Launched by RevenueCat

On the podcast: Matthew Skiles shares how a self-taught teenager in New Zealand went from building his dad's tennis coaching website to becoming one of the most recognizable names in app icon design — including Launched's own icon. He talks about how getting tapped by Christian Selig to design icon alternates for Apollo turned him from unknown to in-demand almost overnight, why he calls chasing app icon work "not a smart business decision" he'd still make again, why Apple's Tahoe squircle rules and Icon Composer's forced glass effects frustrate him more than they excite him, and how AI-generated reference images are quietly reshaping his client conversations.

Top Takeaways:
🎨 You don't need a portfolio, you need people who trust your work
The first paid gigs in a new niche usually come from existing clients who already know you deliver, not from a polished portfolio you don't have yet.
📉 Constraints make you a better designer
When a platform strips away textures and details, you can't hide behind coolness anymore; you're forced to learn what actually matters — a great shape.
🧲 Don't be literal with your app icon
The best icons aren't diagrams of what the app does; they're objects so fun to look at that people download the app just to keep them on their home screen.
📐 The #1 app icon mistake: your symbol is too big
Shrink it down a few pixels past where you think it should stop; breathing room almost always looks better than filling the frame.
🤖 Infinite AI options are a trap
Generating 50 more variations feels like progress, but at some point you have to commit to a direction — endless options create choice paralysis, not clarity.
🎯 "Fun" can be a business strategy
Choosing the work you love over the work that's economically sensible isn't smart on paper, but passion compounds: do the thing you love publicly and consistently, and the market finds you.

About Matthew Skiles:

🎨 New Zealand-based icon and visual designer for 15+ years, creating hand-crafted artistic expressions for developers big and small.
👋 LinkedIn
🌐 Learn more about Matthew Skiles

Follow us on X: 
Charlie Chapman - @_chuckyc
RevenueCat - @RevenueCat
Launched - @LaunchedFM 

Episode Highlights:
[00:00] Designing Launched's Icon and Meeting Matthew Skiles
[03:13] A Self-Taught Designer in New Zealand
[04:57] Learning Through Websites and Early Dribbble
[05:40] Building Rockin' Rockets With His Brother
[09:46] How Existing Clients Opened the Icon Door
[10:46] Discovering Classic Mac App Icons
[11:53] Skeuomorphism, Texture, and the Adobe Workflow
[15:58] How iOS 7 Changed the Craft
[18:59] Learning to Start With Shape
[20:24] Big Sur, Tahoe, and Squircle Constraints
[22:52] Icon Composer and System-Generated Glass
[25:03] Becoming Known for One Kind of Work
[25:54] How Apollo Expanded His Audience
[27:59] Building a Business on Short Engagements
[30:10] Apple's Role in Elevating Icon Design
[34:55] Dribbble's Decline and a Fragmented Community
[38:05] Finding Inspiration and Today's Icon Trends
[41:18] Why Great Icons Needn't Be Literal
[42:56] Sketching Concepts Before Adding Color
[44:20] Designing for Scale, Competition, and Color
[47:44] Refinement and Giving Icons Breathing Room
[50:14] AI, Infinite Options, and Choice Paralysis
[57:04] Waiting for New Tools to Prove Themselves
[59:40] Jasper Hauser and the Icons That Inspired Him

On the podcast: Joe Fabisevich shares how he went from Twitter's health and safety team to building Plinky, a link-saving app born of trading memes with his wife. He talks about why he treats every beta like a production launch, how his wife's pro marketing playbook — lookback calendars, email campaigns, and press outreach — shaped his entire go-to-market strategy, why he regrets starting with a generous freemium tier, and how a scrappy 19-day ChatGPT wrapper went viral off one email to John Gruber.
Top Takeaways:
🛒 You should charge people — and you should charge them sooner
Settling on a generous freemium tier feels kind, but it quietly kills your ability to learn who converts, why they convert, and when they drop off.
📅 A lookback calendar turns launch chaos into a system
Work backwards from your launch date and assign every single day a strategic task — teasers, emails, press pitches — so nothing happens ad hoc the night before.
📧 Email is the single best revenue lever for indie apps
Run three emails per sale (launch day, a few days out, 24 hours left), segment by open behavior, and don't panic if the first two are quiet — the last one drives the most conversions.
🧪 Treat your beta like a production launch
Building export systems, handling migrations, and collecting real feedback during a TestFlight isn't wasted effort — it pays dividends when you ship for real and already have the infrastructure.
🧠 AI is superhuman, but it's not a mind reader
If your prompt wouldn't be enough for a human engineer to build from, it's not enough for AI either — most people are one lightbulb moment away from building real things.

