How GoHenry founder built a $250M app Louise Hill is the woman behind GoHenry, the kids’ money app valued at $250M. GoHenry fixes a simple problem you wouldn’t guess until someone tells you. The idea came when Louise opened her credit card statement and found her children had quietly spent their allowance on iTunes before ever seeing the cash. So she thought, why not build a tool that gives parents a prepaid card for their kids, lets them set limits on it, and rewards the kids for doing chores? That’s exactly what GoHenry became, and it’s now serving over 2 million families. [link to story below] Mike’s 5 SaaS apps make $200K/month combined Starter Story just interviewed Mike, a founder from Australia running five SaaS apps doing $200K/month between them. Fully bootstrapped, no VC, no exits. His whole thesis: “I like to build ideas that can’t fail.” Every app he builds follows a 10-step playbook and 5 rules he never breaks, which is why he can keep launching new ones without starting from scratch. [link to story below] He built a $500K ARR tool with only $35 a month in startup costs, no code David built Formula Bot during six weeks of paternity leave in 2022. He couldn’t code, so he used Bubble and YouTube tutorials. The total startup cost was $25 a month for Bubble and $10 for a domain. He posted it in the Excel subreddit, and immediately it took off right before ChatGPT made AI tools explode, which allowed him quit his job once when it out-earned his salary. dub.sh/20261020startupsfyi

💬 Chatbit ($1,000 MRR): Train a GPT chatbot on your data, no code AI chatbot for your website, business or project. dub.sh/20261020startupsfyi

🚀 Momentum ($100 MRR): Launch unlimited websites, landing pages, content directories, blogs and interactive apps in seconds and get users in minutes with this no-code builder. dub.sh/20261020startupsfyi

🙏 Prayer Generator (Pre-revenue): Generate thoughtful personalized prayers instantly for any occasion with this AI-powered prayer generator. dub.sh/20261020startupsfyi

🎨 Try OC Maker ($300/month): Create your original character idea that you’ve always imagined with this free AI-powered original character maker. dub.sh/20261020startupsfyi

⚙️ pylo ($10,000 MRR): Ship your product not your backend. Build Database, GraphQL APIs, forms, flows, analytics, SDKs, and MCP all in one place. dub.sh/20261020startupsfyi

This founder had a $1M job offer on the table and turned it down to build his own idea. Three years later it’s a $22M business. The interesting part isn’t the money, it’s the decision. He walked away from guaranteed income for something nobody had proven, and the story breaks down how he thought about that risk. Worth a read if you’re weighing the safe option against the thing you actually want to build. dub.sh/20261013startupsfyi

Massive congrats to Danny on Bokksu, his Japanese snack subscription box. He failed three startup ideas before this one, then started Bokksu with just 20 subscribers, three suitcases of snacks, and his mom packing orders in the living room. Today it’s one of the biggest snack subscriptions in the world. What makes this worth your time: three failures didn’t stop him, and the thing that finally worked was the simplest, smallest version of an idea he could test in a week. If you’ve been sitting on a plan waiting until it’s “ready,” this is the story to read. dub.sh/20261013startupsfyi

🩺 Twofold Health ($4,000 MRR): Skip the late-night paperwork with this AI scribe. It listens to a clinical session and writes the notes, so therapists can see more patients and still go home on time. dub.sh/20261013startupsfyi

🎬 VideoDubber ($1,000 MRR): Translate your videos into any language with this tool. Realistic AI voices, lip-sync, and unlimited free edits, at a fraction of what ElevenLabs charges. dub.sh/20261013startupsfyi

🧹 CleanSmartLabs (Pre-revenue): Fix your messy CRM in one pass with this tool. It removes duplicates, corrects mistakes, and puts every record in order across Salesforce and HubSpot. dub.sh/20261013startupsfyi

🧠 Panzoe ($20 MRR): Get an AI that actually remembers you with this tool. It connects to your apps, learns what matters to you over time, and sends a daily briefing on what needs your attention. dub.sh/20261013startupsfyi

📸 Profile Pic Pro ($69 MRR): Upload a few selfies of yourself and get studio-quality headshots in under 30 minutes. dub.sh/20261006startupsfyi

🎨 IMFFX ($300/month): Type a description and this easy to use tool will create AI digital art, illustrations, or photo-realistic images in seconds. dub.sh/20261006startupsfyi

🔗 SocialCrawl ($25,000 MRR): Pulling data from Instagram, X, YouTube, and LinkedIn used to mean stitching four APIs together and maintaining all of them. This founder was doing exactly that for her own accounts, so she built one API that returns structured, real-time data from all of them. dub.sh/20261006startupsfyi

🧠 Panzoe ($20 MRR): Start your day with a personalized daily briefing, this all in one tool plans, organize, research, write, manage your tasks and get things done. dub.sh/20261006startupsfyi

This week, in Startups fyi newsletter: 📄 Resume AI (Pre-revenue): Here is a free AI resume and cover letter builder that highlights your strengths and experience around a job post. dub.sh/20261006startupsfyi

🛠️ He Almost Killed Kit at $1,000 MRR. Now It Does $50M+ a Year. Nathan Barry nearly pulled the plug on ConvertKit when revenue fell to around $1,000 a month. He stuck with it, rebranded it to Kit, and built it past $50M ARR without taking venture money. In this conversation with Dan Putt he gets into the harder part: how you actually lead at that size, make decisions under uncertainty, and find the purpose underneath the company. dub.sh/200260929startupsfyi ⚡ $30K MRR From a Product Built in a Weekend by Someone Who Can't Code Hasaam Bhatti failed at ten or twelve products before this one, because he kept building for audiences he didn't belong to. Then he built Launch Fast in 48 hours using Cursor, pitched a coaching community that already had thousands of Amazon sellers, and hit $10K MRR in 30 days. It's at $30K now. His line is worth stealing: fifty percent of something real beats one hundred percent of nothing shipped. dub.sh/200260929startupsfyi