Steve Moraco is a professional photographer by trade. A few months ago, he built an app based on an iOS shortcut using drag-and-drop tools on his phone. As someone who only took a few programming classes over 10 years ago, he knew he needed help turning his next idea into an actual product people could use. As he puts it:
"I don't think I would ever be able to complete a project like this without Replit. I started not knowing anything about web development or even git for that matter."
Steve first started by using AI to build working apps in Replit and published his process as a free YouTube tutorial. Then, he learned about Replit’s native AI tools. Using Replit AI to generate code and Replit Deployments for hosting, Steve quickly built and launched DATA into a successful startup business.
DATA is a digital assistant that you can text or email to delegate tasks. It uses a combination of large language models, text files for memory, and Apple Shortcuts. Recently, Steve also built a web interface hosted on Replit Deployments to let users interact with AI through text and voice commands. DATA allows anyone to use AI right on their phones the same way they interact with people: by just texting, calling, or emailing.
Users can ask DATA to:
- Schedule work for later
- Prioritize tasks and set goals
- Keep them on track with thoughtful reminders
- Auto-reply to emails and text messages on their behalf
- Summarize and analyze content from across the web and store it in their notes
- Draft documents, as well as record, transcribe, and summarize meetings
- Invite colleagues to calendar events with detailed agendas
For Steve, the goal was to build a user-focused AI agent that integrated deeply with iOS to boost efficiency. DATA has clearly resonated with users, evidenced by its rapid growth, from 0 customers in April to thousands of subscribers and tens of thousands on the waitlist today.
With Replit's seamless online IDE, built-in package manager, and AI generative coding, Steve picked up the skills he needed along the way to build DATA. He emphasizes that he’s still learning thanks to Replit AI every day.
Steve believes the key to success is shipping your product fast and getting real-world feedback. Rather than perfecting DATA before launch, he published a simple MVP to get the idea out there. A key advantage of using Replit was the ability to deploy changes instantly from a mobile device. This meant Steve could develop on the go and respond quickly to user feedback.
As he scaled his customer base, Replit enabled him to grow DATA to support more users using Autoscale Deployments. Steve highlights Replit Deployments as a game-changer for handling production traffic on the fly.
In just a few short months, Steve has grown DATA into a thriving SaaS business:
- $22k in monthly recurring revenue
- 50+ Features built by DATA Creators
- 1200+ paid subscribers to the iOS shortcuts, even in beta
- 30,000-person waitlist for the cross-platform website version of DATA
- 600k+ website impressions from social media
For developers looking to build their own products, Steve's journey validates Replit as a launchpad for creating and scaling. Now, DATA customers are taking their new skillset and beginning to build their own apps on top of the DATA platform.
Interested in learning more about DATA? Check out these links:
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