# Curtis Herbert

> Curtis Herbert is an independent iOS developer and the solo founder behind Slopes, the Apple Design Award-winning app skiers and snowboarders use to track their days on the mountain. He spent nine years growing it from a $10,600 side project into a million-dollar business, documenting every revenue chart and hard lesson in public through his Slopes Diaries and Slopes Dev newsletter. He runs Breakpoint Studio out of Boulder, Colorado, and treats indie app development like a craft, taking cues from web businesses rather than other apps.

- **Role:** Founder and developer at Breakpoint Studio (maker of Slopes)
- **Organizations:** Breakpoint Studio, Slopes
- **Nationality:** American
- **Known for:** Won a 2022 Apple Design Award for Slopes in the Interaction category., Grew Slopes from $10,600 in its first two years to over $1M in annual recurring revenue., Built and sustained a profitable, bootstrapped, largely solo app business across iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, and Android.

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Released his first app, a server monitoring tool called Isis, which sold roughly five copies.
- **2011-2013** — Spent about two years doing independent web and iOS consulting.
- **2013** — Launched Slopes 1.0, reportedly while on an Alaskan cruise using slow, metered boat wifi.
- **2015** — Introduced subscription monetization; began roughly 2.5x annual revenue growth.
- **2022** — Crossed $1M in annual recurring revenue after nine years.
- **2022** — Won an Apple Design Award in the Interaction category for Slopes.

## Achievements

- Won a 2022 Apple Design Award for Slopes in the Interaction category.
- Grew Slopes from $10,600 in its first two years to over $1M in annual recurring revenue.
- Built and sustained a profitable, bootstrapped, largely solo app business across iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, and Android.
- Became one of the most cited voices in the indie iOS community for building in public and publishing real revenue data.
- Authored open-source developer tools including GPSKit and the Sim Genie Xcode simulator utility.

## Latest updates

- **2022-06** — Slopes won an Apple Design Award in the Interaction category.
- **2022-01** — Publicly announced Slopes had reached $1M in annual recurring revenue.

## Links

- Website: https://curtisherbert.com/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/parrots
- GitHub: https://github.com/parrots
- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/curtisherbert.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parrots01/

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/curtis-herbert
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-04