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BeforeTheApp
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For developers

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.

Apply to build with us How the club works
An app developers' club · win, win, win

Three seats at the table. Everyone wins.

BeforeTheApp is an app developers' club. Founders fund and shape the apps, supporters back the grid they believe in, developers get paid to build them. Everyone puts something in, and everyone gets something real back: nobody walks away feeling their money or their work went unanswered.

Founders

You fund it, you shape it, you keep it.

You put in
One square in a grid, paid once.
You get back
  • A vote on what gets built, and a real say while it's built: feedback, polls, early betas.
  • Every app the club ever makes, not just your grid's: premium access, member prices or offer codes, delivered through the App Store.
  • Your name on the grid for as long as the club runs. With a 2×2 or 3×3, your image and link too, in the block spotlight.
Why you're here
Earlier grids cost less, and every one of them gets the whole club.
Take a square

Supporters

Back the apps of one grid, from $9.

You put in
One seat in a single grid's supporter circle.
You get back
  • What each of that grid's apps grants its supporters, app by app: benefits and, where offered, a voice in its decisions.
  • The updates and production log of the apps you backed.
  • An upgrade path: your seat counts toward a founder square of the club.
Why you're here
The lightest way in: back exactly the apps you believe in.
See supporter seats

Developers

Get paid to build, and keep getting paid.

You put in
Your idea and your craft.
You get back
  • Real demand before you write a line: founders vote first, then test your betas.
  • A share of your grid's sales, and an app that keeps earning as the club grows.
  • Store revenue as your agreement says. Studio shows every cent earned and what's still to come.
Why you're here
The work is funded up front, by people who asked for it.
Build with us
Fair for everyone

The rules that protect the work and the money.

Founders pay before an app exists, and developers build before it earns. These rules make sure neither side is left holding the bag.

The code is shared from day one

Every app's source code, assets and build settings live in a repository BeforeTheApp can read, from the first commit, pushed at least weekly. Without it an app doesn't move past design and no payout unlocks. If a partner ever can't continue, the app can still be finished.

Paid as the app ships

Your share builds up with every sale and Studio shows it live. It is paid in stages: 25% when the closed beta opens, 50% at store release, everything 30 days after release, then monthly. You see money before the finish line; nobody gets paid for walking away.

If something goes wrong

If a partner stops, stages already reached stay theirs; the rest funds the app's continuation. Another partner can finish it from the code, or founders vote on a replacement app for the grid. Founders keep their refund right if a grid's first app misses its waiting limit.

How partners earn

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

Part of every square sold in your grid pays the developers of its apps, and your app keeps earning as the club grows. Studio shows what each of your apps has earned, to the cent, and what it can still earn.

Your terms are written into your agreement with payout periods and reporting rights; any change is announced and shown in Studio. “Partner” describes your production role; equity or any other legal partnership exists only if your agreement says so.

Why build here

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.

How partnership works

From application to App Store.

  1. 01

    Apply

    Tell us what you'd build — a new idea or an app you've already started.

  2. 02

    Talk

    A call about the app, the club it fits and what its members would get.

  3. 03

    Sign

    A written partnership agreement: revenue shares and payout terms, IP and licence, maintenance, decisions, and what happens if you leave.

  4. 04

    Candidate pool

    Your app is presented to founders with you as its responsible partner. They vote on what comes first.

  5. 05

    Build in the open

    Weekly production log, honest estimates, founder feedback and a closed beta when it's ready.

  6. 06

    Ship and earn

    Your app goes live in the store and earns as your agreement says.

A fair deal

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 — premium access, a member price or an offer code, delivered through the App Store — 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.
  • Your app's full source code, assets and build settings in a repository we can read, from the first commit, pushed at least weekly. It is a condition of every payout and of moving past design.

Apply as a developer partner

Five minutes. No contract, no commitment — just the start of a conversation.

You build for
Clubs you'd build for (optional)

New category clubs open where developers and members want them.

Optional, but it helps a lot.

Straight answers

Questions developers ask.