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My app, Grades, was featured by Apple and did pretty well. Through telling the story I weave in many of the lessons I wish I had known at the start. Skip to slide 75 to get to the iPhone specific stuff. This is NOT about me - I hope it inspires you to start getting curious and build awesome stuff.
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The Grades StoryJeremy Olson
@jerols - gradesapp.com - skookum.com
WARNING
NOT
Get rich quick
IS
Long Term
IS
About YOU
THE STORY
If there were a subtitle, it would be here!
4 Chapters
4 Chapters
Get a Monkey
4 Chapters
Get a Monkey
Get an Idea
4 Chapters
Get a Monkey
Get an Idea
Get a Voice
4 Chapters
Get a Monkey
Get an Idea
Get a Voice
Worth it!
Chapter 1Get a Monkey
The Bad Guy
The Bad Guy
Why waste your time? No way it’s gonna
make money.
Big Revelation...
Success ≠ Money
Be curious, learn stuff, build stuff...
Do your best to make it profitable.
It will probably fail.
It doesn’t matter.
Let me prove it.
2000
FENCING MASTER
Money Made...
Wait for it...
$0
Web Design
I was a natural...(not)
Off to a great start!
$0
BLOGGG!
Oh yeah!
-$100
APPPS!
What is a database?
Me thinking $15/hr is pretty neat
A few bucks
College.
What’s a Skookum?
It pays to be curious.
WRONG
Will this make money right away?
NOT
Is this a worthwhile investment?
Money ≠ Success
It pays to be curious.
It pays to be curious.
Get a monkey
Chapter 2Get a product
THE POSSIBILITIES!
FAIL
Curiosity not enough
A good idea motivates you to learn what is required
to build it
Scratch your own itch
Is there a gap in the market?
Is it a
?
Sketch it
Talk to folks
Prototype it
Talk to folks
Do people immediately “get it”?
Are people excited about it?
Will enough people be willing to pay for it?
Refine it
Know your limits
My design skills were not good enough to make that
concept work.
If the skill isn’t there, stick simple. Don’t go crazy.
Speaking of Design...
Use an iPhone or iPod every day
Invest LOTS of time in the design
Apple says:
Learn design.
WWDC Videos
http://developer.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2010/
Watch the ones on design and on making successful iPhone apps
HIGSearch “iPhone human interface guidelines”
No time? Hire or partner with an amazing designer.
Beyond usable. Fun.
Programming the thang.
Native VS Web-basedObjective-C
Cocoa
HTML/CSS/Javascript
Phone Gap
Appcelerator Titanium
Native VS Web-based+ More familiar to web developers
+ Multi-platform
- Slower
- Easy to make an app that doesn’t follow conventions
- Sometimes limiting
+ More valuable skill
+ More control
+ Fewer limits
- Hard
- Not multi-platform
Learning Native iPhone Programming
Download the SDK for free
$100/year to submit apps to the store and test them on actual devices (otherwise use
the simulator to test)
Only works on a Mac
Google “Learn Objective C” (1st result)
Search “stanford iPhone” in iTunes Store
Do the assignments! (At least the first few)
New programmer? Introductory programming courses or
books = good idea.
This is not lightweight stuff.
Not impossible either.
Grades 0.1 =
Hodgepodge of tutorials twisted to do my will
After a few months, stuff started clicking
Scratch. Rewrite.
Polish. Polish. Polish.
Grades 1.01 year - start to finish
DEMO
We got a product.
Halt.
Step back a bit.
A product is no good if nobody knows about it
Chapter 3Get a voice
If you don’t have a voice, you are nobody.
If you’re a nobody, who is going to know about your
stuff ?
Don’t wait til launch to work on marketing!
Getting a voice takes TIME! Lots of it.
Day 1, I was nobody.
I read
“If you think leadership is only for other people,
you’re wrong. We need YOU to lead us.”
Market by sharing/teaching/leading
Market by adding value to people’s lives
It worked!
Some of the most successful iPhone
developers out there were reading my blog!
It’s not about eyeballs
I never “pitched” anybody
It’s about connections
It’s about relationships
Don’t Spam
“@taptaptap Hey, you should check out the
iPhone app I’m building - it is really awesome”
WRONG
“Check out @taptaptap’s latest app, Voices - it is a perfect example of going beyond usable and into
the realm of fun.”
RIGHT
Engage people outside the context of your app.
If they like you, they will check your stuff out.
What about PR?Make it a last resort.
Cold calling is usually not very effective.
The Power of Social Media
Viticci
[redacted]
Ken Yarmosh
My Job
If you have a voice, people care.
Chapter 4Worth it!
LAUNCH!
Hundreds of Twitter followers, blog readers, and beta testers got the
ball rolling.
Launch!
Launch!
Launch!
Launch!
Launch!
Launch!
Launch!
Launch!
Launch!
Launch!FTW!
How to get featured
• Good idea
• Great design
• If you can use features unique to the iPhone or that show off technology from the most recent IOS update
• Make your own splash by starting marketing early
How much?
Didn’t you learn anything?
Much more than a $1k. Much less than $100k.
But it really doesn’t matter!
I’m worth 500% more than a year ago.
Contribute to respected blogsGot to interview the creators of RedLaser
Contribute to respected blogsGot to interview the creators of RedLaser
Next? Who knows.
I’m not special.
Get a monkey.
Get a product.
Get a voice.
It’s worth it.
THE END
Twitter: @jerolsGrades: gradesapp.com
Company: skookum.comEmail: jeremy@skookum.com
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