# MyFutureSelf Aiolum story: https://aiolum.com/story/myfutureself/ · added 2026-10-26 · updated 2026-10-26 **In short.** MyFutureSelf (AI mentor and habit coach app, United States): US$12.9K revenue in one month, February 2026. Evidence grade D: reported, not verified. Team: 2 co-founders, Giancarlo Sarti (CEO) and a co-founder not named in the sources, 0 employees in March 2026. Launched February 2025; still running. AI mentor and habit coach app · United States · AI-native · team of 2 to 10 · still running · group: Companions and publishing - Outcome: US$12.9K revenue in one month, February 2026 (evidence grade of the headline number: D; headline in US dollars: 154800) - Launch: February 2025; months from launch to the outcome: 12 - Team: 2 co-founders, Giancarlo Sarti (CEO) and a co-founder not named in the sources, 0 employees in March 2026 - Outside funding: None found; a place in the Founders, Inc. Off Season residency, no investment disclosed - Main factor: Distribution through creators - Meters, 1 to 4: evidence strength 1, copyable pattern 2, capital needed 1 - Tags: AI-native, Small team, Bootstrapped, Running, B2C, Self-improvement **The product.** A phone app for iPhone and Android in which the user describes the person they want to become, and an AI character called the Future Self, built from those answers, turns the goals into a 90-day plan with a short list of daily tasks. The user can chat or talk by voice with the Future Self at any time. The app is free to download but needs a paid subscription after the onboarding; the App Store page lists weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly plans. A second product for universities introduces students to graduates of their school. **Why it worked.** The two founders had run an email marketing agency in college, so they planned how to reach customers before the product was good. They built the app without coding experience, with Claude and Cursor, released it with crashes, and fixed it in public. Growth came from free posts on Instagram, TikTok and Reddit, then from a small group of creators who post about the app every day, then from paid ads on Meta. Co-founder Giancarlo Sarti told Starter Story in March 2026 that the app made US$12,900 in February 2026. Evidence grades: A = disclosed by a public company, a filing or a payment processor, or verified by one; B = two or more independent reports agree, or a journalist confirmed it; C = a founder claim that no one else verified; D = reported, not verified: one founder claim or a third-party estimate with no second source; calc = computed on this page from graded facts. ## Summary MyFutureSelf is a subscription app, an app that charges a repeating fee through the Apple App Store or Google Play instead of a one-time price. The user answers questions about their goals, and the app creates an AI mentor, a chat character that a large language model plays, here called the user's Future Self. The Future Self turns the goals into a 90-day roadmap of daily tasks across health, career, mindset and relationships, and answers by chat or voice. The company's privacy policy says that the chat and voice content goes to OpenAI, its AI provider, to write the replies. Giancarlo Sarti, the co-founder and CEO, and his co-founder started the company in college in Cleveland, Ohio, in February 2025, after an email marketing agency that the founder said had reached US$20,000 a month and then stopped growing. Neither of them could code; the founder said they built the first version with Claude and Cursor and that it crashed often. In a Starter Story interview published on 20 March 2026, the founder said that MyFutureSelf generated US$12,900 in revenue in February 2026, and the page header lists 2 founders and 0 employees. That revenue figure rests on one interview, grade D: no payment processor, app-analytics service or journalist confirms it, and no later figure was found. The company's own pages add usage claims (88,000+ downloads on the home page in October 2026) and show that it now also sells to universities. In summer 2026 the team took part in Off Season, a residency of the investor Founders, Inc.; no source says that it invested. This page also shows earlier habit and self-improvement apps that failed. ## Pricing MyFutureSelf in-app purchases listed on the US App Store page, read 26 October 2026 (grade C). The app shows the price for each country before payment, so a buyer may see only some of these. | Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit | |---|---|---|---| | Weekly | | 6.99 a week | about US$30.29 a month if kept for a year (calculated) | | Monthly | | 9.99 | full app | | Quarterly | | 29.99 every 3 months | US$10.00 a month (calculated) | | Yearly, lowest listed | 1.67 | | US$19.99 a year; also listed as Yearly - Discount | | Yearly, middle listed | 2.08 | | US$24.99 a year | | Yearly, highest listed | 2.50 | | US$29.99 a year | The App Store page lists several prices for the same period, which usually means that the app tests prices or shows discounts: three yearly prices (US$19.99, US$24.99, US$29.99), a yearly discount at US$19.99, two weekly products at US$6.99, a monthly plan at US$9.99 and a quarterly plan at US$29.99. Monthly equivalents of the yearly prices were calculated on this page. The help page says there is no free version and no student discount, and that some plans include a free trial. Apple or Google bills every plan. ## How much revenue does MyFutureSelf make? The numbers, graded A two-founder phone app that its co-founder said made US$12,900 in February 2026, one year after it started, reported in one interview and not verified | Fact | Value | Grade | Note | Sources | |---|---|---|---|---| | Revenue in February 2026 | US$12,900 | D | Giancarlo Sarti in a written Starter Story interview published 20 March 2026: "In February, we generated $12.9K in revenue." The interview does not say gross or net of the app-store fee. The year is inferred from the publication date, because the company started in February 2025. | [1] | | Revenue per month in the Starter Story header | US$11,000 | D | The page header, March 2026, with no date of its own. The page also says the founder makes an average of US$132,000 a year, which is the header figure times 12. | [1] | | Run rate from the February 2026 figure | about US$154,800 a year | calc | Calculated: US$12,900 times 12. One month is a weak base for a year, because app subscription revenue changes with ad spending and with yearly renewals. | [1] | | Team, March 2026 | 2 founders, 0 employees | C | Starter Story page header. The founder speaks of "my co-founder and I". The co-founder is not named in any source read. | [1] | | Started | February 2025, in college, in Cleveland | C | Starter Story page header and interview. The App Store page shows copyright 2025. | [1, 7] | | Earlier business | an email marketing agency that reached US$20,000 a month | C | Founder, Starter Story interview. He said it plateaued after that. | [1] | | Coding experience at the start | none | C | Founder: "Neither of us knew how to code"; the first version was "built largely with the help of tools like Claude and Cursor" and crashed often. | [1] | | AI provider for the mentor | OpenAI | C | Privacy policy, updated 13 October 2026: chat messages and voice conversations, and photos for the avatar, are processed by OpenAI. | [5] | | Downloads claimed | 88,000+ (home page); 75,000+ (university page); 10,000+ (Google Play only) | C | Company pages read 26 October 2026, and the Google Play counter. The home page also claims 166,000+ completed actions and 1,800+ five-star ratings. | [2, 11, 8] | | App Store rating | 4.7 from 1,200 ratings; age rating 9+ | C | App Store page, 26 October 2026. Category Health & Fitness, "Contains Health or Wellness Topics". The terms of service require users to be at least 13. | [7, 6] | | Students paying for the app | 4,500+ "paying out of pocket" | C | Company's page for universities, 26 October 2026. No date or method is given. | [11] | | Developer and company | Success AI LLC on the stores; MyFutureSelf, Inc., Ohio, in the terms | C | App Store seller and terms of service. | [7, 6] | | Outside funding | none disclosed | C | Founders, Inc. lists MyFutureSelf as team 35 of its Off Season II residency (24 June to 7 August), where "top teams get up to $250k in funding". No source says that MyFutureSelf received money, and it is not in the Founders, Inc. portfolio list in the sitemap. | [9, 10] | | Time from start to the February 2026 figure | 12 months | calc | Calculated: February 2025 to February 2026. | [1] | How to read this table: the grade D value is one founder statement in one interview that no one else has checked. Grade C values are the company's own pages, its App Store and Google Play pages, and the Founders, Inc. program pages. A "calc" value was computed on this page from the rows above it. No value is grade A or B. ## When did MyFutureSelf launch, and how did it grow? Timeline From a college marketing agency to a paid AI mentor app in about one year, with every revenue number from one interview. Each entry carries its grade. - **Before 2025** (grade C [1]): In college, the two founders run an email marketing agency. The founder said it reached US$20,000 a month about three months after they changed how they worked, then stopped growing. - **February 2025** (grade C [1]): They start MyFutureSelf in Cleveland, with no coding experience, using Claude and Cursor. - **2025** (grade C [1]): The first version is released and crashes often. First users come from free posts on Instagram, TikTok and Reddit; users begin to subscribe. - **2025 to early 2026** (grade C [1]): Influencer partnerships, then a creator program: first run by a hired TikTok Shop specialist, then brought in-house, with the founder writing to creators who post about psychology and mindset. Paid ads on Meta follow. - **February 2026** (grade D [1]): The founder said the app generated US$12,900 in revenue in this month. - **20 March 2026** (grade C [1]): Starter Story publishes the interview, with 2 founders and 0 employees in its header. - **24 June to 7 August** (grade C [9, 10]): MyFutureSelf is team 35 at Off Season II, a six-week residency of Founders, Inc. at Fort Mason in San Francisco, with the one-liner "Talk to your future self - AI coaching for Gen Z." - **13 October 2026** (grade C [5]): Privacy policy update: OpenAI, Google Firebase, Superwall, PostHog and AppsFlyer named as service providers. - **October 2026** (grade C [7, 11]): Version 2.37 on the App Store with 90-day plans and an animated avatar; a university product (edu.myfutureselfapp.com) is offered next to the consumer app. ## Why did MyFutureSelf work? ### Distribution through creators The founder said the most effective channel was a program of user-generated content: a small group of creators who already post about psychology, mindset and self-improvement post about the app every day, in their own style. He found them by cold messages and calls, after a hired specialist had brought in many creators of low quality. ### A plan, not only a chat A chat with a model alone is easy to copy and easy to stop using. The app wraps it in a 90-day roadmap, a short daily task list, streaks, milestones and evening check-ins, which give the user a reason to open the app each day and give the subscription something to show for itself. ### Ship before it is ready The founders released an app that crashed, fixed the problems quickly, and used the complaints as their task list. The founder said that if you feel completely ready to launch, you probably waited too long. ### Store billing and a model API Apple and Google handle all payments and cancellations, and OpenAI writes the replies through its API. That is what let two people with no employees run the product: the hard parts of payments and language are rented. ## How it was built These details come from the founder's interview and the company's own privacy policy and store pages. They are grade C. - Built by two founders without coding experience, with Claude and Cursor, as their first mobile app. - The AI mentor's replies, voice conversations and the avatar made from the user's photo are processed by OpenAI, according to the privacy policy. - Accounts run on Firebase Authentication, and user data is stored in Google Cloud Firestore; push notifications use Apple's push service and Firebase Cloud Messaging. - Superwall manages subscriptions and the paywall; Apple and Google do the billing. - PostHog records product analytics and masked screen recordings; Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics record usage and crashes; AppsFlyer measures which campaigns bring installs. - Available in 12 languages on iPhone, iPad and Android; there is no web version. Sources: [1, 5, 4, 7] ## Who tried this before MyFutureSelf, and why did they fail? Four companies in the Loot Drop database promised to help people build better habits or improve themselves, and failed. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified. The failed startups come from Loot Drop (https://www.loot-drop.io/), a free database of dead startups, retold here in our own words; Loot Drop describes its entries as AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so they carry no evidence grade. ### Habit Labs (2010 to 2013; funding US$200K; cause: Competition) - Promise: Set personal goals and track them with friends in a social game, Health Month. - Why it died: Users did not want to pay for habit help that they saw as optional, and free gamified apps copied the features. - Record: https://www.loot-drop.io/startup/1623-habit-labs ### Habitual (2019 to 2021; funding US$50K; cause: Ran Out of Cash) - Promise: A habit tracker built on the ideas of the book Atomic Habits. - Why it died: A good product with no marketing: it never found a way to reach users in a crowded category. - Record: https://www.loot-drop.io/startup/1973-habitual ### Likebetter (2006 to 2009; funding US$20K; cause: No Market Need) - Promise: Self-improvement as a game of choices and social experiments. - Why it died: It could not keep users interested and had no clear way to make money. - Record: https://www.loot-drop.io/startup/1665-likebetter ### Charge Running (2021 to 2024; funding US$5M; cause: Competition) - Promise: Live audio coaching classes for runners, a personal trainer in your ear. - Why it died: Live sessions at fixed times did not fit users who wanted flexibility, and app-based coaching took the market. - Record: https://www.loot-drop.io/startup/895-charge-running ## What changed The four predecessors failed on two problems: users stopped coming back, and users did not want to pay for help that felt optional. Habitual also had no way to reach people. A habit app with a fixed list of features is cheap to copy and easy to forget. MyFutureSelf answers both problems with things that did not exist before 2023. A large language model, rented from OpenAI, lets the app hold a personal conversation and rewrite the plan when the user's week goes wrong, which a fixed checklist could not do. And the founders started from distribution: daily posts by creators in the self-improvement niche on TikTok and Instagram bring in users, and store subscriptions charge them from the first week. Whether it solves the first problem, that users stop coming back, is not shown by any source; the only revenue figure is the founder's statement that the app made US$12,900 in February 2026. ## Can one person copy MyFutureSelf now? **Verdict: Yes, if you can do the distribution.** The product is a model API, a plan generator and a store paywall, which two people without coding experience built with AI coding tools. The hard part, by the founder's account, was finding creators who post about the app every day. Anyone who already knows how to reach a niche audience on short-video platforms can copy the structure; anyone who does not will have the same problem as Habitual. 1. Choose a niche whose audience already watches creators daily on TikTok or Instagram. 2. Build the smallest app that gives a personal plan and a daily reason to open it, with the model doing the personal part. 3. Recruit a few creators who already make content in the niche, and let them post in their own style. 