
How I Quit My Job and Built My First App - uptown
https://medium.com/life-learning/how-i-quit-my-job-and-built-my-first-app-d2a2e1086f41
======
nvader
> As a side-note, creating external deadlines is also a great way to rally a
> team

My experience with this is that external deadlines work for teams that are
unfocused and whose own motivation is low. However, for a team that is already
executing well, an imposition of an external deadline (especially for a reason
as poorly-thought-out as "to rally the team"), if it's aggressive enough to
see increased throughput, will lead to poor processes, cut corners and
burnout.

Perhaps there is an element of rationalization here, where a poor manager, who
failed to anticipate at a distance a goal that was then attainable, becomes
aware of it once it is closer and in danger of passing by, and has to make
huge efforts at re-prioritization and motivation to meet it. In hindsight, the
manager rationalizes that the fire drill was a good thing for the company,
because obviously, the deadline was achieved! Oh, and look, next week there's
a customer coming on-site, wouldn't it be great if this other feature was
added in time for that...?

I have not had to build and lead a team yet myself, but the process I would
follow, and the advice I would give others, is to choose to work with a
focused, motivated team, and reduce the importance given to external
deadlines. They should influence the prioritization given to relative
projects, but cannot be used to crank the throughput nozzle.

~~~
jakejake
Once you do lead a team, which I'm sure you will do in the future if you're so
inclined, It can be a bit harder than you would think! Even a team of all A
players can flounder and never produce anything if you're not careful.

For me the thing is that you just have to constantly adapt your plan as things
develop. I don't think deadlines are inherently bad. But if you do set
deadlines, the team needs to be a part of that process and the goals need to
be based on reality rather than just arbitrary. If you have hard external
deadlines, then that may dictate the features you can deliver. I find that
developers (myself included) appreciate being able to focus on their
individual tasks, knowing that the manager is making sure the ship is heading
in the right direction.

~~~
nostrademons
I've found that teams (and individuals) function best when tasks are either
scope-delimited or time-delimited. Not both, and not neither. If the task is
concrete enough that the desired outcome is crystal-clear and there's not much
risk in completing it, then just say "It's done when it's done" and let
someone work at it. If the task has fuzzy success criteria - "Make this UI
better", for example, or "speed this up as much as you can", or "explore new
approaches for this module" \- _put a deadline on it_. It's possible to spin
your wheels forever if you don't have a clear destination and clear timeframe.

~~~
holografix
This. So obvious and so right.

------
joshmn
And then there are 100s of other stories like this one where people
catastrophically fail.

~~~
kaitai
A lot of those aren't quite like this one, though. The author did some smart
things:

* app received press before quitting job

* app started making revenue before quitting job

* author had time to watch the app's trajectory before quitting job

* author diversifies and helps other people make successful apps, across a variety of categories, rather than betting it all on games.

The point of reading success and failure stories is to contrast them as well
as feel inspiration or schaudenfreude as indicated.

~~~
oaktowner
The diversification was really important.

Too many people think of "app" as "business;" he saw early on that he would
need lots of apps (both his and others') to build a business.

------
samuraicode
I worked with Robleh on a memory game using images from Instagram back in the
day called InstaMatch. I had made the simple game and published it, and he
helped do all the marketing and design to make it quite successful. He was
always great to work with and we made decent money until Instagram decided to
stop having apps use any part of their name in the title.

~~~
robjama
Thanks for the shout out Jeremy! InstaMatch deserves it's own post. Learned a
lot from those early days.

------
sadkingbilly
In reality though, I'd like to know what the author did for health insurance
when he quit his job weeks/months after having a baby. Medical risk is very
high during this period.. looks like he is based in Canada (not US), so I
guess that answers it.

~~~
craigvn
Yes, in some countries the idea that if you don't have a job or are low income
that your children's health should suffer is considered pretty inhuman.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
I'm eternally bemused that the US considers itself entrepreneurial and pro-
business when it doesn't get this.

Then again, if your cost of entry is much lower and more people can bootstrap
from personal savings, they're all that much less likely to need investors
just to stay alive, or to put up with demands for unicorn growth.

------
artifaxx
In contrast to all the cynicism I see in other comments, this is awesome! Even
if it doesn't happen to everyone, I find anyone who can manage to survive
building and pursuing their passion to be inspirational. It reminds me that
even if the odds aren't good, the journey can most certainly be worth quitting
your job.

As I start bootstrapping my own idea off the ground it helps to see stories
like this. Being able to stay motivated and optimistic looks to be a helpful
component of success.

------
allsystemsgo
Why would you quit your job to make an app? I have bootstrapped 3 apps and
pushed them to the app store in my own time.

To be fair, every time I do it, it's hard. I have to prepare my family that
I'm undertaking something that will take up a lot of my time. It's tough but,
they know I love it.

