Build your next app with an audience from day one.
BeforeTheApp is a club for iOS and Mac apps shaped before they ship. Founders fund the club, vote on what gets built and test it first. As a developer partner you build the app they chose — and earn from its store sales and from the club.
Two income channels, written down before you start.
Your app's own sales
Every app is sold on its own in the App Store or Mac App Store — to everyone, not just members. The app's developer partners receive their agreed share of its revenue.
The club
Founder and Access memberships fund the club and its production capacity. Developer partners share in that pool as set in their partnership agreement.
Percentages, payout periods and reporting rights are agreed in writing before your app joins the program — we don't publish numbers we haven't signed with you. “Partner” describes your production role; equity or any other legal partnership exists only if your agreement says so.
The hard parts of indie apps, shared.
Finding users, proving demand and paying for the months before launch — the club takes those on with you.
Validated before you write code
Your idea goes into a grid's candidate pool with its scope, rough cost and an honest confidence level. Founders vote — you see real demand before months of work.
An audience from day one
Founders follow the roadmap, send feature requests and are first in line for betas. Your first testers and your first feedback are already here.
Production that's already funded
Grid sales fund the club's shared production capacity, so a good idea doesn't have to wait for your savings or a client project to finish.
We run the business side
Brand, website, payments, the founder grid, community and customer relations are shared infrastructure. You spend your time on the app.
You own the craft
Architecture, security, releases and maintenance stay with the app's responsible developer team. Founder votes set priorities — not your stack.
Your app, sold on its own
Every app also has its own App Store or Mac App Store listing and its own customers. Membership never replaces the app's store sales.
From application to App Store.
- 01
Apply
Tell us what you'd build — a new idea or an app you've already started.
- 02
Talk
A call about the app, the club it fits and what its members would get.
- 03
Sign
A written partnership agreement: revenue shares and payout terms, IP and licence, maintenance, decisions, and what happens if you leave.
- 04
Candidate pool
Your app is presented to founders with you as its responsible partner. They vote on what comes first.
- 05
Build in the open
Weekly production log, honest estimates, founder feedback and a closed beta when it's ready.
- 06
Ship and earn
Your app goes live in the store; its revenue and the club pool are shared as your agreement says.
What we ask in return.
Founders pay before an app exists. These are the promises that make that trust reasonable.
- A signed partnership agreement before anything about your app is announced.
- A real member benefit for founders — permanent access, a discount or an offer code — agreed before your app joins.
- Honest scope, cost and time estimates. We publish them as estimates, never as promises.
- Maintenance and security updates for as long as your agreement runs.
- Continuity: source code access, signing and distribution rights and a handover plan, so members keep what they were promised even if a partner leaves.