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Mar 1, 2026 · 16m · starter-story

I Make $15K/Month From One Website

Maddox Schmidlkoffer · 8m spoken Pat Walls · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this Starter Story interview, founder Maddox Schmidlkoffer reveals how he built DuckMath, an unblocked web gaming platform, scaled it to $15,000 per month via organic short-form video marketing, and successfully sold the business for $120,000.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Pat holds 46.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Pat as informed peer 1.4 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 0.0 Pat pushing back 0.0
05100:0010:000:44–4:03 · Pat as informed peer 2/10 DuckMath Overview and Revenue Breakdown Pat invites Maddox to showcase DuckMath and walk through his traffic and revenue metrics. Maddox educates Pat on how he scaled from $240/day passive spikes to $15k/month via high-volume TikTok marketing.4:03–7:28 · Pat as informed peer 2/10 Technical Evolution and AI Development Maddox explains transitioning from Google Sites drag-and-drop to React and AI vibe coding, while sharing his distribution strategy across TikTok and Snapchat. Pat validates the lean AI-assisted workflow.7:29–10:31 · Pat as informed peer 2/10 Starter Story Playbook Promotion After an organic playbook promo, Pat asks Maddox about the acquisition process and his future framework. Maddox details negotiating a $120k exit and reverse-engineering competitors' viral hooks.10:31–13:26 · Pat as informed peer 1/10 Full Tech Stack, Advice, and Next Steps Maddox lists his modular tech stack including Cloudflare, Supabase, and PostHog, sharing tactical advice on consistency. Pat listens receptively and wraps up the interview warmly.13:26–16:18 · Pat as informed peer 0/10 Debrief: Ego Businesses vs Real Cash Flow Solo debrief monologue by host Pat Walls breaking down the distinction between 'ego businesses' and cash-flowing projects, followed by a channel call-to-action.0:44–4:03 · Guest teaching 3/10 DuckMath Overview and Revenue Breakdown Pat invites Maddox to showcase DuckMath and walk through his traffic and revenue metrics. Maddox educates Pat on how he scaled from $240/day passive spikes to $15k/month via high-volume TikTok marketing.4:03–7:28 · Guest teaching 3/10 Technical Evolution and AI Development Maddox explains transitioning from Google Sites drag-and-drop to React and AI vibe coding, while sharing his distribution strategy across TikTok and Snapchat. Pat validates the lean AI-assisted workflow.7:29–10:31 · Guest teaching 2/10 Starter Story Playbook Promotion After an organic playbook promo, Pat asks Maddox about the acquisition process and his future framework. Maddox details negotiating a $120k exit and reverse-engineering competitors' viral hooks.10:31–13:26 · Guest teaching 3/10 Full Tech Stack, Advice, and Next Steps Maddox lists his modular tech stack including Cloudflare, Supabase, and PostHog, sharing tactical advice on consistency. Pat listens receptively and wraps up the interview warmly.13:26–16:18 · Guest teaching 0/10 Debrief: Ego Businesses vs Real Cash Flow Solo debrief monologue by host Pat Walls breaking down the distinction between 'ego businesses' and cash-flowing projects, followed by a channel call-to-action.0:44–4:03 · Guest disagreement 0/10 DuckMath Overview and Revenue Breakdown Pat invites Maddox to showcase DuckMath and walk through his traffic and revenue metrics. Maddox educates Pat on how he scaled from $240/day passive spikes to $15k/month via high-volume TikTok marketing.4:03–7:28 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Technical Evolution and AI Development Maddox explains transitioning from Google Sites drag-and-drop to React and AI vibe coding, while sharing his distribution strategy across TikTok and Snapchat. Pat validates the lean AI-assisted workflow.7:29–10:31 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Starter Story Playbook Promotion After an organic playbook promo, Pat asks Maddox about the acquisition process and his future framework. Maddox details negotiating a $120k exit and reverse-engineering competitors' viral hooks.10:31–13:26 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Full Tech Stack, Advice, and Next Steps Maddox lists his modular tech stack including Cloudflare, Supabase, and PostHog, sharing tactical advice on consistency. Pat listens receptively and wraps up the interview warmly.13:26–16:18 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Debrief: Ego Businesses vs Real Cash Flow Solo debrief monologue by host Pat Walls breaking down the distinction between 'ego businesses' and cash-flowing projects, followed by a channel call-to-action.0:44–4:03 · Pat pushing back 0/10 DuckMath Overview and Revenue Breakdown Pat invites Maddox to showcase DuckMath and walk through his traffic and revenue metrics. Maddox educates Pat on how he scaled from $240/day passive spikes to $15k/month via high-volume TikTok marketing.4:03–7:28 · Pat pushing back 0/10 Technical Evolution and AI Development Maddox explains transitioning from Google Sites drag-and-drop to React and AI vibe coding, while sharing his distribution strategy across TikTok and Snapchat. Pat validates the lean AI-assisted workflow.7:29–10:31 · Pat pushing back 0/10 Starter Story Playbook Promotion After an organic playbook promo, Pat asks Maddox about the acquisition process and his future framework. Maddox details negotiating a $120k exit and reverse-engineering competitors' viral hooks.10:31–13:26 · Pat pushing back 0/10 Full Tech Stack, Advice, and Next Steps Maddox lists his modular tech stack including Cloudflare, Supabase, and PostHog, sharing tactical advice on consistency. Pat listens receptively and wraps up the interview warmly.13:26–16:18 · Pat pushing back 0/10 Debrief: Ego Businesses vs Real Cash Flow Solo debrief monologue by host Pat Walls breaking down the distinction between 'ego businesses' and cash-flowing projects, followed by a channel call-to-action.

