The Grades Story - how I made a successful iPhone app on the first try

The Grades Story Jeremy Olson @jerols - gradesapp.com - skookum.com

WARNING

Get rich quick

Long Term

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 1 Get a Monkey

The Bad Guy

Why waste your time? No way it’s gonna make money. The Bad Guy

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.

FENCING MASTER

Money Made...

Wait for it...

Web Design

I was a natural... (not)

Off to a great start!

BLOGGG!

Oh yeah!

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.

NOT Will this make money right away?

Is this a worthwhile investment?

Money ≠ Success

It pays to be curious. It pays to be curious.

Get a monkey

Chapter 2 Get a product

THE POSSIBILITIES!

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

HIG Search “iPhone human interface guidelines”

No time? Hire or partner with an amazing designer.

Beyond usable. Fun.

Programming the thang.

Native VS Web-based Objective-C HTML/CSS/Javascript Cocoa Phone Gap Appcelerator Titanium

Native VS Web-based + More valuable + More familiar to web skill developers + More control + Multi-platform + Fewer limits - Slower - Hard - Easy to make an app that doesn’t follow - Not multi- conventions platform - Sometimes limiting

Learning Native iPhone Programming

http://developer.apple.com/iphone

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 1.0 1 year - start to ﬁnish

We got a product.

Step back a bit.

A product is no good if nobody knows about it

Chapter 3 Get 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.”

Twitter

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

WRONG “@taptaptap Hey, you should check out the iPhone app I’m building - it is really awesome”

RIGHT “Check out @taptaptap’s latest app, Voices - it is a perfect example of going beyond usable and into the realm of fun.”

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 4 Worth it!

LAUNCH!

Hundreds of Twitter followers, blog readers, and beta testers got the ball rolling.

Launch!

FTW! Launch!

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 blogs Got 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: @jerols Grades: gradesapp.com Company: skookum.com Email: jeremy@skookum.com

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The Grades Story - how I made a successful iPhone app on the first try

by Jeremy Olson

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