Independence
67 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsSurviving in the muddy waters of the App Store as an indie isn’t easy. Alice Zhao, Curtis Herbert and Daniel “Jelly” Farrelly explore what it means to them, what they do to make it work, and how to claim your independence.
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Episodes
67: A Milestone, Not a Disappointment
June 13, 2022 22:00 - 35 minutes - 20.3 MBCurtis has won an Apple Developer Award, so Alice and Jelly give him the ultimate gift: an Independence reunion. They discuss what it’s like to win such a coveted award, what they’ve been doing in the last couple of years, and whether or not any of them are actually still indies.
66: Keep Not Wearing Pants
November 18, 2019 21:00 - 40 minutes - 18.6 MBCurtis had a topic planned, but Alice and Jelly ruined everything. The three talk about their experiences through out the course of Independence, how things have changed, why it’s ending, and ultimately answer the question of whether they still aim to be independent.
65: Subscriptions
November 04, 2019 21:00 - 31 minutes - 14.8 MBIf you’re considering doing an app with subscriptions, there’s some things you may want to consider before you make that move, as it’s not necessarily the best answer for every situation. Curtis and Jelly have been using subscriptions for a while, so Alice quizzes them on how things have been going, in the hopes that it’ll give her an answer on whether she should move to using them herself.
64: Post-Launch Review
October 21, 2019 21:00 - 45 minutes - 21.2 MBAfter launching a new thing—or an update to a thing—Jelly likes to stop, look back at the process, and evaluate how things went. For him, it involves considering the answers to some key questions, and he decides that it’s worth forcing Alice and Curtis through this process. Together, they discuss recent launches, how they went, and what they feel could have gone better… or worse.
63: Ethical Businesses
October 07, 2019 21:00 - 33 minutes - 15.4 MBRunning a successful business is hard, and with the myriad of decisions that you make, it’s also difficult to do so in an ethical way. Alice, Curtis, and Jelly look back at the decisions they’ve made in trying to run ethical businesses, how they’ve worked out long term, and whether they’ve been the right choices in the long term.
62: Data Privacy
September 23, 2019 22:00 - 35 minutes - 16.4 MBIf there’s one thing that’s important when building a business around software, it’s data, but there are also downsides to collecting the data, both for us as business-owners, and for our customers. Alice, Jelly and Curtis talk about their approaches to data collection, and why it’s best to keep privacy in mind when creating software.
61: Starting New Projects
September 09, 2019 22:00 - 28 minutes - 13.3 MBIt’s sometimes far too easy to get caught up in the idea that when we create something as indies, it’s for other people, but that doesn’t need to be the case. Alice, Curtis and Jelly discuss their own approach to starting new things, and why it’s sometimes worthwhile.
60: Intentional Growth
August 26, 2019 22:00 - 33 minutes - 15.8 MBGrowing our products and acquiring new users is something that most indies aren’t particularly good at, but it’s a significant factor in achieving success in the App Store. Alice, Curtis and Jelly take a look at their own approaches to growth, why they’ve worked out—or not, as the case may be—and why you would want to be intentional about your growth.
59: App Launch Map
August 12, 2019 22:00 - 31 minutes - 14.8 MBLong time friend of the show, Aleen Simms, joins our trio to talk about her upcoming project, App Launch Map, and how it helps define basic strategies for successfully launching an app on the App Store.
58: Inspiration
July 29, 2019 22:00 - 36 minutes - 17.1 MBIf there’s one thing we rely on as indies, it’s inspiration. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have it, and learning how to feed it and channel it is a core part of what we need to do to survive. Alice, Jelly and Curtis take a look at where they get inspiration from, what they do when it’s not flowing, how they think they could get better at fostering it.
57: Keeping up with the Cooks
July 15, 2019 22:00 - 33 minutes - 15.7 MBEvery year at WWDC, Apple drops a bunch of new things for app developers to work on, and 2019 is no different… in fact, it may be the biggest year we’ve had for a while. Alice, Curtis and Jelly talk about what they tend to take from the developer conference each year, and how to approach integrating the new features into their various apps.
56: The Happiest Customer
July 01, 2019 22:00 - 31 minutes - 14.6 MBPositive comments sure do feel nice, but should we be doing more with them than just acknowledging their existence? Alice, Curtis and Jelly go over some instances where they’ve received praise for their respective apps, and consider the ways it’s helped them produce a better product.
