Solo founder, zero budget, building a free ad-free faith app — AMA

Hey PH community! 👋

I'm Keila Ortiz, a solo founder with no coding background and no funding. I've been building SoulReflect — a free, ad-free Christian app for daily prayer, Scripture, and a community prayer wall where strangers pray for each other anonymously.

It started from a really personal place. I kept seeing people in my community who were hurting — anxious, lonely, grieving — and faith apps either felt cluttered, paywalled, or impersonal. I wanted something that felt sacred and human, not transactional.

A few things I'm genuinely struggling with and would love this community's input on:

1. Bootstrapping a free, no-ads app — how do you sustain something like this long-term without a paywall or ads, when your whole mission is keeping it free? I'd love to hear from founders who chose this path.

2. Going from zero audience to a real community — as a solo founder, getting the first real users (not friends or family) feels like the hardest milestone. What actually worked for you in those early days?

3. Balancing mission and growth pressure — I want to grow SoulReflect because more people should have access to it, but I never want it to become the thing it was built to replace. How do you hold that line?

I'm not here to push a link or farm upvotes — I genuinely want to learn from people who've walked this road. If you've built something with a mission bigger than revenue, I'd love to hear how you're keeping it sustainable and true to itself. 🙏

Happy to answer anything about my journey so far, the app, or what I've learned building solo with zero budget.

— Keila