The Pattern
Every app in my workshop started the same way. The pattern is always the same:
- Need — encounter a real problem in daily life
- Search — look for an existing solution
- Frustration — find nothing that works the way it should
- Build — create exactly what I needed
This isn't a business strategy. It's a personality trait.
Why It Works
When you build for yourself, you have the world's most demanding user sitting right next to you. You can't hide behind analytics or user research — you know instantly when something feels wrong because you feel it.
ListenBook exists because I listen to audiobooks every day and every player I tried was either bloated with features I didn't need or missing the one thing I did need. TrackChecker exists because I was tired of checking five carrier websites. myCarLog exists because a spreadsheet wasn't cutting it anymore.
The Workshop Philosophy
I call it a workshop, not a studio or a company, because that's what it is. A place where tools are made by hand, one at a time, each solving a specific problem. There's no roadmap driven by market research. There's just the next itch to scratch.
Some of these tools help thousands of people. Some help just me. Both are equally valid reasons to build.
Scratching Itches
The indie developer community has this phrase: "scratch your own itch." It sounds simple, almost trivially obvious. But it's the most reliable compass I've found for deciding what to build next.
If I need it, someone else probably does too. And if nobody else does — well, at least I have a tool that works exactly the way I want it to.