Our Mobile App Made $85K in 8 months

Quick Overview

Brothers Jack and Nick Sweeney built the Coherence breathing app entirely without writing a single line of code themselves, leveraging AI coding agents like Claude and Codex, resulting in $85,000 in revenue and 15,000 downloads within eight months post-launch.

Key Points: Coherence, a breathing app designed to regulate the nervous system, generated $85,000 in revenue and achieved 15,000 downloads in its first eight months. The founders, Jack and Nick Sweeney, did not write a single line of code for the app, relying entirely on AI coding agents like Claude and OpenAI Codex. Their success followed a 'content before product' strategy, starting with creating viral content about breathwork topics on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. Nick Sweeney's viral tweet explaining the 'Vortex Breath' cadence garnered 535K views, validating the market interest before the app was built. Their building and launching playbook consists of five steps: pick a painful niche, batch ideas weekly, film in bulk, amplify winners, and outmarket everyone. Monthly operating costs are approximately $5,800, covering video editors ($2,500), influencers ($1,000-$2,000), ghostwriters ($800), a VA ($500), coding agents ($300), and other tools ($100).

Context: The video features an interview with Jack and Nick Sweeney, the co-founders of the Coherence breathing app, discussing their rapid success in achieving $85K revenue in eight months. Their strategy deviates significantly from traditional app building by prioritizing content validation through social media before developing the actual product, a method they attribute to their success, especially given Nick's background as a former D1 cross-country skier who recovered from a career-ending injury through breathwork.

Detailed Analysis

Jack and Nick Sweeney, co-founders of the Coherence app, detail how they achieved $85,000 in revenue and 15,000 downloads in just eight months by employing a 'content first' strategy rather than building the app before validating the idea. Nick Sweeney, who turned to breathwork after a debilitating injury ended his skiing career, started by creating content on spiritual and esoteric topics related to breathwork on platforms like X and TikTok. A key viral moment was a tweet explaining the 'Vortex Breath' cadence, which accumulated 535K views, proving market demand. They followed a five-step playbook: 1. Pick a painful niche, 2. Batch ideas weekly, 3. Film in bulk, 4. Amplify winners, and 5. Outmarket everyone. Crucially, neither brother wrote any code for the app, instead using AI coding agents like Claude and OpenAI Codex to build the functional app, which costs approximately $5,800 monthly to run (including costs for video editors, influencers, ghostwriters, and VAs). The app offers guided breathing techniques for relaxation, focus, energy, and sleep.