CEO Weekends: Amr El Fangary Revives WonderBooks With 2,000 Stories Built Using AI

After almost a years away, Amr El Fangary has actually restored WonderBooksa digital reading platform that now provides more than 2,000 showed books throughout 12 libraries and a lots languages. The solo creator states advances in expert system have actually made it possible to develop what would formerly have actually needed a big studio, years of work and countless dollars.

In this edition of TechMoran’s CEO Weekends, El Fangary discusses why the initial app had a hard time to scalehow he restored the platform utilizing AI, its worldwide readership and his aspiration to make reading available while constructing a sustainable subscription company.

What made you restore WonderBooks after 10 years?

The concept never ever altered. What altered is that it lastly ended up being buildable. Whatever that made WonderBooks difficult in 2016 was a cost-and-time issue, not a concept issue. Work that would have taken a year and a complete studio now takes days. If I had actually attempted to develop what exists today at that time, I might not have actually reached even a thousandth of it, not gradually or expensively, however merely not.

Why did the initial app stop working to scale in spite of strong rankings and downloads?

It was never ever except recognition. It had a ranking above 4.5 throughout 976 scores, more than 100,000 downloads and evaluations in 11 languages over 9 years. What it had was 18 stories.

Turning that into a genuine library indicated countless detailed pages and every word told in a lots languages. That needed illustrators, voice stars, translators and editors, possibly a studio of around 40 individuals, years of payroll and countless dollars. The app itself likewise required a better experience due to the fact that readers will not remain for material alone if the item is challenging to utilize. Need was shown, however there was no feasible path to execution.

What altered in 2026 that made the concept possible?

The turning point was comprehending that AI might develop a whole job, not simply assist me compose code. It might support the advancement of the app and site, the database, hosting, facilities, marketing and analytics. Each of those utilized to need a various expert, which is specifically why it utilized to need a business. Now a single person can work throughout all of it.

How did you develop more than 2,000 stories as a solo creator?

They did not appear over night, and the volume is not the fascinating part. The majority of the work entered into developing the structures: successfully, a studio with guidelines for instructions, electronic camera angles, character positioning, responses and what is enabled or never ever permitted. Those options should match the product since a documentary topic is not framed like an action scene, and neither is framed like a household story. Even the narrative voice should match the material and its audience.

When that structure remained in location, consisting of how stories are composed, what they are indicated to attain and how to keep them pleasurable, the brochure followed. We are still improving it every day.

What function has AI played in developing the item?

AI is the execution layer. The vision, editorial requirements, instructions, style choices and judgments about what makes an excellent page or what we decline to release are my own. That is where the time goes.

AI has actually eliminated much of the space in between choosing something needs to exist and having the ability to make it. The outcome is what I would rather be evaluated on: 12 libraries, more than 2,000 highlighted books, every page painted and every story told throughout a lots languages.

Who are your primary users today, and where are they based?

We currently have readers in approximately 150 nations, although we have actually not formally introduced. Our greatest readership is throughout Africa and South Asia, with a consistent and growing audience in Europe and the United States. Nearly all use has actually been on Android up until now since that is where we are totally live.

All 12 libraries are readily available on Google Play. On Apple’s App Store, 4 have actually been authorized and launched, while the staying 8 are still under evaluation. The complete launch will follow as soon as those approvals come through.

How does WonderBooks earn money?

The concept is that no one ought to be stopped from reading. Checking out will be maximize to an everyday limitation, while a subscription eliminates that limitation. One subscription covers all 12 libraries instead of charging readers independently for each one.

Readers who sign up with at launch will get a founding-member cost that will not be used once again. We will continue including functions and worth to the subscription instead of treating it as a completed item.

Can a solo creator truly construct a billion-dollar business today?

Yes, and I would anticipate it to come from outdoors software application. Somebody is being in a space today constructing something exceptional, and they might be a physician, chemist, mechanic or engineer instead of a designer. A couple of years earlier, that individual had no clear path to execution due to the fact that describing a concept to individuals efficient in constructing it was a huge difficulty. That space has actually basically closed.

Imagination was never ever the important things in brief supply. The capability to perform it was.

My individual viewpoint, and plenty will disagree, is that working alone is now typically quicker and more effective for developing something than dealing with a group. If you understand precisely how something needs to begin and end, every extra individual can end up being another translation layer in between the concept and the outcome. Offering, fulfilling individuals and doing service in the world still need others. Structure does not always need to.

AI is a little like Aladdin’s light. You can request for something you were specific might not be done, and it can be done.