AI Money Labs
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How we verify revenue claims

The internet is full of “$100k a month with AI.” What we do differently is publish the evidence, not the conclusion. Cases that fail the bar below either lose their figures or never get listed.

How a case gets published

  1. 1

    Find

    Collect candidates from Indie Hackers, Product Hunt, and similar.

  2. 2

    Check it is alive

    Open the service URL and record the date.

  3. 3

    Identify the founder

    Anonymous lowers the grade.

  4. 4

    Find the money evidence

    A payment screen, public dashboard, or interview.

  5. 5

    Assign a grade

    A–D, based on how many independent records exist.

  6. 6

    Test Korean feasibility

    Payment, tax, and platform limits.

  7. 7

    A person reviews and publishes

    The review is logged.

✓ This is evidence

  • Payment processor screens
  • Public MRR dashboards
  • Figures stated in press or podcasts
  • App store metrics

✕ This is not

  • A revenue screenshot on the founder's own feed, alone
  • Claims on a page selling a course
  • Round-ups with no source

What makes an A — independent records

Records that do not come from the founder. At least one is required before we quote a figure.

  • Payment and revenue records — Stripe, LemonSqueezy, Gumroad
  • Public MRR/ARR dashboards (open startup pages)
  • Marketplace metrics — App Store, Google Play, and similar
  • Third-party reporting with independent confirmation
  • Investor materials and public traffic data

Supporting only — not enough for an A

  • The official site — does it resolve, and when we checked
  • Founder interviews — press, podcasts, Indie Hackers
  • Repository activity — GitHub

Interviews sit here for a reason. An editor may select and polish the piece, but the source of the number is still the founder. Someone else retyping it does not verify it. (Moved down from the A tier on 2026-08-14.)

What does not count

  • A revenue screenshot on the founder's own social account, alone
  • Claims made on a page selling a course or ebook
  • Round-up articles with no source

An unverifiable testimonial can set tone. It cannot support a number.

The grades

AVerified

Live service + identified founder + **at least one record independent of the founder**. Figures are quoted.

BMostly confirmed

The business exists, but the only revenue evidence is the founder's own statement. **No figures shown.**

CSelf-reported

Revenue is claimed and even the business is hard to confirm. Not presented as a success case.

DUnverified

Source unclear or promotional. **Not listed.**

Distinctions we keep

  • Revenue is not profit. We label MRR, ARR, revenue, profit, and GMV separately.
  • We record what the AI did and what the person did, separately.
  • We record the expertise the founder already had. A ten-year veteran speeding up is not the same as a beginner starting out.
  • “Possible” and “easy” are different claims.

If we got it wrong

Tell us and we will correct or remove it. Contact