Jordan Morgan’s journey as an indie app developer is shaped by patience, experimentation, and a deep respect for craft. With years of experience building, selling, and even reacquiring apps, Jordan has navigated multiple phases of the indie landscape—from passion projects to sustainable businesses. Best known for apps like Elite Hoops and Alyx, Jordan’s work reflects a thoughtful balance between creativity and pragmatism.
In this episode of Launched, Jordan joins Charlie Chapman for an annual, reflective conversation on what it truly means to build apps that endure. Together, they explore seasonality, growth plateaus, paid acquisition, and the often-overlooked emotional side of long-term product building.
From Passion Project to Sustainable
Elite Hoops, Jordan’s flagship app for basketball coaches, began as a focused solution to a specific problem: helping coaches organize plays, drills, and practices more effectively. Over time, it evolved into a reliable, revenue-generating business—one defined not by explosive growth, but by consistency.
Jordan explains that Elite Hoops is highly seasonal, with most revenue generated during the basketball season. Rather than fighting this reality, he embraced it. Each year, the app grows during peak months and stabilizes during the off-season, resulting in a steadily rising baseline. This predictable rhythm has enabled Jordan to reinvest with confidence, plan for the long term, and resist the pressure to chase constant growth.
Learning the Realities of Acquisition: Growth VS Paid
A central theme of the conversation is Jordan’s evolving relationship with paid advertising. For years, he ran ads intuitively—without deep attribution or advanced tracking—relying instead on instinct and observation. While this approach worked early on, it eventually revealed its limits.
By working with a professional marketing agency, Jordan began to understand where his growth was truly coming from. He discovered that seasonal demand and strong App Store search performance were driving much of Elite Hoops’ success, while some paid campaigns were offering little real impact. This realization marked a turning point: moving from indie intuition toward more disciplined, data-informed decision-making.
The experience reinforced an important lesson—scaling sustainably often requires uncomfortable shifts, including better instrumentation, clearer attribution, and a willingness to admit what isn’t working.
Reconnecting with Craft Through Alyx
Alongside the business-focused Elite Hoops, Jordan built Alyx, a caffeine-tracking app designed as a creative outlet. Unlike his sports apps, Alyx was intentionally crafted as a playground for iOS features—integrating HealthKit, widgets, shortcuts, App Intents, and system-level APIs.
Alyx wasn’t built to maximize revenue. Instead, it served as a reminder of why Jordan started building apps in the first place: joy, curiosity, and craftsmanship. Shipping Alyx alongside a new iOS release became a personal milestone, symbolizing a return to playful experimentation and platform-native design.
This dual-track approach—one app focused on sustainability, the other on creative freedom—has allowed Jordan to balance business responsibility with creative fulfillment.
Building for Longevity in a Changing Indie Landscape
Jordan and Charlie also reflect on the broader indie ecosystem. They discuss how conversations around app development have shifted from craftsmanship toward growth metrics and monetization strategies, and how parts of the once-vibrant indie community have fragmented over time.
Jordan’s perspective is grounded and optimistic. Rather than chasing trends, he believes longevity comes from solving real problems, respecting users, and staying aligned with personal values. Not every app needs to scale endlessly; some are meant to grow steadily, support their creators, and evolve thoughtfully over time.
Conclusion
Jordan Morgan’s story is not about overnight success or viral growth. It’s about building apps that last—through seasonality, plateaus, and changing platforms—while staying connected to the joy of making things well.
Whether through a sustainable business like Elite Hoops or a craft-driven passion project like Alyx, Jordan’s journey offers a powerful reminder: meaningful products are built patiently, intentionally, and with a long-term mindset.
For builders navigating the tension between craft and commerce, this episode is a thoughtful exploration of how to keep both alive—and why the long game is often the most rewarding one.