Howard Roark

solo founder from colombia. shipping ios apps and a saas with claude code as my whole team. posting the real numbers on the way to $10k mrr

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

I built a $110K MRR company in Colombia. Now I'm starting from 0, building AI apps for the App Store.

I’ll share:
- Real revenue numbers
- Lessons from the trenches
- My 0 → 10K MRR journey

Follow along.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

early on apple rejected my builds so often i started reading the review guidelines like a lease contract

annoying every single time

but each rejection taught me something the docs never made obvious

whats the most ridiculous app store rejection youve gotten?

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

@skpnky @Apple @Claude Video editors are cooked

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

@nickkirt Hi Nick, what's up? What are you building?

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

29. solo founder. ios apps from the colombian caribbean.

one paywall timing change took my trial churn from 50% to 30%.

next goal: 10K MRR.

what are you testing this week?

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

@AdityaShipsHQ It definitely helps improve the outcome

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

i dont open claude code until i have a spec written

what the screen does, what the user sees, what happens when it breaks

skipping it always felt faster. it never was. i just paid for it later in rewrites

do you write the spec first or just start prompting?

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

Someone told me once "I don't need a dev team. " They now spec everything before touching Claude.

Most builders learn to write specs only after shipping something broken without one.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

still under 1K MRR. the goal is 10K.

every week i ship one paywall or funnel test and post what happened.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

before Claude Code touches my app i write a one page spec.

what the screen does, what breaks it, what done looks like.

that habit fixed more Xcode errors than any prompt trick.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

solo founder day:

morning in the simulator.
afternoon making content.
night reading churn data.

the content part is the one i almost skipped. its also the one bringing people to my app.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

@ashtonamory Hey Ashton!

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

Claude writes most of my app now.

the one call it still cant make for me is when the paywall shows up. that came from staring at where trial users dropped off.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

building from Colombia means my users pay in dollars and my rent is in pesos.

thats why a small app can already feel like a real business here.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

It's insane how much I've tried to finish my $100 limit with Opus 5.5. The results are mind-blowing.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

still under 1K MRR. posting the numbers anyway.

the numbers that feel too small to share are the ones early founders actually learn from.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

mobile founders, when does your paywall show up?

onboarding, after the first win, or a few sessions in?

moving mine dropped trial churn 20 points and im curious where everyone else lands.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

when vibe coding my app

i used to think i needed to understand every line.

shipping it taught me more than reading it did.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

@SachaKleynjans fair, curious where you'd point a mobile app builder instead of reddit.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

Top resources for building in public:

- Indie Hackers
- Hacker News
- X
- r/SaaS
- MicroConf
- Starter Story
- Pieter Levels
- Marc Lou
- Ship Your Enemies Glitter
- AppFigures
- RevenueCat
- Buildspace
- https://t.co/NCxHz28UvM
- The Bootstrapped Founder
- Failory
- Ramen Profitable
- Swipe Files
- SaaS Weekly
- Bannerbear Blog
- Demand Curve
- Lenny's Newsletter
- https://t.co/c5BcrfgW6s
- Arvid Kahl
- Transistor FM
- Calm Fund
- Comet
- MicroAcquire
- Niche Twins
- Yong-Soo Chung
- Solo Founders Club

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

@hrprtsingh9 the number I moved was trial churn, so thats the early side. where do yours drop off, trial or renewal?

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

Define progress:

When I shipped my app I had:
- 0 users
- constant App Store rejections
- Claude as my only dev help
- no idea if the paywall worked

Now I have:
- real paying users
- 30% trial churn (was 50%)
- a spec process that actually ships
- one app live, next one building

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

@mianoedwin_ support emails and reviews count for something too, though actual conversations probably surface the stuff people wont type out.

[Howard Roark @chijuano]

The longer you build solo, the more you realize:

- Ship before you're ready
- Ignore vanity metrics
- Talk to actual users
- Build in public even with no audience
- Treat consistency like a job
- Accept slow growth