Simon

Building Whop Apps

[Simon @zimonft]

Shipped an MVP in 7 days.

Now the fun part begins:
→ More niche apps
→ Faster cycles
→ Cleaner architectures
→ Zero fear of shipping
Momentum > perfection.

[Simon @zimonft]

An underrated indie dev skill:

Knowing when you’re debugging the wrong thing.

I spent half a day fixing a logic bug that didn’t exist.
The real issue? My database wasn’t updating, so I kept testing old state.
Next time I get stuck, I’m checking:
1. Code
2. Data
3. Assumptions

In that order.

[Simon @zimonft]

An underrated indie dev skill:

Knowing when you’re debugging the wrong thing.

I spent half a day fixing a logic bug that didn’t exist.
The real issue? My database wasn’t updating, so I kept testing old state.
Next time I get stuck, I’m checking:
1. Code
2. Data
3. Assumptions

In that order.

[Simon @zimonft]

The MVP works.
The credits system works.
The generation pipeline works.
But the thing I’m most proud of?
I finally feel like I understand how to build for Whop:
asynchronous flows, timeouts, data modeling, and clean logic.

This is just the first app — not the peak.

[Simon @zimonft]

Built and shipped my first Whop app in a week — while working full time.

It’s not perfect.
It’s not polished.
But it’s live.

This project wasn’t about going viral.
It was about proving to myself that I can build, ship, and iterate quickly.

Now the goal is simple:
Ship more apps. Ship faster.

[Simon @zimonft]

I’ve been learning how to ship apps faster.

Not by coding more…
but by asking my AI agent better prompts.
“Tell me how to structure this to avoid bugs.”
“Plan the entire flow before touching code.”
“Explain the edge cases I’m not thinking about.”

It’s crazy how much smoother development gets when you do this.

[Simon @zimonft]

My agent kept suggesting credit checks after the API call.

But if users don’t have enough credits… why even send the call?

So we switched to:
check credits → then send the call.
Cleaner. Faster. Fewer errors.

Sometimes the fix isn’t debugging —
it’s rethinking the logic.

[Simon @zimonft]

I was stuck on a credits bug, pivoted to another part of the app,
and by accident realized the credit logic was fine…
My database state wasn’t.

Resetting credits forced my code to run the new checks.

Lesson of the week:
Your code might be right. Your data might not.

[Simon @zimonft]

Spent 3 hours fighting an “insufficient credits” bug in my Whop app…

Turns out the issue wasn’t my logic.
It was stale data in Supabase.
I reset the credits → hit the insufficiency again → suddenly all the new logic checks I wrote started working.

Sometimes the fastest path forward is literally:
reset → trigger again → observe.

[Simon @zimonft]

I used to think building backend systems would be the hardest part.
But my credit system for this Whop app?Shockingly smooth.

My flow
→ Brain-dump logic to ChatGPT
→ Cursor MCP syncs straight to Supabase
→ Cursor plans the entire schema
→ Opus finishes the backend + payment

[Simon @zimonft]

The smartest builders right now aren’t making consumer apps.
They’re making tools for community owners on Whop.
Why?
Because those owners already monetize—and they’ll happily pay for tools that help them make more.

This is the new app gold rush.

[Simon @zimonft]

I hit a wall yesterday.
My image generator was timing out in production because Whop kills anything past 30s.

Solution?
Return the response immediately and let the image render in the bckgrnd.

You can’t “wing” app dev. You need an intimate understanding of your platform

[Simon @zimonft]

The fastest way I built my credit system for the app:

Talked through the whole flow with ChatGPT

Cursor MCP auto-linked everything to Supabase

Let Cursor plan the architecture

Opus executed the backend +payments integration

I barely wrote code.
I just directed the orchestra

[Simon @zimonft]

Most people load up Cursor and say:
“Make me a Whop app that does XYZ.”
Then spend hours fixing the garbage UI it spits out.

The better way:
→ Design the whole UI in Gemini
→ Build the frontend from that
→ THEN move to Cursor

80% done before you write a single line of code.

[Simon @zimonft]

@damienghader @Lovable Why is it worth 2.5 million?

[Simon @zimonft]

@_devJNS The ability to use nano banana in antigravity is huge

[Simon @zimonft]

@zobeir Slide day

[Simon @zimonft]

@romanhelmetguy Hey @grok, glaze me

[Simon @zimonft]

@jackunheard

[Simon @zimonft]

@ChiragSharma_cs @LeRobotHF @huggingface @nvidia This is so sick, I’m about to assemble mine