My AI-Generated Influencer Made Me $100K

Raphael, a 19-year-old entrepreneur, has built over 50 mobile apps, with his latest project, Face Kit, generating over $100,000 in revenue in just two months. His success is attributed to a unique growth strategy: AI-generated influencers. The core growth channel for Face Kit relies entirely on these AI-driven content creators. Face Kit is an app in the "looks maxing" space that uses Apple's TrueDepth camera to create a 3D scan of a user's face. It operates on a subscription model, offering yearly, monthly, or weekly payment options. Since mid-January, the app has achieved over $100,000 in sales, with daily revenue fluctuating between $1,000 and $2,000, occasionally spiking to $6,000. The distribution strategy involves "spamming TikTok" with organic content. In two months, Face Kit has published over 1,300 videos across 40 different accounts, garnering over 100 million views and nearly 10 million likes. This organic video content accounts for 100% of the app's revenue, eliminating the need for paid influencers or advertisements. Raphael's journey in app development began at 13, building mobile games. By 14, he made his first $100,000 by creating TikToks about his game-making process, latching onto viral trends. At 15-16, he founded "Influencer Apps," collaborating with influencers to create games, scaling the company to 10 employees and achieving near six-figure monthly revenues before selling it at 17. At 18, he ventured into consumer apps, exiting one before launching Face Kit at 19, leveraging his accumulated knowledge. The idea for Face Kit originated from "doom scrolling" on TikTok. Raphael discovered a page called "Logan Reed" showcasing "glow-up" before-and-after transformations. Initially impressed, he later realized the content was AI-generated, finding it indistinguishable from reality. This realization led him to contact the creators, and together they brainstormed and developed Face Kit. The app's success is partly attributed to targeting the "health, wealth, and relationship" category, which historically proves profitable. The AI-generated influencer strategy involves creating realistic AI avatars that look like real people. These avatars are given pages on TikTok and Instagram, where numerous "before and after" transformation videos are posted, showcasing the use of Face Kit. The high volume of posts and viral formats drive views, leading users to click the link in the bio, download the app, and subscribe. Raphael demonstrated an example from the "Logan Reed" page, which features a mix of personal and promotional content to maintain authenticity. A video showing a before-and-after transformation, entirely AI-generated with a viral sound, received 2 million views. It depicts the user scanning their face with Face Kit, analyzing various facial ratios, and then showing the improved "after" look, directing viewers to the app via a link in the bio. Beyond AI influencers, they also create one-off viral AI-generated videos. One such video featured a professor saying, "I can scan your face right now with Face Kit and prove it. That's the issue," implying the person is unattractive. The absurdity and realism of this AI-generated video made it go viral, generating over a million views and a significant traffic spike for the app. When asked how others can replicate this strategy, Raphael advises identifying a niche with a clear, visual "before and after" transformation and a strong pain point. The next step is to build a minimal viable product as quickly as possible, focusing only on onboarding and a paywall to validate if users are willing to pay after seeing the app promoted on TikTok. For creating AI influencers, they use Nano Banana to generate realistic avatars, ensuring consistency across generations to build believable profiles. The AI avatars are then integrated into viral formats, discovered through experimentation and observing successful trends within the niche. For one-off viral videos, Sora is used, emphasizing the importance of a compelling viral idea and prompt over mere realism. They maintain a group chat where successful formats and trends are shared and immediately replicated across all 40 accounts. Addressing concerns about the ethics of AI-generated content that appears real, Raphael states his role as an entrepreneur is to solve market problems efficiently. He believes that if AI-generated content can achieve this more effectively than traditional methods, it's a valid approach. He argues that Face Kit, by promoting skincare, hydration, and exercise, is not harmful, and even aims to counter misinformation in the "looks maxing" space by providing science-based advice. He acknowledges that the app capitalizes on insecurities, but views this as a fundamental aspect of marketing. Technically, Face Kit was built using Swift due to its reliance on Apple's TrueDepth camera technology. Superbase handles the backend, and Superwall manages paywalls. For the internal platform used by "clippers" (content creators) to generate AI avatars and videos, Nano Banana is employed. The main operational cost is paying these clippers based on views, which amounted to about $2,000 last month, yielding a significant profit margin from $35,000 in proceeds after Apple's tax. Raphael's advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is to "fall in love with entrepreneurship," embracing the process, difficulties, and roadblocks. He emphasizes pursuing one's truth relentlessly rather than solely focusing on numbers.