✉️ This 23-year-old’s AI app makes $200K/month by helping you flirt better.
How a college side project turned into Gen Z’s favorite texting coach.
👋 Hi and welcome to today’s edition of Venture Radar where we uncover real internet businesses making real money, and break down how they do it.
Today’s story? An AI texting assistant that helps you flirt better, respond smoother, and avoid awkward silences. It doesn’t promise love, just better replies. And somehow, that’s enough to pull in $200,000/month in pure subscription revenue.
Let’s break down how this AI app turned one screenshot into a viral business:
BUT BEFORE THAT …
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🧠 Quick Summary
Name: Plug AI: Texting Assistant
What it does: Plug helps you “effectively” talk to the girl you’re flirting with.
Revenue: $200,000 per month
Model: Freemium with monthly, and yearly subscription plans
Founded by : Blake Anderson
Website: Plug AI
📝 What Is Plug AI: Texting Assistant ? - So what makes
At first glance, Plug AI looks like just another chatbot. But open it up, and you’ll see this isn’t built to chat. It’s built to help you win at texting.
Plug AI is like having a dating-savvy friend in your pocket.
You upload a screenshot from your Tinder or Snapchat convo, and it instantly gives you 3-4 clever replies you can use right away. Whether you’re trying to be flirty, smooth, or funny, it handles the wordplay for you.
It’s part confidence booster, part texting coach. You can generate pick-up lines, get feedback on what to say next, or just chat with the AI when you're stuck. And if you’re nervous about messaging someone new or unsure how to respond to a dry “hey,” Plug AI gives you answers instantly, no overthinking needed.
It’s not about catfishing or pretending to be someone you’re not. It’s about helping regular people get better at dating apps. Most of us struggle with keeping the conversation interesting.
And the experience is smooth and private. There’s no social feed, no sharing, no pressure. Just you, your screenshot, and a smart AI wingman feeding you responses.
So overall here’s what you can do inside Plug AI:
Upload a screenshot and get custom replies
Generate pick-up lines for any name or situation
Ask for advice like “what should I say next?”
Adjust the tone from safe to spicy
Chat directly with an AI coach for dating or life advice
It’s built for people who want to flirt better, text smarter, and actually enjoy the back-and-forth, without the cringe, the anxiety, or the dry convos that go nowhere.
And it’s clearly working: Plug AI now earns over $200,000/month, entirely from subscriptions.
🕵️♂️ So, who’s the guy behind Status?
Plug AI’s interface makes the promise plain: its onboarding screens boldly proclaim “GET MORE DATES” and “UNLIMITED RIZZ” (slang for confidence in flirting).
The man pulling the strings is Blake Anderson, a 23-year-old college senior who stumbled onto the idea almost by accident.
He noticed a roommate struggling to reply to a dating-app message, so he fed the chat screenshot to ChatGPT and got back a witty response. That moment made Blake realize countless young people suffer the same texting paralysis.
Driven by this insight, Blake went into full-”build mode.”
He adopted a “build fast, launch simple” approach, leaning heavily on AI tools and skipping any nonessential features.
Within about a month he had a working prototype. He quietly soft-launched the app (originally named Rizz GPT) in mid-2023.
Blake also teamed up with a co-founder: Alex Leiman, another 23-year-old entrepreneur.
Alex had already cut his teeth running SexyCakes – a campus cake-delivery business that did roughly $700K in sales – and he joined to help steer Plug AI’s growth.
Together they refined the app’s branding and user experience. In a matter of weeks the strategy worked: Plug AI went viral. Analytics later showed on the order of 1.5 million downloads in its first months.
Through it all, Blake and Alex kept the product simple. Plug AI is basically a smart texting coach: users upload a confusing chat screenshot and the AI returns a natural-sounding reply. The app’s paywall , a 3-day free trial followed by a weekly subscription, kicked in revenue quickly (reports put it around $200K per month).
But for the founders the real victory is giving anxious daters confidence. They “identified a real problem, built a focused solution, and marketed it with intent and consistency,” as one write-up summarized. In other words,
Plug AI wasn’t luck – it was a college side-project turned movement, born from one student’s solution to a common dating dilemma.
📬 Distribution strategy: How they found users?
Again, Plug AI app has nailed TikTok as a distribution channel. Here’s how they did it.
Slideshow format
Between 18 and 34 slides
Shows a real use case of the app
Usually shows the app around slide 8–10 This post got over 800k views:
Despite the number of slides, it’s a quick and repeatable format, perfect for daily posting.
With chatgpt you can generate similar conversation scripts every day and recreate them on IG.
👨🔧 Why it works
Everyone feels awkward texting sometimes.
Whether it’s flirting, apologizing, or just keeping a convo alive, most people hit a wall and overthink their messages. Plug AI takes that stress away with fast, confident replies that sound natural.
