HabitKit · B2C · habit tracker app
Save up, quit your job, and give yourself 12 months to make it work
Only ~$1,000 revenue after 12 months; went back to work, but the app later hit $15K MRR
Mixedfinancing
What they did
Saved money and quit his programming job with no idea, setting a 12-month deadline. Found the HabitKit idea about 6 months in. Kept in touch with his old employer; when the deadline passed with little revenue, returned to the job and ran the app on the side, then quit again at the start of 2024 at ~$3K MRR. Reason: he couldn't find motivation to code his own apps after 8 hours of programming at work.
What happened
Revenue after the year was low (~$1,000); he returned to his job, but the sabbatical produced HabitKit, which grew to $3K MRR by end of 2023 and $15K+ MRR by end of 2024.
- Stage
- Pre-launch (idea)
- Effort
- 12 months of savings
“I decided it was time to quit my job and focus on indie development for at least 12 months. The first 6 months were really challenging.”
“I saved some money, and I just quit my job and set myself a deadline for 12 months to do something that works. Yeah, because I couldn't find motivation to code on my own apps after I programmed for 8 hours on my regular job.”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from HabitKit
All 14 HabitKit tactics- Post a screenshot of your app's main screen on Twitter before launch800 likes, far above his usual posts; took it as a sign the app would beat the first
- Drop the app that isn't growing and build a new one in 2 monthsNew app's first month beat the old app's six months combined
- Get the store listing basics right and let search rankings bring usersTop 5 for a big keyword; 120K downloads and $51K in 2023, $110K by May 2024
- Quit your job for exactly 12 months on savings; go back if you can't live off itMissed the bar; went back to the old job with a raise, and the app took off later
- Go back to your job four days a week and keep Fridays for the appApp took off two months later; went full-time again within about six months
- Share your app's progress and revenue publicly on X and LinkedInFounder calls it one of his best decisions; downside is copycats; no numbers
More from this episode
- HabitKit: Post your app's progress, wins and failures on X, LinkedIn, Bluesky and ThreadsFounder says it was huge early: podcast invites, video features, developer contacts
- HabitKit: Ship a simple habit grid in 2 months, with no sign-in and data kept on the phoneBecame the base of a $15K/month app; no direct numbers for this choice
- HabitKit: Spend $100 a month on Apple Search Ads to help your search rankingUnproven; founder only hopes Apple favors developers who buy ads
- HabitKit: Put "habit tracker" at the very start of your app's nameTop 5 for 'habit tracker' in several countries; 'a ton' of organic traffic
- HabitKit: Ask for a review right after someone checks off their first habitMost people give 5 stars; over 2,000 reviews and ratings