Apple Rejected My App 10 Times.

Most founders don’t die of starvation. They die of comfort.

I want to talk about the scariest thing I’ve done since writing my first line of code. It wasn't quitting my job. It wasn't launching a product.

It was realizing that my "good life" in Paris was the exact thing holding me back. I had the apartment. The friends. The routine. But deep down, I knew the truth: You cannot build something great while staying in your comfort zone.

So I burned the boats. I packed my life into one suitcase. I said goodbye to my family. I flew 6,000 miles to Bangkok with a one-way ticket and a terrifying goal:

Build a startup to $10k MRR in 6 months. Or go broke.

The "Hard Reset" Theory

I call this the "Hard Reset." My theory is simple: To find out who you really are as a builder, you have to isolate yourself. You have to strip away the noise until all that’s left is you and the code.

I decided to document this entire psychological experiment. Not the Instagram version with sunsets and cocktails. The real version. The jet lag. The loneliness. The panic attacks when the code breaks at 2 AM.

I just uploaded the full video of Month 1. It’s raw. It’s honest. And it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever filmed.

📺 Watch: "I Left Paris to Build a Startup" (6 min)

The Gatekeepers don’t care about your passion

In the video, you’ll see me building English With Lewis. It’s an AI language tutor designed to kill Duolingo’s dopamine manipulation and replace it with fun AND useful tools + interactive conversation.

We cloned the voice of a famous teacher (LEWIS). We built a nice UI.
We were ready. And then, reality hit.

Apple rejected us. Not once. 10 times.

"Metadata issues." "Guideline 4.2."

Every morning in Bangkok, I’d wake up to a red "Rejected" notification. When you are alone in a foreign country, this destroys you. It feels personal. You start thinking: "Did I fly halfway across the world just to fail because of an Apple reviewer named Steve?"

But here is the lesson I learned in Month 1:

Resilience is just the ability to stare at a red screen and keep typing.

We fixed it. We fought. We got the green checkmark. ✅

Just after that, we even got our first sale 🎊

We go to war (Product Hunt)

The app is finally live. The code works. The AI speaks.

Today (Tuesday), we face the final boss of the launch phase: Product Hunt.

We are launching English With Lewis to the world.

We are aiming for Top 3 Product of the Day.

I don’t ask for favors often. But if you’ve followed my journey, if you’ve read my threads on X, or if you just respect the "Build in Public" grind... I need you today.

👇 Click here and UPVOTE to support us:

[ Product Hunt Launch Page ]

The Routine

People ask me how I survive the pressure. The answer is boring: Routine.

In Paris, my routine was dictated by social obligations. Here, my routine is binary:

1. Gym/Swim (The body fuels the mind).

2. Code (Deep work).

3. Healthy food. Restart.

Bangkok was just the warm-up. The app is live. The system is built. Next month? Vietnam. 🇻🇳

See you ,

Eric

(P.S. If you watch the video, tell me in the comments what do you think about it. Be wild and honest.)

(P.S. 2 we really need support of our fellow builders on this, I count on you ✌️)