Rejected Three Times by Apple: The Untold Story of the First Cannabis Growing App and the Road to Success

"Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” — Steve Jobs

That’s what we’re told, right? To play it safe, to stay in our lane, and accept the world as it is. But what Steve Jobs understood—and what I came to realize—is that everything around us was created by people no smarter than us. Once you see that, the walls you thought you had to live inside start to crumble. That’s when you realize you can build something new, something others can use. That’s the spark that drives innovation.

Humble Beginnings: From Minimum Wage Grower to Big Ideas

In 2015, I was just one of the many people working in Colorado’s first legal cannabis grows, earning barely above minimum wage. The industry was fresh and full of excitement, but the reality on the ground was tough. Long hours, monotonous work, and constant juggling of tasks that could easily overwhelm even the most passionate growers. My day-to-day routine involved trimming plants, mixing nutrients, and keeping the grow room climate in check. The cannabis industry was legal, but still gritty and hands-on.

I loved it, but the more time I spent in the grow room, the more I started to wonder: Why was everything still so manual? We were in the digital age, and yet we were tracking things like watering schedules and lighting cycles the same way farmers had for generations—by hand, on paper, or worse, by gut instinct.

One day, after hours of mixing soil and trimming leaves, it hit me. We didn’t need to guess anymore. We could track data—nutrient levels, light exposure, water intake—and let technology help us make better decisions. The spark of Growbot came from that frustration and those long, tedious days in the grow room. I thought: "What if there was a tool that could automate these processes, track data, and optimize plant growth?"

But even with this idea taking root, I knew I couldn’t do it alone. I wasn’t a tech genius. I was just a grower. So, I started asking questions. Every day, I’d talk to my friends in the grow room—the ones trimming next to me, sweating alongside me, struggling with the same issues. They became my first source of feedback.

Gathering Feedback: Building with the Community

"What’s the hardest part of your day?" I’d ask. "If you could automate one thing, what would it be?" Their answers shaped the foundation of Growbot. I quickly learned that we all faced the same pain points—keeping track of nutrients, controlling light exposure, balancing water levels. We were all guessing, and it was exhausting. With their insights, I started to refine the idea of Growbot. It would be a SaaS tool for cannabis growers, helping them automate their processes, track data, and ultimately, make their grows more efficient.

But as the idea started to solidify, so did the obstacles. This wasn’t going to be an easy road. The biggest challenge? Getting it approved on the Apple App Store.

Mastery, and the College Party That Changed Everything

Before I was ever in the grow room, I was diving into books about entrepreneurship, innovation, and the kind of mindset it takes to build something from the ground up. That’s where Mastery by Robert Greene came in. It didn’t just give me ideas for business; it reshaped the way I thought about success.

Greene’s book Mastery is all about the long game. It teaches that mastery isn’t something you stumble into. It’s something you have to commit to over years of deliberate practice, learning from mistakes, and improving your craft. Before I ever learned how to grow cannabis, I was dedicated to the idea of mastering the art of entrepreneurship. I wanted to build something significant—something that would last. And Mastery gave me a blueprint for how to get there.

There’s one night in particular that stands out—an unexpected turning point. It was a typical Saturday night in college, and my good friend and roommate Christian was throwing a party at our apartment. The music was loud, drinks were flowing, and people were having a blast. But I wasn’t out there with them. I was in my room, reading Mastery from cover to cover.

It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy a good party, but that book had me hooked. I was reading about the lives of people who had achieved greatness by dedicating themselves to their craft—people like Leonardo da Vinci and Charles Darwin, who spent years refining their skills and pushing boundaries. The more I read, the more I realized that if I wanted to be a world-class entrepreneur, I couldn’t just skate by. I had to commit fully. I had to master something.

That night, while everyone else was having fun, I made the decision: I was going to master entrepreneurship. I didn’t know what my exact path was yet, but I knew that whatever I built, I’d do it with the same kind of deliberate practice Greene talked about.

The First Apple Rejection: Hitting the Wall

With the first version of Growbot built, I submitted it to the App Store. I was optimistic. I mean, cannabis was legal in Colorado, and more states were following. Growbot wasn’t selling weed or anything illegal. It was a business tool, designed to help legal growers improve their operations by tracking and automating their processes.

