

Move from beauty to job-hunting students, who have more money to spend

$250K MRR within 8 months

“For Sprout, we actually started when we were trying to pivot away from the beauty space, and we were trying to target more college students and post-college students because they have higher purchasing power.”

Workedpositioning-nichemarket-selection

Starter Story · 2026-05-17

Glam Up · B2C · AI makeup and glow-up app

Post faceless slideshows and videos on TikTok and Instagram

Peak month: 40-50M TikTok and ~200M Instagram views; 1M users in 6 months

“For Glam Up, we built it 2 years ago. At that time, we were doing faceless UGCs. At our peak in a month, we got around 40 to 50 million views on TikTok, and I think around 200 million views on Instagram.”

Workedorganic-short-videougc-creators

Starter Story · 2026-05-17

Glam Up · B2C · AI makeup and glow-up app

Try each social format for 2-3 weeks, then pour everything into the winner

Founder credits it for all four apps; no per-format numbers

“First is Reddit marketing. Second is TikTok and IG faceless content. That includes slide shows, different variations of CTAs. Third one is face UGC.”

Workedorganic-short-videoexperimentation

Starter Story · 2026-05-17

Sprout · B2C · swipe-to-apply job app

Vet each creator on a call, then train them with a course and quizzes

Over 50% of trained creators go viral within their first 2 weeks

“The first one is interview. You want to get on an interview with them, vibe check them, and make sure that they are taking this campaign seriously. And for the actual onboarding, I do a course for all of my apps.”

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Starter Story · 2026-05-17

Sprout · B2C · swipe-to-apply job app

Train 2-10 creators until one goes viral, then scale to hundreds

200+ active creators; 100M views a month, peaking at 400M in one week

“then you can just onboard 2 to 10 creators, train them until they go viral. Once you find that, then you can scale it and build out a proper system.”

Workedcreator-opsugc-creators

Starter Story · 2026-05-17

Sprout · B2C · swipe-to-apply job app

Find creators who fit the format through application forms and VA outreach

“if it's talking head, you need to find creators that are good at yapping, they're good at talking. If you're doing reaction videos, you need to find creators that are really good at facial expressions.”

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Starter Story · 2026-05-17

Glam Up · B2C · AI makeup and glow-up app

Lock every app behind a paywall with weekly or monthly plans

Used on apps peaking at $150K and $250K MRR; no test reported

“So we hard-paywall all of our apps. When it comes to our business models, we do a weekly or monthly subscription for these two apps.”

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Starter Story · 2026-05-17

Glam Up · B2C · AI makeup and glow-up app

Design welcome and onboarding screens to warm users up to paying

Founder calls it half of her growth approach; no numbers

“For example, how to design the welcome pages, the onboarding, how do you prime users into converting better.”

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Starter Story · 2026-05-17

Glam Up · B2C · AI makeup and glow-up app

Run the same creator playbook on each new app you launch

Two new apps at ~$200K MRR combined within 3 months

“in the past 3 months, I've built two more apps, they're currently in stealth, but they are at around $200K MRR and growing pretty fast using the same system.”

Workedportfolio

Starter Story · 2026-05-17

Numbers mentioned

Subject	Metric	Value	Quote
Glam Up	mrr Peak MRR	USD 150K approximate	“My first app, Glam Up, got a million users in 6 months, and we were at peak $150K MRR, and my second app, Sprout, previously PrepAI”
Glam Up	users First 6 months of scaling	1M users approximate	“We got the first million users in the first 6 months of really going at it, scaling it.”
Glam Up	downloads iOS + Android	2M downloads approximate	“right now, I think we have around 2 million total downloads.”
Glam Up	views TikTok, peak month, faceless UGC	40M–50M views/month approximate	“At our peak in a month, we got around 40 to 50 million views on TikTok, and I think around 200 million views on Instagram.”
Glam Up	views Instagram, peak month, faceless UGC	200M views/month estimate	“At our peak in a month, we got around 40 to 50 million views on TikTok, and I think around 200 million views on Instagram.”
Sprout	mrr Reached within 8 months (RevenueCat)	USD 250K approximate	“We were at $250K MRR on our RevenueCat, and we have steadily been growing at around $200K MRR”
Sprout	mrr Steady level since the $250K peak	USD 200K approximate	“We were at $250K MRR on our RevenueCat, and we have steadily been growing at around $200K MRR”
Sprout	time to milestone Time to ~$250K MRR	8 months approximate	“I grew it to around $250K MRR in 8 months”
Sprout	arr From Nicole's X post quoted by the host: '3 million ARR in 8 months'	USD 3M approximate	“"My app hit 3 million ARR in 8 months."”
Glam Up	mrr Title figure: 'My two apps make $150K/month each'; body gives it as Glam Up's peak	USD 150K approximate	“She has built multiple apps to over $150,000 a month each.”
Sprout	views Average monthly UGC views, late 2025	100M views/month approximate	“For Sprout, late last year, we were doing an average of 100 million monthly views.”
Sprout	views Total views in one 7-day period	400M views/week approximate	“We actually had a 7-day period where we got a total of 400 million views, which is insane.”
Sprout	views Current monthly UGC views across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts; said in the Sprout context but may cover all her apps	400M–500M views/month estimate	“I think right now we are steadily growing at around 4 to 500 million views across, you know, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts.”
Sprout	count Active UGC creators managed at the same time during peak scaling ('200, maybe a bit more')	200 creators approximate	“during our most, like, scaling era, I would say we were managing around 200, maybe a bit more, active creators at the same time.”
Sprout	conversion rate Share of creators completing the training course who go viral within their first 2 weeks ('more than 50%')	50% approximate	“More than 50% of the creators that go through this course go viral within the first 2 weeks.”
aggregateNicole's two stealth apps built in the past 3 months, combined	mrr Reached within ~3 months using the same system	USD 200K approximate	“in the past 3 months, I've built two more apps, they're currently in stealth, but they are at around $200K MRR and growing pretty fast using the same system.”
personNicole's TikTok podcast account	followers Gained in the first 10 days	10K followers approximate	“I got 10K followers in the first 10 days.”