A former accountant built a push-up alarm app with AI coding help and says it reached $50K a month in four months
Jake Glacer's Erly only turns off your alarm after you do push-ups, and he grew it with paid creator videos on TikTok and Instagram.
Subject: Erly (Jake Glacer)Subscription iPhone alarm app with a free trial, then $29.99 a year or $9 a month
Case Overview & Background
Jake Glacer, 24, trained as an accountant, earned his CPA and worked at a Big Four firm before teaching himself to code. To wake up early he used to promise a friend a video of himself doing push-ups by 6 a.m. He turned that habit into Erly, an alarm app you switch off by doing push-ups. He told Starter Story it launched at the end of 2025 and went from zero to over $50,000 a month in four months, with more than 200,000 downloads in 2026.
How AI Is Used
Step-by-Step Process
His own push-up accountability texts with a friend became the core feature.
The first version went live in about 19 days and did not even have the alarm yet.
He DMed TikTok and Instagram lifestyle creators whose day-in-the-life videos fit the app naturally.
He pays on view-guarantee deals of about $2 to $3 per thousand views and tracks each creator's results.
Customer Acquisition & Distribution
Limitations, Risks & Failure Modes
What may not apply to you, and what could go wrong:
- The revenue figure is self-reported and was not independently checked
- Profit and creator spend are not disclosed
- Growth depends on paid creator videos, and results follow a few big hits
- A simple app idea is easy for others to copy
Key Takeaways
- A painful everyday problem with a simple twist can be enough for a paying app
- AI coding tools let a self-taught developer ship a first version in weeks
- Capping creator pay with view guarantees keeps marketing risk measurable
Sources
Starter Story: This Insanely Simple App Makes $50K/Month
Note: Video interview with transcript. States the $50K a month figure, the 19-day build, the pricing, the creator marketing deals and the tech stack.
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