Startup Diaries #4 - I published my first app and it failed

here's what happened

Jul 09, 2025

7 months passed, and I spent it building an app I no longer use.

It’s easy to look back and pinpoint where things went wrong or where better decisions could’ve been made. But this is the truth of how it all unfolded—and I want to document and remember it.

Not only did I learn a lot, but I believe it might help someone else trying to build their first app.

This is the story.

(you can use the video as a supplement sine the chapters here discusses the failures where the video discusses the process)

Chapter 1: The Problem

📆 Date: December 7, 2024

It started with a personal problem, I felt biased when evaluating my weekly progress. So I thought, “Let me build something that fixes this.”

My first mistake? I didn’t validate the idea.

I assumed “This will solve my problem” instead of asking “Is this a real pain point for others?”

I skipped product-market fit entirely.

And when you do that, you risk building something nobody wants, not even you.

Chapter 2: The Design Phase

📆 Date: December 15, 2024

⚒️ Tools Used

Wireframing: pen and paper
Design: Figma

💰 Costs

Figma subscription: $144
💸 Total so far: $144

Another mistake: I didn’t research the competition.

I didn’t study other task trackers or figure out what would make mine different. Instead I went with “oh this looks pretty”

Chapter 3: The App Begins

📆 Date: March 9, 2025

This is where the real building started:

1. Backend

Somewhere during this process, it hit me—

“I’m building a to-do app.”

And honestly? That bummed me out.

Everyone online was building AI agents and LLMs and here I was, building something “boring.” But I made a promise to finish what I started.

So I tuned out the noise and kept going.

⚒️ Backend Tools

MongoDB Compass - for the database
Node.js for backend code development
Express.js - framework for API
Postman - for testing the API calls
Mailtrap - to test email sending (for password resets, and email verifications)
Render - to host the backend app

I didn’t make major mistakes here, just small gaps due to incomplete designs.

💰 Backend Costs

$0
💸 Total so far: $144

2. Frontend

📆 Date: June 1, 2025

The great debate: Web app or native app?

Looking back, I should have gone web. It’s faster, simpler, and easier to iterate. But I told myself:

“I’ve never built a mobile app. Let’s do that.”

It was the worst idea I had.

Why? Not because of Expo or React Native, but because of how I built it.

Overcomplicated navigation (stacked + tabs)
Skipped authentication planning
Switched state management libraries mid-way
…and other traumas I’ve blocked out

But eventually, an app was built.

⚒️ Frontend Tools

React Native - for frontend code development
Expo - react native framework
Expo Go - to simulate the app
Axios - to make api calls
Zustand - for state management

💰 Frontend Costs

$0
💸 Total so far: $144

Chapter 4: Shipping It

📆 Date: June 19, 2025

I assumed once it was built, I could just hit publish.

Nope.

To ship to the App Store, I needed:

An Apple Developer account
A website (with Privacy Policy + Support pages)
A name, description, test accounts, screenshots
And proper performance across devices (including iPads)

My next mistake? The name.

“Tasko” wasn’t available—and the domain cost over $100,000 … ahhh yeah no.

So I had to find another domain name and I don’t know maybe I was frustrated and feeling silly that night, I went with itsmetasko.com (next mistake, you should have gone with a SEO friendly website…)

⚒️ Tools Used

EAS (Expo Application Services) - to build and deploy the app
React (for the website) - to build the website
Namecheap - to buy the domain
Vercel - to host the site
Figma - design the website and app store assets

filled up the apple form and submitted the app for review

and …

it got rejected.

and this has been a back and forth process with apple with constant rejection and here is a list of it

Rejections from Apple (yes, multiple):

No iPad support – had to build that
Performance – app was slow due to Render’s free tier
“Can’t create a task” – even though they did 🤦
App name mismatch
Again: can’t perform a task – at this point, they’re trolling

💰 Shipping Costs

Apple Developer Program: $99
Domain: $45.04
Render upgrade: $7
💸 Total so far: $295.04

Chapter 5: The Finale

The app is live.

But I don’t use it.

Disappointing? Yeah.

Also a big mistake I did was build in silence and that wasn’t fun so maybe if I built in public I would have got people to see it, and maybe help me shape the app better so next time defiantly building in public

but you know what, true I don’t use the app much, yes it cost a lot to publish it especially time wise, but I did it. I stuck through it despite fatigue, despite boredom, and despite frustration.

and also it was downloaded 21 times