Open to work now

Josh Grenon

15 years building iOS apps for San Francisco startups.

I help startup teams ship first mobile apps, improve existing iOS products, and move faster with staff-level product and engineering judgment.

Email me about your project josh@bytortuga.com

Email me with a short note and we will start with an intro call to talk through fit, scope, and the first useful thing to ship.

Staff-level iOS 15 years SF startups Product + launch work Startup operator Available now

Where I plug in

Mobile apps

First/new iOS apps for small startups, plus high-quality feature work and architecture improvements on existing iOS teams.

Native iOS

Swift/iOS development with App Store polish, subscription flows, and product-grade UX.

Websites

Static launch sites, conversion pages, product surfaces, and polished web tools.

Hands-on staff-level execution

I scope the next useful slice, make product calls, write the code, and keep momentum visible.

Startup iOS work

Staff-level startup iOS

Perplexity, Rally (acquired by OpenSea), Omada Health
  • Staff iOS Engineer at Perplexity and Rally across AI, consumer, crypto, and health products.
  • Implemented a complete Perplexity iOS redesign in less than 4 weeks.
  • Added a Perplexity iOS paywall and shipped product work across UIKit and SwiftUI codebases.
  • Shipped Omada Health features while improving code coverage and simplifying iOS architecture.

Marketplace + internal app ownership

Zenrez (acquired by Square), Shyp
  • Owned and updated the Zenrez iOS marketplace app architecture.
  • Created and maintained a white-label iOS app for 50+ fitness studios.
  • First iOS hire at Shyp, owning consumer, courier, and warehouse iPhone/iPad apps.
  • Helped interview and grow the Shyp iOS team.

First iOS apps + mobile foundation

Weebly/Square, CodePath, MotionMobs
  • Developed Weebly’s first iOS app before the company was acquired by Square.
  • Helped interview and grow the Weebly iOS team.
  • Founded MotionMobs for iOS application development and mobile strategy consulting.
  • Mentored professional startup engineers and designers through CodePath iOS programs.
LinkedIn

Contract startup iOS work

Cico

Ongoing Contract iOS Engineer

Building calorie tracking with Matthew Capizzi around burn rate, deficit clarity, and daily decisions.

Keeps

Contract iOS Engineer

Built a private photo-sharing memories app for family timelines, shared albums, reactions, and widgets.

Daisie

Contract Lead iOS Engineer

Led a three-person iOS team and shipped Rooms, an audio chat rooms feature.

Sonar

Contract iOS Engineer

Launched a custom-drop emoji creator that reached 10k custom drops in its first week.

De-risk the first week

01

Useful code in week one

One focused product slice, production code, and enough collaboration to see how we work together.

02

Send the product context

Tell me what you are making, where it stands, what needs to ship, and the rough timeline.

03

Quick fit call

We talk through scope, constraints, and whether I can be useful right now.

04

Fixed trial week

If there is a fit, we scope roughly 20 hours at $4k around one valuable product slice.

05

Continue by scope

After the trial, larger work is scoped by project with a minimum $200/hour rate.

Email me the project context

The trial is meant to de-risk the relationship before a larger scope. No long retainer up front: one focused product slice, clear communication, and production code you can inspect. Ongoing work is scoped by project with a minimum $200/hour rate.

Launched iOS apps

A mix of self-launched products and contract apps that made it to the App Store.

WalkOff App Store preview

WalkOff

iOS fitness

Steps with friends, built around simple competition and daily accountability.

Live on App Store Founder, product, iOS Self-launchedSocial fitness loop
Pawtraits App Store preview

Pawtraits

AI iOS app

AI pet portraits packaged as a focused consumer photo product.

Live on App Store Founder, product, iOS Self-launchedAI photo workflow
Fieldtrip App Store preview

Fieldtrip

AI iOS app

Travel-style AI photos for people who want destination shots without the flight.

Live on App Store Founder, product, iOS Self-launchedAI image product
Barbear App Store preview

Barbear

iOS utility

A playful haircut app built with Replicate and Supabase to help people try styles before the chair.

Live on App Store Founder, product, iOS Self-launchedReplicate + Supabase
Eos App Store preview

Eos

iOS manifestation

Manifestation app built around the Think-Say-Do method, action tasks, and progress tracking.

Live on App Store Founder, product, iOS Self-launchedSubscription app
Cico App Store preview

Cico

iOS health

Calorie tracking built with Matthew Capizzi around burn rate, deficit clarity, and daily decisions.

Live on App Store Ongoing contract, iOS Contract appHealth tracking UX
Keeps App Store preview

Keeps

iOS photo sharing

Private photo-sharing memories app for family timelines, shared albums, reactions, and widgets.

Live on App Store Contract iOS Contract appPrivate photo albums

Self-launched websites with users

Real live products and websites, not mockups.

Ovii website preview

Ovii

AI video website

AI avatar and UGC tooling shaped by content experiments that reached 3M views.

Live with users Next.jsTypeScriptAI video
Quartermaster website preview

Quartermaster

AI project management

A task and visibility system for teams working with humans, agents, and messy project context.

Live with users Next.jsTypeScriptAI workflows
Captain website preview

Captain

macOS developer utility

Maps the services, dashboards, configs, and resources connected to a project.

Live with users AstroTypeScriptmacOS
Tortuga website preview

Tortuga

product studio

The studio home for launch notes, experiments, and shipped products.

Live with users AstroTypeScript
Crew website preview

Crew

AI website feedback

ICP and expert agents evaluate landing pages through a buyer's eyes.

Live with users ReactTypeScriptAI agents
Flagship website preview

Flagship

AI mockup generator

Turns app screenshots into branded device mockups for launches, stores, and decks.

Live with users Next.jsTypeScriptImage tooling

Open source

perplexity-api-swift Open-source Swift package for working with the Perplexity API in native apps.
Swift
gemini-flash-api-swift Swift package linked from the pinned repositories on Josh's GitHub profile.
Swift
supabase-onesignal-edgefunction TypeScript edge function linked from the pinned repositories on Josh's GitHub profile.
TypeScript
generate-swift-structs-from-supabase-schema Swift generator repo linked from the pinned repositories on Josh's GitHub profile.
Swift
View all repositories

Staff-level product help without agency drag

  • Clear first slice

    We turn the messy product ask into the smallest useful thing worth shipping first.

  • Production code

    You get maintainable Swift, Astro, React, or backend work that another good engineer can own later.

  • Product taste

    I will push on UX, scope, and tradeoffs instead of blindly taking tickets.

  • Launch help

    App Store polish, landing pages, analytics, paywalls, and the small details around release.

  • Direct updates

    You work with me directly, with clear progress and no account-manager layer.

Open to work now

Tell me what you need to ship.

Include the product, what needs to ship, the current state, timeline, and whether the $4k trial week sounds like the right starting point.

Email me about your project
josh@bytortuga.com