Maps to: SYSTEM.md Phases 10-16 (GROW arc, overview only — no hands-on in this course) Goal: understand that an app isn't "done" at launch, and see the shape of what comes after — context for continuing past this course, not a requirement to act on now.
Why this lesson has no hands-on component
Per 04-workflow-course-overview.md Module 9, this course covers the BUILD arc (Phases 1-9) hands-on and the GROW arc (Phases 10-16) as overview only. The GROW arc — ASO, monetization tuning, retention, paid acquisition, organic growth — is identical whether the app is Swift or React Native (see SYSTEM.md's GROW arc section: "every skill there applies unchanged here"). It's real, valuable work, just outside this course's scope.
The shape of the GROW arc (7 phases, for context)
- Phase 10 — Marketing Foundation. Before any growth work, write down who the app is for and how it's positioned. Blocks everything after it.
- Phase 11 — ASO Baseline. App Store Optimization: the title, subtitle, keywords, and screenshots that determine whether someone finds your app searching the App Store at all.
- Phase 12 — Conversion CRO. Once someone opens the app, does the onboarding and (if you have one) paywall actually convert them into a real user?
- Phase 13 — Retention. Do people come back? Cancellation flows, win-back emails, rating prompts — all designed to keep the people who already found value.
- Phase 14 — Paid Acquisition. Spending real money on ads to acquire users — explicitly gated until Phases 12 and 13 are both done, because "doubling conversion costs nothing; doubling spend costs double."
- Phase 15 — Organic Growth. Content, referrals, community — growth that doesn't cost per-user.
- Phase 16 — Intelligence Loop. A recurring, weekly check-in on how the app is actually performing, feeding findings back into every earlier phase.
Why titles, screenshots, and keywords matter (the one concept worth internalizing now)
Even if you never touch Phases 10-16 for real, understand this: an app that's genuinely useful can still get zero downloads if nobody finds it. ASO (Phase 11) exists because App Store search is the #1 discovery channel for most apps — the title/keywords determine whether you show up in search at all, and the screenshots determine whether someone who finds you actually taps "Get."
Deliverable
None required — this is context for what comes after the course, exactly as 04-workflow-course-overview.md Module 9 states.
Apply to your own idea
Nothing to do right now. If you keep building after this course and eventually publish for real, SYSTEM.md's GROW arc section (and the native repo's fuller GROW-arc skill stack, referenced in skills/GROW-ARC.md) is where to pick this back up.