~~~
justusw
Did you ever have trouble with keeping apart intellectual property created for
your employer vs. for yourself on your own time? For example, did you use
different computers and made sure to never do this at your work place? I'm
always worried that this might become a problem if you create apps while still
being employed somewhere.

~~~
allsystemsgo
I use my own machine. That and you have to keep in mind a few things. Does the
company actually have the money to spend to go after a developer who made some
simple app? Would doing so piss off their entire engineering department? Is it
really worth it to them? Usually the answer is no.

Not that any of the above matters since I do this on my own time, with my own
resources.

~~~
SyneRyder
If you work for Apple (and I think the same for Google, Facebook or
Microsoft), don't they own your output even if it's on your own machine in
your own time? I seem to remember part of their contract is that they own all
your intellectual output. Some other discussion of this here:

[http://iphonedevsdk.com/forum/business-legal-app-
store/47704...](http://iphonedevsdk.com/forum/business-legal-app-
store/47704-apple-retail-employees-shut-from-developing.html)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1phmkr/current_emp...](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1phmkr/current_employer_owns_all_software_i_develop/)

On the other hand, in Queensland at least, it depends on the definition of
your work role. If it's specific enough, you could even create a game using
your employers equipment & keep ownership & copyright yourself (the Queensland
government provides that as a specific software example here):

[https://www.business.qld.gov.au/business/support-tools-
grant...](https://www.business.qld.gov.au/business/support-tools-
grants/tools/intellectual-property-info-kit/browse/employees-
contractors/ownership)

~~~
steve-howard
I work at Microsoft. I don't speak for the company but feel like sharing my
experience.

We do have to comply with certain restrictions (e.g. don't do it on company
time, company property, company equipment; don't compete with the company),
and I'd definitely read the full legalese before trying to make a paid app.
But it's not anywhere near as bad as "everything you write while you work here
is ours."

~~~
jimbokun
Are you sure? It might be that bad, if they become motivated enough to go
after you in court.

------
kenzokai
Articles like this always skip the most crucial point.

Author talks about "outreach" and press coverage and such. But how is that
done exactly? I realize this might be dependent on the app but there has to be
some general principles one can follow.

If I were to launch an app in the app store today, almost NO ONE would know.

How do you get from that - to real influencers writing about your app?

~~~
asteadman
It's not app specific - but Alex Turnbull of the oft-linked groovehq did a
detailed blog post about his outreach strategy:
[https://www.groovehq.com/blog/1000-subscribers](https://www.groovehq.com/blog/1000-subscribers)
.

Some of this advice transfers over to an app, some of not so much.

------
sriram_iyengar
really nice and inspiring. \- how did you reach out to so many customers ? \-
i see the UX of your apps are good. did you do them or you got a design agency
doing it for you ?

------
fierycatnet
Pocket Zoo? This is actually a really awesome idea!

------
cdnsteve
From T.O. <3

------
dboreham
This is interesting because until reading this I had the impression that
nobody makes money from mobile apps (except games).

------
jeffehobbs
Step 1: Develop app

Step 2: Fail at monetizing app

Step 3: Create app development studio

Step 4: Empower others to fail at monetizing apps

~~~
dang
Please don't do this here.

I understand the sport in extracting the most uncharitable interpretation of a
thing and distilling it into the most concentrated snark that you can, but
amusing as that can be, you harm the community by posting it here.

Snark always gets many upvotes, perhaps because we enjoy the dopamine rush of
briefly feeling superior to others. Such comments rise to the top, become
emblematic, and pretty soon we're all in the habit of looking for clever ways
to put others down instead of learning and asking questions together.

This is an existential risk to HN, since if we lose the open-minded
exploratory quality of the threads (never secure to begin with, and always
under pressure from stronger forces), successive waves of thoughtful users
will exit, putting the community into a fatal feedback loop.

~~~
timrpeterson
I think sanitizing the community possibly puts it at even greater risk. Look
at stackoverflow whose contributors are dwindling due to overmodding. There is
learning in this comment. You are the one layering on the interpretation of
the need to feel superior. That wasn't how I read it.

~~~
s73v3r
I refuse to believe that encouraging people to not be assholes to each other,
and to not shit on people sharing their stories is "sanitizing".

~~~
timrpeterson
So how would have been an acceptable way for the commenter to make his point?
Saying they sh*t on the other person is IMHO really dramatic.

~~~
dang
> _So how would have been an acceptable way for the commenter to make his
> point?_

If by "acceptable" you mean better for HN, it's not hard to imagine a
thoughtful comment about the difference between making money from an app
product vs. an app-building shop. Also it would be easy not to belittle the
OP's achievement (as "empower others to fail", for example, does).

------
pythonlion
sweet comp name

