/ Why I wrote 'Pocket Winners'

Every now and then, you find yourself in a team where you just know. You know you're working on something that is going to be good. Conversations are about the things that really matter. Trade-offs just make sense. And, most importantly, everyone cares about the product and the user. Nothing else.

I've been lucky enough to be part of a few of those teams across the 30+ mobile products I've worked on: in my own startup, in other startups and scale-ups, and in enterprise environments. Almost without exception, these teams built defining products in an unreasonably short amount of time (yes, even in enterprise…).

And the apps these teams built had something in common. They rapidly found their way into people's daily lives. In a world where hundreds of thousands of apps are launched every year, only a handful end up in everyone's pocket and stay there. These apps create new behaviours and redefine business. These are the ones I call Pocket Winners – Apps so valuable they become indispensable.

A few years ago, after finishing one of those projects, two team members – independently from each other – told me something that stayed with me: “We learned a lot. You should write this down.” I assumed they were being polite, but after some thought, I started anyway. I noticed that I feel rewarded both when I build stuff or when I help people build it.

Looking back across the best mobile teams I'd worked with, I noticed something interesting. Different companies, different people, different contexts — yet the same patterns kept appearing: similar ways of working, deciding, and building together. Maybe this wasn't luck. Maybe it was something you could describe: The best mobile app teams think and operate differently through a unique set of behaviours, a unique way of thinking. I call this a Mobile Mindset.

There's a persistent myth that high-performing app teams are magical accidents – a rare mix of brilliant individuals that somehow just works. I don't believe that. In my experience, great teams emerge when the conditions are right: when talent is trusted, clarity beats noise, communication thrives, and people are genuinely enabled to do their best work.

Get that right, and you unlock something rare: speed and quality, ambition and focus, high standards and happy teams. Add unique mobile behaviours, and you get a highly powerful mix.

We're entering a world where building apps has never been easier. A.I. is lowering the barrier at an extraordinary pace. More people can build, more ideas can be tested, more products can ship. That's exciting – but it changes the game. If everyone can build, standing out becomes much harder. The tools won't differentiate you. The mindset will.

Pocket Winners is my attempt to capture that winning mindset. It's shaped by years of working with exceptional people who challenged me, corrected me, and consistently raised the bar. Many of the ideas in this book aren't mine alone – they're the product of teams who simply refused to build average things.

If the book helps a few people and teams learn, think a little sharper, move a little faster, and build something that truly matters, then it will have been worth writing.

The book will be out on Wednesday May 13th 2026 with 30% discount on the first day. If you are interested, please register your details here.

I hope you will enjoy it.