100: Launch Center Pro & Sub Club — David Barnard

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