Hang tight while we fetch the video data and transcripts. This only takes a moment.
Connecting to YouTube player…
Fetching transcript data…
We’ll display the transcript, summary, and all view options as soon as everything loads.
Next steps
Loading transcript tools…
This app made over $1M | Starter Story | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: This app made over $1M
Skip watching entire videos - get the full transcript, search for keywords, and copy with one click.
Share:
Video Transcript
I am the founder of Rooted. It's been
downloaded over four million times and
made over a million in revenue.
Meet Anna. She built an iPhone app with
no coding experience that's been
downloaded over 4 million times.
I don't have any technical background.
So, I basically started taking what I
thought would be helpful and I started
drawing it out in a notebook.
But what's more important than how she
built it is how she found the idea. In
my fourth year of university, I actually
got a panic attack.
In this episode, we dive into how Anya
turned a very painful experience into an
app that has generated over a million
dollars. Specifically, Anna breaks down
how to know if a problem you experience
might be worth turning it into an app,
how she built it without being an
experienced app developer, and the
four-step framework she used to get
millions of users. Let's dive in. I'm
Pat Walls, and this is Starter Story.
All right, welcome Anya to the channel.
Tell me about who you are, what you
built, and what's your story.
Hey, my name is Anya and I'm the founder
of Rooted for Panic Attack and Anxiety
Relief. Since launching in 2019, it's
been downloaded over 4 million times and
made over a million in revenue.
I mean, wow, that's insane. 4 million
downloads on an app that you built. Can
you tell me about how this all started?
How you even came up with the idea to
build something like this? Yeah, in my
fourth year of university, I actually
got a panic attack seemingly out of
nowhere. I had no idea what they were
before and I was far away from home. I
had no family doctor and I really
struggled to find the resources that I
needed to get better. So, as I was
looking through the app stores and
looking online for something to help, I
realized that there's nothing that
really spoke to me. Things were really
either clinical or there were hypnosis
based apps and it just really wasn't
what I was looking for. So that's why I
figured I had something to launch here.
I mean, I think what you did is awesome
is that you actually had this personal
problem, this very painful personal
problem, and then you decided to build
something. I guess my question is how'd
you get the confidence to know that this
was something worth building? How did
you like validate that this could be
something that could be big?
Yeah. So my idea at the time was to
download and try existing apps. And uh I
noticed a common theme in the user
reviews that there was this gap when it
came to identifying what a panic attack
is and also solutions for how to
basically get through a panic attack in
the moment. And I put together a really
early version of Rooted, a prototype, an
MVP type solution. And the first few
hundred users said that even though
there was still some lagging, some bugs,
some incomplete parts, they really
wanted me to keep going with it. And
that was super encouraging. What would
be your advice to someone who uh let's
say they do have a personal problem like
a painful problem like like mental
health thing or or something like that.
What would be your advice on how to like
validate that this is something worth building?
building?
Yeah, I'd say if you are passionate
about solving a problem then really
launching with just an MVP to get that
feedback out there. For me, I think I
was just like obsessed with getting the
idea out there and I really didn't then
listen to the naysayers as much because
I was like I need to prove this out
myself. So, if you're confident that
other people are experiencing your
problem, it's worth just launching an
MVP to see if what you've created will
help them.
Okay. Well, perfect segue on that. Let's
talk about how you built that MVP, how
you built the first version of that app.
I understand that you don't have a
technical background. You're not a
programmer or coder. How did you do it?
How did you build something worth using?
I basically started taking what I
thought would be helpful and I started
drawing it out in a notebook and I was
thinking about the way I wanted the
information to be presented. what would
be most helpful for me in that moment of
a panic attack. How do I keep things
super simple in the app when somebody's
really overwhelmed as they're using it?
And so I took these ideas and sketches
from my notebooks and then I taught
myself how to basically create them as
wireframes in Photoshop and Illustrator.
And then yeah, I went to an agency and I
could not afford to work with the
agency. So that certainly set me back
timewise. But then at one point a
student developer said that he would
love to work with me and so that's how I
was able to finally launch that first MVP.
MVP.
Yeah. If you could just give me a
breakdown of you know how long this
took, how much did you actually spend to
get this prototype put together? What
did that look like
with the student developer? What I did
was I just put in all my savings. You
know, as a non-technical founder, it
just took a few months once I actually
had the developer. And that's because
all of the content, all of the
wireframes before then were already
created. I did want to learn enough to
at least be able to communicate what I
wanted better. I just sort of focused a
lot on the design, making sure all that
was really simple. The first prototype
of Rooted was essentially the panic
attack button that would walk you
through a panic attack. And that
actually hasn't changed a ton over the
years because it's really the core of
Rooted. It's the aha moment that really
resonates with users. What's changed is
the design and the way it looks right
now. But that core idea of how to stop a
panic attack is still there and rooted
after all these years. So I launched
with that a simple breathing tool and
then the lessons on how to understand
panic attacks and anxiety and where
they're coming from.
