AI Summary
5 min readJake, a 24-year-old CPA turned solo app developer, built an alarm clock app called Early that went from zero to $50,000 a month in four months. The app’s core feature is brutally simple: you must do push-ups to turn off the alarm. It has been downloaded over 200,000 times since launching at the end of 2025. Jake’s story is not about technical wizardry or a breakthrough invention. It is a case study in ruthless prioritization of distribution, tight product scope, and exploiting platform-level changes.
The Idea Came From a Personal Pain Point and a Platform Change
Jake did not set out to build an alarm app. He struggled to wake up early himself and started texting a friend each night, asking for a video of push-ups by 6 a.m. as accountability. This personal hack became the seed of an app. He built an initial MVP in 19 days—a simple accountability log, not an alarm. But he realized it lacked viral potential.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:58) **Introducing Jake and Early** - Jake, a 24-year-old former accountant, built an alarm clock app called Early that does push-ups to turn off the alarm, reaching $50K/month in four months.
- 2 (02:28) **Jake's Background: From CPA to Solo Developer** - Self-taught coder with a degree in accounting and a year in public accounting; previous business failures taught him marketing is everything.
- 3 (04:18) **How the Idea Was Born** - Jake struggled waking up early, so he texted a friend nightly for accountability videos; this sparked the MVP.
- 4 (05:13) **The Critical Timing: Apple's AlarmKit API** - iOS 26's AlarmKit API allowed reliable native alarm integration, a game-changer for alarm apps.
- 5 (06:08) **Building the MVP in 19 Days** - First commit to App Store in 19 days; alarm feature added 19 days later.
- 6 (07:38) **Framework for Finding a Winning App Idea** - Solve a painful problem in a simple way; make it inherently viral.
- 7 (09:12) **Growth Engine: Influencer Marketing on TikTok & Instagram** - Jake reached out to lifestyle and day-in-the-life creators where the app fit naturally.
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Show Notes
Jake Glacer built one of the simplest apps I've ever seen. You almost can't believe it makes any money. But Jake found a viral idea, started marketing from the very beginning, and grew to over $50K/month in just 4 months. In this video, we break down how something this simple actually works and why a niche app like this is so easy to market.
*iOS App Ideas:* https://go.starterstory.com/ios-app-ideas-lm-description
Follow Jake: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakeglacer/
Check out Erly: https://erly.co/
🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild
🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs
Chapters:
Chapters
- 00:00:00 Simples app idea ever?
- 00:00:59 What’s your story?
- 00:01:24 What’s the app?
- 00:02:22 Founder background
- 00:03:00 More simple iOS app ideas
- 00:04:03 Finding the idea
- 00:05:59 Build the app
- 00:07:27 How to find successful ideas
- 00:08:59 Growth and marketing
- 00:09:59 Marketing example
- 00:11:05 Deal structure
- 00:11:52 Tracking marketing results
- 00:13:01 Tech stack
- 00:13:59 App demo
- 00:14:50 Final advice: focus on marketing
- 00:15:51 Pat and Gus reflections: a crazy simple idea
This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.
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