Making $100k In 3 Months By Building The Impossible
How Simon built something that no one thought could be built, and making $100,000 in just 3 months.
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What is the business and who’s behind it?
When a seasoned developer walked away from a stable job with no immediate income, most would expect a frantic search for freelance gigs. But what if, instead, that leap into uncertainty became the launchpad for building something deemed "impossible," generating over $100,000 in just three months? This is the surprising story of Simon Hamp and NativePHP.
NativePHP is the brainchild of Simon Hamp, a long-time PHP developer who dared to imagine a world where his beloved language could extend beyond web servers to build fully-fledged desktop and mobile applications.
At its core, NativePHP is a library that empowers existing Laravel and PHP developers to create native desktop and mobile apps without needing to learn entirely new languages or complex toolchains like Swift, Kotlin, or React Native.
Simon’s journey exemplifies turning an ambitious idea into a commercial success, operating with the focus of an indie hacker.
How was the business started?
The idea for NativePHP sparked at the end of 2022.
Simon, having taken voluntary redundancy, faced a tight financial situation. He shared his feelings at the time in this article:
“At the end of 2022, I took voluntary redundancy from a startup — not mine — that I had been pouring my energy into for almost six years. So I went from a reasonable, regular salary, to no income with only a few months of runway.
So I’m frantically trying to get freelance clients. I’ve got no savings, no recurring income... but instead of doing the “right" thing I decided to finally try this idea I’d had for years.”
Despite the pressure to secure freelance work, he chose to pursue a long-held concept. This vision was ignited by a tweet from Marcel Pociot about building portable terminal apps with Laravel. Simon, with his deep PHP background, saw the potential for something bigger: full web applications running as distributable PHP apps.
His early experiments in 2023 led to a proof-of-concept, combining a statically compiled PHP version with a Tauri shell to run a full Laravel web application. A simple tweet about this breakthrough, from an account with only about 1,000 followers, caught the attention of Marcel Pociot. This connection led to a collaboration, and NativePHP was born. Its grand unveiling happened when Marcel switched the topic of his Laracon US talk, announcing NativePHP to a thousand Laravel developers.
Initially, NativePHP focused on desktop applications. Mobile support was a frequent, yet seemingly unreachable, request from the community. The main hurdles were running PHP web applications without a traditional web server and navigating the notoriously opaque Apple App Store review process.
However, during his desktop explorations, Simon discovered a way to run PHP web applications serverless. This "aha!" moment fueled the mobile ambition. He submitted talk proposals for "Building mobile apps with PHP" to various conferences, hoping an acceptance would force him to bring the idea to fruition.
When Laracon EU accepted his talk in late October 2024, Simon had just two months to finalize the technology and prepare his presentation. This intense deadline, marked by long days and nights, drove the development of NativePHP for mobile. It launched in February and quickly surpassed $100,000 in revenue within three months.
What are some of the marketing strategies used?
Simon's growth strategies for NativePHP mobile leveraged existing community goodwill and built on the foundation of the desktop version.
First, he capitalized on the existing community. NativePHP for desktop had already cultivated a loyal user base, a strong Discord presence with over a thousand members, and established social media accounts. This allowed Simon to reach an audience already familiar with and interested in NativePHP's potential.
Second, he executed a soft launch to early adopters. Before the official conference announcement, he offered an "early access pass" to GitHub sponsors and those who had been most vocal about wanting mobile support. He shared:
“NativePHP had already been around for almost two years at the point that I started going public with the work I was doing on the mobile side. I soft-launched on Twitter before this thing was even ready, announcing my early access pass to folks sponsoring through GitHub. That got a few folks interested. Mostly, the folks who paid to get access to this were the ones who were already begging for us to support mobile.”
This generated initial revenue and created a group of highly motivated users invested in the product’s development.
Third, the live conference announcement and demo were key. Simon took a calculated risk by live-coding and compiling an application on stage at Laracon EU. This culminated in the reveal that Apple had approved his very first iPhone app, built with Laravel and PHP. This tangible proof, despite the app's simplicity, solidified NativePHP's viability and created significant buzz.
Finally, community engagement and strategic sponsorships played a vital role. Simon recognized the value of supporting developers by sponsoring meetups, podcasts, and open-source projects. This investment in the community, including collaborations with platforms like Laravel News, built strong relationships, increased visibility, and directly translated into sales. This approach helped users connect with NativePHP on a more personal level.
He also addresses direct inquiries about the value, providing objective responses to questions about choosing a paid solution over free alternatives, aiming to convert skeptics into customers.
How does the business make money?
The business currently generates revenue exclusively through license sales.
According to Simon, the licensing model is structured as a "build many, release one" system. He explains:
“NativePHP for Mobile makes money through selling licenses. Currently, this is the only source of revenue.
A license grants customers access to the package, which they can install via Composer, and provides them with a license to build as many apps as they want. But depending on the license level they purchase, they might only be allowed to distribute a single app.
I call this a “build many, release one” license. You can bulk-buy 10 licenses at a discount, or go Max and get unlimited licenses.”
Customers purchase a license that grants them access to the Composer package and the ability to build an unlimited number of applications. However, the number of distributable apps varies by license tier. For instance, a basic license might allow only a single app to be released, while higher tiers or bulk purchases offer more flexibility.
Simon also launched an "Early Access Program (EAP)" with significant discounts. This strategy served two purposes: it allowed him to generate early revenue before the product was fully complete, and it acted as a real-world validation of perceived value. By observing who was willing to pay, and how much, he could gauge market demand and refine pricing strategies. This experiment proved highly successful, showing that many developers and teams were willing to pay for such a tool.
As of now, NativePHP is grossing close to $50,000 per month. The plan is to transition from these discounted EAP prices to regular pricing starting June 1st. Future plans also include introducing additional revenue streams, such as subscriptions for extra tooling needed for features like In-App Purchases and Over-the-Air (OTA) updates, moving towards a more traditional SaaS MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) model.