2024 Retrospective

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The end of 2024 marks 1.5 years since I’ve become a full-time entrepreneur.

Reflecting on 2024, it feels chaotic. For most of the year, my mind was consumed by work. Although I maintained a workout routine and exercised during the first half, I completely neglected it after the summer.

In 2025, I want to make a change. I’ve figured out everything I needed to and can now bring balance to my lifestyle.

This year, I can finally afford it because I’m earning more than I spend. I achieved ramen profitability in April 2024.

Yet, since I’m the sole provider for a family of 4, I’m still not entirely comfortable with big spending until I build much bigger revenue or a solid savings cushion.

Work Overview

A significant part of my year was dedicated to mobile development. I joined the trend and built a few AI mobile apps, such as Text to Speech (or AI Voice Recorder), which I eventually discontinued. Later, I realized it was a mistake to rely solely on ASO while my competition was rapidly growing by utilizing paid UA.

For my older apps, I added a new monetization channel, AdMob ads, which turned out to be a great decision.

I spent about 3-4 weeks on my web app, ReadReviews. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a niche tool and didn’t achieve the success I had hoped for. On top of that, there was a little bit of drama involved with it after I banned a competitor. I don’t regret building it though, because I use the tool regularly

In the summer, I met two founders from Mallorca and joined them as CTO to build a startup in the investor space. Consequently, I spent most of Q4 2024 developing a backend and web app using JS and React, both of which were almost entirely new to me. Thanks to AI, particularly Cursor, the process was a breeze. We’re launching soon!

The drawback was that I neglected my mobile app portfolio. Working with the web made me realize how much I enjoy the mobile consumer space and how good I am at it.

Q4 was the most stressful time of the year for me. At some point, there were simply too many obligations and projects to handle. I had to say no to one of them, and I think this was a turning point for me. I learned to become less chaotic and choose my battles more wisely.

In 2024, my goal was to diversify my portfolio to reduce dependence on Apple and Google. By joining a B2B startup, I believe I’ve made a smart move. We will see in 2025.

Revenue Rollercoaster

One of the most tangible measures of progress has been my revenue growth. I started the year with a modest $975 in January, and by December, I had months where I was hitting over $8,000! (mostly in summer)

In total, in 2024 I’ve made ~$62k. Here’s the breakdown:

  • 🍏 iOS Proceeds: $31k
  • 🤖 Android: $650
  • 📺 AdMob: $19.2k
  • 🕵️ Affiliate + ReadReviews: $2.2k
  • 💬 Consulting: $350
  • 🏠 Rental: $8.4k

While there were some fluctuations, especially towards the end of the year, the overall trend has been upward. I didn’t quite hit my ambitious goal of $10k+ MRR, but my gut tells me 2025 will be the year I cross that threshold.

In comparison, in 2023 I made ~$2k from my projects and $74.5k (6 months, 11k/m) from contracting. This means I was still better off working for someone else than on my own.

Social Media Growth

One of my other goals for 2024 was to grow my personal brand, and I’m proud to say I’ve made significant strides here. My Twitter following grew from around 3.1k at the start of the year to ~9.2k by December. After 2024 algorithm changes, it feels that it’s harder to grow and reach more people, but it wasn’t my main objective anyway.

I do think though that being active on X is one of the best decisions a solo tech founder can make.

Key Learnings

  1. Quality Over Quantity: While I’m proud of launching 20+ projects (mobile apps, web apps, websites, newsletters, telegram channels etc.) this year, I’m now ready to double-down on apps that proved to be working. That means that I also want to move some of my efforts from coding into marketing. Perhaps delegate this time?

  2. Marketing Diversification: My success this year has been largely due to App Store Optimization (ASO) and organic growth. In 2025 I’m aiming to change it and start playing with other channels to accelerate growth.

  3. Work-Life Balance: There were times this year when I took on too much and felt the stress. I’ve learned the importance of saying no and taking time to recharge. The ability to take time off whenever I need it is one of the biggest perks of this lifestyle.

  4. Community Matters: The connections I’ve made on Twitter and in our mobile founders’ community chat have been invaluable.

Private life

I prefer to keep my personal and family matters private, but even though work-wise 2024 feels more chaotic, it felt much more stable family-wise.

Since I started to make enough money to cover our needs we’ve upgraded our place from an apartment to a duplex, which significantly improved our life quality and sanity (2 active kids on 80m2 is no bueno).

My oldest son went to pre-school which was a game-changer for everyone. He loves it. My wife loves it. And I feel like I can focus better on work since I work from home. Finding the right pre-school was a big endeavor, accompanied by many discussions between my wife and me, so we’re very happy with the result.

The year was filled with social life, beautiful nature and hanging out at the beach (some of the perks of Mallorca). We have a great group of friends here with kids of similar age.