The Big Feature
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In June of 2020, I wrote about my first major update to Spend Stack. It’s a fond indie memory! After meticulously preparing the update, press kit and everything else we all do, I woke up and…
- Saw it shoot to #1 in the Finance category
- It had press coverage
- Multiple App Store features
- And, App of the Day
…the works, man. I remember thinking, “It doesn’t get any better than this!” Though, reflecting on it now, my moonshot goal has always been to grow an app which could be a single source of income for my family. With a stay at home wife, three kids, health insurance…it’s a tall order.
Spend Stack made a few thousand bucks over that month, I think, the most for me at the time. While I look back at it fondly, it never came close to being anything other than some nice side income.
Fast forward to now, and things look different. Elite Hoops has had zero press coverage and no App Store features and yet…it’s made that same amount over the last three or four days.
I don’t mean to puff out my chest (I know several devs making much, much more — I know several devs making much, much less). What I do mean to say is, I think I’ve arrived at a place where my experience is outpacing my previous “indie” desires. Instead of chasing a new API, I spend a lot of time these days pouring through feedback, wondering about my app’s ability to grow, and doubling down on the things that are working.
Which is where the aforementioned “big feature” launch came from. After a bunch of research, talking to coaches, and looking at my own data — I realized I was in a wonderful position to deliver a compelling practice planner experience. I wrote about it recently. I don’t want to rehash too much other than to say, it’s gone great! It’s only been over a week, but all metrics are up. Conversions. Trial starts. All of it.
Usually, I preach that growth is found outside of Xcode. But, maybe, just maybe, there’s that one killer feature that could drive up all metrics for you. The trick is to know what that feature is, because historically — we tend to think all of them are.
Postscript
Originally I wanted to do an in-depth, shareable, knowledgeable-laden postmortem that anyone could dissect at their leisure to learn from. Apply it to their own work. Share all I could. Though, the year is coming to a close, and, well — I’m pretty tired. I’m ready to sit on a couch and play Call of Duty (Nuketown 24/7 playlist is live!) once my Christmas break kicks in.
What I do hope you get from this, though, is that if you are in a spot where things are stale, you’re in a rut, not really making any money, downloads are down — you name it, I want you to know that I’ve been there for several years. And while I’m not at my goal of Elite Hoops being a sole source of income, I’m encouraged that it’s growing. It took so many years, but for the first time it feels possible, like I could actually do this.
And sometimes, all it takes is about ten years of it not working. Then one day, it just kinda does.
With that, I also want to say I’m truly thankful for all of you who have stuck around and read this silly website. I used to think of myself as the new kid on the block, writing for whoever would care to read. Now, I suppose I’ve been around a bit. I still enjoy all of this just as much as I did when I picked up this lil guy.
Have a wonderful rest of 2024, and I’ll see you all next year.
Until next time ✌️