How This Founder Makes $8,500/Month in Just 2 Hours a Week

VineetVineet
2 min read

Hey there,

Meet Ramsri - a full-time employee who built two profitable AI apps generating $8,500/month with just 1-2 hours of weekly work.

His secret? Systems over hustle. Here's how he did it without quitting his job or burning out.


πŸ“Š The Numbers Speak for Themselves

SuperMeme (AI meme generator)

  • 1.5M users

  • 400 paying customers

  • $130K lifetime revenue

Questgen.ai (AI quiz generator)

  • 150K users

  • ~200 paying customers

  • $100K lifetime revenue

Profit margin: 70-75% (thanks to AI automation and lean ops)


πŸ” The Framework: Finding Profitable AI Ideas

Ramsri's 3-step formula for spotting winning ideas:

  1. Automate manual tasks

    • Example: SuperMeme replaces manual meme creation for marketers
  2. Spot AI trends early

    • Launched Questgen.ai before AI quizzes were mainstream
  3. Combine, don't build from scratch

    • Leverages APIs, no-code tools, and outsourcing

πŸ’‘ "Don't reinvent the wheel - improve existing workflows"


πŸš€ The Growth Playbook: Audience First

Pre-launch strategy that worked:

  • Shared AI insights on LinkedIn/Twitter

  • Posted about quiz generation (priming for Questgen.ai)

  • Launched on Product Hunt (#1 for SuperMeme)

πŸ”‘ Key takeaway: Build your audience before you need customers


βš™οΈ The Autopilot Tech Stack

ComponentTools UsedCost
FrontendNext.js~50$
BackendSupabase~$25/month
No-codeTypedream (landing pages)~$42
AIOpenAI, Anthropic~based on user
WindsurfAi Code assistant~$60
CursorAI Code assistant~$40
Total217$

Total time investment: 2-4 hours/week (mostly Saturdays)


⏳ A Day in the Life of a Part-Time Founder

Morning:

  • 9:30 AM: Treadmill walk + AI news

Daytime:

  • 2:00–5:30 PM: Full-time job

Evening:

  • 9:30–11:00 PM: Occasional project work

Weekends:

  • 2-4 hours for updates/bug fixes

πŸ’‘ Ramsri's Advice for Aspiring Builders

  1. "Think like a builder from day one" - use no-code tools (Bubble, Zapier)

  2. Watch trends, not competitors - AI moves fast

  3. Build in public - attracts users and collaborators

  4. Don't over-research - ship MVPs in weeks, not months


πŸ”‘ The Big Lesson

You don't need to:
❌ Quit your job
❌ Work 80-hour weeks
❌ Raise funding

Instead:
βœ… Solve real problems (no moonshots)
βœ… Leverage AI/no-code tools
βœ… Build audience first


Ready to build your own hands-off business? What's the one task in your industry that could be automated?

(Stay tuned for Part2 where we'll break down Ramsri's exact marketing funnel!)

(Inspired by Starter Story’s YouTube interview with Pat)

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