Opportunities › Flashcard generation from learning materials › Proposed app
Markdeck
Make focused flashcards from PDFs, videos and notes, and send them to Anki.
- Score
- 47
- confidence 58
- Evidence
- 11
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 3
- named in sources
- First version
- 30 d
- estimate
- Type
- Mobile app
- PWA: installs on iPhone and Android
- Market since
- 2006
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Mobile app: Students capture highlights from sources on the go, then review and manage cards in short bursts between classes and study sessions. Sample screens on a phone, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
New source
- Pathology ch. 7.pdf212 pages
- Renal physiology lectureVideo, 48 min
- Clinic notes week 3Markdown
- Review articleWeb page
About this appAI proposal
Markdeck turns PDFs, lecture videos, web pages and notes into flashcards. You mark the passages that matter, or accept the ones the AI suggests. Each card is built from a specific passage, so it stays detailed instead of generic.
It is made for students who already use spaced repetition, medical students first. It does not ask you to move your study life. Cards are grouped by source and exported to the tools you already use, such as Anki or Markdown note folders.
The aim is less time writing cards and more time reviewing them, with every card traceable to the line it came from.
- Tagline
- Turn your sources into sharp cards, and send them where you already study.
- Voice
- FocusedPlainspokenCareful
- Why this name
- Cards are made from the passages you mark, so the name points to the marking act. Short, plain and easy to say.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Many sources, one inbox
Import PDFs, video transcripts, web pages and pasted notes. Each source becomes its own group of cards.
No member yet
Highlight-led cards
Mark passages yourself or accept AI suggestions. Cards are written from the marked text, not from a vague summary.
No member yet
Export to your system
Send decks to Anki as a package and notes to Markdown folders. Your SRS stays the place where you review.
No member yet
Review before export
Edit, merge, split or drop cards in a quick swipe queue so only good cards reach your deck.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#F6F1E7Paper · surface#1F2A2EInk · text#14595BDeep Teal · primary#F2B134Marker · accent#D6533ECoral · data / alerts
Typography
Aa
Markdeck
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789
Turn your sources into sharp cards, and send them where you already study.
PricingAI proposal
The material gives no competitor prices (the Anki iOS page does not state one). These tiers are a starting point to test, split by content volume and export destinations.
Free
Free
- 3 sources a month
- Anki export
- Review queue
Student
$9 a month
- 30 sources a month
- Anki and Markdown export
- Source links on cards
- Offline queue
Deep
$19 a month
- Unlimited sources
- Deep mode for textbooks
- Priority processing
- All export destinations
Would you pay Student · $9 a month?
Your answer tells PWAS which prices people accept. It changes no score.
No answers yet.
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- Shared outputs. Students share exported decks and source-linked card sets with classmates by link. Recipients can preview the deck and import it to Anki, with Markdeck credited on the share page.
- Do they become customers?
- Classmates are the same audience and could become paying users, but only if they have their own sources to convert. Test how many deck-link recipients sign up and upload a source.
- First customers
- First- and second-year medical students who already use Anki and study from long textbook PDFs and lecture videos, in one school or one cohort.
- Where to reach them
- Medical student communities: Share worked examples of chapter decks in Anki-focused subreddits and school study groups.
- Hacker News and builder forums: Show the tool and invite feedback from spaced repetition users.
- Student ambassadors: Give free Deep access to a few class reps who share decks with their year.
- First milestone
- Twenty medical students in one cohort export decks weekly for a month, and at least five pay for Student.
Why people already pay for this
- Public claimThe builder bootstrapped for a year and now has ~1000 users and ~100 paying customers
- Public claimMedical students are a primary customer segment needing comprehensive decks from textbooks
- Public claimMaking good flashcards is tedious
- Public claimMost flashcard generators in 2024 produced shallow cards or wanted to be the whole learning system
- Public claimUsers want flashcard tools that fit into existing SRS and note-taking workflows rather than replace them
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · AI modelHosted LLM API for card writingDrafts cards from marked passages and suggests highlights.
- This app · Document parsingPDF text extraction and OCR serviceTextbook PDFs often need clean text with page numbers.
RisksAI inference
- AIGenerated cards may contain errors, which is costly for medical study. Source links and the review step reduce this, but accuracy needs testing with real students.
- Intellectual propertyStudents upload copyrighted textbooks and lecture videos. Processing and storing them needs clear terms and minimal retention.
- CommercialFree tools and Anki add-ons exist and one HN builder reports about 100 paying customers (public claim). Willingness to pay must be tested.
- TechnicalAnki package format and video transcript access can change or break, so exports need ongoing maintenance.
- PlatformVideo sites may restrict transcript access, limiting that source type.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.