building iOS apps since 2017 growth, distribution and monetization

Joined April 2021
Getting your app approved by apple is the new moat
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For those wondering, here's the date I launched my first ever app to the Appstore. It was a math game built entirely with Storyboards! And it actually had a ton of downloads, but my monetization strategy was ads, so I made peanuts with it 😅 I think I'm feeling nostalgic guys, sorry
This is how I used to build iOS apps when I first started out. We are not the same 💀
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That’s why my next product is taking weeks, not days to build, even with frontier AI models. Because building a good product still requires: - Deep product understanding - Domain knowledge - Good product taste - Thoughtful UI/UX - A ridiculous amount of iteration AI can accelerate development, but it can’t replace knowing what to build, why it matters, and what makes it genuinely good. I have no idea how it’ll perform once I launch. But I’m pretty damn sure it’ll be a product I’m proud of.
contrary to popular belief, vibe-coding a good product is still very hard.. requires a good understanding of what you're trying to build, UX, & hella back/forth to translate your vision to the agent creating a product that you expect 1000's of people to use requires a lot of testing + attention to detail, it's not the same as building quick internal tools that only serve one purpose
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