You commented. Pick a rung.
Seven apps. One is an afternoon. One you never finish.
Seven world-famous apps, one per rung. Each one gets a build sheet that answers the same question: if I had to rebuild this from scratch, what would it actually take? The apps get more famous going down the list. That is not what makes them harder.
“How hard an app is has nothing to do with how famous it is. It is about how bad it is when it goes wrong.”
- 1Taylor Swift's websiteA page that sits thereNothing to type, nothing saved, nothing changes when you visit.about an hourabout $35Build sheet →
- 2Oasis ticket presaleA box you type inSomething leaves the page. Now you own whatever they typed.a dayNot yet
- 3WordleA tool that answers a questionIt has to be right, and it has to be right the same way twice.a weekendNot yet
- 4DuolingoPeople log inAccounts. The first rung where losing data is losing someone's history.weeksNot yet
- 5SpotifyIt takes moneyGetting it wrong is now a refund, a chargeback, or a regulator.monthsNot yet
- 6Uber EatsIt does things for peopleIt acts on its own. A bug is now someone's dinner, or their income.a year before you trust it~$750/yr to runBuild sheet →
- 7The CommBank appOther people's day stopsWhen it breaks, strangers can't buy food. There is no ship-and-see.you don't finish it, you staff itNot yet
Past seven it isn't an app, it's a payroll. And the whole point of the list: the biggest artist alive lives on rung one.
What you get
Every rung, the same sheet
Not a summary of the reel. The thing you'd actually follow on a Saturday.
- 01Every input you need before you write a line of code.
- 02The exact tools, and the calls and prompts worth copying.
- 03Numbered steps with a check at the end of each, so you know it worked before you move on.
- 04What it costs to build and to run, on two different stacks.
Start at rung one. It is the only one you can finish today, and the credibility you spend agreeing with it is what makes the scary rungs believable.
Start at rung one →All of it
Every walk-through
The ladder is the map. These are the walk-throughs, in the order you would actually do them.
- Day ZeroA brand-new laptop to a live URL. Accounts, installs, first site.Once, ever. Before rung one.
- Rung one · the buildEight steps and the prompts, from a scrape to a pointed domain.An afternoon, about $35.
- Brand kit from photosA palette with real hex values, and a Lightroom preset to match.Alongside step 03 of any build.
- Rung six · the referenceOrder, payment and dispatch: components, state machines, invariants.~$750/yr to run. Read before you quote one.
- Field Guide 001 · ScratchThe five beginner mistakes, and the six stages that fix them.After your first build goes wrong.
- Field Guide 002 · ShipThe three checks before anyone else touches your app.Before you give someone the link.
- Field Guide 003 · ScaleWhich of the nine tools change at 10,000 users, and what triggers each.When a bill starts to sting.
- Field Guide 004 · LaunchThe five things before the link goes out: preview, subdomains, first action, replay, sitemap.The day before you share it.
The next rung
Five more sheets, as they get built.
They go out when the build is done, not on a schedule.