Here's a tip. Build it without paying anyone. Make it yourself, or find a team who are willing to work on your word--that is if you're an extremely reliable person. Objective-C is a pretty simple language and Cocoa touch makes everything a whole lot easier when thinking up and building applications.
Give it a go, I find it hard to be depressed when writing a good and creative Cocoa application.
After reading the original blog it seems to me that he indeed built it himself (except of paying $1000 to a designer). The "issue" is, that he decided that 40 days of him coding the application is equivalent to spending US $10,850...but that aren't real expenses, IMHO. So overall, I think that his app is doing quite well with relatively modest upfront expenses.
I agree, plus he gained a skill of knowing how to write iPhone apps + Objective C. It made him more marketable for future jobs/offers. (I am assuming he did in evenings and weekends)
Give it a go, I find it hard to be depressed when writing a good and creative Cocoa application.