I'm not a developer but I've managed to lasso a few guys together through equity-based compensation on the profit from sales of version 1-1.x. At version 2, terms are open for renegotiation by either party. This clause is to protect myself in the event we need to raise money for aggressive features, or the developer's interest begins to taper. There are other clauses in place if the developer doesn't want to support the app, but that's getting into details.
I'd rather keep my partners around because of the trust we've established. What's good for them is good for me, especially if they can quit their day job off the sales of our products. Version 2 features are going to take a lot of hard work.
I really don't have any interest in paying developers cash because to maintain a competitive app in the store, you can't just build it once and put it out there. For some apps, that may work... but if you're trying to build a lasting mobile app company, you have to stand behind your product(s), add features, and continuously improve... I wish I had the money to pay these guys for their full-time attention, month after month... but I don't so the only way to get that is to share the success.
It's not easy finding partners this way, especially with the markets taking a dump... What I did that I believe helped was in the presentation of the idea to the developers. I'm the designer, so I was able to mock up very solid prototypes for them to get a better understanding of what I was looking to accomplish.
It sounds like you've put together a balanced compensation structure. Is it possible for you to publish at least an outline of this? I think many of us struggle with coming up with meaningful equity arrangements for small and un-funded projects.
I'm trying to setup the company very loosely to attract entrepreneurial developers. We have plain-english contracts in Google Docs that we jointly edit until we're both satisfied.
Since I've been responsible for all of our current product ideas, I'm entitled to a majority of the profit (usually 60%) but it's negotiated on a per-project basis. For example, one of our app's has a "web service" integrated into it hoping we can monetize on ads on backside traffic. Per $1 we decrease that products price, he gets an additional 10% of the ad revenue on said website. That said, I think you need to handle each product and developer on a case-by-case basis.
As long as the developer adequately stands behind the product with support and feature-add, then they get to keep their share. If they are not interested in supporting, adding features, or localizing the app for other countries -- then their profit decreases ~20% per additional developer required.
I also extend each developer the ability to publish through our company account on their own terms if they have an idea. Whether or not our company directly promotes their product(s) is up to me (and them).
Feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions.
That is a really good looking app. I like the color / value overlay and the simple, clean interface.
Don't let the low first day sales discourage you. I saw my biggest spike on the 2nd day of sales. I think it has to do with how long it takes to percolate through to all the international App Stores.
If you just released yesterday, you should go into iTunes Connect and tweak your release date to reflect that. Your app is on the 3rd page of your category already, and that is going to severely hamper you sales. (The pages are ordered by release date by default.) I've noticed my sales decline as my app slips further back into the deeper pages of my category. Once you hit about page 10 or so, consider doing a trivial update so you can land back on page 1 of your category.
Lastly, for what it's worth, I think it's a little overpriced for what you're selling. Most of the apps that compete with you in this niche are at the 0.99 price point. In fact, there's one that's very similar (but much uglier) for free.
At any rate, I bought it and left you a 5 star review, since it does exactly what you claim. I feel every independent iPhone developer should have a few people setting the bar high on the first few reviews. Best of luck!
Ditto. I've been working with the SDK since the day it was released, have a few years of Mac dev experience, and am currently working towards releasing my first iPhone app... now I feel like a sucker for not doing this on contract!
actually my experience is not deep as yours.. ive been playing with it side by side with android... also your (ie my) iphone development is not as hard core as some of you guys when you are running osx on a non-mac (wont say which :( )..
You can still view documentation online and code in your favorite editor (90% of my code is really done in TextMate, not Xcode). The only thing you need the Mac for is the final compilation.
It's quite a kick seeing your code running on the iPhone (or iPod in my case), much different to just writing normal code and having it run on the screen.
If you're making $100k/year full time your hourly rate is $50/hour. When contracting you should charge double your fulltime rate for long-term gigs and triple for short-term gigs. Which takes us to $100-$150/hour.
Well, I'm studying iPhone development at the moment, and I guess I'll try to enter the contractor market soon when I'm comfortable with the platform. Or maybe before, there are enough people who will pay me to learn (I think, anyways)!
Yes. I was chatting to one of the folks involved in iPhone Devcamp the other week and he was saying that $120 is the bare minimum at the moment. So the figures tally.
I'd rather keep my partners around because of the trust we've established. What's good for them is good for me, especially if they can quit their day job off the sales of our products. Version 2 features are going to take a lot of hard work.
I really don't have any interest in paying developers cash because to maintain a competitive app in the store, you can't just build it once and put it out there. For some apps, that may work... but if you're trying to build a lasting mobile app company, you have to stand behind your product(s), add features, and continuously improve... I wish I had the money to pay these guys for their full-time attention, month after month... but I don't so the only way to get that is to share the success.
It's not easy finding partners this way, especially with the markets taking a dump... What I did that I believe helped was in the presentation of the idea to the developers. I'm the designer, so I was able to mock up very solid prototypes for them to get a better understanding of what I was looking to accomplish.