55: The Single Point of Failure
June 17, 2019 22:00 - 30 minutes - 14.3 MBWhen it comes to our businesses as indies, the weakest link in the chain is us. Alice, Curtis and Jelly look at each of their businesses to see what they’re already doing (and what they probably still need to do) to pass things on once they’re six feet under.
54: Feature Planning
June 03, 2019 22:00 - 30 minutes - 14.1 MBOften, it can be very tempting to come up with an idea, and just start building it right away. While this can feel like the right path, often it’s actually better in the long-term to spend time thinking about a feature, and figuring out what it is first. Alice, Curtis and Jelly discuss their approaches to planning features, what constraints they place on themselves, and the steps you should be taking before opening Xcode.
53: Ask Us Anything (2019)
May 20, 2019 22:00 - 41 minutes - 19.2 MBIndependence is two years old, and our intrepid hosts once again answer questions fielded by listeners. Finally, answers to the important questions, such as their thoughts on growth hacking, tips for getting the most out of WWDC, and what they wanted to be when they grew up.
52: Accessibility
May 06, 2019 22:00 - 31 minutes - 14.5 MBAccessibility is something that is often overlooked in the tech industry, and the very scope of it can be daunting. Alice certainly feels like she’s dropped the ball on considering the accessibility needs of her users, so she enlists Curtis and Jelly and together they discuss their inspirations, how they approach accessibility in their apps, and where you can find resources on accessibility.
51: Merchandising
April 22, 2019 22:00 - 35 minutes - 16.6 MBIf you have a product that people love, it’s entirely possible that they want ways to show it off. In the lead up to WWDC, Jelly’s merch game is woefully inadequate. He enlists Alice and Curtis to discuss potential ideas for merchandising, and the things you might need to consider if you’re going to sell it online.
50: Guiding Stars
April 08, 2019 22:00 - 36 minutes - 17.1 MBWhen we start down the indie path, we usually have very purposeful ideas for the products we want to build, but many of us don’t think beyond the product onto the company. Alice, Curtis and Jelly give some thought to the visions they have for the future of their respective companies, and why that’s something worth thinking about in the present.
49: The (Hypothetical) Exit Strategy
March 25, 2019 21:00 - 33 minutes - 15.7 MBWith her time as limited as it is, Alice has been thinking about what her exit from the indie life might look like, hypothetically speaking. Surprisingly, she’s not the only one thinking about it, so our three hosts delve right in to ask the important questions around what products should be when their creators leave them behind.
48: Balancing Work
March 11, 2019 21:00 - 28 minutes - 13.6 MBAlice has started a new job, and Jelly is neck deep in a client contract, which leaves them very little time to get stuff done with their own projects. In an attempt to figure out the best way to achieve balance, our three hosts share their experiences, talk about possible ways of approaching things, and commiserate with each other’s struggles for time.
47: Expectations
February 25, 2019 21:00 - 36 minutes - 16.9 MBPart of running a business is dealing with your customer’s expectations, and this is no more evident than in the App Store. Alice, Curtis and Jelly chat about how their users expect everything, including particular language support, new services for syncing, and the dreaded Android version… but are all these expectations worth delivering on?
46: Hiring a Developer
February 11, 2019 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.8 MBAt some stage, it’s entirely possible that you might end up needing to hire a developer to help you finish your project. Alice is considering going down that path with Gus on the Go, so she looks to Curtis and Jelly for advice on how to prepare, what to look for, and what makes for a good contracting experience.
45: Launching an App
January 28, 2019 21:00 - 35 minutes - 16.4 MBThere’s a lot that goes on when launching a new app: marketing, feedback… and watching the sales chart desperately hoping that things go according to plan. Heidi Helen Pilypas and Ish Shabazz join the show to talk about the recent launch of Capsicum, along with all the excitement and horror that ensued.
44: Doing What You Love
January 14, 2019 21:00 - 30 minutes - 14 MBThere are a lot of benefits to doing what you love as an indie, but there are also many things that you don’t consider when you try to turn your hobby into a career. Alice, Curtis and Jelly look at the things that blindsided them when turning their interests into products, and honestly ask themselves… do they still love what they do?
