11 September 2026It’s late in the night. The espresso cup didn’t provide the alertness I was hoping for. I’m struggling to find the proper words to present my app in another Reddit post.Suddenly my phone lights up and interrupts me mid-sentence. I furiously pick it up and I stop in disbelief. Levely has just been approved by Apple’s review team. It is ready for distribution.My sleepiness is replaced by a burst of excitement. This is the moment I’ve been working towards for the past two months.I’ve gone from the impressive drawing that you’ve seen above to this:One tap and the whole world can see my vision. Fame and glory are mine for the taking!As I’m pondering which Rolex I’ll buy with the first month’s profits (I prefer Omega, but everyone knows Rolex), at the back of my mind a sinister thought emerges, “What if no one will like my app?”My excitement comes crashing down on me. Levely will end up wasting precious memory on Apple’s servers. Another app lost in the obscurity of the App Store.13 September 2026I’ve finally overcome my paralysis. My anxiety is leveling down. Good or bad, this is the app that I wanted to have for myself. I can’t be the only one that wants to use this. Right?I know I’m a geek, but having a focus timer that allows you to level up your real life skills is simply fun. I mean, who doesn’t want to have their own character sheet? Ok, maybe not actually everyone, but still, it beats growing a plant.It’s settled. I will proceed with the launch. Today is the day. At approximately 12:13:47 PM I tap the button. Every person in the world, or at least the ones who can afford an iPhone, can now have their very own XP bar. No longer will humanity practice blindly. Levely will translate every minute of practice into valuable XP. People will be able to take a glance at the app and see, even in the days that feel like no progress is being made, that consistency is still rewarded.One hour later, I get sick.Not just sick. Sick as in I’m so weak I can’t even close the lid on my laptop. I use my last drop of energy to crawl to the bathroom so I can throw up. And no, it’s not because I got too anxious or nervous. Though I did experience both. My son felt sick a few days ago and he probably passed on whatever he had to me and my wife, in a much more serious form.The moment of my glory, the moment I was supposed to announce my masterpiece to the world, had been violently stolen from me. I had a whole launch strategy prepared, posts, emails to Levely subscribers, even a contest, but Fate had other plans.15 September 2026I feel like a semi-functional human being again. The only thing on my mind is how can I still salvage something out of my failed launch. I craft a beautiful Reddit post. It gets removed… great! I wasn’t even on a wrong subreddit, I was trying to post on r/ProductivityApps.Well, at least I’ve managed to email my subscribers and 15 of them have downloaded the app.I realize that I’ve essentially let users bypass my free tier restrictions during onboarding. In the free tier you are only allowed to have 3 skills. So when you try to add a 4th you’re shown the paywall. However, during onboarding, when you first start the app, you are prompted to select or type your initial skills. And apparently you can add an unlimited number, even if you’re in the free tier.The list of things going wrong keeps piling up, yet all is not lost. I still have about two weeks until Shipaton ends. But before I do anything I want to catch my breath for a moment and look back on this short, but very intense journey.Ignorance was blissI started this adventure with my usual bravado and overconfidence. How hard can it f*****g be? I’ve had the idea of the app for a long time. Just do it now. Build it, ship it and success is almost guaranteed.I was running, no, I was sprinting towards the finish line. Yet reality hit me harder than I care to admit. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, I’ve been doing this late into the night, after work and after spending precious time with my family. Every spare pocket of time I had I was either fixing bugs, implementing features, brainstorming or promoting. The intensity of this has taken a toll on me.Two months is a short amount of time. I know that people nowadays can ship in two days, but I’m not one of them. I agonize over the smallest decisions and it takes a long time for me to reach a state where I’m satisfied with the results. I am still anxious about the leveling mechanics. I think the UI can be much improved. I don’t like the widgets. The potion liquid animation is not liquidy enough. I can go on like this for the rest of this article.My point is that I love this app and I want to bring the best experience I can to anyone who downloads it. I had to be a developer, marketer, QA tester, designer, copywriter and the guy writing these articles. I didn’t meet my expectations in any of them. I rushed to meet a deadline instead of doing things properly. I hacked together a sorry excuse for a landing page to grab some emails. I’ve failed to create a proper marketing strategy. I’ve overlooked important bugs.And yet, if it weren’t for this contest I would have waited for the perfect time to build Levely.That time would have never come.I shipped the app I dreamed of, while working a full-time job, raising a one year old, and without my wife filing for divorce.People are actually using it!I’m clapping for myself right now, I know, but I’m happy. I’ve discovered that I actually love doing this. I love wearing all these hats. It’s challenging, yet deeply satisfying. I even love writing these articles.Shipaton might be nearly over, but for me the journey has just begun. I will continue chiseling Levely, I will figure out how to get it in front of more people, and most importantly, I will continue writing about it.P.S. Here is the App Store link in case you’re curious. Or just search for it, it’s right between the rulers and smart level apps, apparently.