The $1M Year Project

Watch 3 founders-turned-dads build a $1M AI startup in 365 days. | Run by @kevgumba, @sibix3 and @jamesgalang

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

We’re 3 founders.

6 kids between us—including a newborn and 2 on the spectrum.

$60K in the bank.

12 months on the clock.

We’re building to $1M—live, in public, with zero room for fluff.

Here’s why this isn’t just another AI project 🧵

https://t.co/Nlw9wusXe0

[Kevin Galang @kevgumba]

Day 7 of 30: Getting ChopChop's first paying customers

🎉 First customer signed up and paid!

Focus this week is adding table stakes features like product demos and background music.

Will also be playing around with @ComfyUI to generate more video assets that are custom and on brand.

[Kevin Galang @kevgumba]

Day 3 of 30: Getting ChopChop's first paying customers

🤞Asked design partner for payment to start using product. Hope I see a stripe notification today lol

🎢 Roller coaster emotions around some user interviews. Questioning my assumptions around being able to use simpler video formats.

Quote from interviewee: "Typically because they just seem like they're strung together with text overlaid onto it, which we can do pretty quickly as humans.."

lmaoo that's exactly what we were hoping to do. Maybe she's just not the right fit?

[Kevin Galang @kevgumba]

Day 1 of 30: Getting ChopChop's first paying customers

☎️ 2 calls conversations booked (ty @userinterviews)
👨‍💻 Made table UI to make more videos easier (ty claude code). Example video outputs in screenshots!

Up next (tonight) I'll get a basic landing page up to start sending to folks.

Hoping to start treating my posts like I'm just keeping my other builder friends updated.

[Kevin Galang @kevgumba]

We went radio silent for 2 months but @the1Myear is back 💪

When we started this thing, everyone’s situation and cashflow was very different. Since then, we’ve just taken drop kicks to each of our personal situations where we needed to slow things down.

Some updates:
- James had to reprioritize and refocus on the day job. He had a large chunk of his gov contracting team get cut from DOGE while deadlines were squeezed sooner.
- Sibi took some hits and now has to prioritize his personal cashflow. SaaS isn’t exactly the best get-cashflow-quick effort. He’s focused on fractional GTM work for AI startups
- For me, my business that pays my bills (A Team Overseas) took a hit. I needed to get a part time dev contract to bridge the gap while the business rebounds.

I’ll leave it to James and Sibi to share more if they want to.

But for now, it’s mainly me pushing along this $1m Year bet. The bet is back on and you can expect weekly updates from me.

The good news 🥳 :

Our first product, ChopChop, is ready for beta testers.

If you’re looking to do video-based message testing for your social ads, comment or DM and we’ll get you set up!

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

We're back! First product ready for beta.
DM or reply if you run ads and want to do video based message testing

[Kevin Galang @kevgumba]

We went radio silent for 2 months but @the1Myear is back 💪

When we started this thing, everyone’s situation and cashflow was very different. Since then, we’ve just taken drop kicks to each of our personal situations where we needed to slow things down.

Some updates:
- James had to reprioritize and refocus on the day job. He had a large chunk of his gov contracting team get cut from DOGE while deadlines were squeezed sooner.
- Sibi took some hits and now has to prioritize his personal cashflow. SaaS isn’t exactly the best get-cashflow-quick effort. He’s focused on fractional GTM work for AI startups
- For me, my business that pays my bills (A Team Overseas) took a hit. I needed to get a part time dev contract to bridge the gap while the business rebounds.

I’ll leave it to James and Sibi to share more if they want to.

But for now, it’s mainly me pushing along this $1m Year bet. The bet is back on and you can expect weekly updates from me.

The good news 🥳 :

Our first product, ChopChop, is ready for beta testers.

If you’re looking to do video-based message testing for your social ads, comment or DM and we’ll get you set up!

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

Just sent out our 2nd week recap and people have already opened it 80+ times?

Big shout out to @beehiiv's analytics 🙏🏽

If you wanna see what all of the opens are about, DM us and we'll send it to you

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

The systems are being built and its amazing how fast things are changing, even hour by hour.

Big things are coming 👀

[Kevin Galang @kevgumba]

Blown away by the progress that one of our devs made with @lovable in just a few hours yesterday.

Workflow for our new ShipUGC product:

1. Prototype front end/UI/UX on Lovable. Iterate and establish requirements with early design partners.

2. Build backend api with saas template and prompts with @cursor_ai. (template from @saaspegasus + prompts from @TakeoffAI )

3. See how far we can push Lovable in production..
- Plug into our TS generated api client
- Use our state management stack
- Iterate on future requirements directly in lovable before making more fine grained tweaks in cursor

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

What topic should we cover more?

We want to give back as much value as we can + learn from others.

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

And never miss an update on how 3 founders-turned-dads are building a $1M business:

https://t.co/swaPb8pLLi

^psst share this with the dads in your life

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

The mindset shift of corporate to early stage is hard.

In startups, there is no ceiling but there is also no floor.

How you manage that is part of the ride.

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

Join the waitlist for ShipUGC, the easiest way to ship & scale short form AI UGC ads:

https://t.co/9V40LCuquV

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

Getting early traction & conviction is the game.

But its always a pleasant surprise how it drives positive loops both internally and externally.

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

We announced the $1M year project yesterday and it was wild.

We broke down how the launch went, early traction, and why pretzels are more important than customers.

https://t.co/qadR8xWOj8

Some highlights in 🧵

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

Launch day is always fun, exciting and scary

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

Couldnt do this without the stack of @mercury @beehiiv @stripe @SlackHQ @NotionHQ and a whole bunch of other vital platforms and tools.

As Dads, we NEED more leverage so if yall wanna chat collab, DMs open 👀

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

We’re 3 founders.

6 kids between us—including a newborn and 2 on the spectrum.

$60K in the bank.

12 months on the clock.

We’re building to $1M—live, in public, with zero room for fluff.

Here’s why this isn’t just another AI project 🧵

https://t.co/Nlw9wusXe0

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

After posting this, my 2 year old got a pretzel stuck in her nose. The game never stops 😎😎

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

We’re 3 founders.

6 kids between us—including a newborn and 2 on the spectrum.

$60K in the bank.

12 months on the clock.

We’re building to $1M—live, in public, with zero room for fluff.

Here’s why this isn’t just another AI project 🧵

https://t.co/Nlw9wusXe0

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

@thisiskp_ We've learned a lot from you @thisiskp_ , so now its time for action 🔥🔥🔥

[The $1M Year Project @the1Myear]

@japesg Hi nervous im dad(s) wait no