About Joe Fabisevich:
🚀 Indie iOS developer and founder of Plinky, a thoughtfully designed link-saving app. Previously an engineer at Twitter, he also builds open-source developer tools and writes about AI, product development, and software craftsmanship.
👋 LinkedIn

🌐 Learn more about Plinky

Follow us on X: 
Charlie Chapman - @_chuckyc
RevenueCat - @RevenueCat
Launched - @LaunchedFM 

Episode Highlights:
[00:00] Introducing Plinky and designing apps with care
[03:16] What Plinky does and why it exists
[04:34] Growing up in Queens and discovering programming
[07:21] Early iOS development and first jobs
[10:20] Lessons from working at Twitter
[16:15] The personal story behind Plinky
[19:51] From side project to indie business
[23:00] Building in public and earning trust
[27:26] Delaying the launch to build Boutique
[30:29] Why TestFlight should feel like production
[32:25] Finding the right product and pricing strategy
[35:17] Launch planning and go-to-market strategy
[39:17] Press outreach and launch momentum
[41:20] The Short Circuit AI app
[46:01] Launching Plinky and product philosophy
[47:32] Subscriptions, pricing, and paywalls
[50:42] Growing through email and seasonal sales
[56:55] Teaching developers to build with AI
[01:00:43] Embracing AI instead of fearing it
[01:04:41] Red Panda Club and creative inspiration

On the podcast: Andy Allen shares how he went from designing the never-shipped Microsoft Courier tablet and co-founding the Apple Design Award-winning drawing app Paper to starting !Boring Software (Not Boring Software) — a deliberately tiny, 2-person studio built around one rule: never make boring software again. He talks about why staying small on purpose protects you from getting trapped in a business you hate, how a "patron plan" with no extra features outsold expectations, why sound design and haptics are the most underused tools in app development, and how 3 years of false starts led to Not Boring Camera — an app that strips out all of Apple's photo processing so you can take expressive photos instead of technically perfect ones.
Top Takeaways:
🎨 Design can be the entire value proposition — not just a nice-to-have 
People pay premiums for notebooks, furniture, and cars based on aesthetics, yet the software industry still assumes you need feature differentiation to charge money.

🔒 The biggest risk isn't failure — it's getting trapped in a business you don't want to run Structure your company, your incentives, and your product roadmap around the work you actually want to do, not the work that seems most scalable.

🎭 Doing the uncool thing often has the most staying power 
The projects that resonate most tend to be the ones nobody else wanted to do — starting an app business when everyone else was chasing SaaS turned out to be the right move.

💰 Patronage works when your mission resonates 
If people see you fighting a battle they believe in, they'll pay significantly more than the value of the features they unlock — they're funding the effort, not buying a product.

🔊 Sound design is the most underused tool in app development 
One sound file repeated is grating; a dozen slightly different versions of the same click — borrowed from game audio — makes software feel alive without adding real complexity.

📷 Default camera apps ensure you never take a bad photo — but you can never take a great one
Stripping out computational processing and putting expressive tools into the moment of capture makes people want to go outside and take photos of random things again.

🧱 Ship complete products and move on 
Committing to "this is the app we made" — no V3 feature bloat, no chatbot in the corner — forces you onto the more creatively interesting path of making something new every year.

About Andy Allen:
🚀 Founder and designer behind !Boring Software (Not Boring Software), an app studio creating expressive, design-led utility apps including Not Boring Weather, Calculator, Timer, Habits, Vibes, and Camera.
👋 LinkedIn
🌐 Learn more about Not Boring Software

Follow us on X: 
Charlie Chapman - @_chuckyc
RevenueCat - @RevenueCat
Launched - @LaunchedFM 

Episode Highlights:
[00:00] The fear of building the wrong business
[00:45] WWDC, Apple Design Awards, and Not Boring Camera merch
[04:27] Growing up in a remote Alaskan fishing village
[06:09] Studying visual communication design
[08:51] Early interaction design work at Ziba
[13:37] Moving to Microsoft and working on Courier
[17:48] Designing tools for creativity instead of consumption
[22:03] Building Paper for iPad
[28:15] Raising VC and selling FiftyThree
[30:05] The origin of Not Boring Software
[35:28] Building a small business on purpose
[37:39] Testing whether design can be enough
[45:51] Subscriptions, skins, and patronage
[50:28] Why customers support the mission
[53:03] Avoiding a business you do not want to run
[55:47] Sound design, haptics, and game-inspired software
[01:03:15] Performance trade-offs with 3D app design
[01:06:06] Building Not Boring Camera
[01:12:13] Super RAW, LUTs, and expressive photography
[01:17:11] Why the moment of creation matters
[01:20:33] Andy’s creative inspirations

On the podcast: Eric Duffett shares how he built Shot Pattern — a golf GPS app that brings "moneyball" thinking to the course — as a side project while teaching high school full-time. He talks about his first failed app, why automating an existing community workflow created instant product-market fit, turning down a 75K acquisition offer, cracking Meta ads with a scrappy zero-budget screen recording, and growing to one million dollars in total sales without ever leaving the classroom.

