How to play App development (indie mobile/App Store)
Someone willing to clear this gate: $99/yr Apple dev (+$25 Google) + real coding skill; barrier is engineering ability plus the much harder problem of distribution/ASO Capital tier: no capital to start.
First dollar: Typical time-to-first-income on this board: weeks. That is a planning number, not a promise.
Exact steps. Ship the smallest unit of paid value before you gold-plate.
Build and ship a mobile app, monetize via subscriptions, IAP, or ads, and fight for visibility in a store of millions. Apple/Google take 15-30%. Brutal power-law: a tiny number of apps capture almost all revenue; most never get downloaded.
Do the minimum that makes you legal and sellable: $99/yr Apple dev (+$25 Google) + real coding skill; barrier is engineering ability plus the much harder problem of distribution/ASO. Do not gold-plate this step.
Publish or productize the smallest offer someone will pay for. One client, one listing, one paid user.
Repeat the smallest sale until the motion is boring. Track hours, CAC, and close rate. Kill vanity work.
If it works, templatize delivery and price. If the ceiling is low, ladder into a related deck on this board.
Not the median. These are rare winners so you can study a real decklist.
Related decks if this one is working or if you need a stronger wincon.
What you do on paper: Build and ship a mobile app, monetize via subscriptions, IAP, or ads, and fight for visibility in a store of millions. Apple/Google take 15-30%. Brutal power-law: a tiny number of apps capture almost all revenue; most never get downloaded.
Frequency: Millions of developers and apps; livable income confined to a small top slice