Medium post

Approx. 2 years ago I started working on an app that gave insight into real time scooter traffic congestions and police checks. Mainly because the Netherlands is overly strict regarding these kind of vehicles in my opinion and being a rebellious and young Software Developer I took on the change to develop an app that would provide all drivers with real time updates and notifications directly from the community itself.

When starting out this project my main motivations were

There were 2 (really bad) paid apps doing kind off the same thing at the time.
I drove a scooter myself that was way to fast and way to dangerous, but hey, why not!
I knew I could do way better then the existing 2 apps. Even if it would only mean I rebuild them, gave it a better design and published it for free.
The idea to build an app, make a fast buck en get “rich” has never been a motivation, I had a feeling I could do better, and I was really, really passionate about doing it better. And the feeling I could do better was as right as it could be.

So just before I start spitting out some numbers let me clear up some things. The app I am talking about is by no means an app that has the same kind of magnitude or virality as lets say a Flappy Bird or Pokemon Go. If it would be, there wouldn’t be any benefit in writing this article because most probably everyone would already know about it.

So, the app that started out as a fun project and I didn’t really spend much time on after publishing it to the stores or trying to monetize it has just hit the following numbers

1 Paid Travel app (June 2017)

13 Top Paid app overall (June 2017)

14 app overall (June 2017)

Numbers are regarding the iOS app store

So a lot of people probably wonder, “ok, cool. But tell us, how did you make any money out of it then?” — well, by trying not to make any money out of it. Sure about 13 months ago I implemented some basis Google Admob banners, a thing that every indie developer does to cover there server and developer license expenses. But I didn’t care much about it, in fact, I put a crazy high payment treshold on my Admob account at the time and didn’t even bother to look at daily, weekly or even monthly revenue reports. At the time it was just a fun thing for me to see the app I was extremely passionate about being used by a lot of people in my surroundings, and actually starting to benefit from it as well! The feeling I got from those kind of responses was, and still is in my opinion a much greater kind of recognition than one that is expressed in money.

But then, about 8 months ago. I created a Metabase dashboard for fun to get some insights about the number of total downloads, active users, user retention etc. The moment I started compiling the dashboard I got kinda blown away by the numbers rolling out of the reports (Dutch market):

120k+ total installs
40k+ DAU
Being my first ever solo created app that I didn’t spend to much time on marketing, monetizing etc.

Getting the Admob report next to it caused a second surprise since it was telling me I almost hit the payment treshold and would receive a first payment in the upcoming weeks. At that moment I came to realise that I created an app that a lot of people couldn’t commute without, an app that didn’t have any real competitors and an app that could basically do anything and ask for anything without destroying user retention. All of this because the users of the app at the time had 1 simple choice, deal with whatever the app shoves in my face and get updated about police checks (avoiding fines) or removing the apps and risking a lot, and I really mean a lot of fines.

So moral of the story is, I guess. Create an app that you users can’t live without, invest your own time, money, passion and sleep into it and try to get your recognition and satisfaction out of happy end users. Money will follow, just don’t start building an app to make a lot of money, get rich, get famous or whatever kind off bullshit you try to tell yourself. Because, you will fail as did many others before you.

Build something you love building and put all of your passion into it
To wrap up this short article I’ll provide you with some up to date stats:

160k+ total installs
60k+ DAU
1.2 million Ad impressions / week
If you have an idea that you’re passionate about, just go for it, do it, build it, live it, breathe it. As long as you don’t try to think about how you can make the most money out of it, you will succeed. Be it personal satisfaction or a few hundred happy end users whom you have provided some extra value to.iting here...