Snag: a free-stuff finder app at about $30K MRR four months after launch, coded with Claude Code in Cursor
An iPhone app that shows people free items near them, with search, filters and favorites, sold as weekly, monthly, yearly or one-time subscriptions.
Around $30,000 MRR, over $80,000 in total proceeds, about four months after launchper month, Superwall dashboard shown in a Starter Story interview, May 2026, as claimed
- Verification
- Screenshot Founder shared a dashboard screenshot (Stripe, RevenueCat, App Store). Not independently verified.
- App type
- Productivity & lifestyle
- Currency
- US dollars (USD)
- Built with
- Claude Code, Cursor
- Got customers via
- UGC videos, TikTok, Meta ads
- Prior audience
- Not stated in the source
- Source
- Benjamin Chen (founder), Starter Story on YouTube, May 31, 2026
“As you can see here in Superwall, we have around 30,000 US dollars in monthly recurring revenue... I use Cursor as my IDE. I use Claude Code Max to code pretty much the entire thing.”
Editor's note: Benjamin 'Benji' Chen is a 20-year-old NYU student who says he built over 45 apps in a year; his first, Pillar, a self-improvement app, reached 11,000 users. Snag was launched by his team at 10X Studio, so it is not a solo build. His process: design the screens in Figma, then feed the designs to Claude Code; he says he uses Cursor as his IDE and Claude Code Max 'to code pretty much the entire thing', with Supabase as the backend. He says a good app takes four to five hours to build, not counting the backend.
How they got customers
UGC creators at scale: his team interviews creators and keeps about 1 in 10, pays them a monthly retainer plus CPM, and turns videos with over 50,000 views into Meta ads. Each ad starts at about $50 a day and is scaled up while return on ad spend stays above 1; one example video got 240,000 views, and about $3,000 went into one ad before it stopped paying back.
Steps to try
Start from the marketing: decide the value a user should see in three seconds, then design the app around it.
From the sourceWireframe in Figma, then hand the designs to Claude Code to build the app.
From the sourceInterview UGC creators and keep only the ones whose videos get views; pay a retainer plus CPM.
From the sourceTurn videos with over 50,000 views into Meta ads, test at about $50 a day and scale while ROAS stays above 1.
From the sourceIf you can't pay creators yet, film the videos yourself.
From the sourceWatch for ad fatigue and keep making new creatives, since each ad stops paying back after a while.
Our suggestion
"From the source" steps summarize the linked post. "Our suggestion" steps are general practice from us, not claims by the founder.
Source
We summarize and link. Figures are reproduced as stated and are unaudited unless marked Verified. Founder? Request a correction or removal.
Quick answers
How much does Snag make?
Snag reports Around $30,000 MRR, over $80,000 in total proceeds, about four months after launch (per month, Superwall dashboard shown in a Starter Story interview, May 2026, as claimed). Source: Benjamin Chen (founder), Starter Story, May 31, 2026. Proof level: Screenshot. Founder shared a dashboard screenshot (Stripe, RevenueCat, App Store). Not independently verified.
What was Snag built with?
The source says it was built with Claude Code and Cursor.
How did Snag get customers?
Main growth channels: UGC videos, TikTok and Meta ads. UGC creators at scale: his team interviews creators and keeps about 1 in 10, pays them a monthly retainer plus CPM, and turns videos with over 50,000 views into Meta ads. Each ad starts at about $50 a day and is scaled up while return on ad spend stays above 1; one example video got 240,000 views, and about $3,000 went into one ad before it stopped paying back.