Show Notes
On the podcast: David Barnard shares how he went from recording engineer to one of the App Store’s earliest indie developers, building apps for the iPhone since 2008. He talks about borrowing $20,000 to start his company, turning Mirror into a million-dollar app through App Store search, why Launch Center Pro was more influential than profitable, and the lessons that eventually led him to RevenueCat.
Top Takeaways: 💸 Fame and revenue are different metrics An app can live in people's docks for years, get covered by every major outlet, and gross $1M over its life while never paying its maker a tech salary. 🔍 Own one search term and you own a foundation A single high-intent App Store query, held for years, can quietly fund every other experiment you want to run. ✉️ Pitch their audience, not your story Three short paragraphs about why a writer's readers will care beats five pages about how much you need the coverage. 🤝 Write the partnership exit before you need it Decide up front who does what and what happens when one of you stops doing it, because unwinding a 50/50 split is where it gets ugly. 🎯 Build the reason your app exists first Covering the category's table stakes before the thing that makes you different is a sequencing mistake that can sink a good app. 🔋 Save some energy for the week after launch Shipping burnt out means the marketing plan you wrote never happens, and the next shiny idea wins instead.
About David Barnard: 📱Growth Advocate at RevenueCat and Host of the Sub Club podcast. A long-time indie iOS developer whose App Store career stretches back to 2008. He’s built and launched dozens of apps, including Launch Center Pro, Mirror, and Weather Up. 👋 LinkedIn 🌐 Learn more about RevenueCat
🚀 Learn more about Launch Center Pro
☀️ Learn more about Weather Up
Follow us on X: Charlie Chapman - @_chuckyc David Barnard - @drbarnard RevenueCat - @RevenueCat Launched - @LaunchedFM
Episode Highlights: [00:00] Celebrating 100 episodes & 18 years on the App Store [08:46] South Texas, sound recording, and the studio years [13:18] From recording engineer to iPhone evangelist [16:46] Why the studio schedule had to end [17:42] First in line for the iPhone [22:18] A $20,000 loan from family to start AppCubby [28:27] Learning enough code to hire the right help [31:55] TripCubby and the cubby idea [34:04] Missing App Store day one over a developer account [45:58] How to pitch the press without begging [51:45] Charts, discounts, and the race up the rankings [55:37] Building Mirror around the front-facing camera [58:03] Camera Plus and the exact-match search trick [01:03:43] Why search traffic creates staying power [01:07:29] Launch Center Pro and the URL scheme era [01:15:34] The notification hack Apple rejected [01:22:11] Getting approved by Phil Schiller [01:26:01] Why Launch Center Pro shipped as a separate app [01:29:02] Well loved, barely profitable [01:36:51] The paid update David still regrets skipping [01:39:07] Workflow, Shortcuts, and a copied database [01:50:14] Unwinding a partnership as the app faded [01:56:46] The subscription pivot that landed badly [01:59:16] The Zapier deal that never happened [02:03:34] Why an indie developer went and got a job [02:06:08] Weather Up and the cost of building subscriptions yourself [02:07:52] Sequencing, differentiation, and finding the right partner [02:11:30] Building independently with AI [02:15:36] Grit Method and four questions for his kids [02:18:16] Burnt out at launch, marketing left undone [02:20:36] How RevenueCat and David crossed paths [02:21:13] Building Sub Club around takeaways [02:28:16] Sub Club Live and the weekly cadence [02:30:36] Donald Norman and the design of everyday things
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