The developer behind TypingMind, DevUtils, Black Magic and Xnapper. Two disclosed exits, a Twitter API shock, and a million-dollar sales milestone built from a mix of subscriptions and one-time licences.
Black Magic, 2023. The proposed $42k monthly API fee was 3× the $14k MRR. [3] ↗
| Observation | Value |
|---|---|
| Black Magic MRR | $14,000 |
| Announced API cost / month | $42,000 |
March 2024 deal: $100k upfront and $50k through monthly revenue sharing. [4] ↗
| Observation | Value |
|---|---|
| Upfront | $100,000 |
| Revenue-share portion | $50,000 |
Dinh reported about $2k spent and $0 attributed revenue in April 2024. [5] ↗
| Observation | Value |
|---|---|
| Ad spend | $2,000 |
| Attributed revenue | $0 |
An API pricing shock changed the economics of Black Magic. Tony sold to Hypefury for $128k after previously declining $500k. The sale price was 74.4% below the earlier offer. [3] ↗
Three months after launch, Tony told Indie Hackers TypingMind had more than 4,000 paying users. Search and a better interface were the original problem; customers brought their own model API usage. [6] ↗
His November 2024 milestone was $1m revenue over the preceding 12 months. Roughly half of monthly revenue came from one-time purchases; calling all of it recurring would change the story. [2] ↗
A $169k Xnapper offer arrived after he had accepted $150k from Brian. Tony says he honoured the earlier agreement. [4] ↗
His newsletter documents surf trips and a half-day working rhythm. [2] ↗
In October 2021 he turned his profile banner into a Snake game controlled through replies. The same playful profile experiments fed interest in Black Magic. [7] ↗
He disclosed paying $275 for tonydinh.com in October 2021. It was a small branding purchase amid DevUtils updates and the launch of Magic Sidebar. [7] ↗
Tony blamed weak audience targeting after the LinkedIn test. His intended buyers were experienced AI users; broad business targeting failed to reproduce the audience he already had on X. [5] ↗
In March 2024 he admitted that his preferred four-hour workday plus freelancers might not capture TypingMind’s opportunity. He wanted growth but did not want to manage a larger team. [4] ↗
Revenue, exits & abandoned experiments.
| Project | What it does | Revenue & numbers | Role / status |
|---|---|---|---|
| TypingMind | AI chat interface and team deployments. | $1m trailing-12-month revenue · Nov 2024 | Founder; mixed one-time and recurring sales [2] ↗ |
| DevUtils | Offline macOS developer utilities. | One-time licences; monthly amount not disclosed in cited update | Retained after Xnapper sale [4] ↗ |
| Black Magic | Twitter analytics and profile tools. | $14k MRR before sale; sold for $128k · 2023 | Sold to Hypefury [3] ↗ |
| Xnapper | Screenshot composition app. | ~$4k monthly sales; $150k deal · 2024 | Sold; $100k upfront + $50k revenue share [4] ↗ |
| image.social | Automated Open Graph images. | Beta disclosed May 2024; revenue not disclosed | Side project; later status not established [5] ↗ |
| Magic Sidebar | Browser sidebar extending Twitter workflows. | Launched Oct 2021 | Feature in Black Magic, not a separate exit [7] ↗ |
Conversations, product walkthroughs and the reasoning behind the numbers.
Arvid Kahl interviews Tony about products, launches and the less predictable parts of independence.
Watch on YouTube ↗The product team demonstrates TypingMind Custom: what business customers are buying.
Watch on YouTube ↗Selected posts · 22 October 2026
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meI’m never leaving this app…
32,844#1Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meThey say I make $45K/month just by pure luck and just by posting my MRR on Twitter 🙃…
14,157#2Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meMy salary as a software engineer over the years:…
8,860#3Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meI asked claude how to kill a child process in nodejs…
6,382#4Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meA frontend engineer compiling their “hello world” app in 2022:…
5,514#5Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meThis app is going to save me so much time…
4,486#6Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meClaude: "You're absolutely right!"…
3,885#7Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meFrontend developers building hello world app in 2024:…
3,678#8Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meThis landing page costs $500K to build:…
3,655#9Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meSeriously n8n is godsend Automate everything.…
3,514#10Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meIf I tell my 20-year-old self that I make $1M+ from 20k+ happy customers on the internet while…
3,466#11Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meBuild 🚀…
3,256#12Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meGonna pin this 📌 After 7 years working as a dev, I quit my job to pursue my…
2,840#13Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meA minimal startup: - 1 developer - 1 designer - 1 "CEO" - Stripe account for $$$ -…
1,249#14Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meWhat programming language you would suggest for someone who is completely new to learning to code?…
1,138#15Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meShould one learn JavaScript first or HTML/CSS first?…
905#16Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meIf you start a new startup in 2021, what is your go-to tech stack?…
762#17Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meAt what age did you learn to code? Is 30 too late?…
685#18Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meConfirmed: making $40K/month and still working ~4h/day…
544#19Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meBali is magical. Going around Bali seeing ripped dudes everywhere on the street gives you instant motivation to…
419#20Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meWhat are you working on? Self-promote below for everyone to see 😁…
371#21Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meInsult an indie hacker with one question. GO.…
350#22Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meGo play snake on my Twitter banner, yeah! To control: reply to this tweet with ➡️⬆️⬇️ or ⬅️…
313#23Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_meAnyone want to acquire my app Xnapper and grow it? With a good vision and execution, I believe…
221#24Open on X ↗
Tony Dinh@tdinh_mePrototyping an email client app. Should I: - Make it local only, maximum privacy, and go through an…
79#25Open on X ↗
In a LinkedIn discussion of Tony’s journey, Jonas Eichhorst pushed back on Tony’s modest assessment: drive, experimentation and execution were exceptional, even if classroom skills were not. [8] ↗
