5 Marketing Lessons From My First $400 MRR App

An indie developer shares 5 marketing lessons learned while growing an AI tattoo preview app (Inkigo) from zero to $400 MRR in 3 months without paid ads. Key lessons include: choosing a unique app name to own search results instead of competing with 200+ similar apps, creating topic-focused TikTok content (about tattoos, not the app itself), using premium pricing ($10/week or $20/month) with fair usage limits to maintain margins, resisting the urge to add features and focusing on distribution instead, and using small paid ad boosts only to amplify already-working organic content. The app is built with React Native and Expo, uses RevenueCat for payments, and leverages an AI image model for realistic tattoo previews.