App Alchemy

Identified a personal pain point — paid hundreds of dollars on Upwork for mobile app designs and extra for every revision. Used this firsthand frustration as validation without external research.

Built MVP in ~2 weeks using Cursor, Next.js, React, and Firebase. Deliberately chose widely-used libraries (Chakra UI, Ant Design) so AI coding tools would perform better. No new or obscure frameworks.

Started posting on Reddit immediately after launch. Became an active Reddit user first to warm up the account (new accounts get filtered). Studied which post formats performed well on the platform before posting.

Used the Reddit Ads campaign creation tool (targeting section) to discover relevant subreddits without spending any money on ads. Searched terms like 'no code' to surface communities, then kept adding keywords to build a large list of targeted subreddits.

Structured every post with: (1) catchy, non-promotional headline, (2) genuine value content first (e.g., a case study on a successful mobile app sourced from Twitter), (3) product link or mention embedded naturally at the end. For strict subreddits, also plugged a complementary product (e.g., Cursor) alongside App Alchemi to reduce self-promotion flags.

Took each well-crafted post and reposted it across multiple subreddits simultaneously. Aimed for front-page reach on at least one subreddit. Even without front-page success, 10 subreddits × ~10K views each = ~100K views per post cycle. Posted 2–3 times per week to stay under ban thresholds.

Continuously tested different post formats — videos, case studies, other content types — to find what resonated best in the niche. Tracked engagement to double down on winning formats.