Historical review from 2026-09-10. Current price and availability are unconfirmed; check the original marketplace.

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#16

Chess: Learn & Play Puzzles

EducationListed on TrustMRR· Sep 9
$2.5K
Asking Price
$136/mo
Monthly Revenue
$136/mo
Monthly Profit
1.5x
Profit Multiple
2 months
Business Age

Why We Picked This

Chess puzzle app with $135.94/mo revenue and claimed 100%+ margins ($136 profit) presents an unusual profile: at 2 months old with no distribution effort, organic traction alone does not yet establish durable unit economics or customer retention. The 1.53x asking multiple is attractive on paper, but the thin absolute revenue base ($1,600/year), extreme youth, single-platform dependency (iOS), and unverified churn/retention data create material acquisition risk. Buyer should treat this as an early-stage product validation rather than an established revenue engine.

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Strengths

  • Exceptionally low asking price ($2,500) relative to monthly run rate
  • Attractive sub-1.6x profit multiple suggests seller may value conservatively
  • Organic growth without marketing spend indicates some product-market fit signal
  • Beautiful design mentioned may reduce feature completion burden
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Details to confirm

  • Monthly revenue of $135.94 is below the $1K+ threshold for confidence; at current trajectory, annual profit of ~$1,631 is minimal and unverified as sustainable
  • Business is only 2 months old with no demonstrated retention, churn, or cohort data; early-stage apps commonly experience high uninstall rates that can eliminate revenue quickly
  • Seller explicitly states 'no time and money to distribute'—acquisition does not include distribution expertise, marketing channels, or customer acquisition knowledge; buyer inherits a distribution problem
  • iOS-only availability limits market penetration; Android or web versions are not mentioned, creating single-platform execution risk
  • Verify exact customer count, install-to-paid conversion rate, daily/monthly active user churn, and monthly recurring vs. one-time purchase composition to assess whether $136/mo profit is repeatable

Additional details to confirm

Evidence 74/100
Very short track record: under 6 monthsUnusually high reported profit margin

Buy vs Build: BUILD

22
AI-native cash cost
$3.5K$8.0K
Estimated time
8 weeks
Asking price
$2.5K

A chess puzzle app with Duolingo-like mechanics is a well-precedented MVP in modern no-code and AI-assisted development. Using AI-native coding tools (Claude, Cursor), open-source puzzle engines (Stockfish), template-based UI frameworks (React Native or Flutter templates), and managed backend (Firebase), a solo founder can build and ship an MVP-equivalent iOS/Android experience in 8–10 weeks for $3.5–8K in direct costs. The acquisition is purchasing 2 months of unverified organic traction ($1,600 annualized revenue), no paying-customer base, no retention data, and no distribution knowledge or assets. Without proven churn discipline, customer concentration, or repeat-revenue validation, the business traction does not justify purchase over rebuild. A buyer acquiring this asset assumes full execution risk on both retention and distribution with minimal margin for error.

Cash estimate includes the AI tools, APIs and infrastructure needed for a solo founder to recreate the software. Build time is informational and lightly weighted. The verdict is driven mainly by customers, users, verified earnings, retention, distribution, brand, data and operating history.

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Financial Snapshot

$2K
Annual Revenue
$2K
Annual Profit
$0.1K
Monthly Revenue
18 mo
Est. Payback
Profit Margin100%
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Business Overview

A learning chess iOS app inspired in Duolingo. I haven't distributed this app, I don't have time and money to distribute it but organically the app has its $168 MRR. This app is beautifully designed,

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Quick Facts

🏢
Type
Education
📅
Age
2 months
🏪
Source
TrustMRR
📌
Listed
Sep 9, 2026

Deal Score

48
Below Average
Evidence confidence74/100
1.5x
Excellent Multiple
Asking$2.5K
MRR$136/mo
Profit$136/mo
Profit Multiple1.5x
Age2 months
View on TrustMRR

Opens the original listing on TrustMRR

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Preliminary screening based on marketplace and public data. Verify all financial, legal, technical, customer, and operational claims independently before making an acquisition decision. This is not financial or legal advice.