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An Open Letter to Greedy IPhone App Developers

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Dear Greedy iPhone App Developer,

I'm the guy that wrote "5 Ways Your IPhone App Developer Can Burn You." I'm also the founder of Sparkah.com, it's the site that shows up on page one of Google under "iphone app developer los angeles."

So I get quite a few phone calls from people who want me to develop their iphone app - from around the world.

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What I want you to know is that there's nothing wrong with greed. Greed is good. Without greed... meh, you know the rest. 

But the problem is that you, along with most people, are myopically greedy. Think about it. How many iPhone app developers do you know who will work for cash but not for equity? If you were really a tycoon of a greedy bastard of a tycoon, you'd want to pay your bills, have beer money, then have equity on hundreds of iPhone apps. 

No?

The wealthiest short Asian dude dry cleaner cashier happens to drive an Escalade (with spinners) because he's not only the cashier, he's the owner

Every, each, and every single iPhone app you develop should be something you wish you had equity in. Look at it this way. Nobody gets rich working per hour or per project. Nobody. The wealthiest dry cleaner cashier short Asian dude happens to drive a Mercedes 500SL because he's not only the cashier, he's the owner. "Ohn-ner." If you don't believe an iPhone app will go big, seriously, don't even take the dev project to pay the rent. The time it takes you to make a grand, you lost the ability to be a part of a million dollar golden goose. Don't take any projects you don't want equity in. The opportunity cost is too great.

You'll make a buck and you'll lose a million.

So here's my dark temptation to you: Join me. Luke, I'm Your Fah-Dar.

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No, but seriously. I'm building a simple app. It should only take you a few days to build it. To put my money where my mouth is, I'm offering $500 in cash to pay for beer. But that's not the exciting part that will keep you up at night and make you delete that girl's number who keeps calling. The exciting part is that this app will go global in weeks.

Close you eyes. Now, open them. How else are you going to read the rest of this paragraph? Recall the last dude that came to your house to clean the carpets, mow the lawn, detail the car, drop off a new drum of water, fix the plumbing, what evar. They all carried a clip board and those triplicate pink yellow white tear away invoices. 

Do you realize companies spend $35,000 a year on some grumpy fat chick because all the yellow copies have to be entered into Quickbooks? But no. This isn't what's going to make your greedy greedy eyes glaze over in euphoria.

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Close your eyes again. Open them. Look at me. Now, at your man. I'm on a horse.

This new app will go global because of the simplest no brainer feature. As soon as you see it, you'll think, "damn." I should have invented Velcro and Post-Its! The poison dart is the auto address fill-in feature. This app will automatically fill in the address for you using iPhone GPS. 

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No more having some dude from Tennessee tell the plumber, gardener, and roofer that he lives on 2756 Guisseppicalyptusigan Street. Hyannisport, MA.

This tiny little app will be the talk of every contractor's daily burrito break siesta. This tiny app will be the golden child of every owner of every delivery vehicle. This tiny app will make you a pimp daddy - oh. I want you to have 40% ownership in addition to $500 beer money.

If brilliant and you know it, just post a comment below explaining why you think you'd be my perfect partner and ideal next big O.G. Pimp Daddy. And stop clapping. It's embarrassing.

This tiny app will make you a pimp daddy - oh

PS... Why wouldn't some myopically greedy developer take the idea and just build it himself? Simple. I have all the phone numbers of all the editors of every trade journal in this nebula on speed dial - on my cell. If you build it, I can sell it faster than you can say, "2756 Guisseppicalyptusigan Street. Hyannisport, MA" So tell me why you'd be the man. And leave your contact info willya?



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Comments (2)

Jul 30, 2010
keefmoon said...
I completely agree. There is no point spending your time on something unless you believe it can be a success. I develop for the iPhone in my spare time, and I have a young family, so my time is even more precious to me. I jumped on the iPhone bandwagon, not because I thought it was a gravy train, but because I had a good idea idea and I thought other people would like it. I launched Instant Tweetup as a cheap App, but after a blog post suggested it should be free, I decided I agreed and made it free.

I only work on Apps that I think are useful, interesting, or solve a problem, and I'd much prefer to take a stake in the profits for a reduced upfront development cost. You only need one App to go global for it to be worth while and the more Apps you work on the more change you have of that happening.

If you want to chat about your App idea, head to www.dataninjitsu.com or find me on Twitter @keefmoon.

Keith

Jul 30, 2010
TylerBeerman said...
Very smart @journik .... Loved the article! But, they are contract workers for a reason. They love autonomy, don't want to be employed by anyone person, and like the freedom to leave projects at a moments notice. Most iPhone developers will charge an arm and a leg and don't want equity, because then they are committed, and they don't like commitment, THAT'S WHY THEY FREELANCE! Get at me, know a couple people that would probably do it just for the money... I'll take the equity ;)

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