How it works
You have the idea. We do everything else.
Send us an idea. If we take it on, we design it, build it, ship it, market it and look after it — at our cost and our risk. You get a share of what it makes, and you are never asked for money at any point.
The stages
Six stages, and you are only in the first two.
That is the point of it. Everything from stage four onwards is work you would otherwise have to do yourself, or pay somebody to do.
Create an account
Two minutes, and you agree the terms before you send anything. We would rather you knew where you stood before you told us the idea than after.
Send the idea
What the problem is, who else has it, how they cope today, and what you would pay to be rid of it. About twenty minutes. We are not asking for a specification — working out what to build is our job.
We answer
We research the market, check nobody has already solved it well, and decide whether it can be sold. An answer within 14 days, with the reasoning. Most ideas get a no.
We build it
Design, name, code, testing, pricing, store submission. Entirely ours, entirely at our cost. We will build something that solves the problem you brought us — the rest of the decisions are ours to make.
It goes on sale
We launch it and we market it. Your share starts at the first sale, and you can see what it earned and what came off at any time — with a statement every month.
We look after it
Updates, bug fixes, customer questions, refunds, store paperwork, and the year a new operating system breaks something. For as long as it is on sale — an app nobody maintains stops earning.
The deal, in plain words
What you get.
- Your share
- 20% of net revenue. Net means what actually reaches us: the sale price less VAT and sales taxes, payment processing fees, any store commission, refunds, and the third-party cost of running the app — hosting and the like. Every one of those is somebody else's invoice, so there is nothing to argue about.
- How long
- For as long as the app is on sale. There is no expiry date and no cut-off after which you stop earning.
- What it costs you
- Nothing, at any stage. Not to submit, not if we say yes, not while it is running. Everyone gets the same 20% — there is nothing to buy.
- When you are paid
- Quarterly, once you are owed £50 or more. Below that it rolls over. Each payment comes with a statement itemising every deduction.
- If we say no
- The file closes, you keep the idea, and you are free to take it anywhere else. It cost you nothing to ask.
- If two people send the same idea
- Whoever sent it first. Every submission is timestamped when it arrives, and that is the only tie-breaker we use.
Why hand it over
The question is not whether 20% is generous.
It is what happens to the idea otherwise. These are the realistic options for somebody with an app idea and no way to build it.
Build it yourself
Learn to code, or already know how. Then design it, sign it, sell it, market it, answer the emails and keep it alive for years.
Pay a developer
Somewhere between £15,000 and £40,000 for a small app built properly, before a single copy has sold. Support and updates are then yours to arrange, and to fund.
Find a technical co-founder
Realistic, and slow. Expect to give away around half of it, and to have acquired a second job in the process.
Send it to us
Twenty minutes on a form. If we say yes, the next time you hear about it is when it is on sale — and after that, every month.
Before you send it
What you are giving up.
Read this part properly. We would rather lose a submission now than have somebody find it out later.
- The decisions
- We choose what gets built, what it is called, how it looks, what it costs and when it retires. We will solve the problem you brought us; the product around it is ours to shape.
- Eighty per cent
- We carry the cost, the work and the risk of it failing, and the split reflects that. If it earns nothing, we lose; you simply do not gain.
- The right to change your mind
- Once we say yes, the submission is final. You cannot withdraw it, and you cannot ask us to change the app or take it off sale. If we disagree about something later, it will be about a number on a statement — never about whether a live app stays live.
- Certainty
- Most submissions get a no, and most apps that do get built earn modestly. Some earn almost nothing. Nobody should send us an idea expecting an income.
- The tail, eventually
- After three years we may buy your share out, by paying you twice what it earned you in the previous twelve months, spread over the following twelve months. It is our option and not something you can be forced into before then.
Questions
The ones we are actually asked.
Is my submission confidential?
No, and we would rather say so than promise something we cannot keep. Other people send us ideas, we have ideas of our own, and we may already be working on something close to yours — so we cannot treat a submission as a secret. What we do commit to: if we say no, the file closes and it does not go to anybody else. And once we have taken an idea on, we will not accept a second one that competes with it. Ideas are not property in law, here or anywhere, and a page that implies otherwise is doing you no favours.
Do I need a specification, or a design?
No. Tell us the problem clearly and that is enough. Working out what to build is the part we are good at, and the part you would otherwise be paying for.
What if the idea is not really mine to give?
Then do not send it. When you submit, you are confirming it is yours — not something your employer owns, and not something covered by an agreement you have signed elsewhere. If that turns out to be untrue and somebody comes after us for it, the cost falls on you.
How do I know what it really earned?
A statement every month, per app, showing the gross, each deduction listed separately, the net, your 20%, and what was paid. Every deduction is evidenced by a third party — a tax authority, a payment processor, a hosting bill — which is precisely why we share net revenue rather than profit. Profit is a figure we could make disappear; net revenue is not.
You do not have to wait for the statement to see it. Sales, deductions and what is owed to you are visible as they land, so the monthly statement confirms a number you have already been watching rather than announcing one.
Can I have the app, or take it elsewhere later?
No. We build it, we own it, and we run it. What you have is a share of what it earns, not a stake in the company and not a claim on the software. If we ever retire the app, your share ends with it — and you are, as always, free to do whatever you like with the underlying idea.
What happens if it makes almost nothing?
That is the likeliest outcome, and it costs you nothing. If your balance is under £50 it rolls over; if it is still under £50 a year later with nothing moving, we pay you whatever is there and close it off rather than leaving it hanging.
Where is the portal you keep mentioning?
Being built. Until it is ready, ideas come to us by email and you get a person rather than a form. We would rather admit that than put a login on the page that does not go anywhere.
Tell us the idea.
A few paragraphs is plenty. We read every one and reply either way, within a fortnight. It costs nothing and you keep the idea if we say no.