How Rudrank Riyam won Shipaton’s Build in Public Award by sharing every step

As part of this year’s Shipaton, we’re highlighting stories from past participants to show what’s possible when you commit to building in public. Whether you’re aiming to sharpen your skills, launch your first product, or maybe even win, these interviews are meant to spark ideas, share learnings, and inspire you to take part in Shipaton.

We’re also including their tips on how to get the most out of Shipaton, from choosing the right idea to managing your time to pushing through the inevitable bugs and blockers.

Next up: Rudrank Riyam, an independent iOS developer from India, whose journey in mobile development began in 2019, after winning the coveted WWDC scholarship and interning at Apple. When he saw last year’s Shipaton announcement he immediately knew he had to take part in it, especially for the Build in Public award.

I only participated to win. It wasn’t about the second or the third prize. I wanted the first prize. I also knew this was the push I needed to get the gradient app I was working on out to users.

At the time Rudrank was in between jobs and had ample time to dedicate to building a project for Shipaton. Rudrank’s sister encouraged him to also try something new for the Build in Public part: start a YouTube channel and document the process of building and growing the app there.

“I saw the Built in Public award and thought, that’s the one I can win. I’ve been building in public since 2019 and I have like 30,000 tweets. It just comes naturally to me.”

Building Meshing app and talking about it

When asked how he came up with the idea for the Meshing app, an app for creating beautiful mesh gradients in your iPhone, was inspired by Apple Music’s visualizations and from how long it took to display a preview of a mesh gradient in SwiftUI.

“The previews kept loading…and loading…and loading. It felt like an eternity. During those moments, my only thought was: ‘Ah, I wish I had an app that could visualise these mesh gradients easily.’”

Rudrank originally built Meshing as a macOS-only app, with no plans to release it publicly, but after the Shipaton announcement he decided to pivot to building a mobile app and monetizing it with RevenueCat. “I had to essentially rebuild the whole app”, he said.

During the build process he used AI for building the app, feeding Claude documentation on SwiftUI and modifying the code it created (you can actually see some of the prompts in Rudrank’s Devpost submission). This approach came in handy, as, in his own words, his coding skills were rusty. Allowing AI to work on the code gave him the time to dive deep into the fundamentals of mesh gradients and bezier curves. 

Monetizing with RevenueCat

One of the goals of Shipaton is to get people monetizing their apps, and in Rudrank’s case he had already been burned by hand coding subscriptions in one his apps:

“In 2020, it was a nightmare. I was on the verge of crying because I messed up something and people were getting subscriptions for free”

That experience led him to adopt RevenueCat, which he described as a turning point: “After that I integrated RevenueCat and then I really liked it. I started advocating it to clients. I was taking consulting calls and just saying, ‘Just use RevenueCat.'” 

For Meshing, he opted for a straightforward model: the app was free to use, but exporting a gradient as a wallpaper triggered a paywall. This allowed users to experience the full creative process before being prompted to pay, aligning with his goals of making an app that allows you to explore its main feature for free.

Building in public

Rudrank aimed from the beginning to win the build in public award, where the goal is to share the progress of building and growing the app in social media. In Rudrank’s case, since he was already very active on X, tweeting regularly, but also resurrecting the YouTube channel he had created years earlier. 

How it feels to win Shipaton

On the final stretch of Shipaton, Rudrank had a strong feeling that he was on the track to win. “By day 40, I kind of knew that I would win the first prize because the others I thought were my competition — he had given up,” he said. Still, he didn’t slow down on tweeting or posting videos. 

That determination paid off. When he saw his name among the winners, it hit hard. “I could feel the goosebumps,” he recalled.

But the victory wasn’t just about recognition or prize money. What got him most excited was discovering that RevenueCat would present the awards in person. “I got to know that the Shippies award will be given in San Francisco. So at 2:00 p.m. I decided to buy the plane ticket. The flight was at 2:00 a.m.” He booked it impulsively, using the prize money to fund the trip. That spontaneous flight marked more than a celebration, it was like closing a loop for a project built from uncertainty, vulnerability, and relentless sharing in public. 

Plans for this year’s Shipaton

This year Rudrank has even bigger goals: going for two released apps instead of one. The first one is going to be a fitness app that tracks workouts, sleep and macros. Second one is a journaling app, resurrecting a previous idea he had to abandon. Originally he planned on entering each app in different categories (Grand Prize and Build in Public), but now he’s aiming high, and said “Why not both apps for both prizes?”

Unlike Meshing, which he built more for fun, this year’s apps address his personal pain points.

“When Shipathon was announced, I started a new hashtag — it’s called #burnaton. Every day I’m posting that I’m burning this many active calories and this was my workout routine. It keeps me accountable on making the app better, and then the folks can tell me what to do. And second, I’m burning a lot of calories and it’s helping me get fitter”

Rudrank is going to build in public this time as well, but with a healthier mindset. He will still be posting daily, but this time aiming to do it in a more sustainable, self-growth way, rather than chasing validation. He’s still going all in with plans to support other Shipaton participants to ship their apps, despite them being his competition. He has also cleared his calendar for the period of Shipaton.

“Burn the boats mentality: no backup plan, full focus” 

Advice for Shipaton participants

For Rudrank, success at Shipathon wasn’t about beating others, it was about beating who he was yesterday. While some participants might fear they can’t compete with his daily videos, tweets, and articles, Rudrank had a different perspective: the real competition is internal.

When it comes to advice to new builders, Rudrank’s advice is simple but achievable: “Ship a ton.” Don’t obsess over perfection. Don’t wait for the big breakthrough moment. Just keep building. “If you see my first video and then the last few videos, the way I speak and how natural I sound — that’s what improved and what really matters..”

Rudrank also encourages participants to solve problems that matter to them. Last year, he built Meshing because it looked cool. This year, he’s building apps tied directly to his personal health and wellness. 

Finally, Rudrank reminds everyone that the biggest prize isn’t cash or visibility. It’s the community. “The real Shipathon win is the friends you make along the way,” Rudrank says with a laugh, fully aware that it sounds like a cliché. For him, it’s undeniably true. From late-night encouragements to unexpected DMs from fellow builders, the relationships he formed during the competition became just as meaningful as the app he shipped. “Even though some of them were technically my competitors, I didn’t see it that way,” he adds. “I just wanted to help others get to the finish line, too.”