Shawn H.

- Ex-B2B PM & Founder.
- Starting from scratch (again).
- Documenting the messy path from $0 → $1k MRR.

abocado app live now →

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

I got laid off recently.

I didn’t panic. I went into auto-pilot.

LinkedIn. CV. Apply. It was a reflex.

But halfway through, I stopped.

I realized I was looking for a job out of habit—not ambition. I was settling without noticing. 👇

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

@waaihong awesome! thanks a lot!

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

Subscribed to Grok Bot yesterday. Still have no idea what to actually do with it lol

What are you using it for? Is it genuinely good or mostly hype?

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

@waaihong good to know cuz mine is also $30 supergrok lol thanks!

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

@waaihong niceeee! will chat with him and create some bots. thanks!!

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

@waaihong are you using supergrok or plus?

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

@gauraavvii hi!

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

@jiayun_studio I see haha thanks

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

Day 51 of starting from scratch (again).

We are 48 hours into the App Store launch and currently sitting at 34 downloads!

Over a third of those are people I do not know. Knowing that my app is out in the wild actually helping strangers solve their screen time problems is surreal!

As for revenue, we officially have our first two paying customers! (one is me and the other is my buddy haha)

This whole experience is wild. Back to building!

Check out my app here! https://t.co/pp76z1FnnU

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

@mdnlabs Congrats! What's the difference??

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

P.S. Because it's my first time doing this, I totally thought I could manually hit a "launch" button on Wednesday. Turns out, I didn't set it up right and Apple just automatically released it the second it got approved haha. So the Wednesday launch is happening today!

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

Day 49 of starting from scratch (again).

I honestly can't believe it. The app is officially live in the App Store!

I never in my wildest dreams thought I would actually build a mobile app, let alone a native iOS one from scratch. It feels completely surreal. I built this to solve a massive problem I was struggling with myself, and I am so excited for other people to finally get their hands on it.

The whole goal of abocado is simple: I want to help us stop mindlessly scrolling and start making meaningful progress in our life.

You can officially check it out right here: https://t.co/kCgLi1vR6U

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

Day 48 of starting from scratch (again).

After 4 rejections (3 stupid ones) and weeks of waiting, Apple finally approved the app!

I am officially launching this Wednesday! I am so incredibly excited to finally share this. Stay tuned!

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

@mdnlabs sickkkk

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

@joseph_b972 Indeed…

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

Day 47 of starting from scratch (again).

Strike four. Apple is officially trolling me at this point.

They rejected the app again, saying I don't have functional Privacy Policy and Terms of Use links on my paywall. They are literally sitting right above the main "Start Trial" button.

At this point, I had to politely push back. I sent a message to the Review Team with a video of me tapping both links. I reminded them that they brought this exact issue up weeks ago, I proved it worked, and they accepted it.

I essentially asked: "Are you expecting these on another screen, or did you just miss them?" (but phrased much more professionally, obviously). Now we wait to see what they say!

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

Day 46 of starting from scratch (again).

Rejected for the third time. But at least this one feels slightly more legit... (or is it? LOL).

Apple's issue this time is my Screen Time permission screen. My button said "Grant Access," and they explicitly told me I have to use words like "Continue" or "Next" instead.

I literally just updated the string, rebuilt, and hit submit again. Hopefully, this is the final boss of the App Store review process!

[Shawn H. @hongreal_]

Day 45 of starting from scratch (again).

Rejected again. And this time, the reason is actually crazy.

Apple rejected, saying I must include functional links to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy on my paywall. BUT they are literally right there on the paywall...

So, I just recorded another video of me physically tapping the links to prove that they actually work, and I hit resubmit.

Is this normal? Do reviewers just completely miss UI elements like this? Please tell me I'm not the only one dealing with this LOL.