It solves a real, high-frequency problem.
Dating apps are built on messaging. But many users struggle to know what to say, especially early on. Plug AI fills that gap in real time, right when users need it.
It feels like having a clever friend in your pocket.
Instead of Googling “how to reply,” you just screenshot and send and Plug AI gives you a response that sounds like you, just smoother.
Users can test it instantly and get a win fast.
The app gives you value in 30 seconds: paste a screenshot, get a reply, use it. That instant feedback loop makes people stick around and makes the upgrade feel worth it.
The price is low, but the emotional value is high.
Paying a few dollars a week to avoid awkward silences or ghosting? Most users see it as a no-brainer especially after one or two replies actually work and land them a good convo (or even a date).
It’s optimized for Gen Z’s habits.
It doesn’t try to be a full messaging app or platform. It just lives where the user is between screenshots, swipes, and social media and quietly helps them win at the one thing they care about: better replies.
And clearly, it’s working, just look at the numbers.
💡 Build something like this
Plug AI shows what happens when you build for micro-anxieties, small but high-friction moments people face every day and don’t know how to solve. It doesn’t try to reinvent texting. It just shows up right when it matters with a solution that feels smart, helpful, and personal.
If you're inspired to build something similar, here are a few practical, adjacent ideas that follow the same emotional pattern:
First Date Coach (AI)
A real-time assistant that helps you prep for first dates, suggesting conversation starters, things to avoid, and ways to exit gracefully if things go wrong. Feels like having a friend who’s done 100 first dates.
Text Decoder for Women
An AI that helps women decode confusing, vague, or manipulative texts from men whether it’s mixed signals, ghosting, or "what does he mean by this?" It could offer both emotional insight and smart reply options.
Breakup Text Generator
For when you know it’s over… but don’t know how to say it. A tactful, empathetic AI that helps people write respectful breakup texts from early dating to serious relationships.
Professional Text Helper (Work Mode)
Same concept, different context: help people write better Slack replies, decline invites, ask for raises, or smooth over tension with coworkers with tone settings (friendly, direct, assertive).
Parent-to-Teen Text Filter
An app that helps parents respond better to their kids’ messages whether it’s calming down conflict, supporting without nagging, or just texting in a way that actually gets replies.
The “Should I Send This?” App
A simple tool where users paste a drafted message and get AI feedback on how it might be received with tone, clarity, and risk ratings (e.g., “This might come off passive-aggressive,” “This is too long,” etc).
The common thread in all these ideas? They meet users in emotionally charged moments, help them communicate better, and give instant value. You don’t need to build a platform. Just help people express what they’re already trying to say but smarter, faster, and with less stress.
That’s how you build trust. And that’s how you build something people will pay for.
🧐 What you can learn
Start with anxiety, not features
Plug AI doesn’t market itself as an “AI productivity tool.” It solves a single, emotional pain point: What the hell do I reply to this text?
That’s the moment it’s built for. If you’re building, ask yourself what moment makes people pause, overthink, or dread hitting send? That’s your wedge.
AI works best when it’s invisible
Plug doesn’t overwhelm you with sliders, toggles, or GPT prompts. You type a message, get a smart reply, and send it. Simple. Seamless. The lesson? Don’t show off your tech. Disappear behind the outcome.
Small use cases = big markets
Texting advice may feel like a niche, but it touches millions daily. Plug proves that even a tiny slice of user behavior can become a strong standalone product if it’s high-frequency and high-friction. Don't chase broad utility if you can own one sticky moment.
Personality builds loyalty
Plug replies aren’t robotic they’re flirty, clever, relatable. The app sounds like a friend, not a bot. That tone builds trust. So if you’re building something AI-powered, remember: voice is a moat.
Build where users already live
Plug doesn’t make you leave iMessage. It sits right inside the keyboard, making it frictionless. The insight? You don’t need users to build a new habit just enhance the ones they already have.
Monetize the outcome, not the tool
Nobody pays for “AI typing.” But people will pay to impress a crush, navigate awkward texts, or sound more confident. Plug’s value is emotional, not technical and that’s what drives subscriptions.
Plug AI’s success isn’t because it’s the most powerful tool. It’s because it’s the right tool for the right moment with the right tone.
That’s what founders can learn: if you build with empathy and clarity, you don’t need to do more.
You just need to show up where it counts.
📈 Similar businesses on the radar
Let me tell you one of the interesting thing:
Plug AI is a simply copycat of Rizz AI.
Plug AI was launched 6 months after RIZZ and managed to catch up, hitting $200k MRR:
They found something that already worked
Cloned it
Ran a viral Tiktok/Instagram content strategy
That’s how you build new age D2C startups.
❓ Would you build this?
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