How I Sold My AI Startup for $200,000 in Just One Year

Success doesn’t always come with a fancy introduction, but when I sold my AI startup for $200,000 in July 2024, it felt like the universe handed me a golden ticket after months of grit and grind.

I’m still wrapping my head around it—seeing that money hit my bank account was surreal, especially since I built the whole thing from scratch in just one week and nurtured it for less than a year.

This wasn’t my first rodeo; I’d sold a startup before for $65,000, but this time, the stakes felt higher, the process more intense.

I documented every step— from the spark of the idea, to landing my first customers, to signing the final sale papers—because I wanted to prove it’s possible to create something valuable fast.

Picture me, sitting alone with my laptop, fueled by coffee and ambition, turning a simple frustration into a six-figure payout.

If you’re curious about how I pulled this off, grab a seat, because I’m about to take you back to where it all began.

This journey is packed with lessons on entrepreneurship, persistence, and the power of a good idea paired with the right strategy.

Let’s rewind the clock and dive into the chaos and triumph of building and selling my AI startup for $200,000.

We strongly recommend that you check out our guide on how to take advantage of AI in today’s passive income economy.

The Starting Point – A Fresh Beginning

Two years ago, I found myself at a crossroads, staring at my laptop screen in a quiet room, the glow of the monitor reflecting my uncertainty.

I’d just sold my previous startup for $65,000, a modest win that gave me a financial cushion and a much-needed break from the hustle.

The relief was palpable—no more worrying about bills for a few months—but there was a catch: I’d sold my main source of income, and the clock was ticking before my savings would dry up.

I couldn’t just sit there, basking in past glory, because doing nothing meant I’d eventually be back to square one, broke and scrambling.

So, I dusted off my entrepreneurial spirit, determined to create something new, something that could sustain me long-term.

The idea of repeating my past success felt comforting; after all, I’d already proven I could build and sell a startup, so why not do it again?

My goal was clear: craft a business I could scale quickly, leaning on my seven years of advertising experience, particularly with Facebook ads.

That’s when I decided to dive back in, armed with a familiar playbook and a hunger to make it work.

Finding the Right Idea

I knew from experience that a solid startup hinges on a simple, repeatable formula: find a problem, solve it fast, and monetize it.

Sitting at my desk, I mulled over what had worked before—quick builds, targeted marketing, and a focus on immediate value.

Facebook ads were my weapon of choice because, despite what some say about it being “dead,” they can still reach millions of people in days, unlike Google Ads, which rely on search intent.

I needed an idea with a broad audience, something Facebook’s algorithm could easily target without getting lost in a niche too tiny to scale.

One day, while messing around in Google Docs, I stumbled across a transcription button that promised to turn my voice into text—except it was awful, garbling my words into nonsense.

Frustration hit hard, but then it clicked: if I was annoyed by this, others must be too, especially those who’d rather talk than type.

That’s when the lightbulb went off—this could be my next AI startup, especially with new audio transcription models hitting the market.

It checked all my boxes: it saved time, had mass appeal, and I had the skills to build it, so I set a wild deadline—one week to bring it to life.

Building Talknotes in a Week

With the idea locked in, I threw myself into coding, determined to launch my AI startup, which I dubbed Talknotes, in just seven days.

Yes, the name’s basic—creativity’s never been my forte—but it did the job, hinting at a tool where you talk to take notes effortlessly.

People often scoff at tight deadlines, insisting startups need months to mature, but I’ve learned that speed forces you to cut the fluff and focus on what matters.

Failure’s the norm in this game—99% of startups crash and burn—so why waste months polishing something no one might want?

My mantra was simple: get a basic version out, test if people will pay, and tweak it later if it sticks.

I worked late into the night, hunched over my laptop, piecing together the app with those new AI transcription models, fueled by a mix of excitement and stubbornness.

By the end of the week, Talknotes was rough but functional—a bare-bones tool that turned speech into text, ready to face the world.

The real test wasn’t the code; it was whether anyone would care enough to use it, so I shifted gears to find my first users.

Launching and Early Wins

With Talknotes ready, I faced a dilemma: how do I get it out there without spending a dime upfront?

I’ve got a rule—never pour money into a project until it’s earning—so paid ads like Facebook campaigns were off the table for now.

Instead, I turned to startup directories, those online hubs where early adopters hunt for fresh tech to try before it goes mainstream.

I spent hours scouring the web, finding where similar tools were listed, and added Talknotes to every platform I could—Product Hunt wannabes, niche forums, you name it.

To my surprise, it worked; trickles of traffic rolled in, and within days, I’d made $700 in sales, a small but thrilling proof of concept.

Picture me grinning at my screen, watching those first payments hit, feeling the rush of validation that this AI startup might actually have legs.

But the high didn’t last—sales tapered off fast, and soon they stopped, teaching me a harsh lesson about launches: they’re a spike, not a strategy.

I needed a steady flow of users, and with no revenue to fuel ads yet, I was stuck, teetering on the edge of giving up.

Hitting a Wall and Pushing Through

Weeks later, Talknotes felt like a ghost town, and I’ll be honest—depression crept in, heavy and uninvited.

