We love Apple. We love Google. We look up to them as the dream. We purchase their products in awe, wondering how the fuck can someone achieve such standard. They're the peak we want to climb and the kind of story we want to tell.

We're shit scared of them. We're terrified. In the free world we are lucky to live in, there's nothing more paralyzing than a powerful conglomerate controlling the destiny of your business. In our case — the destiny of a family business employing people, many with children.

When we made our app, we felt like we're entering the future — we built a business out of thin air, produced software, connected people, earned revenues and employed people. We felt like a business leaving its mark in the competitive landscape, in great part thanks to the platforms Apple and Google built.

We get insomnia. We fight at home. We cry, because Apple rejects our app out of the blue, telling us our product no longer delivers on their requirements. We get panic attacks, because Google's Play Store bots gain new powers and take our app down because it's 'violating its rules'. We suffer and sit, motionless, waiting, whilst the giants make a small move and gives us a sign whether our business is doomed or the giant's big fingers accidentally rejected us.

Reading about Proton Mail, Epic games, Basecamp's Hey we see we are not alone. The giants send shivers down millions of people's backs. They take from small businesses' revenue, claiming they use it to operate the stores. This might be true, but they must do better.

We call on you, developers, business owners, dreamers — share your rejection story. Post your moment of terror. This is the Me-Too of app developers. We might be shit scared, but together, we might scare the shit out of the giants too.