43: Lessons Learned in 2018
December 31, 2018 21:00 - 34 minutes - 15.9 MBWhile they ring in the new year, Alice, Curtis and Jelly look back at 2018, with all its highlights, failures, lessons… and how it differed from everything they’d expected back when it began.
42: Freemium
December 17, 2018 21:00 - 37 minutes - 17.3 MBIf you’re selling apps, odds are you’re going to go down the freemium route: offering the app for free, but charging for something within the app itself. Of course, this business model comes with a whole bunch of ins and outs that you have to navigate if you want to succeed, so Alice, Curtis and Jelly look at how they’ve managed their apps, what’s worked for them, and what’s failed miserably.
41: Learning from Startups
December 03, 2018 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.7 MBStartups and independents have a lot in common, but they differ in a lot of ways too, and the approach one takes to creating a product doesn’t necessarily serve the other particularly well. Alice, Curtis and Jelly compare their approaches to the typical startup, and figure out what they could potentially apply to their own businesses, and what to avoid at all costs.
40: Community
November 19, 2018 21:00 - 35 minutes - 16.8 MBWe all need connections with other people, and so much about creating a product involves being in touch with the community of people who love it. Alice, Curtis and Jelly look at how fostering a community around their products could be beneficial… and a lot of work.
39: Guiding Users Through Change
November 05, 2018 21:00 - 31 minutes - 14.5 MBChange is inevitable, but unless you bring the people using your product along for the ride, you’re going to find that at least some of them are going to get left behind. Alice, Curtis and Jelly take a look at changes they’ve made to their apps, how they’ve approached them in the past, and ways to mitigate problems.
38: Beta Testing
October 22, 2018 21:00 - 37 minutes - 17.9 MBIt can be time-consuming and difficult to get good feedback from people, but it can make a world of difference for the finished product. Alice is starting to think about how to approach beta testing with Gus on the Go, so Curtis and Jelly try to share their experiences to help make her job just a little easier.
37: Evolution of an App
October 08, 2018 21:00 - 39 minutes - 18.5 MBSoftware, unlike other products, tends to change and evolve over time: features are added and changed—sometimes removed—and the way an app looks when it first launches can be very different after a few years. Alice, Curtis and Jelly reflect on the changes they’ve made to their apps over time, and how they’ve tried to take their users along for the journey.
36: You Are Not Your Product
September 24, 2018 22:00 - 33 minutes - 23 MBAs creators, it’s sometimes hard to tell where you end and your product begins. This gets compounded by the fact that customers often confuse you with your work, which can have some significant consequences. Alice, Curtis and Jelly dig deep to determine why it is that they associate their products with their own worth, what the consequences are, and what they do about it.
35: User Acquisition
September 10, 2018 22:00 - 32 minutes - 22.3 MBIntroducing your product to new people is difficult, as any app developer can likely tell you, and while there are plenty of typical approaches that everyone tries, they don’t always succeed. Alice, Curtis and Jelly spend time looking at the techniques they’ve used for acquiring users, how they’ve approached it, and what’s worked for them so far.
34: Failure
August 27, 2018 22:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBFailure is an inevitable part of and indie’s journey, but sometimes the looming weight of it is enough to negatively affect the decisions you make. Jelly’s been feeling it a bit of late, so he, Alice and Curtis take a look at what failure looks like for them, and how they deal with it.
33: Android
August 13, 2018 22:00 - 39 minutes - 27.7 MBThere’s a lot of theories out there about how feasible the Android market is for independent apps, and most of it isn’t exactly positive. To help cut through the noise, Russell Ivanovic joins Alice and Curtis to talk about his journey with Pocket Casts, what it’s like walking the line between platforms, and whether it’s even possible to find success with an Android app.
32: Portfolios
July 30, 2018 22:00 - 32 minutes - 22.4 MBWhere do ideas come from? Is every idea worth building into a full-fledged product? Is it better to have many projects, or fewer? Alice, Curtis and Jelly take a long hard look at where their projects were born, the projects they’ve thrown out, and everything in between.
31: Working Long Hours
July 16, 2018 22:00 - 31 minutes - 22.1 MBSometimes it can be really easy to work through a day and then keep it going until late at night, either because we love what we’re doing, or because we’re feeling pressure to succeed. Alice, Curtis and Jelly look at their own tendencies to put in the extra hours, and how it affects their overall balance in the long term.
