Posts Tagged ‘ideas’

90/10

// January 9th, 2010 // No Comments » // awesomeness, strategy

I believe the success of anything you make is 90% based on how amazing it is, and 10% based on the other stuff you do to try to get people to know about it and like it. But you’ll find most people spend 90% of their time worrying about the superficialities and 10% of their total time actually bringing the idea into the world.

Once you’ve cut all the corners and ignored all the advice and have actually made something a reality, sold your first copy, received an email from a new fan, conducted the simplest and briefest launch in history – then I think you’ve earned the right to add a little bit more complexity next time. And trust me – once you’ve launched something you’ve built, you won’t be able to stop, and each time you’ll get better at it.

Pull an old idea out of storage – one of the ones you thought was ‘great’ at the time – and work out the shortest route to getting the basics right and building it into reality. Deliberately ignore advice you thought was essential. Strive for imperfection. Limit yourself to almost child-like simplicity.

Just get it out there.

I have an idea for an iPhone application.

// June 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // awesomeness, design, iPhone, rambling

Yup, it is the most common conversation I have with people these days concerns the process of turning ideas into iPhone applications.

Sure, I love talking with entrepreneurs and people passionate about their ideas. It’s one of the things I look forward to most in my job. Unfortunately, we are at a phase in the growth of the iPhone ecosystem where there is a significant gap between individuals with the ideas and those who are actually capable of turning the ideas into iPhone applications.

This gap is almost entirely financial in nature. The demand for iPhone developers exceeds the supply and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. The going rate for iPhone developers, at least the developers I know and trust, is $100/hour and up. I have some friends who are booked out at $150/hour for the next few months, although $125/hour seems to be the going rate in my network. At that rate, a full-time contract iPhone developer costs $5,000/week and it may take four to six weeks for an application to be developed. Sometimes it will take less and sometimes it will take more. Add to development the other costs – project management, design, QA, and marketing, to name a few. From what I have read, it is not uncommon to spend $20,000 and up on an iPhone development project. iPhone applications are not cheap everyone.

Yes, I am someone who is highly motivated by ideas. So, it pains me to say that the value of an iPhone application idea right now is pretty much zero. A great idea isn’t worth anything under these conditions. There is no shortage of great iPhone ideas, just a shortage of talent to bring these ideas to market. I am thinking I might invest in a Mac soon and get on the iPhone development bandwagon. Who’s coming with me?