But then, the rejection came.

Apple’s response was brutal. They had a strict policy against anything related to cannabis, legal or not. Months of work were shut down in a single email. I remember sitting there, staring at the screen, feeling like I’d hit a brick wall. Apple didn’t care that Growbot was designed for legal, professional growers. In their eyes, cannabis was cannabis, and that meant rejection.

I thought about giving up. But then I remembered the lessons from Mastery. Greene talks about how rejection is part of the process. Every great master, from Mozart to Darwin, faced repeated failures before they achieved their breakthroughs. This was just another obstacle on the road to mastery. I had to keep pushing.

Rejection #2: Tweaking and Learning

So, I went back to the drawing board. I revised the app, toned down the cannabis language, and focused more on its role as a data-management platform for agriculture. I was sure that if I framed it as a business tool, Apple would give it a chance. I submitted the updated version, feeling confident that this time would be different.

But once again, rejection.

Apple’s policy hadn’t changed. To them, anything even remotely connected to cannabis was a no-go. I was frustrated, but I wasn’t defeated. I had to remind myself: this is part of the journey. Each rejection was a learning experience, teaching me how to refine my approach, how to frame the message in a way that Apple couldn’t ignore.

Third Time’s the Charm: The Breakthrough Moment

By the third submission, I had learned a lot. I crafted the app description to emphasize the business aspects, focusing entirely on data tracking and automation for legal businesses. I stripped away anything controversial and positioned Growbot as an indispensable tool for optimizing grow operations. This wasn’t about cannabis—it was about efficiency and business intelligence.

And finally, after what felt like an eternity of waiting, Apple approved Growbot. It became the first cannabis growing app on the Apple App Store.

The breakthrough wasn’t just about getting Growbot approved. It was about proving to myself, and to everyone else, that persistence pays off. That night, I sat in silence, reflecting on the journey that had led me to that moment. I hadn’t just built an app—I had overcome the barriers that stood in my way.

The Journey to Mastery Continues: Building Master Growbot AI

But here’s the thing: getting Growbot approved was just the beginning. The approval wasn’t the end of my journey—it was another step on the road to mastery. I’d learned from Robert Greene that mastery is a lifelong pursuit. Just because I had one win didn’t mean I was done.

That’s why I’m now building Master Growbot AI. This isn’t just an evolution of Growbot—it’s a whole new level. With AI, we’re going to help growers optimize every aspect of their grow operations using data-driven insights and machine learning. Master Growbot AI will take everything I’ve learned about automation, data, and growing, and combine it with cutting-edge technology to create a platform that revolutionizes cannabis cultivation.

But more than that, Master Growbot AI is part of my larger mission to become the world’s greatest AI cannabis entrepreneur. I’m not just building a product—I’m mastering my craft. I’m continuing to learn, to push boundaries, and to create tools that will change the way growers operate forever.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Building on What Came Before

Here’s the thing: none of us build alone. Just like I’m building on the lessons from Robert Greene, Steve Jobs, and the great minds of history, today’s cannabis entrepreneurs are building on the work of those who came before us.

Think about the Founding Fathers of America. They didn’t accept the world as it was. They had a vision, and they built a new system from the ground up. Or take the scientists who changed the course of history—Newton, Einstein, Marie Curie—they pushed past the limitations of their time to create something new. Even in the world of technology, we have Steve Jobs, who didn’t accept the idea that computers were just for techies—he made them for everyone.

That’s what we’re doing in cannabis tech. We’re breaking down the old walls and building something new. Every cannabis app on the App Store today exists because someone, somewhere, refused to accept “no” for an answer.

Conclusion: The Path to Mastery Is Never Over

If there’s one thing my journey has taught me, it’s that persistence is everything. From reading Mastery alone in my college room while everyone else partied, to submitting Growbot and facing multiple rejections, to finally getting it approved and moving on to bigger goals with Master Growbot AI—it’s all part of the process.

The path to mastery is long, and it’s filled with setbacks. But those setbacks are what shape you, what teach you, and ultimately, what make you a master. If you’re on your own journey, remember this: the world wasn’t made by people smarter than you. So go out there, bash into the walls, and build something that changes everything.

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