85: Helm – Hidde van der Ploeg and Pol Piella

About this episode

The episode discusses the creation of Helm by Pol and Hidde, focusing on solving developer frustrations with App Store Connect.

On the podcast, I sit down with Pol and Hidde to discuss the frustrations developers face with App Store Connect, how they turned their own pain points into Helm, and why automating app launches and translations has become a game-changer for indie developers. Top Takeaways: 💡 Build for the pain, not the platform Helm wasn’t born out of a market analysis — it came from frustration with App Store Connect. By starting with their own workflow pain points, they built something instantly useful to the exact audience they belong to: app developers. Real problems create real product-market fit. 🎯 Focus beats feature parity Instead of cloning App Store Connect, Helm rebuilds only the parts developers hate — and makes them effortless. That means obsessing over friction points like AI-powered translations and fast TestFlight access. By doing less, but doing it brilliantly, they turn a clunky chore into a tool devs love. 🌱 Delight is the best growth strategy Helm’s growth didn’t come from paid ads or clever SEO. It came from users who felt seen. When a dev complains about App Store Connect on X, someone else inevitably replies: “Just use Helm.” That kind of advocacy only happens when your…

People in this episode

Host: Charlie Chapman

Guests: Hidde van der Ploeg, Pol Piella

Topics covered

• app development
• automation
• indie developers
• product-market fit
• marketing strategy

Keywords

• Helm
• App Store Connect
• automation
• indie developers
• AI-powered translations
• TestFlight
• marketing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: App Store Connect

Products: Helm

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