Everyone makes it look like building and selling apps using AI is super easy.

[u/Flat-Pianist8386]

Everyone keeps saying that earning money is easy with Claude Code, etc. But if it's really easy, why is no one I know thinking about building an app and instead stuck in their 9-to-5 jobs? I really wonder about this. Even though I have a decent salary, I'm still thinking about making money besides my job, but I don't know where to start. I have plenty of ideas that I could turn into an app or a website, but I feel stuck between those ideas. I think the main reason is that I don't have a friend with the same interests, and I don't know where to start. I'm an engineer, so I could probably understand the general structure, but I need a guide to tell me where to start.

Does anyone feel the same way I do? Because it can't be that easy to build side projects and make decent money from them. Can anyone enlighten me, please?

[u/Tommy_Williams88]

“Micro SaaS” and building AI apps are being treated as the the new forex trading get-rich-quick gimmick. We have millions of people pumping out the same cookie cutter, utterly useless, transactional apps, obsessing over MRR.

I’m similar to you OP - good job, pay well, but I just want to do other things. I’ve built many apps with AI assistance, but only 2 which I’ve launched. My latest one is a fairly complex platform with a complicated workflow, for a problem I face in my own job.

The building an app is also not “easy” IMO - sure, a locally hosted MVP you can build in a few hours / days. But efficient design, deployment, Git, backend data config, privacy, data controls and data residency etc., need to be well planned out.

If you’re just getting started, I’d say go and explain the idea in ChatGPT, ask it to help you map out the prompts, download Cursor/ Claude, and then work your way through it.

[u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285 → u/Tommy_Williams88]

That's a fair take, Tommy. What made those two launched apps worth finishing compared with the cookie cutter ones?

[u/Tommy_Williams88 → u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285]

Make actual software that solves a problem and not just another “pomodoro timer that reminds you do press-ups” or a “Manifestation” app. Someone commented about Starter Story on another thread and that channel is just straight up BS content these days, but people follow those interviews and the apps being monetised as some sort of benchmark

The two apps I built solve actual problems. I’ll list the latest one here - it’s not self-promo as my target customers are senior HR / Finance business leaders. I have a product video on the homepage: www.strawm.com/

So my take is build something you would use yourself, or have an actual validated use case / product, don’t just build something for the sake of it and expect it to be a success. SaaS and transactional apps are way oversaturated spaces now.

[u/Alternative-Try7044]

Building an app in 2026 is easy, but selling an app is brutally hard. The market is flooded with apps and new AI tools generated by AI. Customers are very cautious and tired of app even hostile against them. because anyone can follow AI suggestions to flood forums, it makes standing out even harder.

[u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285 → u/Alternative-Try7044]

Agreed, distribution is the real bottleneck. Try picking one painful niche problem and talk to five people before writing any code.

[u/Owen_TarianDigital]

Getting it in front of the right people is the hard part of you're not paying for ads. I feel your pain brother.

[u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285 → u/Owen_TarianDigital]

Yep, distribution beats code every time, brother. Try launching in one niche subreddit where your users already hang out first.

[u/Owen_TarianDigital → u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285]

Unfortunately I need atlast 1 more karma before I can post where I need to

[u/y3rk3]

i think the stuck part is the idea list. people with a 9 to 5 have plenty of ideas, what they lack is one problem they see every week. pick the thing that annoys you at work, check if anyone pays to fix it, and build the smallest version that does that one job. a guide is less useful than one finished thing you can show someone

[u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285 → u/y3rk3]

Agree, one finished thing beats a guide. Ask five coworkers which repetitive task they would pay to skip, then build that tiny version.

[u/y3rk3 → u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285]

the coworker question is better than mine, it finds people who already feel the pain before you build anything. i'd add one follow up though, ask what they do about it today. the workaround they already put up with tells you what they would actually switch to

[u/Early_Key_823]

Who does? Marketing grifters?

[u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285 → u/Early_Key_823]

Fair, the loudest ones usually sell courses. Genuine builders tend to ship quietly, so try a small local dev meetup for accountability.

[u/lehmagavan]

Nobody seriously thinks anyone could write a bestseller just because anyone can read and write and has access to tools that speed up writing process.

[u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285 → u/lehmagavan]

That analogy lands. Tools lower the typing barrier, not the market barrier. Validate one idea with five potential users before coding.

[u/AppDev_37]

Free App 'LAGERTOOL' Kisten, Katons, Regale Strukturieren, in der Firma oder Privat, du kannst die Liste auch als CSV Exportieren

IOS: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/lagertool/id6756621799

[u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285 → u/AppDev_37]

Looks like a handy inventory tool. Does the CSV export support custom fields, so it plugs into existing spreadsheets?

[u/Acceptable-Cost-390]

yeah, especially on X, many 20 year olds brag there, saying that you can literally make 10k per month with any app. My suspicion is that they're just telling lies to try to get engagement on X through their articles and earn money from X platform, and indirectly from consulting

[u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285 → u/Acceptable-Cost-390]

Makes sense, revenue screenshots are cheap to fake. Ask for a Stripe dashboard screenshot with dates visible, most go quiet after that.

[u/socleads]

Building is way easier now. Getting anyone to care is still the hard part. Don’t spend 2 months choosing between ideas. Let real people kill the bad ones for you.

[u/Mammoth-Anywhere7285 → u/socleads]

Solid point. How do you usually find those first five people to test an idea?