Interview with David Kelly, GM of AppSumo Originals. David has grown 9x apps to over 1 million users. He pulls back the curtain (and boots up his IDE) to show us how he uses AI to do product development. Plus, he explains how he would launch a new product with only $100.

Topics:

0:00 – Devon & David backstory
3:02 – Wtf does David do?
6:12 – Funny Noah Kagan story
9:34 – How does vibe coding change app stores?
14:21 – Don’t be afraid of competitive markets
15:19 – Data behind $1M+ products
17:50 – How to go from $0 to $1M
23:14 – If you only had 3 hires, who would they be?
26:47 – AppSumo Hell vs. AppSumo Heaven
30:15 – How many more products can you launch with AI?
31:28 – Which AI tools do you use?
32:27 – David demos Warp for development
38:52 – Stephen King analogy
41:42 – Brainstorming live with ChatGPT
49:27 – Quickfire questions

Links:

• AppSumo
• Warp.dev
• David on LinkedIn
• Devon on X
• Check out our Ship Rats Newsletter
• Subscribe to Ship Rats on YouTube

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Check out the Ship Rats blog & newsletter - https://ShipRats.com

In this episode of Ship It Weekly, Devon shares his experience making a video game with Lovable and Replit. He also shows off a stupidly simple CRM, and Chris, our resident data dominatrix, weighs in on the future of Salesforce.

Lastly, we cover a Business Insider story about a vibe coder who’s making $20k/mo. selling PDFs or something like that. We don’t really know, but there’s a lesson about audience building in there. Check it.

Topics:

0:00 – Vibe coding with Michael Bublé
1:00 – Making a video game in Replit vs. Lovable
12:58 – Scrappy CRM built in 1 day
30:14 – Vibe coder who’s making $20k/mo.
35:10 – How to get your first users if you have 0 followers

Links:

• Business Insider article about $20k/mo. vibe coder
• Devon on X
• Chris on LinkedIn
• Check out our Ship Rats Newsletter
• Subscribe to Ship Rats on YouTube

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Email us at contact@shiprats.com

Is using AI to talk to dead relatives a bad idea or good business?

We follow up on Devon’s avatar experiments and discuss how subscriptions to “dead grandpa” are probably not how we want to make our millions. Then we get into Chris’ legit long-time business plan, which, after 6 years of talking about it, might finally be going somewhere.

Topics:

0:00 – Opening banter & BS
3:41 – AI avatars: cool or creepy?
6:18 – Talking to dead relatives with AI
10:16 – Chris’ big business idea
15:36 – Securing vibe-coded apps
17:30 – Automation and lowest-hanging fruit
22:41 – How Devon would market Chris’ idea
26:22 – The problem with revops and IT
28:11 – Who is Chris’ ideal customer?
31:35 – How to find product-market fit and first customers

Links:

• HeyGen
• Devon on X
• Chris on LinkedIn
• ShipRats.com
• Check out our Ship Rats Newsletter
• Subscribe to Ship Rats on YouTube

Subscribe for scrappy biz ideas, tech banter, and vibe coding.

Email us at contact@shiprats.com

Devon and Chris welcome their zero listeners to a new weekly show.

After explaining their goals for the pod, they share a few apps they’ve been working on and get grossed out by AI avatars.

The first app is Farmfolio, a farming expense tracker Devon made with his dad for kicks and giggles. The second app is Writhm, a writing app a la Grammarly or Hemingway designed to improve the flow and finesse of your writing.

Topics:

• 0:00 - Welcome to the show!
• 2:11 - MVPs vs. SPPs
• 3:05 - Farmfolio: Vibe coding with Devon's dad
• 6:55 - Chris' love affair with Canadian Tire
• 8:40 - Riches in niches
• 10:50 - Building vs. buying apps in the future
• 18:50 - HeyGen and AI avatars
• 24:19 - WordPress vs. Lovable: What's better for new websites?
• 26:04 - Demo of Devon's writing app

Links:

• Farmfolio
• HeyGen
• Lovable
• Writhm.io
• Devon on X
• Chris on LinkedIn
• ShipRats.com
• Check out our Ship Rats Newsletter
• Subscribe to Ship Rats on YouTube

Subscribe for scrappy biz ideas, tech banter, and vibe coding.

Email us at contact@shiprats.com