The $6M AI App Blueprint

THIS WEEK’S STORY

The $6M Playbook AI App Builders

This week I watched an interview that might be the single best blueprint for building viral AI apps right now.

It’s the story of Ben, the guy behind Wombo and Dream. His apps hit 100M+ downloads not because he invented new AI models, but because he spotted trends and made them ridiculously simple to use.

Here are the big lessons:

1. Copy what works
Ben calls it mimesis. If something is blowing up, copy the core idea, put your spin on it, and make it stupid simple. That’s exactly how Wombo launched—he saw face-swap apps trending and paired that with an obscure AI animation model. Result: 50M downloads in the first month.

2. Build for virality
Great AI apps create a content loop. A user makes something funny or cool → they share it → their friends download the app → the loop repeats. Your job is to design for shareability from day one.

3. Keep it stupid simple
Wombo had just four screens: input → pick a song → loading → output. That’s it. Anyone could use it in seconds, even a kid.

4. Monetize the 2%
Ben’s apps were free for 98% of users. That 98% drove the virality. The remaining 2% paid for subscriptions and premium features, enough to make $500K/month at Dream’s peak.

The punchline: You don’t need VC money. You don’t need a massive team. We’re in the golden age of mobile AI apps. People are glued to their phones and new AI models keep dropping. If you can spot the signal and wrap it in a stupid simple mobile experience, there’s still massive opportunity.

And if you don’t know how to code? Well, you vibe code it obviously. Spin up Cursor + Claude Code and start chatting with the agents. Increadible stuff will come out. Learn how here.

HEADLINES

Anthropic’s Billion-Dollar Boost

The team behind Claude just raised $13 billion at a $183 billion valuation.

Why does this matter for us?

• Expect new, more advanced coding models

• Cheaper token usage for vibe coding (VC money will subsidize costs)

• Fiercer competition with OpenAI and others, which means faster innovation

In short: the race to be the go-to LLM is accelerating, and we get all the positive spillovers.

Image generation models going bananas

Google just introduced Gemini Nano-Banana, a new image generation model baked into Gemini. It’s insanely powerful and versatile—face swaps, UGC avatars, even virtually trying clothes on people.

The output is so fast and so accurate that it feels like Photoshop just got cooked

THIS WEEK’S TIP

Design Taste Beats 10x Devs

It’s harder to find a designer with great taste than a cracked developer who can ship with AI.

If you’re non-technical and don’t want to grind through code from scratch, your edge is simple: learn design. Pick up Figma. Study what makes a product feel premium. Then start vibe coding your idea.

AI is already great at building functionality. But when it comes to aesthetics, it’s still mid. And while more people are becoming “10x devs,” most still lack taste. That’s why even billion-dollar companies throw cash at top designers just for a landing page.

The opportunity is huge: if you know what makes a great UX and UI, you can guide AI to build apps that feel designed, not generated.

Here’s a practical workflow to start:

1. Go to Dribbble, Pinterest, and Mobbin for design inspiration.

2. Take screenshots of the styles you like (keep them consistent; no mixing retro with sleek modern).

3. Upload them into GPT-5 and ask it to create a design guidelines doc: colors, fonts, components, flows, and your app context.

4. Save this as a markdown file (.md) and reference it inside Cursor.

5. Install the Superdesign Cursor extension and ask it to generate components using your style doc (e.g., scrollable cards). Then plug that code straight into your app.

That’s it. With this workflow, your app won’t look like “AI made it.” It will look like something people actually want to use. And that taste is your unfair advantage.

PS: you can learn more about these workflows here.

QUICK HITS

• Broadcom Secures $10B AI Chip Deal: Shares jump 11% as demand for Nvidia alternatives rises—customer speculated to be OpenAI.

• Anthropic Bans Sales to China: First Western AI firm to impose a country-specific ban, citing military and intelligence concerns.

• Shanghai Unveils Photonic AI Chip: Ultra-compact, light-powered chip promises faster, energy-efficient AI at the edge.

• EU Expands GenAI4EU with €700M: Funding targets AI adoption in health, robotics, energy, and manufacturing to boost sovereignty.

• AI Advances in Medicine: New cardiac imaging tool detects hidden artery blockages; VaxSeer predicts flu strains better than WHO.

And That is all for this week!

See you next Saturday!

Filippo

Filippo Pietrantonio

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