All right. So you launched this, you
built this, you're getting early
traction. Now this is a huge app with
millions of downloads. What did that
growth timeline look like for you? How
long did it take?
So it started off quite slow. I'd say in
the first year we reached around 10,000
downloads. It wasn't until year two or
so that we reached a 100,000 downloads.
And I remember after that, I guess we
just knew that there was a real demand
for it and kept going. And I hit a
million downloads, I think, in year three.
three.
You mentioned just a second ago that you
did this with a full-time job. How did
you do that?
Yeah. So when I first started Rooted, I
was working 4 days a week and I had told
my employers at the time that I was
starting Rooted. I'm doing this like
Rooted 3 days a week and this other job
4 days a week. So I basically had no
weekends or social life for quite a few
years. I don't think there's any
shortcuts though. I think that's just
something I had to go through.
Tell me about that decision to go
full-time on Rooted. What did that look like?
like?
So I had already been wanting to do it
for probably a year before I did it. Uh
revenue was there. it could sustain me
comfortably for over a year. Yeah, it
really happened when there was a lot of
shifts at the other job and it just
became a lot less enjoyable and I just
decided that now is time. That was about
3 years ago now, so maybe 2 and 1/2 to 3
years into rooted.
All right, before we get back to Anya's
story, let's talk about where it all
started. Anya didn't have a business
background or app development
experience. She just had a painful
personal problem and decided to build a
solution for herself. And that simple
decision became a million-dollar app.
This is exactly why we launched Starter
Story Build. It's our flagship program
where you'll learn to build and launch
your project using AI coding tools, even
if you have zero coding experience. In
just a few weeks, you'll go from idea to
a working production app just like Anya
did. So, if you're ready to turn your
problem into your next project, head to
the link in the description to check out
Starter Story Build. All right, let's
get back to the episode. All right,
let's jump into the growth side of
things. I know that you grew this app
from zero to 4 million plus downloads.
What are some of the tactics or maybe
the top three things when it comes to
growing a mobile or an iPhone app?
First, it was active social media
engagement, but I remember that I used
to spend literal hours going through
posts, writing helpful comments, leaving
links back to Rooted, and really trying
to be helpful in what I wrote. Secondly,
I would say press releases. In the early
days, I didn't want to be even known as
like the anxiety girl. I didn't want
that to like define me. Then I realized,
you know, once you actually put your
name to a story, it does resonate better
with the audiences. I would find people
online, journalists that wrote about
mental health and then I would read it
reach out to them either on LinkedIn or
try to get their email and send pitches
that way. It was a ton of work because
not many people would ever respond to
me. But what ended up happening is every
now and then we'd get featured in a
pretty major way for small apps. So we
were in Cosmopolitan, we've been in
Women's Health, we were even in Time
magazine which was the big one. All of
that really happened from these organic
cold emails. And then the third thing
would be a huge focus on app store
optimization. So I focused a lot on
making sure that the product matches
what the users are looking for. They see
on your product page. They download the
app, they use it, and then they use the
same keywords to describe their
experience via the user reviews. That
was like the holy circle. And if you can
get that loop going, it I think it's a
really strong presence for app store optimization.
optimization.
That's great. And would you have any
advice for how to be helpful in 2025?
You probably talked to a lot of people
that are just starting to build apps.
What's your advice on being helpful and
doing something similar to what you did?
I'd say not leading with, hey, this is
my app. Go download it, but actually
maybe even answering something like a
question online that your app answers. I
would almost take something like from a
rooted lesson. So, let's say there's
somebody makes a post saying that, you
know, they had this like horrible
experience with anxiety on a run today.
Then I could like kind of share like why
that might have happened and why, you
know, it's normal. it's okay and whatnot.
whatnot.
Okay. So, beyond the tactics which we
talked a little bit about, I want to
know now, you know, what's the bigger
strategy? What does it take to build a
successful app in 2025? What would be
your playbook that you'd give to someone
who is just starting out today?
