Nowlater Postmortem

Shipping Nowlater taught me more than any tutorial or course could have. It started as a simple attempt to fix one small annoyance, but it became a real product that pushed me to confront my habits, my limits, and the parts of app building I never paid attention to before.

One thing that went well was keeping the scope tight. I focused on a single pain point and avoided falling into a feature spiral. Keeping the project small made it possible to finish, and I want to keep approaching future projects in the same way. Clear problem. Simple solution. Ship it.

I also learned that I do not want ads to be part of the experience. They helped me get an MVP out the door, but they do not feel meaningful. Moving forward I want in app payments to unlock real value. Features that make the app genuinely better, not just the removal of something annoying.

Another shift is my decision to step away from React Native and try Swift. I want to understand what it feels like to build with the native tools and the frameworks designed specifically for the platform. If part of growing as a builder is gaining range, then learning Swift feels like the right next step.

Marketing is still an open problem for me. I am not in the viral content world, and I do not naturally lean toward social media. I also did not realize how deep things like ASO go until I had to handle them myself. Every part of the process had its own learning curve. At times it felt overwhelming, but I can see that each piece matters.

Documenting this journey turned out to be a good decision. I was hesitant at first. I did not think anyone would care. But writing these entries helped me stay grounded and reflect on what I learned. Building in public, even in a quiet way, has its benefits.

AI played a big role too. It amplified what I could do and helped me work through problems I did not have the experience to solve alone. Using AI well is its own skill and something I want to keep improving.

What became clear is that organic growth is hard to count on, especially in a crowded category. Making something is only half the job. Getting it seen is the other half, and that is an area I still need to learn.

The entire process reminded me that I cannot solve everything at once. The best I can do is keep improving a little at a time and see where all of this leads.