When I started interviewing AI founders, I hunted for an example of someone building a profitable company. Mostly, I found $0 revenue “fun projects.”

Then I interviewed this guy:

Who is he?

Josh Mohrer wasn't a developer. He wasn't a founder.

He had great jobs. Uber, Levels Health, etc.

But he wanted to make something by himself. No investors. No employees. Just him.

AI changed everything

“ChatGPT kind of opened the door,” he told me. It guided him.

Today he loves Claude Code.

What he built

He created a simple, call recorder and transcription app. Kind of similar to those Zoom meeting notetakers, but for in-person meetings.

This is what it looked like in the early days:

It’s called Wave AI.

But what about the well-funded competition?

Otter, whose founder was on my podcast 3 years(!) before Josh ever launched, already had an app that transcribed in-person meetings.

That's the cool thing about bootstrapping. He didn't need to compete full force with Otter, or Fireflies, or anyone else.

He just needed HIS app to live up to HIS vision and be great for HIS customers.

So he keeps adding features, calendar integration, phone call recording, zoom connection, etc:

How does he get users?

Frankly, marketing-wise, not much has worked.

Every few months, he tries hiring some Facebook agency that promises big results. So far, it hasn’t worked.

Buying ads in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store worked. That's about it.

And time. When you sell subscriptions, revenue builds up.

Revenue breakdown

I asked him, what's the breakdown by subscription length?

He said, "It's split 1/3, 1/3, 1/3: weekly, monthly, and annual in terms of people. But in terms of dollars, it's obviously way more on annual."

Is there a profit?

I asked about the profit.

I expected him to hide it. Nope. He told me.

He takes home about $3 million a year.

You should hear him

That’s the role model I was looking for. I see what can be built using AI.

You have to hear this guy. Josh is hella practical and super fun to listen to.

Catch the full interview in my usual RSS feed and YouTube:

~ Andrew

PS I so appreciate Michael Galpert for intro’ing me to Josh. (Got an interview recommendation? Send it to me.)

PPS Last week, I told you we got snow. After it cleared, I restocked our goats’ hay and food. This is how I brought it home from the store: