Speaker 1I think my philosophy is always just kind of have fun with life, you know. I think if you're going to choose to like go entrepreneur out, I think you should work on something that you're passionate about. Otherwise, it's going to suck. When you work on something that you actually want to work on, that you're passionate about, it's so rewarding. It's the best feeling in the world. I kind of just got this idea when I was traveling, and I think I just thought it'd be really fun to go and try to build this. Even if it didn't work out, like I think it would be a lot of fun. And I knew that the pain of the what if would haunt me more than failing. Hey, I'm Jay, and I make over 100K a month as a solopreneur. I bootstrapped this business to 140K MRR, 1.8 million users. And people often ask me about how I built my app while traveling the world and as a sole founder. So today, I'm excited to tell you about how I work. You know, pretty standard. I wake up, I always check my phone. My WhatsApp is always crazy with my creators and stuff. I know some people say like, you're not supposed to check your phone when you wake up, but I kind of just have to, you know, it's just like, I got to go make sure nothing broke, make sure nothing crazy is going on. And yeah, then I kind of just, you know, get out of bed, you know, just basic morning stuff. Like I shave, I shower, make myself breakfast sometimes. But usually I try to get out the door by like at least like at the very latest 11. If I had a bad night's sleep, if I slept well, then hopefully like 9 a.m. Yeah, then I kind of just get to the office wherever I'm working that day, whether it's a cafe, we work. So yeah. So Nomad Table is basically a meetup app for solo travelers, expats, and nomads. Kind of the problem is when you're traveling alone, it can be hard to find, you know, companionship and friends and stuff. But yeah, I launched about a year and three months ago. I'm doing about 140k a month, 1.8 million users and estimated like over 100k meetups that have happened. So yeah, I'm doing about 140k a month, 1.8 million users and estimated like over 100k meetups that have happened through the year. So yeah, I launched about a year and three months ago. So yeah, when I first got the idea and started like working on it, I was still at Amazon as a software engineer. I was never kind of like the entrepreneurial type, to be honest. Like I wasn't really like obsessed with making my own business. I kind of just got this idea when I was traveling. And I think I just thought it'd be really fun to go and try to build this. I knew that the pain of like the what if would haunt me more than like failing. And also the thing is like I already had gotten the job in big tech. Like I knew that I could do it again. I just kind of convinced myself that it wasn't really that risky. It seems very risky on the outside, but on the inside, it felt more risky to me to not try. Because then I would be like full of regret. And like that felt like a bigger risk to me than just doing it and failing. So at that point, I was like, okay, like logically, I just have to go and do this. You know, it's like the right choice right now.
Speaker 2Hey, Gus here, producer on Starter Story. Real quick, I hope you're enjoying Jay's story and getting to go behind the scenes on his mobile app and how he works. I think he's building in a really smart space. iOS apps and mobile apps are really, really hot right now in 2026. If you're looking for a mobile app idea, well, at the link in the description, we have a link to it. We have a free database of over 50 iOS app ideas, most of them making over $10,000 a month. You can get all the data you need and all the inspiration you need to validate your idea and start building. Once again, you can get that for free at the link in the description. All right, let's get back to Jay's story.
Speaker 1I always like do some kind of commute to my workspace. I don't like just, you know, starting the day at home. I think getting some like steps in and getting a bike ride in or something like is always just good to kind of do. Just get the day started right. And then, yeah, I get to the office, just open my laptop. And based off what I saw in the morning, when I check my phone, you know, just kind of get on those things. So if there's some kind of time sensitive stuff to do, I'll go and, you know, address that. First, like two hours, I'll be locked in, just, you know, grinding on whatever that is. And then I really like my breaks in my day. I think breaks are really important to kind of just recenter yourself. And, you know, at least for me, my hours have diminishing returns if I don't take breaks. So taking breaks helped me kind of like, you know, recenter myself. And when I come back to work, I'm like back focused. And I've kind of changed my scenery a lot, too. I think I get like after three, four hours of being in one place, like I need to just move. So sometimes I'll, you know, go back home and work after that. Sometimes I'll go to the gym and then, you know, find a cafe to work from. But yeah, I don't like staying in the same place for like more than four hours. It's important for me to like always put myself back in the shoes of my audience. I've seen lots of products that start out good. And as they mature, they kind of like lose track of the ball and distance themselves from the original kind of good product that they used to be. So I never want to do that. I always want to kind of like stay grounded and make sure that I'm still solving the same problem that I set out to solve. I think traveling helps a lot for that. Obviously, my app targets travelers. For example, I was just in Bangkok for four months. And that's a really big hotspot for my app. There's lots of nomads, there's lots of expats, there's lots of travelers there. I got so many future ideas by just being in Bangkok and, you know, going to meetups of my own app and talking to people. I got so many ideas for new things to add and how to like serve other kind of sub-segments of my audience that I wouldn't have got if I wasn't just there on the ground. I mean, I think traveling in general will just like broaden your horizons a lot. I feel like just putting yourself in unfamiliar situations just gives me energy at least and makes me think of new ideas. And maybe it might not be the same for everyone else because I know for, you know, someone else, maybe like it's annoying to always change settings, not having your monitor, you have to shut up, whatever. But I think for me, the benefits I get from the inspiration from new places like definitely outweighs the cost of, you know, not having my perfect monitor and not having like the right Wi-Fi, the right lighting, the right desk, the right chair. Yeah, so after work, I mean, I love working out. At this point, it's like I need to. It's just a must after working for a long time to just move my body and get out active. Usually it's like a run or playing paddle or playing tennis or, you know, getting to the gym and doing some lifting. After that, then usually get home, make like a smoothie, make dinner. And then my kind of evening routine after that, usually, yeah, it depends on the day. I mean, if there's something going on with my friends, I'll hang out with my friends. I think that's a pretty big part of my life. So I try to always make time of my day to see some friends, whether it's co-working with them or, you know, hanging out, grabbing some dinner. Then last like a couple hours before bed, usually, you know, just make some like tea and I'll do some like light work, like, okay, my laptop like on like the couch, you know, just kind of chill and, you know, do some like relatively chill work. And then, you know, just pop in bed, nothing, nothing too crazy. I think you should pretty much only work on like what you care about. If you're going to choose to like go like the entrepreneur route, I think you should work on something that you're passionate about and that you really care about. Otherwise, like it's going to suck. Like if you're putting all your life's effort into like something that you don't enjoy like just to make money or like just to get status or like whatever, it's just like you're not going to enjoy that. It's going to suck. Like it's, I can't even put it into words. I can't, it's like, it's a priceless, like it's the best show in the world. Even if I could get just two people to meet because of my app, I would be so fulfilled. And I also think it gives you like an unfair advantage. I think when you actually have that passion, that drive for an idea that you're working on, you know, you can be anybody. No one can compete with that. Like if you're just having fun every day with work, it's very, very hard to compete with you. When you do that, not only is it like more fun and enjoyable, but like, I think you're a lot more likely to actually succeed. I think my philosophy is always just kind of have fun with life. You know, I think life is short. Don't take things too seriously. Have fun. Go spend time with your loved ones. Go hang out with your friends. Like go do what makes you happy. I don't think anything's that serious at the end of the day. I think you just think that, picture, you know, only got one life to live and, you know, tomorrow's not guaranteed. So I think it's the golden age to just try stuff out now. Like, you know, you can build software so fast and just go out there and try. You can even do stuff at the same time as your work. Think about it and think if you're going to like regret not doing something in the future versus just trying it out. So yeah, I would just say go out there and have fun and enjoy your life and don't take things too seriously.
Speaker 3I want to make it to the podcast. Please include me as his amazing roommate. My dream is to be in a podcast.
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