← Back to case studies sound-aisleep

Sound AiSleep: From Idea to App Store

£60,000

saved in year 1

8 months

from start to launch

Overview

Visit Sound AiSleep Try out the app

When Coco Shellim, CEO and co-founder of Sound AiSleep, set out to build a platform that enables parents to create kids audiobooks narrated in their own voice, she wasn’t a developer and had never managed APIs or backend logic before. What she did have was a powerful insight about the emotional impact of a parent’s voice, and a vision to use technology to bring that connection to bedtime.

Today, Sound AiSleep transforms a simple voice recording into fully-formed bedtime stories, giving parents a new way to comfort their children even on their busiest days. And at the center of its infrastructure is Xano.

Industry

Consumer app

Company type

Startup

Solution

AI-powered mobile app

Use case

Personalized audio books and bedtime stories

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Intro

Challenges

Solutions

Results

The idea: Reimagining kids’ audio through personalized, parent-voiced storytelling

Coco recognized a unique opportunity: recreate a parent’s voice from a short recording, and use it to narrate calming bedtime stories tailored for children. The benefit was clear. Kids respond instinctively to their parent’s voice — it soothes them, reduces anxiety, and supports better sleep. By building a platform around safe voice-cloning and simple storytelling tools, Sound AiSleep gives parents an effortless way to bring that comfort to bedtime every night. The result is a practical solution rooted in emotional connection, not screens or overstimulating content.

AI is the engine behind our platform. It powers the voice cloning and deeper personalization that lets us recreate a parent’s tone, rhythm, and warmth. But the real benefit is simple: children get to hear the voice that comforts them most, even when their parent can’t be right beside them.

Coco Shellim

CEO and co-founder, Sound AiSleep

Challenges

Freelancers were too expensive, full-stack app builders were too limiting

Coco explored a few other full-stack tools, but she quickly realized that while choosing a full-stack app builder seems like the quick and easy way to get started, she ran into limitations on both the backend and frontend side.

With no engineering team in place, Coco explored agencies and freelancers, but early quotes came in at £60,000+ and long delivery times. Instead of slowing momentum, she chose a lean, test-first approach and built the earliest version herself to validate the user experience.

“There was no way I could afford to pay an agency or a freelancer £60,000 for an MVP. So I started looking into no-code tools to figure out what I could build myself.”

Coco Shellim

CEO and co-founder, Sound AiSleep

As the product evolved, she quickly recognized she needed a backend that could handle scale, reliability, and complex voice-processing workflows. Full-stack app builders looked convenient but came with technical limits that would restrict her long-term roadmap. This insight led her to split the frontend and backend, and adopt Xano to give Sound AiSleep the structure it needed to grow.

“I tried a few full-stack app builders early on, but it became clear they wouldn’t support the type of product I wanted to build. I needed more flexibility and control, so separating the frontend and backend was the only way to create something truly scalable and ready for market.”

Coco Shellim

CEO and co-founder, Sound AiSleep

Solutions

Why Xano was the right solution

When Coco tested Xano for the first time, she immediately recognized it as the backbone the product needed. After learning the fundamentals and working closely with Xano’s Support team, she moved from idea stage to building the custom backend workflows required to power Sound AiSleep. Xano now sits at the center of the platform’s infrastructure.

A major factor in choosing Xano was scalability. Coco was happy to start with a lightweight, testable frontend, but the backend needed to be long-term, reliable, and investor-ready from day one. Xano provided that foundation.

"One of the key reasons we chose Xano is its ability to scale with us. We’re currently bootstrapped and preparing for our pre-seed round early next year, so we need a backend that can support growth, manage surges in demand, and meet strict security expectations — all without unnecessary cost. Xano gives us the flexibility and reliability to build confidently for the future."

Coco Shellim

CEO and co-founder, Sound AiSleep

Security was another critical part of Sound AiSleep’s decision to choose Xano. As a family brand, and as a brand that generates voice clones, guaranteed privacy is critical to driving trust with their partners, investors, and customers.

Learn more about how Xano can scale your business.

Talk to sales Start building for free

Results

Coco took Sound AiSleep from an idea to a live app in the Apple App Store — a journey she couldn’t have achieved without Xano powering the backend. Today, the platform uses hundreds of backend workflows that manage everything from voice processing and personalization to user onboarding, content delivery, and the in-app guidance parents see as they move through the experience. Xano didn’t just help her launch quickly; it allowed her to continually improve the product and deliver a smoother, more thoughtful user experience — all at a fraction of the £60,000 agencies initially quoted.

"What could I do with Xano that I couldn’t do before? Honestly…everything. Sound AiSleep wouldn’t exist without Xano."

Coco Shellim

CEO and co-founder, Sound AiSleep

What’s next for Sound AiSleep?

Elaine Cowley joined the Sound AiSleep team as co-founder and Chief Growth Officer this year, bringing the product and growth experience to match their ambition. For their next innovation, they’re launching five well-known children’s IPs and transforming these high-energy, screen-first worlds into calming, audio-only bedtime adventures.

As part of this, they’re also building deeper personalization, weaving each child’s name, pets, routines, and world directly into their bedtime stories, creating an experience that feels familiar, soothing, and entirely their own.

As Sound AiSleep prepares for their pre-seed round early next year, they’re expanding their partnerships, advancing personalization, and continuing to build a new category: Play-to-Sleep.

Thanks to Xano, Sound AiSleep has grown from an idea into a live product with a clear roadmap and early partners. You can download Sound AiSleep here: https://link.soundaisleep.com/website

Got your own idea that you want to turn into reality? We built Xano for you — time to get started!