Lino Leighton went from zero to an app on pace for $60K a month in around six months. First, here’s how he grew AbMaxx. Then, the playbook he says he’d follow if he started again.
Lino paid large fitness influencers thousands per video before finding a content format that worked. Alongside manually posted TikTok slideshows, those deals brought in sales, but he reports margins of only 5 to 10%.
He gave one fitness creator equity in exchange for content and distribution, aligning the creator’s incentives with the app’s success and reducing the need to pay for each video.
Later, Lino dropped the other UGC and influencer deals, kept his equity partner creating content and put paid spend behind it on Meta. He reports a return of roughly $2 to $2.50 in revenue for every dollar of ad spend.
He then ran the same creatives on TikTok, reporting $4 to $5 in revenue per dollar spent. He attributes the improvement to reaching more of his target audience: people aged 15 to 30.
These are his recommendations for a new launch, rather than the exact sequence he followed with AbMaxx.
Follow founders who share their numbers, ads and mistakes. Lino credits the community with helping him learn how to build, onboard users and market his app.
Use Sensor Tower to find categories where several apps consistently make $10K+ a month. That suggests demand in the category, though your own idea still needs testing. Lino says he spotted a gap for an app focused specifically on ab training.
Post three or four faceless TikTok slideshows a day for a week, ending with “comment APP and I’ll send it”. Comments give you an early signal of interest, not proof people will pay. If response is weak, rethink the idea or messaging before committing months.