Top Takeaways:

⛳ Find people already doing it the hard way
If a community is solving a problem with spreadsheets, Google Maps, or shared workarounds, you don't need to convince them they have a problem — you just need to make the solution easier.
🚫 Don't rebuild your entire app for one person's feedback
Overweighting the first piece of feedback you get, especially when it requires a massive pivot like adding a new platform, is one of the most common traps for first-time developers.
📉 Intellectually knowing and emotionally knowing are different things
You can predict a seasonal downturn or a slow period, but the anxiety of watching revenue drop to zero still hits differently when you're living through it.
🎬 Market before you build
The difference between a hobby that nobody finds and a business that grows from day one can be as simple as sharing screenshots and talking about what you're making while you're still making it.
💸 Your LTV has to work before you spend a dollar on ads
Paid acquisition only becomes a money printer when your conversion and retention numbers are already strong from organic users — otherwise you're just paying to lose money faster.
🎥 The scrappy creative wins
A raw, unpolished screen recording made by the founder can outperform expensive influencer content because it speaks directly to the audience in their own language.
🏋️ Grit without product-market fit is just suffering
Resilience is a necessary skill, but grinding on something nobody wants for years doesn't make you a better entrepreneur — it just delays the moment you find the thing that actually works.

About Eric Duffet:
🚀 Indie Developer and creator of Shot Pattern, a specialized golf GPS and course management app designed to help golfers lower their scores by visualizing their personal "shot cone" directly over satellite maps of the golf course
👋 LinkedIn
🌐 Learn more about Shot Pattern

Episode Highlights:
[00:00] Introduction to Shot Pattern: “Moneyball for golf”
[02:14] Eric’s background: teaching, finance, and early app development
[03:40] Golf experience and coaching background
[05:58] First app: meditation for athletes and lessons learned
[10:47] Rookie mistakes: Android pivot and early marketing missteps
[13:08] Design insights from working with UI/UX students
[17:00] Understanding product-market fit through a simple school app
[20:07] Starting Shot Pattern as a personal side project
[21:46] Early app features: measuring arcs and dispersion on Apple Maps
[25:17] Early marketing and organic growth via Twitter
[29:35] Investing in golf course data to enhance the app
[33:04] Prototype simulations and early community feedback
[35:10] Declining $75K acquisition offer to continue independently
[38:14] Facing seasonal slowdowns and sustaining motivation
[42:04] Running Meta ads and achieving high LTV
[46:50] Effective ad creative targeting the right golfers
[49:58] Balancing development, business, and family
[56:32] Hiring a contractor for marketing and operational support
[01:00:23] Future plans: delivering more value through analytics and AI reports
[01:02:31] Competition and validation in the golf app space

On the podcast: Austin Blake shares his journey from film student and Apple superfan to the creator of Stuff, a task management app built for people who care deeply about design and productivity. He explains the challenge of competing in crowded markets, building software that “feels right,” and what it’s like getting featured by Apple.

Top Takeaways:

🛠️ Out-persist the crowded market
You do not need to reinvent the wheel to succeed; you can stand out in a saturated space simply by committing to continuous development and polishing the user experience over several years.
🤖 Let AI agents review each other
When learning a new platform, you can accelerate development by using AI to generate code and setting up multiple AI agents to review and refine each other's plans before you inspect the final code.
⏱️ Shorten your trial to find the magic number
A month-long free trial is often too much time for users to feel the urgency to upgrade; reducing your trial to seven days can significantly increase your trial-to-paid conversion rate.
📦 Rethink native paradigms from scratch
Porting an app to a new platform requires more than stretching the UI; you must implement the platform-specific interactions, like keyboard navigation and native undo states, that users subconsciously expect.
⏳ Always triple your launch buffer for new platforms
App Store review guidelines are highly inconsistent across platforms; even if your app's core features are already approved on mobile, expect unexpected rejections and budget at least three weeks for a desktop launch.

About Austin Blake:

🚀 Indie Developer and creator of Stuff, a task management app focused on combining simplicity, beauty, and powerful productivity workflows. Former Apple contractor and incoming Developer Advocate at RevenueCat.
👋 LinkedIn
🌐 Learn more about Stuff

Follow us on X: 
Charlie Chapman - @_chuckyc
RevenueCat - @RevenueCat
Launched - @LaunchedFM 

Episode Highlights:
[00:00] Why Austin built “another” to-do list app
[00:42] Meeting at WWDC and joining RevenueCat
[03:22] From film school to advertising to coding
[04:55] Growing up as an Apple superfan
[07:11] Learning to code after getting ignored by Evernote
[08:35] Building MightyNote and Achievements
[11:58] Early lessons about onboarding and subscriptions
[14:03] Quitting his job to go all-in on indie development
[16:24] Working at Apple while building Stuff on the side
[18:55] Why Austin chose task management as his focus
[20:40] Competing in crowded app categories
[22:22] The magic and inspiration behind Wunderlist
[25:39] Designing apps that “feel right”
[26:47] Building task dependencies into Stuff
[28:09] Launching Stuff through pre-orders and community feedback
[31:33] The pros and cons of large TestFlight betas
[38:14] Launching the Mac version of Stuff
[40:04] Getting featured by Apple for AI-powered features
[42:12] Pricing strategy, subscriptions, and free trials
[45:01] Building trust through dev logs and transparency
[50:14] Designing for macOS vs iPhone and iPad
[56:22] The realities of App Store review for Mac apps
[59:12] Austin’s favorite creators, apps, and inspirations