A dictation app built for his dad makes $16K to $20K a month as a side project
Kourosh built Voicy on OpenAI's Whisper speech model, aimed it at older users and people with disabilities, and runs it alongside his day job.
Subject: Voicy (Kourosh)Speech to text app sold as monthly subscriptions and lifetime deals across desktop, mobile and browser
Case Overview & Background
Kourosh grew up in Tehran, studied business in London and worked as a fintech product manager. While he was sick in hospital, he watched his dad type slowly all day and wished he could give him good dictation everywhere. He launched Voicy as a Chrome extension two years ago, then built Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android apps. It runs as a side project next to his nine to five and, he says, makes $16K to $20K a month, with about 1,400 active subscriptions.
How AI Is Used
Step-by-Step Process
He built the first version as a fun tool for his dad, who typed slowly.
A Chrome extension went from idea to MVP in about two weeks, written by prompting ChatGPT.
When people downloaded it without marketing, he turned it into a side project.
He added Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android apps using AI coding tools.
He focuses on older users and people with disabilities and offers a 20% disability discount.
Customer Acquisition & Distribution
Limitations, Risks & Failure Modes
What may not apply to you, and what could go wrong:
- The figures are self-reported
- Lifetime deals lift monthly revenue now but do not recur
- Dictation is a crowded category with well-funded competitors
- Costs and quality depend on an outside speech model API
Key Takeaways
- A crowded category can still work if you serve a customer others ignore
- An AI model API can be the core of a simple, useful paid app
- A side project can grow across platforms one AI-assisted build at a time
Sources
Starter Story: I built this app for my dad. Now it makes $18K/month
Note: Video interview with transcript. States the $11K MRR and $16K to $20K monthly figures, pricing, user counts, the Whisper API and the ChatGPT, Cursor and Claude build path.
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