Hi there, I'm the guy who wrote the story.

I agree with what you said, and yes that is why I hate the tool. That was the point of the write up.

I did not want to post this on hacker news, but seems like someone did.

Edit : Our users do not spam the play store with fake icons though, they just make unoriginal apps based on templates ( Wallpapers, stuff like that ).

Funny, I couldn’t disagree more.

The overwhelming majority of software does not “change the world,” and a tinier fraction yet of impactful software makes a notably -positive- impact.

It seems to me that you let people’s self-serving bullshit into your head, and you’ve let it make you feel shitty for producing something people find valuable.

I thought your article illustrated someone with a great amount of work ethic and resourcefulness. Doing that with the work at hand and not just what you feel “passionate” about is what separates the real go-getters from over-idealistic kids. I have a lot of respect for your work ethic.

I agree with this. You are measuring yourself against PR marketing speech not against reality.

Although, I believe you should work on something you feel good about. I don't think you should be "passionate" about it, but I do think you should enjoy it.

I believe you did a good job. You made your customers earn real money, something that the absolute majority of the creators who sell overpriced courses on how to make money doesn't come close to do. They usually don't even care if they do, they are just scammers. You created a real solution for a real problem. Congrats!

Thanks man, this really means a lot.

I meant every word. If you ever want to get into developing something for the healthcare sector and need a brain to pick, I’d be happy to make myself available. You strike me as someone who’d get something done with the information.

Exactly my thoughts. Nice work OP.

If you did not want it posted on Hacker News, why did you post it on IndieHackers instead?

The idea was to share some of the things I learned along the way with people starting side-projects/pseudo-startups, more specifically helping them avoid the mistakes I made earlier.

Interesting, how did you implement rev-share from ad revenues?

Could you also please share some tech info regarding the stack?

If you dislike the app at this point have you considered selling it to someone else?

If you want to give value to users, why don't you just put more effort into improving the complexity of the applications that can be created easily? Now that the marketing part is taken care of, you can focus on quality

I assume it is because the users don't want more original apps. They want a template that is as close to push button as possible.

The second you give a "make-money-from-home" user "choices" and not just a "recipe", they will disappear because that's too much work.

I built a ton of tools in the early 2010s that targeted this same niche of customers (a.k.a. spammers).

He acknowledges it in the article:

> I also came to the conclusion that AppyGEN didn’t really help make the world a better place like every other startup I read about. It seemed to me like it was just making the play store a worse place, helping non-developers publish hundreds of unoriginal apps that only took away from the visibility and chances of more ambitious apps.

> I was myself an app developer once and I could clearly see how my product ultimately harmed other developers. I started hating everything AppyGEN stands for, no matter how much money it continued to make for my existing customers.

He hates it but didn't stop selling it. I understand though--I've had hard times myself and at one point almost considered doing stuff like this, or worse (go read up on lead generation, affiliate marketing--you'll need a shower afterward). But, one would hope that once enough income was made to get back on his feet he'd make the right ethical decision, end it, and move on to something else.

Ugh, I always wondered who is endlessly spinning these nearly identical candy crush clones (only thing different are the name and graphics) and now I know. They are all just auto generated from a template.

Coming soon to the PlayStore, FIFA 2018.

The same engine as last year, but with different names on the same templates!

Does anyone have an example of one of these clone apps that has done well?

Why does this process only work in PlayStore and not IOS as well?

Along with slower vetting, iOS has an annual fee of $99, while Android has a one-off fee of $25, which is probably enough to put people off.

not to mention needing a thousand dollar laptop to develop on (and a thousand dollar phone to test on)

apple his a pretty rigorous review process for every app submitted where they manually test them

If he really hates it so much why doesn't he stop selling it? Or he just wants us to know that he cries all the way to the bank?

Not surprising considering the author admits to creating malware in the first paragraph.

> I made my first $1000 at 14, selling remote administration tools to wannabe hackers.

Step one: Dark side.

Check mate.