Starter Story · 2026-06-07

I Built Two Apps That Make $120K/Month

Kyle Fowler, a self-taught iOS developer and lifelong card collector, built Cardstock (sports card value scanner, launched ~6 years ago) and Scanémon (the same app for Pokémon cards, launched 2025, MVP built in a day with Cursor's agent). Cardstock: ~15K active subs, ~$75K MRR, ~13K downloads/month. Scanémon: ~3,400 subs, ~$17K MRR, ~16K new customers/month. Together ~$120K/month (~$1.5M/year) with a team of five. First users came from a Reddit post; current marketing leans on TikTok slideshows distributed to creators via Noise, paid per view.

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5 tactics

Cardstock · B2C · sports card value scanner

Build the app you wanted for your own hobby when the App Store has none

Grew into ~$75K MRR over six years

“And so I went on the App Store, and there was no app for it. So, I was like, "Well, I want to build one."”

Workedvalidationpositioning-niche

Starter Story · 2026-06-07

Cardstock · B2C · sports card value scanner

Give creators TikTok slideshow templates to post and pay them by views

Founder calls it their biggest success; no numbers given

“We've had so much success with TikTok slideshows. They're very simple. They're very repeatable. You come up with a format, you find out what converts and you find out what gets views, and you find the balance of those two things to drive downloads.”

Workedugc-creatorsorganic-short-video

Starter Story · 2026-06-07

Cardstock · B2C · sports card value scanner

Post on Reddit when the app is finished

First downloads came almost immediately; no numbers

“I finished it and gave a Reddit update post about having completed it, and then so I got my first downloads pretty quick immediately.”

Workedcommunitypr-launch

Starter Story · 2026-06-07

Scanémon · B2C · Pokémon card value scanner

Rebuild your working app for a nearby hobby, built in a day with AI

$17K MRR and 3,400 subscribers in a year; more new customers a month than the original

“This is Scanémon. Basically the same app, but for Pokémon cards. We launched it only a year ago, but we've been doing pretty good with it.”

Workedportfoliomarket-selection

Starter Story · 2026-06-07

Cardstock · B2C · sports card value scanner

Bring in friends for a three-way revenue split and teach them to code

Team of three grew to five; revenue from a few hundred a month to ~$1.5M a year

“so I asked them if they wanted to come help and split the rev three ways, even though there was basically no revenue and they didn't know how to code very much. So, I taught them how to do that.”

Workedteam-process

Starter Story · 2026-06-07

Numbers mentioned

Subject	Metric	Value	Quote
Open Brace Apps	revenue Both apps combined	USD 120K/month approximate	“my name is Kyle Fowler and I built two apps that make 120k a month.”
Open Brace Apps	revenue Title figure; shown MRR sums to ~$92K	USD 120K/month approximate	“today those apps make over $120,000 a month”
Open Brace Apps	revenue '1.5 mil a year', said in the context of Cardstock's growth but consistent with both apps combined	USD 1.5M/year approximate	“we went from three guys in a basement making a few hundred bucks a month to five guys traveling all around the world making 1.5 mil a year.”
Cardstock	revenue Early days with three founders	a few hundred dollars approximate	“three guys in a basement making a few hundred bucks a month”
Open Brace Apps	team size Up from three founders	5 people	“five guys traveling all around the world”
Cardstock	paying users Active subscriptions	15K subscriptions approximate	“Cardstock is sitting at about 15,000 active subscriptions and up to like 75k monthly recurring revenue.”
Cardstock	mrr	USD 75K approximate	“Cardstock is sitting at about 15,000 active subscriptions and up to like 75k monthly recurring revenue.”
Cardstock	downloads	13K downloads/month approximate	“We get about like 13,000 downloads a month.”
Scanémon	paying users Active subscriptions, ~1 year after launch	3,400 subscriptions approximate	“We're currently sitting at about like 3,400 active subscriptions, 17k monthly recurring revenue, about 16,000 new customers a month”
Scanémon	mrr ~1 year after launch	USD 17K approximate	“We're currently sitting at about like 3,400 active subscriptions, 17k monthly recurring revenue, about 16,000 new customers a month”
Scanémon	new customers 'New customers' per month, more than Cardstock; may mean new users/downloads	16K customers/month approximate	“about 16,000 new customers a month, which is actually more than Cardstock, which is pretty impressive given how long Cardstock's been around for.”
Cardstock	time to milestone Idea to completed app, including a 3-month gap	6 months approximate	“I'd say all in all, probably like 6 months from idea to completion with like a 3-month gap in the middle.”
Scanémon	time to milestone MVP built with Cursor's agent	1 days approximate	“The MVP for Scanémon I made in a day.”