John Rush
@johnrush118K followers
Running a bootstrapped empire of 24+ SaaS products and directories
Unicorn Platform, SEObot, ListingBott +20$3M/yr
exit story · 2024 · directory makers
How John Rush Sold AllGPTs to Chipp (2024)
AllGPTs was built by John Rush and sold to Chipp in 2024. At the time of the sale it made ~$10K total revenue from sponsorships (self-reported).
Key facts
- Buyer
- Chipp ↗
- Year
- 2024
- Price
- Undisclosed
- Revenue at sale
- ~$10K total revenue from sponsorships (self-reported)
- Years operated
- 0.8 years
- Channel
- Direct sale
Why they sold: Once the custom-GPT hype faded and traffic declined, the directory and its community still needed ongoing time, and John prefers directories he can run on autopilot. He wanted it to go to someone who could invest more time in it.
The story of AllGPTs
AllGPTs is a directory of custom GPTs. John Rush registered the domain while watching OpenAI's DevDay in November 2023, when custom GPTs were announced, and built and launched the directory in about two hours using Unicorn Platform, Google Sheets and an AI scraper. It ranked GPTs by their backlinks around the web, which helped it stand out.
The site went viral and benefited from its exact-match domain, attracting over a million visits in its first month and more than two million overall. It also built a Discord of about 5,000 members and a newsletter of about 10,000 subscribers. John monetized it with homepage sponsorships at $199 to $499, earning about $10,000 in total.
In 2024 John posted on X that he would sell the site for $15,000, received several DMs within minutes and sold to the first, Chipp, a platform for building AI assistants with an overlapping audience. Chipp announced the acquisition on September 12, 2024. It said it bought the site for awareness, traffic and data on popular GPTs, and planned to keep the directory running and add workshops and tools for builders to sell their GPTs.
Lessons John Rush shared
- 1.Spend less time building and more time marketing; marketing matters more than design or features.
- 2.Moving fast on a trending launch with an exact-match domain can bring large organic traffic from day one.
- 3.A niche directory can be sold quickly to a company with an overlapping audience that values it as marketing.
Paraphrased from the maker's public posts and interviews (see sources).
The maker
See the AllGPTs product page or John Rush's full profile for everything they have built since.
Related exit stories
Same buyer, category or sale channel as AllGPTs.
Amazon changed how its affiliate links worked, which broke about 90% of the site's affiliate links, and Michael Lynch no longer had time to maintain the site.
by Michael Lynch
Kanstein says he mostly loves the part of taking an idea to a finished product, and treats what comes after as a bonus, which is why he has sold most of his projects.
by Bram Kanstein
DudeRanch.com
buyer undisclosed · 2025
Peter Askew said he felt he had accomplished what he set out to do with the site and that it had given him as much as he had given it.
by Peter Askew
Podscan
→ Audiohook · 2026
Arvid Kahl said Audiohook had already been a close partner and customer, and that joining it gave Podscan resources to build the roadmap much faster than he could alone.
by Arvid Kahl
Sources
- nocodeexits.substack.com — nocodeexits.substack.com/p/how-john-rush-built-and-sold-the
- chipp.ai — chipp.ai/blog/chipp-acquires-allgptsco-helping/
Facts are taken from the maker's and buyer's public statements and press coverage. Prices and revenue are shown only when publicly stated; self-reported figures are not independently verified.
Keep exploring
AllGPTs acquisition FAQ
Who bought AllGPTs?
AllGPTs was acquired by Chipp in 2024 from John Rush.
How much did AllGPTs sell for?
The price was not publicly disclosed. At the time of the sale AllGPTs made ~$10K total revenue from sponsorships (self-reported).
Why did John Rush sell AllGPTs?
Once the custom-GPT hype faded and traffic declined, the directory and its community still needed ongoing time, and John prefers directories he can run on autopilot. He wanted it to go to someone who could invest more time in it.
How long did it take AllGPTs to get acquired?
AllGPTs was sold about 0.8 years after launch, through a direct sale (sold directly to a buyer, often a competitor, customer or acquirer that reached out).
What did John Rush learn from selling AllGPTs?
Spend less time building and more time marketing; marketing matters more than design or features. Moving fast on a trending launch with an exact-match domain can bring large organic traffic from day one.