The last sentence sounds familiar to me: I built a fully-functional MVP over a few hundred hours. My partner, a family member, was going to sell it. I picked the niche because it's not very SEO-friendly and so he, being completely non-technical, had something to contribute.
He made ~6 sales in 1 month, never lifted a finger in the ~14 months since.
The app has run smoothly with virtually zero intervention on my part, so that was a win, at least. We have a couple of customers remaining.
I'd say. My friend who stayed didn't look for a new job after his employer went under (like many mobile gaming companies did when their games got rejected from the appstore), so he moved into his parents house to finish the projects. In all, he created 10 apps, using a lot of the technology I originally built. His "partner" sued him for 98% ownership of essentially nothing. It turned out sad for everyone involved.
He made ~6 sales in 1 month, never lifted a finger in the ~14 months since.
The app has run smoothly with virtually zero intervention on my part, so that was a win, at least. We have a couple of customers remaining.
At least you got out early, I guess?