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 announced enterprise API price was a prospective cost, not a bill Tony says he paid. $42k ÷ $14k = 3×. [3] ↗
| Observation | Value |
|---|---|
| Black Magic MRR | $14,000 |
| Announced API cost / month | $42,000 |
March 2024: $150k agreed value = $100k upfront + $50k paid monthly through revenue sharing. The full amount was not cash at closing. [4] ↗
| Observation | Value |
|---|---|
| Upfront | $100,000 |
| Revenue-share portion | $50,000 |
Tony’s April 2024 experiment: approximately $2k ad spend and $0 attributed revenue. This is campaign performance, not the company’s total loss. [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. Editorial calculation: the sale was 74.4% below the earlier offer; it was not a $372k cash loss. [3] ↗
An offer and a completed sale are different events. These bars compare their stated values, not two completed transactions.
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. That difference is an offer comparison, not a realised loss. [4] ↗
His newsletter documents surf trips and a half-day working rhythm. A published travel photo is a useful counterpoint to the sales screenshots; it is not a statement of his current whereabouts. [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] ↗
Dated revenue, exits and abandoned experiments. Portfolio listings do not prove that every project still operates.
| 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 ↗25 verified posts found in the research sample, ordered by likes. Counters checked 22 October 2026 via X’s public embed service; not a complete account archive.
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. A specific outside perspective, not a customer review. [8] ↗
Founder disclosures, contemporary reporting and original posts. Financial claims retain their original scope; they are not estimates of personal wealth. Figures in video titles belong to the recording, not today.