Week 2: I Shipped Powr to the App Store

I built an app!

Week 2 of Shipping Every Week, and the highlight is a real one: Powr, the powerlifting tracker, is now available on the iOS App Store. Not in TestFlight, not "DM me for a build" — listed, searchable, installable by a stranger.

How one email unlocked the launch

After sending out my first newsletter article last week, a huge weight lifted off my shoulders (at least 225lb, of course). I suddenly had the confidence to launch the app that had been in the works on and off for the better part of a year — and to send six more daily newsletter emails on top of it.

I want to be precise about what actually changed, because it wasn't the app. The build I shipped this week was substantially the same build I'd been sitting on. What changed was me. For a year, "launch" had been this single enormous event I kept not being ready for. One small ship the week before quietly dismantled that. It turned "launch the app" from a cliff into a step.

That's the thing nobody tells you about shipping small. The first thing you ship makes the next, bigger thing feel possible. The act of finishing anything recalibrates what finishing feels like. Week 1 was one email. Week 2 was an App Store launch and six more emails. Same person, two weeks apart, and the only difference is that the loop had run once and I'd survived it.

What "shipped" actually means here

There's a particular kind of resistance to putting an app in the App Store, and it's worth naming because it's the thing that keeps a lot of builds stuck in TestFlight forever. Once it's listed, anyone can find it. Anyone can rate it. The half-finished edges you'd been telling yourself you'd fix before "real" users showed up are now in front of real users.

I shipped it anyway, with the edges. Because the alternative — wait until it's good enough that I'm not nervous — is just the polishing trap from week one wearing a more respectable outfit. The nervousness isn't a signal that the app isn't ready. It's a signal that it's finally real.

What's next

Here's to taking this confidence into week 3, when I plan to record and post my first few Instagram Reels. Marketing is the part I'm worst at and most avoid, which is exactly why it's next.

In the meantime, if you're a powerlifter still juggling three apps while you train, check out Powr on the App Store.

What did you ship this week?