How did she built a $10K/Month AI image generator?

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5 min read

The Setup

Meet Pauline. By day, she was an IBM data scientist. By night? A side-hustle machine. Now she’s pulling in over $100K per year with AI Crea, her AI-powered app that revamps home interiors. People upload a photo of their kitchen, pick a design style, and BOOM: instant Scandinavian dream kitchen.

This wasn’t her first rodeo. She’d been tinkering on side projects for years, failing forward until she finally struck gold in the AI space. And get this: she did it all while still holding down a 9-to-5. Here’s how she pulled it off.

Who is Pauline?

Pauline, founder of AI Crea, started with one simple goal: make renovating easy, fast, and fun. Her app’s got over 8,000 users and pulls in around $8,000 a month. The business model? Freemium with a twist: a free trial that hooks you, then either a one-time payment for a set of images or a monthly subscription for power users. Just enough to keep the cash flow predictable while catering to different needs.

Juggling a Day Job and a Side Hustle

Pauline’s background is in engineering, she even coded her own MVP. While IBM paid the bills, she was burning the midnight oil on AI Crea. She only left IBM a couple of months ago, and that shift made a big difference. Now she could go from “side project mode” to “all-in mode” on her startup.

How She Finds Ideas

Pauline’s playbook? Observe problems you or your friends run into, real pain points, the kind that come up often. If you’re scratching your head and saying, “Why doesn’t this exist yet?” maybe you’re onto something. Pauline tests her ideas by asking a lot of questions and getting a sense of whether she can build and monetize a solution.

How She Validates Ideas

Once she’s got an idea, she doesn’t sit around waiting for inspiration to hit. She goes to market. AI Crea’s MVP was basic, but when she showed it to a few real estate agents, they bit. Some even offered to pay upfront. That’s her rule: if someone’s willing to pull out their wallet, you’ve got validation.

Building the MVP

Pauline’s secret? Ship quickly. She didn’t wait until her product was perfect. Instead, she put out an early version with lower-quality outputs, gathered feedback, and let her customers help shape the final product.

Finding Customers

For AI Crea, Pauline targeted real estate agents. She found them on Facebook and at industry events, which gave her solid leads. She also has another project for developers, where Twitter and newsletters do the heavy lifting. It’s all about knowing where your people hang out.

Scaling with Product Launches

When it comes to launching, Pauline’s a fan of Product Hunt. Not so much for going viral but for the SEO boost (thanks, backlinks). She also taps into her Twitter and newsletter audiences for added traction.

Making Money Moves: Pricing and Monetization

Pauline’s take on pricing is smart. Set a low price, and you’ll get more customers but also more support headaches. Higher prices mean fewer users but less hassle. AI Crea offers a mix of subscription and one-time payment options, catering to all kinds of users.

Reducing Churn, Increasing Revenue

Pauline’s got a few tricks for keeping people on board. First, an annual plan (discounted) to lock in longer-term customers. Second, a free trial to let users test the product and feel good about subscribing. And finally, she doubles down on product quality, improving service to keep customers happy.

Where AI is Headed (According to Pauline)

Pauline says the future of AI isn’t just about new tools; it’s about making existing services better. Think: AI that helps you write emails faster or assists with day-to-day tasks. It’s not always about reinventing the wheel, sometimes it’s about making it roll smoother.