Right. So, step one, build a product
that actually delivers what your page
promises. That'll lead not only to more
positive downloads, aka like people
leaving positive experiences, but people
will also then share it. and like the
word of mouth engagement is quite
important. Step two, listen to your
users. So user reviews are super
important. Oftentimes everything you
need to know is written in the user
reviews and sometimes your own
assumption of what a user needs might
not actually be what they do need. Step
three, optimize app store presence
continuously. Doing a release frequently
shows that you continue to work on the
app. I do one once every week and that
shows that you're constantly working on
fixing bugs, improving the user
experience. And step four, partner
strategically. So be that a wellness
organization, um we've done a few B2B
contracts as well, a ton of different
therapy groups and psychologist offices
are recommending and using Rooted and
this has been something that's been
helpful now in 2025. One thing that I'm
curious about as someone who's built a
really successful app, also helped a lot
of people build successful apps. What is
like the most important metrics to be
tracking? Is it revenue downloads? What
is it?
Well, for me, and I think especially
being in the mental health space, it's
been about user reviews. So, our rating,
we've been able to maintain a 4.8 out of
five rating. And this is really, really
important to me. users leave comments
about how Rooted has helped them go back
to work, go back to school, and just
reclaim confidence in their lives. We've
also realized that based on usage that
we're able to now take a panic attack
and users are feeling better from the
panic attack within under 2 minutes.
It's just been really exciting to to
work on that and kind of see really how
effective Rooted is and what users say
about it. I think actually our focus on
tracking user reviews and the quality of
rooted over revenue has been a big
factor as to why we've grown.
All right, so we talked all about how
you built this app, how you came up with
the idea, how you grew it to millions of
users. Can we see the app? How does it
actually work?
Yeah. So, when you first open the app,
you're greeted with this blue app mascot
named Ron. The main feature here is if
you're in the middle of a panic attack,
you'll see this red button. This is an
SOS button. And it'll basically ask you
how you're feeling based on either
wanting to feel okay in the moment or
wanting to face the panic attack
head-on. And it walks you through these
prompts which help to essentially
activate the parasympathetic nervous
system. And the parasympathetic nervous
system is the one that calms us down.
There's also this tool for deep
breathing. And probably my favorite
features are these lessons. They're
actually lessons on understanding
anxiety, what the physical mental
effects are, the causes and theories and
so forth. We also have a journal tool
where you can kind of share what your
feelings are, share what you've
accomplished, what's weighing you down,
what you're grateful for. We also have
over 100 visualizations and sleep
sounds. And then most recently, we have
a games tool. And these are supposed to
be really simple, relaxing games. Users
have asked for this for many years. So
the idea is for the games to be really
simple things that you can play when you
are on a plane or in a busy subway. Just
things to kind of distract you when
you're feeling a little anxious in the
moment. Now that we have as many
downloads as we have, whenever I launch
something, I almost instantly like
within a week I get to see thousands of
people use it, right? So that's just
been incredible.
All right. Well, thank you for showing
me that. I think what you built is
awesome and it's an amazing tool for
millions of people to use. You've done
it. You built an app. It's really
successful. You quit your full-time job.
You do this for a living now. Uh what
would be your advice to someone who's
maybe just starting out, maybe they've
just started building an app or they
have an idea for an app. What would be
your advice to someone who's starting out?
out?
I would suggest that you listen to users
very closely. They will have the answers
you need. They'll help you know what to
focus on. And I believe, especially in
the mental health space, at the end of
the day, that's who we're most
responsible. Launching Rooted with the
MVP and getting that original feedback.
I mean, to this day, I still read all
the user reviews, even though I have
somebody else do the responses now. I
still go in and I make sure I know
what's going on and just to have a pulse
on what users are saying. I'd also
recommend taking care of yourself along
the way. I think there were definitely
quite a few points where I almost
reached burnout. I was building
something really intense and that level
of intensity was with me at all times.
And I think I looking back I wish I
celebrated a few of the smaller moments
more because now I realize that those
were like the most awesome moments
whereas really I was just focus on the
next thing and ready to get to the next
thing. So I would recommend taking care
of yourself and also celebrating the
small wins.
Well, thank you Ana for coming on to the
channel. I think what you built is
awesome. I'm so excited to share it with
all of our subscribers on YouTube. I
think what you built is really needed in
the world. So thanks for coming on.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks again to Ana for coming on to the
channel. Personally, I loved hearing
about how she grew rooted from just a
painful personal problem, like a panic
attack, into an app that's been
downloaded over four million times and
made over a million dollars. But
reminder, it all started from finding
that simple problem and building
something. You can't skip that step if
you want to build something that could
potentially change your life. And this
is exactly why we launched Starter Story
Build. We'll help you take a problem
from your own life and turn it into a
working app using only AI tools. So, if
you're ready to build and launch your
app, just head to the first link in the
description to check out Starter Story
Build. That's it for this episode. Let
me know what you think in the comments.
Thank you again for watching. We'll see
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
Chrome Extension