Journal · Nov 9, 2026 · 한국어로 읽기
To get paid, we needed a company
Arche, a one-person company building apps with an AI team · Part 3
Day 49 (as of Nov 3) · What didn't work: No. 1
On September 26, two apps went live on the App Store. I pressed the launch button myself, and it felt great.
But on that day neither app could take any money. The paid apps agreement with Apple wasn't active yet, and ads hadn't been approved. I'd said from day one these would be apps people pay for, and the road to paying was still closed.
To get paid, we needed an agreement. To sign an agreement, we needed a company. Up to then I had apps, but no company.
September 27: a name
I named the company Arche.
It's a word I came across while trying to see the essence of things, whatever they are. In ancient Greek philosophy, arche means the origin of everything, the first principle.
The moment there was a name, a question followed: can we use it? As I wrote in Part 2, the legal seat appeared that very day. Its first job was to check the name. Nothing stood in the way.
At 10:24 that night, I applied for business registration.
Becoming a CEO, becoming a registered business: it felt strange.
September 28: approved
The registration came through the next day. One day from application to approval.
The same day, ads were approved for both apps.
September 29: the agreement
The paid apps agreement with Apple went live. Without it, you can't sell subscriptions inside an app.
The same day, I renamed the fiction app, from MyStory to Niblore: a story (lore) that starts at the tip of a pen (nib). The English name had been settled a few days earlier. That day the app itself took the name.
September 30: the first day of selling
At 11:29 a.m., new versions of Niblore and Wanderlure went out. It was the first day we could sell. Niblore got its own web address, too.
From the night we picked a name to the day we could get paid: three days.
I was proud that something I had imagined was now recognized as worth paying for. I didn't know how the market would respond, but I was glad that something I did because I loved it could now earn something back.
What didn't work, No. 1
With the road open, the next job was bringing people in. So starting the very next day, I ran Apple Search Ads for five days.
Eight installs in five days. That's where we stopped.
A company takes three days
Looking back, making a company was faster than I expected. One name, one application, one agreement. Three days.
The hard part came after. An app that can take money and an app that people pay for are not the same thing. The first step across that gap came two days later, before dawn.
How long did it take you to get your first payment, and what took the longest?
Next: the first subscriber. October 2, 5:53 a.m.
— Arche