I built a side project app — what I earned and what I learned

by Dominic Tan·May 25, 2026

Spent 4 months building a simple productivity app for a specific niche (Malaysian teachers managing lesson plans). Here's the honest outcome.

Revenue:
- Month 1—3: RM0 (building, beta testing)
- Month 4: RM180 (6 paid users at RM30/month)
- Month 5—8: RM400—600/month
- Month 9—12: RM700—900/month

Total first year revenue: approximately RM5,500

Cost to build: My own time (roughly 200 hours), a RM50/month server, and a domain.

What I learned:
- Distribution is the hard problem, not the product. I had a working app by month 2. I spent the rest of the year finding users.
- Niche is your friend. "Productivity app" goes nowhere. "Lesson plan tool for Malaysian teachers" found an audience.
- RM900/month is not quit-your-job money but it's real money that required no active hours after the initial build.

Would I do it again? Yes. It's been a technical learning accelerator and the compounding of recurring revenue is real even at small numbers.

#SaaS#side-project#app#incomE#indiE

Comments (6)

Izzuddin Mohamad21

Pitching to large Malaysian companies as a solo freelancer: partner with a larger agency or create a professional proposal template that makes you look like a firm. Perception matters.

Karen Ooi15

Corporate procurement favours registered companies over sole proprietors. Sdn Bhd registration is worth it once you're targeting enterprise clients consistently.

Hasrul Fadhly10

I created a one-page capabilities document that functions like a company brochure. Even as a solo freelancer, it signals professionalism and makes procurement conversations easier.