Why outgive exists

I'm a self-taught developer, and I spent almost the last $100 I had on an Apple Developer account to start building my first app. For a lot of people that fee is a real decision, not a rounding error. That is the whole reason this exists.

The boards had it backwards

When every pay-to-rank board showed up this week, I couldn't have afforded to bid on any of them. They are founders with money charging founders with money. The people who most need the visibility, no audience, nothing spare to burn, first app just shipped, are exactly the ones locked out.

So this is the opposite

On outgive the free tier is the point, not the consolation prize. New devs list free, forever. People with money bid to sit above them, and every bid funds someone's first launch: a developer account, a domain, a year of hosting. All of it receipted on a public ledger, so you can see exactly where the money went.

The number one spot on the board is me, funded with the last of my own money, because someone had to go first.

Where I want this to go

I don't want a leaderboard. I want a community: developers who have already shipped helping the ones who haven't. That starts with covering the fee for a first account and a boost up the board, and over time I'd love it to be more than money, the reviews, the intros, the help you wish you had when you started. If you have been there, you know what that first $99 feels like.

A note on payments

outgive uses Gumroad for checkout right now. My preferred payment processor declined the account while reviewing it, and I wanted to ship this while the idea is alive rather than sit on it for weeks. If you would rather pay another way, email hello@outgive.dev and I will add your listing manually. Nothing about the mission changes.

Nathan · @nthntrvls