How an indie developer manages 45k MAU across two apps with AI

Renato P. is the definition of a successful indie developer. He runs two thriving utility apps on both iOS and Android: Birthday Reminder Widget and Moments Countdown . Combined, they serve over 45,000 Monthly Active Users (MAU).

Success brought a new challenge: support volume. Managing emails for two distinct products via a standard inbox became unorganized, lacked metrics, and offered no automation.

Renato faced a common dilemma: traditional help desks were too expensive and complex for a solo founder, but sticking with email was unscalable. He needed a middle ground—powerful, simple, and affordable.

Renato chose initdesk for its balance of simplicity and advanced AI features tailored for solo founders.

Crucially, initdesk's architecture allows Renato to keep his products separate but manageable under one roof. He set up two distinct organizations:

• Org 1: Birthday Reminder. This org utilizes two inboxes—a "Main" inbox for general queries and a "VIP" inbox to prioritize paying users.
• Org 2: Moments. A separate org with its own dedicated main inbox.

This setup ensures that support context, branding, and user data never leak between his two different product lines.

The AI "Virtual Assistant"

To handle the volume of 45k users alone, Renato relies heavily on initdesk's AI agent. The setup is surprisingly simple: he keeps his knowledge base updated by uploading PDF files.

The AI ingests these PDFs and uses them to draft accurate responses to incoming tickets automatically. He also leverages the Firebase Authentication integration to instantly identify users and their context:

Since switching to initdesk, Renato has gained clear visibility into issues across both apps and significantly reduced manual effort.

• Scalable Structure: Multiple apps managed in distinct organizations without switching tools.
• AI-Driven Efficiency: Simple PDF uploads power an AI agent that drafts near-perfect responses.
• VIP Prioritization: Dedicated inboxes ensure paying customers get attention first.