In this video I take you behind the scenes of how I’m building a profitable app solo—starting right at the messy beginning: idea, features, and tech stack. I’m literally kicking this off while flying out to Bali, and I break down how I finally stopped overthinking the “perfect idea” and just started building. The big shift for me was looking at problems/annoyances in day-to-day life (shoutout to Peter Levels’ approach), and then either solving one of those with a simple tool or taking an app that already makes revenue and putting my own twist on it. My app idea became Polymath: using your phone to learn (chess, astronomy, SQL, self-improvement) instead of doom scrolling. On the build side, I show the practical “how do I start a mobile app today?” flow using React Native + Expo (scan the QR code with Expo Go and you’re running). I explain why I picked this stack: I know it well, it’s fast to ship with, and JavaScript has libraries for basically everything. For backend I went with Supabase because my data isn’t too complex and I wanted auth (login/reset password) built in, plus I already know Postgres. I also share the tools I’m using (Canva, Notability, Manis, Reddit) and how I code with AI without getting derailed—using plan mode, keeping screens simple, and treating AI like a train that can take you the wrong way fast if you’re not careful.