Chris Raroque

Chris Raroque is a Dallas-based solo app developer who builds consumer productivity apps and documents the process on YouTube, X and TikTok. His best-known product is Ellie, a minimalist daily planner with a brain-dump list and drag-to-timeline scheduling that runs on the web, Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPad.

Ellie started in 2021 as a weekend project to learn a new backend service and was built in a few weeks. After he shared progress publicly, it grew into his main product, used largely by students, nurses and other non-developers. He handles development, design, marketing and support himself, and positions Ellie as a simpler alternative to tools like Sunsama, Todoist and Motion.

Around Ellie he runs a small portfolio of focused apps under his company Saint Yeti: Amy, a food journal that tracks calories like writing a note; Luna, a budgeting app; Mogul, a personal CRM for remembering people and following up; and Moonjar. Before going solo he was one of the co-founders of Aloa, a software development outsourcing company started by Vanderbilt students.

His YouTube channel, with more than 100K subscribers, covers app development, his tech stack, AI-assisted coding and the realities of running a one-person software business.