This meeting was an interview with Alex Finn, the solo founder of Creator Buddy, an AI-powered content app that achieved $300,000 ARR within weeks of launch, built entirely using AI tools like Cursor.
Alex shared his journey from tech consultant to entrepreneur, his product development strategy, launch tactics, lessons learned, and advice for aspiring indie hackers.
Key topics included building without code, leveraging AI for development and marketing, the importance of audience building, and actionable frameworks for rapid product launches.
Action Items
(No time-bound tasks or owners assigned during this interview-format meeting.)
Building Creator Buddy With AI
Alex Finn built and launched Creator Buddy, an AI tool that analyzes and coaches users on their social media content, entirely using AI tools—he did not write any code himself.
He leveraged Cursor (an AI coding tool) to automate the entire development process, building features by breaking them down into micro-steps for the AI to handle effectively.
Alex emphasized getting rapid feedback from users, iterating continuously, and using AI for both software development and marketing activities.
He suggested using ChatGPT alongside Cursor to break down feature needs into actionable micro-tasks for the AI to execute.
Finding and Validating the Business Idea
The product originated from Alex's own content-creation challenges; he built software to automate reviewing and collecting his social media posts.
His approach focused on solving personal pain points first—assuming others would share similar challenges.
Early beta testing with 150 users led to product refinements based on real user behavior and feedback.
Launch Strategy and Results
Alex beta-tested up until launch, engaging individually with testers to understand user needs and friction points.
He built anticipation with his X (Twitter) audience over months, resulting in hundreds of eager buyers at launch.
On launch day, Creator Buddy reached $100,000 ARR in 15 minutes and $200,000 in two hours, with $300,000 ARR achieved in two weeks.
Alex managed post-launch technical issues rapidly, emphasizing that a successful launch requires real-time responsiveness.
Audience Building and Distribution
Alex attributed his financial success to having built an audience over three years by sharing valuable content and insights about social media algorithms.
He advised that anyone can replicate his approach by consistently creating and sharing content—even in small increments daily—to build an audience.
Building a loyal community and distribution channel is now a more significant business moat than the software product itself, given how accessible AI-powered software development has become.
Tech Stack and Operating Costs
Core technologies: Cursor (later Windsurf) for development, ChatGPT for product management, Vercel for hosting (Next.js), Superbase for databases, various AI APIs (Claude, ChatGPT), Resend for email, and the X API for data.
Total operational cost is around $5,300/month (majority spent on the X API), with approximately $25,000/month in revenue, leading to about 80% profit margins.
Lessons Learned and Advice
Alex’s main lesson: adopt a "figure it out" mindset and leverage AI tools to solve new challenges instead of outsourcing or hesitating.
Speed of learning and iterating is crucial; product knowledge is no longer a strong moat—distribution and attention are key.
He advised aspiring founders to prioritize action over overthinking: start building, tweeting, or writing, even with minimal daily effort, to gain momentum and discover what works.
Decisions
Build software by solving your own problems and iteratively improve with user feedback — validated by Alex’s direct experience and successful launch.
Prioritize audience and distribution over product complexity — as audience size and engagement were the key revenue drivers for Creator Buddy.