I copied TikTok trends and made millions with AI

The speaker shares his strategy for building successful mobile apps, emphasizing the principle of "mimesis"—copying what works and adding a unique spin. He illustrates this with the creation of Wombo, an app that leveraged the first-order motion model to allow users to animate photos with songs, resulting in over 100 million downloads. This success was built on a simple, viral-friendly user experience and deliberate song selection, without spending on marketing.

He further explains how this strategy was applied to Wombo's subsequent app, Dream, an AI artwork generator that capitalized on the virality of models like VQGAN+CLIP. Both apps achieved number-one status by making complex AI technology accessible and engaging, focusing on ease of use and shareability. The speaker also touches upon the challenges faced, including funding issues and the importance of adapting to market changes, eventually leading to the development of W.ai, a decentralized compute network.

The core takeaway is that immense opportunity exists in building AI-powered mobile apps by studying trends, understanding user behavior, and creating simple, entertaining, or useful products. The speaker highlights the power of viral content loops and the potential for significant monetization, even without venture capital, by capturing user attention and serving the needs of a small, paying user base.

• The core strategy for building successful apps is "mimesis" – copying what works and adding a unique spin.
• Wombo, an app using the first-order motion model, achieved over 100 million downloads by offering a simple, viral-friendly user experience and curated song selections.
• Dream, an AI artwork generator, followed a similar path to success by making AI image generation accessible.
• Key to virality is creating a content creation loop where users make and share content easily, and focusing on simple, entertaining, or useful app functions.
• Monetization is achieved through subscriptions and ads, with a small percentage of users driving revenue, while the majority use the app for free to fuel virality.

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The Principle of Mimesis [0:42]

• The speaker advocates for a strategy of copying successful ideas and adding a personal touch, drawing parallels from his experience in video games.
• This principle was applied to conceptualize and launch Wombo, an app that achieved significant downloads.

"if something is working, then probably you can copy it and put your own spin on it and it'll continue to work."

The Genesis of Wombo [2:39]

• The idea for Wombo stemmed from observing Reface, a successful face-swap app, and the emerging capabilities of open-source AI models like the first-order motion model.
• PewDiePie's video showcasing memes created with this model highlighted its viral potential.
• The app was conceived as a simple, accessible way for anyone to create animated lip-sync videos, recognizing the gap between technical accessibility and mass appeal.

"man, like why doesn't someone just make an app like where anyone can do this where it's simple?"

Building Wombo: Simplicity and Virality [7:22]

• Wombo's design focused on an extremely simple four-screen user flow: take a selfie, pick a song, loading screen, and output.
• The app was engineered for virality by making content creation easy and encouraging sharing, with no money spent on marketing.
• A deliberate selection of 15 iconic and meme-worthy songs was crucial for user engagement and shareability.

"we we really deliberately picked those 15 songs and then we really deliberately made the 15 driving videos for those songs. And uh that was I think key"

The "Stupid Simple" App Approach [12:14]

• The speaker emphasizes the success of "stupid simple" app concepts, citing Mixie as another example of a music mashup app with a straightforward UI.
• This simplicity is key to capturing user attention in a crowded digital landscape, akin to offering a small piece of candy rather than a steak.
• The focus is on making the initial user experience effortless and enjoyable to encourage engagement and sharing.

"I personally like starting with stupid simple"

Content Creation Loops and Algorithmic Feeds [15:23]

• Successful apps often incorporate a viral content creation loop, where users create and share content that drives further user acquisition.
• Understanding and leveraging algorithmic feeds on platforms like Instagram and TikTok is essential for content to gain widespread visibility.
• The strategy involves making it easy for users to create content that the algorithm favors, leading to millions of views.

"the battlefield of attention and so I think like a great source of product inspiration is to look at that and look at where are people's attention going what kind of content are people making"

Applying the Strategy Beyond Fun Apps [18:24]

• The principles of studying viral content and simplifying user experiences can be applied to various app types, including B2B and prosumer applications.
• The key is to understand what captures the attention of the target audience, whether it's through social media trends or industry conferences.

"it's the same thing like what do the people you care about pay attention to"

The Viral Signal of Technical Difficulty [22:58]

• A strong indicator of potential virality is when a technology is gaining traction within technical circles but is not yet easily accessible to the general public.
• Simplifying such technologies for lay users can create a significant market opportunity.

The Launch and Success of Dream [25:13]

• Following Wombo, the team developed Dream, an AI artwork generator, capitalizing on the virality of models like VQGAN+CLIP.
• Dream offered a fun and easy-to-use interface for generating dreamlike images, making advanced AI accessible to a broad audience.
• Key elements for Dream's success included fast generation times, user input templating, and a simple, engaging interface, replicating the viral formula of Wombo.

"we wrapped that up into a fun and easy to use mobile app."

Navigating Challenges and Monetization [30:24]

• The company faced significant challenges, including a major funding setback due to music licensing issues and market instability following the FTX crash.
• This led to a period of "cockroach mode," focusing intensely on monetization and profitability.
• Monetization strategies included subscriptions offering premium features like faster generation or access to special styles, and advertising.

"We went from having number one app thinking we're about to get $15 million to having negative runway and being like, 'What the [__] just happened?'"

Monetization Secrets: Copying Success [34:26]

• The speaker advises copying successful monetizers, mentioning "Nikita Beer" as a prime example.
• Subscriptions, ranging from $5 a week to $5 a month, were implemented, with a focus on providing value rather than relying on "dark patterns."
• The success of apps like Calii and Rayon, which monetize through weekly subscriptions, is noted as a trend.

"Just copy people who are better than you."

The AI and Crypto Intersection: W.ai [41:41]

• The speaker became interested in the intersection of AI and crypto, studying projects like Bit Tensor and Render.
• This exploration led to the development of W.ai, a platform designed to allow users to contribute their computing power (from MacBooks, gaming PCs, etc.) to AI workloads.
• This peer-to-peer computing model aims to incentivize users with points, convertible to tokens and then money, for contributing their device's idle compute power.

"The idea of sort of peer-to-peer computing and using our users compute was born out of our continuous push towards inference efficiency."

Key Takeaways for Aspiring App Developers [50:44]

• There is "infinite opportunity" to create mobile apps with AI components by focusing on user entertainment and utility.
• Studying viral content, understanding trends on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and identifying successful app features are crucial first steps.
• The strategy involves "productizing the content format," making it easier for users to replicate viral trends.

"If you want to create a mobile app with some AI component to it that gets millions of downloads? The way to do it is step one see how other people see see like understand your landscape."

The Power of Viral Content and Monetization Models [57:51]

• Creating viral content, even simple or controversial memes (like celebrities as pregnant cats), can drive significant attention and potential user acquisition.
• A conversion rate of 1-2% from viral content to app downloads is considered successful.
• Even a single viral hit can represent a significant financial opportunity, with the majority of users often using apps for free while a small percentage drives revenue through subscriptions.

"if you make an app and it goes viral, even if it goes viral once and people never use it again, like that's a eight, nine, potentially nine figure opportunity."

The Future of Mobile Apps and AI [1:03:57]

• The speaker believes the future of mobile apps lies in incorporating AI, driven by user demand for entertainment and utility.
• Venture capital is not necessarily required for success; creating a "truly great and truly unique" app that captures the cultural moment can lead to hundreds of millions of downloads and substantial revenue.

"people are glued to their [__] phones and they want to be entertained and they want to be useful. So if you can be useful or entertaining, then you can make an app."