speaking balance: gold is Pat, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Pat 38.8% · guest 61.2%0:00 · Pat 38.8% · guest 61.2%3:00 · Pat 29.8% · guest 70.2%3:00 · Pat 29.8% · guest 70.2%6:00 · Pat 46.5% · guest 53.5%6:00 · Pat 46.5% · guest 53.5%9:00 · Pat 22.8% · guest 77.2%9:00 · Pat 22.8% · guest 77.2%12:00 · Pat 71.2% · guest 28.8%12:00 · Pat 71.2% · guest 28.8%15:00 · Pat 100% · guest 0%15:00 · Pat 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 8:39 Maddox admits mixed feelings on selling

In an otherwise completely agreeable interview, Maddox candidly second-guesses his decision to sell before ultimately reaffirming that taking the exit was the right call.

 Hardest push from Pat ▶ 3:40 Pat reframes chasing serious B2B vs silly money-makers

Pat challenges the conventional mindset of founders who abandon silly but lucrative projects to chase serious B2B ventures.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 1:19 AdSense unit economics breakdown

Maddox breaks down the exact math of converting 1.5 million unblocked game monthly visitors into $15k per month at one cent per user.

 Pat holds their own ▶ 14:05 Pat explains the ego business trap

Drawing on his own experience scaling Starter Story, Pat demonstrates founder expertise by explaining why entrepreneurs prioritize vanity SaaS projects over profitable niche sites.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicPat as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementPat pushing backWhy
DuckMath Overview and Revenue Breakdown 2300 Pat invites Maddox to showcase DuckMath and walk through his traffic and revenue metrics. Maddox educates Pat on how he scaled from $240/day passive spikes to $15k/month via high-volume TikTok marketing.
Technical Evolution and AI Development 2300 Maddox explains transitioning from Google Sites drag-and-drop to React and AI vibe coding, while sharing his distribution strategy across TikTok and Snapchat. Pat validates the lean AI-assisted workflow.
Starter Story Playbook Promotion 2200 After an organic playbook promo, Pat asks Maddox about the acquisition process and his future framework. Maddox details negotiating a $120k exit and reverse-engineering competitors' viral hooks.
Full Tech Stack, Advice, and Next Steps 1300 Maddox lists his modular tech stack including Cloudflare, Supabase, and PostHog, sharing tactical advice on consistency. Pat listens receptively and wraps up the interview warmly.
Debrief: Ego Businesses vs Real Cash Flow 0000 Solo debrief monologue by host Pat Walls breaking down the distinction between 'ego businesses' and cash-flowing projects, followed by a channel call-to-action.

Statements from this episode (9)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schmidlkoffer: DuckMath scaled to 150,000 DAUs and $15,000 monthly revenue
“I launched it four years ago, but then the last four months, we went from five to a 150,000 daily active users, and from about a thousand a month to 15,000 a month.”
Maddox Schmidlkoffer Mar 1, 2026 ▶ 0:55
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schmidlkoffer: Sold DuckMath for $120,000
“I did actually sell this business just a few weeks ago for a 120,000.”
Maddox Schmidlkoffer Mar 1, 2026 ▶ 1:20
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schmidlkoffer: DuckMath monetizes 1.5M monthly users at roughly one cent each
“So I have about 1.5 million users a month, and off of each of those users, I get around one cent.”
Maddox Schmidlkoffer Mar 1, 2026 ▶ 1:58
Disclosure
Schmidlkoffer built the first version of DuckMath on Google Sites
“The first site was actually on Google sites, which is just this drag and drop. And I would just embed the games from online or wherever they were, frame it in the thing.”
Maddox Schmidlkoffer Mar 1, 2026 ▶ 4:14
Disclosure
Schmidlkoffer abandoned manual coding for DuckMath once AI 'vibe coding' emerged
“Especially when vibe coding got big, I've really never touched the coding part anymore. It made it a lot easier to just focus on the marketing part for the design.”
Maddox Schmidlkoffer Mar 1, 2026 ▶ 4:33
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schmidlkoffer: DuckMath consistently hit 20,000 views per post on Snapchat
“Most people don't look at Snapchat, but we consistently hit 20,000 views and above from Snapchat. So I definitely would not sleep on Snapchat.”
Maddox Schmidlkoffer Mar 1, 2026 ▶ 5:36
Disclosure
Schmidlkoffer sold DuckMath after countering an initial $100,000 acquisition offer
“So I had seen about a year before I decided to sell that a bigger company had bought a smaller game site exactly like mine. So I contacted them and I told them all my stats and then I got low ball at a 100,000 dollars. So I came back with a counter offer. We b…”
Maddox Schmidlkoffer Mar 1, 2026 ▶ 8:40
Insight
Schmidlkoffer: Fast launches require AI MVPs and reverse-engineering TikTok formats
“Pick a niche that you know to market in and then build a super quick MVP in like two to three days with the help of AI or however you're going to build it quickly. And then you might want to do these things kind of in the same time, but you're going to researc…”
Maddox Schmidlkoffer Mar 1, 2026 ▶ 9:46
Insight
Walls: Founders should prioritize cash flow over prestigious 'ego businesses'
“There's Two different types of businesses. When you're starting out, there's the ego business, and then there's the business you're actually meant to build. The ego business is what people will congratulate you for because it is a real business, quote unquote,…”
Pat Walls Mar 1, 2026 ▶ 14:11
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