How a Shower Thought Became a $10K Startup in Six Months

How the idea took shape

One morning in April 2024, Yifan was in the shower when an idea struck him: use AI to predict what babies might look like by merging parents’ facial features. He sketched out a simple plan, built a landing page in a day using Carrd, and linked Stripe for payments. That initial page went live on Twitter. Response? Lukewarm. But he pressed on, listing the product in AI directories to see if anyone would convert.

Finding the first customers

Traffic dripped in slowly from those directories. It wasn’t much, but it was real. Ten days post-launch he scored his first sale on April 11, 2024. That $9 transaction felt like a turning point. By the month’s end, nine sales had pushed revenue over $100. Yifan was still generating photos by hand. It wasn’t scalable, but it validated demand. The positive notes from early adopters gave him the confidence to invest in automation.

Building the engine

In May, he wrote the first lines of Node.js Express code to automate image generation. He deployed it on a basic cloud server, connecting it to the Carrd front end via POST requests. Suddenly, OurBabyAI could process requests without manual intervention. That month saw 18 sales and $325 in revenue. In June the business crossed $1,000 in revenue. These steps show how a tiny investment in code can unlock rapid scaling.

Riding the SEO wave

Yifan had little SEO background but published relevant pages and metadata that appealed to Google. Within weeks, organic search accounted for 80% of traffic. Occasional TikTok trends, like #BabyAIGenerator, produced spikes. Listing on Product Hunt secured the 2nd Product of the Day badge. Exposure on startup directories and social proof fueled a steady stream of users, delivering an average 100% MoM growth.

Smart pricing and payment flow

He tested four price points and settled on a $9 flat fee for eight photos. That price converted best. Carrd’s Stripe integration and simple form fields made checkout quick. No subscriptions. Just a one-time digital delivery. After payment, a script triggered the backend, ran AI processing, and emailed results. This lean setup kept overhead near zero and margins high.

Key lessons

Yifan learned that speed beats perfection. Launching fast, validating with real sales, and iterating kept the project alive. He found that user feedback matters: posting early in niche forums and listening to comments led to tweaks that improved conversion. He also saw the power of organic search when you nail on-page SEO basics.

Where it stands now

As of July 2024, OurBabyAI has hit $10,000 in revenue. It runs with minimal maintenance, leaving Yifan room to explore new features. For indie makers, this story shows how a small budget, a clear idea, and a focus on execution can turn a shower thought into a real business.