4. Add paid ads only after organic posts and creators show which message works. **What is still open.** AI coaches for a narrow goal, such as a sport, an exam, a career change or a language, sold through creators who already teach that goal. ## What could go wrong for MyFutureSelf? - **What is not verified.** The revenue figure of US$12,900 for February 2026 rests on one source: Giancarlo Sarti's written interview with Starter Story, published 20 March 2026. The same page's header gives US$11,000 a month with no date. No payment processor, app-analytics service such as Appfigures or Sensor Tower, or journalist confirms either number, and no later figure was found. A reader could look for a RevenueCat or Superwall case study, a TrustMRR profile, or a newer interview with dated figures. - **An AI mentor is not a therapist.** The App Store page describes "Mindset and wellbeing support" and lists the app under Health & Fitness with "Health or Wellness Topics"; reviewers write that it helps them with negative thinking and low motivation. But the terms of service (updated 21 July 2026), the help page and the privacy policy contain no statement that the app is not medical or mental-health care, and no crisis guidance. The app is rated 9+ on the App Store, the terms allow users from 13, and Founders, Inc. describes it as "AI coaching for Gen Z", so many users are young. - **Dependence on OpenAI and the app stores.** Every reply comes from OpenAI under its API terms, so a price change, an outage or a policy change at OpenAI changes the product. All payments go through Apple and Google, which take a fee, set the refund rules and can remove an app. An App Store review from January complains of being "pushed into a 1 year subscription with no real free trial", the kind of complaint that store reviewers act on. - **Numbers that do not agree.** The home page claims 88,000+ downloads, the university page 75,000+, and Google Play shows 10,000+ for Android alone. The claims are not dated and may count different things, but none of them can be checked. - **Compared with other stories on this site.** Kindroid, an AI companion app, and Pingo AI, an AI language tutor app, both report much larger revenue at grade C from founder statements on several dates; MyFutureSelf is smaller, younger and rests on one founder figure, and it sits between them, a companion character used for a learning-like goal. ## Sources 1. Starter Story, 20 March 2026: I Grew This Mobile App to Over $12K/Month (interview with Giancarlo Sarti) — https://www.starterstory.com/stories/myfutureself (grade D). Read in full (the free part; the rest is for premium members). A written founder interview, not a page marked "Estimated from public sources". Grade D for the revenue figure, which appears only here; grade C for the founder's account of the team, the agency, the build and the channels. 2. MyFutureSelf home page — https://myfutureselfapp.com/ (grade C). Read in full on 26 October 2026. Source for the product description, the download and rating claims and the store links. 3. MyFutureSelf: How it works — https://myfutureselfapp.com/how-it-works (grade C). Read in full. Source for the 90-day roadmap, the daily actions and the plan types. 4. MyFutureSelf help center — https://myfutureselfapp.com/help (grade C). Read in full. Source for no free version, no student discount, free trials on some plans, store billing and no web version. 5. MyFutureSelf privacy policy, updated 13 October 2026 — https://myfutureselfapp.com/privacy-policy (grade C). Read in full. Source for OpenAI as AI provider and the other service providers (Firebase, Firestore, Superwall, PostHog, AppsFlyer). 6. MyFutureSelf terms of service, updated 21 July 2026 — https://myfutureselfapp.com/terms-of-service (grade C). Read in full. Source for the company name and state (MyFutureSelf, Inc., Ohio), the minimum age of 13, and the absence of a medical or mental-health statement. 7. App Store: MyFutureSelf Daily Habit Coach, Success AI LLC — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/myfutureself-achieve-success/id6745573360 (grade C). Read in full on 26 October 2026 (the app page, not the search API). Source for the in-app purchase prices, the 9+ age rating, the rating count, the description, the version history and reviews. 8. Google Play: MyFutureSelf Daily Habit Coach — https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.successai.myfutureself (grade C). Read the summary section. Source for the 10,000+ Android downloads, the Everyone rating and the update date of 21 October 2026. 9. Founders, Inc.: myfutureself, Off Season team page — https://f.inc/offseason/2/teams/myfutureself (grade C). Read in full. Source for the team's place in Off Season II and its one-liner "AI coaching for Gen Z". No investment is mentioned. 10. Founders, Inc.: Off Season program page — https://f.inc/offseason (grade C). Read in full. Source for the program dates, the place (Fort Mason) and "Top teams get up to $250k in funding". 11. MyFutureSelf for universities — https://edu.myfutureselfapp.com/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the university product and the claims of 75,000+ downloads and 4,500+ paying students. 12. Loot Drop database export, failed startups — https://www.loot-drop.io/ (grade C). Local export. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.