30: Scheduling
July 02, 2018 22:00 - 37 minutes - 26.3 MBEvery one approaches their day just a little differently. From how you plan your upcoming months (and years) of work, all the way down to managing your day-to-day approach, the way you plan your work is going to affect how you actually do your work. Alice, Curtis and Jelly look at each of their approaches, explain why it works for them, and look at what they’ve learned about how they schedule things over the years.
29: Financial Planning
June 18, 2018 22:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBEven as an indie, you’ll find that you need to make a bunch of decisions around what you do with the money you make: do you reinvest it right back into the business, or do you take the money and run? Alice, Jelly and Curtis look at the individual—and very, very different—approaches they each take, and find that the answer isn’t as easy as just one or the other.
28: Marketing
June 04, 2018 22:00 - 32 minutes - 22.7 MBEvery app is different, and the approach to marketing that app is different too. From word of mouth, to building communities, our hosts discuss their own experiences with marketing their apps and how it’s changed over time.
27: Ask Us Anything (2018)
May 21, 2018 22:00 - 38 minutes - 26.7 MBIndependence is one year old! For the inaugural birthday episode, our intrepid hosts answer your questions. They finally reveal how they optimise for App Store search, the doubts they’ve faced on the road to being an indie, and which of them you want to keep your phone away from prior to finding yourself stranded on a desert island.
26: Losing Control
May 07, 2018 22:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBThere’s nothing scarier than losing control, especially when it comes to the things you’ve worked so hard to achieve. Our three hosts recount some of the times they’ve lost control (or had their hand forced), what they did to recover, and what they managed to learn from the experience.
25: Fixing Bugs
April 23, 2018 22:00 - 30 minutes - 20.9 MBWe all make mistakes, and Curtis is no exception. He recently shipped a bug, which got him thinking about how he, Alice, and Jelly approach the QA aspect of creating and shipping apps, and how to avoid doing so, if at all possible.
24: Minimum Viable Product
April 09, 2018 22:00 - 33 minutes - 23.6 MBGetting from idea to a minimum viable product is difficult, because it’s all about knowing what to ship, and making the right decisions early on. Alice is about to start the journey for the third time, so she asks Curtis and Jelly how their first submissions went, and what they feel like they learned from the process.
23: Pricing
March 26, 2018 21:00 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MBAs it turns out, Jelly has been thinking a lot about his pricing lately. He really can’t figure it out, so he calls upon Alice and Curtis for answers. What’s the right approach? How do you come up with a sustainable model that works for your market? Is it really alright to experiment with pricing? Our three hosts look at the ins and outs of pricing as an indie, and how to literally value your work.
22: Feature Creep
March 12, 2018 21:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBAvoiding bloat in a long-term project can be difficult, and it could make you wonder whether you should even continue improving a product at all. Curtis is certainly questioning whether he’s reached that point with his app, so he, Alice, and Jelly talk it through to figure out whether spending all of your time on one project is healthy, and when you should just call it a day.
21: The Angriest Customer
February 26, 2018 21:00 - 35 minutes - 24.4 MBUnfortunately, not every interaction you have as an indie is a positive one. Sometimes our customers run into problems, and their first instinct is to just complain; either via a negative review, an angry email, or a bad mention on social media. Alice, Curtis, and Jelly look at their own experiences and discuss how they deal with the negative stuff, with the hope that there’s something that can be gained from it.
20: Getting Things Done
February 12, 2018 21:00 - 26 minutes - 18.2 MBThe task list for indies is seemingly never-ending, and requires effort just to stay on top of what needs to be done and when. Our hosts take a look at their systems—or lack thereof—and consider what they need to do to get things done.
19: The Downsides of Working Alone
January 29, 2018 21:00 - 29 minutes - 20.2 MBThere’s a plethora of good things about getting to work from home—the reduced commute time, being able to set your own hours, and the optionality of pants being amongst them—but what about the downsides? Curtis, Alice and Jelly look through the challenges they face with having to work alone and what they do to manage them.
18: Health and Fitness
January 15, 2018 21:00 - 32 minutes - 23.7 MBOne of the most important assets for any indie is their health: if that fails you, it makes it really difficult to continue with any other part of your work! Our hosts discuss their own approaches to staying fit and healthy, the aspects they struggle with, and what they plan to focus on in the coming year.