Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally
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Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally
#2It's interesting that their views on competition run counter to what YC / Peter Thiel advocate for in all startups - that is, avoiding competitive spaces and going for monopolies. Perhaps monopolies are necessary for huge growth and investor upside, but it should be made clear that there's obviously space in startups for modest goals like a nice PDF reader, and I hope their employees makes a reasonable living off it at the very least.
Not sure if their business model will work out (given the sad state of affairs that is the Mac App Store) but I liked that they were transparent about it.
On another note... the Vimeo ad they released https://vimeo.com/145400917 features a white, well-dressed man working at an empty desk with nothing on it but a macbook, coffee mug, iPhone, and Moleskine notebook. I find this marketing trope hilarious and want to amass a collection of such images. Is someone already curating such a thing?
Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally
#3It's interesting that their views on competition run counter to what YC / Peter Thiel advocate for in all startups - that is, avoiding competitive spaces and going for monopolies. Perhaps monopolies are necessary for huge growth and investor upside, but it should be made clear that there's obviously space in startups for modest goals like a nice PDF reader, and I hope their employees makes a reasonable living off it…
My office setup is almost exactly what you describe. Switch out the macbook for an imac and then add a height adjustable desk, some headphones, and a hydroflask.
The article though was pretty effective in making me want to try the app since I make a handful of pdfs and exporting from photoshop is a pain since I always forget the settings I want to use to make the file not gigantic.
But to your point, I kind of like the idea that people can make a business like this and eke out a nice income and have happy customers. It reminds me of a tooth whitening supply company I temped for a while back. They had 4 employees and were 100% happy with the number of customers they had and would get more via tradeshows, dentists liked their product, and the profits were really good. I imagine the owners knew that at a certain size managing the business would not allow them to live the lifestyle they enjoyed, so they just maintained it as is.
Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally
#4It's interesting that their views on competition run counter to what YC / Peter Thiel advocate for in all startups - that is, avoiding competitive spaces and going for monopolies. Perhaps monopolies are necessary for huge growth and investor upside, but it should be made clear that there's obviously space in startups for modest goals like a nice PDF reader, and I hope their employees makes a reasonable living off it…
Make as many as you like: https://placeit.net/
Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally
#5I'm trying to figure out what's so great about this app. Is it just that it's available on iOS and OSX?
Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally
#6Although not a top paid app for a side project my app is doing surprisingly well even outside the app store after I took it out recently.
The number one factor which he alluded to is which pricing strategy to follow. My app is not 70 but 9.99.
I too am using a time limited version and I am realizing that this isn't the best approach for my app either. So I am working towards something like what Sublime is doing.
One of the biggest learnings I have gotten from this experience is that an app is rarely a business and that the MAS is rarely a good distribution channel if you are doing something unique.
I could make at a minimum double as much as I am doing right now if i spent som more time on it (I will make around $50K the first year) and there is money to be made if you have something unique. Unfortunately thats hard to do on the MAS with Sandbox.
Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally
#7Although not a top paid app for a side project my app is doing surprisingly well even outside the app store after I took it out recently. The number one factor which he alluded to is which pricing strategy to follow. My app is not 70 but 9.99. I too am using a time limited version and I am realizing that this isn't the best approach for my app either. So I am working towards something like what Sublime is doing. One…
How did/do you market/promote it?
Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally
#8Although not a top paid app for a side project my app is doing surprisingly well even outside the app store after I took it out recently. The number one factor which he alluded to is which pricing strategy to follow. My app is not 70 but 9.99. I too am using a time limited version and I am realizing that this isn't the best approach for my app either. So I am working towards something like what Sublime is doing. One…
How did/do you market/promote it?
A combination. HN was a good first boost https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9145007
Then got in contact with a lot of websites. Was lucky to get som really good reviews on LifeHacker and MacUpdate plus other places. And then people started telling their friends about it.
Plus I have an email list now with +10K customers or potential customers.
Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally
#9It's interesting how he says videos are important. I find videos to be much slower to parse than reading features or reviews from notable people within the industry the app is part of. For example, in the case of Sketch, I didn't watch the video (didn't even know they had them until I checked today) but instead read what it's like to use the application from a couple different designers.
In the case of Dropbox (whoa, that was a long time ago), I think I just had it verbally recommended to me from techies or I just read about it on HN.
In fact, all of what I end up installing and using comes from the backs of people rather than videos. Maybes it's a generational thing.
Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally
#10The time-limited trial is essential for selling productivity software, unfortunately most companies are doing it wrong.
Beyond Compare[1] has a 30-day trial that is 30 days of use - not just 30 consecutive days. If I actually use a piece of software 30 different times on different days, then it's definitely worth a purchase. It's too bad more developers don't design their trials this way.