From a simple timer to $25K/month: How a solopreneur built a business on the world's simplest idea

Lucas, a German software developer, built what he calls "arguably the world's simplest app"—a countdown timer—and turned it into a business generating $25,000 per month. The entire venture started with a single Reddit post that received 58 upvotes. In this Starter Story episode, Lucas explains how he identified the opportunity, why he hired his wife to help run the business, and the framework he uses to find similarly simple ideas that can generate thousands in recurring revenue.

The origin: A Reddit post that changed everything

Lucas was working as a full-time software developer when he noticed something peculiar on Reddit. A post in a productivity-focused subreddit described a simple problem: someone wanted a clean, no-distraction countdown timer for their work sessions. The post had only 58 upvotes—barely any traction by Reddit standards—but Lucas saw something others missed.

The key insight was not the upvote count but the comments. Dozens of people were actively describing their specific frustrations with existing timer apps: too many features, cluttered interfaces, ads, and subscription fatigue. They wanted something that simply counted down, nothing more. Lucas realized that the market for "simple" was being underserved by apps trying to do everything.