No one talks about this part online: the soul-crushing lows when your startup stalls, and you’re left questioning everything.

I’d sit there, staring at flatlined sales, wondering if I’d misjudged the whole thing, my confidence crumbling under the weight of silence.

Entrepreneurship isn’t all wins; sometimes it’s just you, your doubts, and a laptop mocking your efforts.

But I couldn’t let it die—not yet—so I pivoted to a subscription model, charging monthly to stabilize cash flow.

I tried everything to drum up users—SEO tweaks, cold emails to potential customers—but progress was painfully slow, like wading through mud.

Then I remembered Product Hunt, a site where startups battle for upvotes and eyeballs, and despite changes since my last launch, I figured it was worth a shot.

It paid off big—Talknotes snagged “Product of the Day,” media buzz followed, and suddenly I was at $1,500 in monthly recurring revenue, enough to finally test those Facebook ads.

Scaling with Focus

With cash trickling in, I could breathe again, but I knew $1,500 a month wasn’t the finish line—it was just the starting gun.

Growing an AI startup takes trial and error, and I needed laser focus to figure out what worked, so I went all-in with a strategy that had served me before: monk mode.

Back in 2022, I’d locked myself in a hotel room for two months to learn coding, emerging with skills that built my first success, and I decided to replicate that intensity.

I rented a cozy apartment, paid six months upfront from my savings, and turned it into my fortress—no distractions, just me and my mission.

The building had a gym, and I found a meal delivery service nearby, crafting a routine so tight I never had to leave, optimizing every minute for work.

Picture me in that space: laptop humming, protein shakes on the counter, pushing Talknotes from $3,000 to $10,000 in monthly revenue with relentless tweaks.

The breakthrough came when I ditched generic ads for hyper-targeted ones—think ads screaming “Corgi owners, this is for you!”—boosting clicks and sales overnight.

By then, I was rolling, even sneaking a break in Korea to recharge, convinced I’d cracked the code to scale this AI startup to new heights.

The Crash and Burnout

Just when I thought I had it all figured out, Murphy’s Law kicked in—everything that could go wrong did, and it nearly broke me.

On April 16, a bug crashed Talknotes in the dead of night, rendering it unusable, and I woke up to a 70% sales drop and a flood of angry emails.

I spent seven frantic hours wrestling with code, sweat beading on my forehead, but the fixes wouldn’t stick, and the chaos piled up—more bugs, more cancellations.

For two sleepless days, I fought to resurrect it, but when the dust settled, something inside me was gone; burnout had sunk its claws in deep.

I’d stare at my screen, willing myself to work, but 20 minutes in, my brain would shut down, focus slipping through my fingers like sand.

The AI space moves at warp speed—one month idle, and you’re irrelevant—so I couldn’t just wait it out; I had to act fast or lose everything.

Hiring someone to run it crossed my mind, but finding the right fit felt like another mountain I didn’t want to climb.

So, I made the call: it was time to sell my AI startup, cash out, and step away before it dragged me down further.

The Sale Process

I crunched the numbers and figured Talknotes could fetch $300,000, but burnout left me no time to wait—two weeks was my deadline, or its value would tank.

I reached out to Ebony from Acquire, who coached me on pricing it at $200,000 for a quick, all-cash deal, and soon, I had a buyer ready to bite.

We signed the Asset Purchase Agreement, a virtual handshake that sealed the sale, and I remember clicking “done,” heart pounding with a mix of relief and disbelief.

But the money wasn’t mine yet—enter Escrow.com, the middleman meant to smooth the transfer, only to turn it into a nightmare.

The buyer sent the funds, I prepped to hand over the domain and code, but at 10 p.m., Escrow balked, refusing my Wise account despite listing it as an option.

Negotiations failed, threats flopped, and we had to unwind the deal, refund the buyer, and start over—weeks of delays that tested my sanity.

We ditched Escrow, going manual despite the risk he’d stiff me, and after more hiccups (Stripe transfers were a mess), the buyer paid $3,000 to a startup to fix it.

Finally, one morning, I refreshed my bank app and saw it: $200,000, minus fees, sitting there, a hard-won prize after a rollercoaster of stress.

Reflections and What’s Next

Seeing that $200,000 land felt like a fever dream—I turned off the lights, crawled into bed, and woke up to confirm it wasn’t a glitch.

I couldn’t stop grinning; with this and my other sales, I had $300,000 in the bank, a third of the way to millionaire status, plenty to live comfortably in Asia if I wanted.

The journey of this AI startup taught me resilience—how to build fast, pivot faster, and push through when it all falls apart.

Burnout’s still lingering, a shadow I can’t shake yet, but the cash cushions the blow, giving me space to breathe and plan.

I’ve already got a new project simmering, one that’s generating revenue, because sitting still isn’t my style—I thrive on the chase.

Imagine me now, laptop open again, plotting the next big thing, fueled by the same restless energy that got me here.

Selling Talknotes for $200,000 wasn’t just a payday; it was proof that a good idea, grit, and a bit of luck can turn a week’s work into a life-changing win.

This chapter’s closed, but the story’s far from over, and I’m ready to see where the next one takes me.

We strongly recommend that you check out our guide on how to take advantage of AI in today’s passive income economy.