My iPad 3 Wish: Writing Support

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“It’s like we said on the iPad, if you see a stylus, they blew it.” – Steve Jobs, iOS 4 launch

The one thing I still can’t get rid of is a pad of paper. It is just too versatile. I can take notes, draw, create checklists, anything. I can write in pencil or pen. I can highlight my notes. With a pencil, I can even erase and try again. Of course this stuff doesn’t transfer to a computer very well and it sure isn’t searchable. I would really like to be able to do something with my notes.

I tried using my iPad and it works perfectly fine for basic note-taking with the built-in keyboard but I can’t draw on the page very well. I’ve tried a number of third-party note taking apps and find every one deficient for one reason or another. I have even tried the stylus-driven ones but find that the tip size coupled with poor precision and this horrible problem of not being able to put my hand on the screen just kills it every time. I have very neat handwriting on paper but on an iPad it is illegible.

I thought about other tools for this. Livescribe is very interesting, for example. I get the better part of pen and paper and then can sync that to a computer to make it searchable. But the idea of writing in pen bothers me. I really love my eraser.

I have a hard time believing that Apple doesn’t see this as an opportunity, that a developer or two hasn’t been working on a special Bluetooth-enabled stylus and programming interface that has the kind of precision of a pen and paper with all the benefits of doing it on a tablet. If we can tell slight angles of a device and use that to race cars I would think it would be quite easy to recognize the optional stylus.

To me, Steve Jobs’ statement was bull. If the only mechanism for inputting on the device is a stylus, fine. That’s bad form. In the real-world we use all kinds of medium: pencils and pens, markers, paintbrushes. But on the iPad we have pretty much been relegated to finger-painting.

If I had an iPad 3 wish, this would be it. The one feature I’d love to see is that stylus and programming interface from Apple that shows how amazing and magical writing can be.

Three Magic Numbers

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Three Magic Numbers

Brad Feld talks about how he came to the conclusion that there are only three numbers that matter and we should each figure out what ours are. His post has been sticking in my craw for a while now. He is right: we have an explosion of data and it is impossible to track it all and have it be meaningful. I remember early on the advice I received: don’t track it if you aren’t going to use it. I try to be judicious this way.

So what numbers do I track right now? On a daily basis, it is revenues, overall downloads, and product position in the category for our top selling app. The category position gives me a good indicator as to whether revenues are down overall or just for our products.

On a quarterly/half-yearly/annual basis, I look at revenue and downloads, too, but broken down on a per product basis and graphed. The graph helps me stay focused on data trends rather than the data points themselves. I also look at month-to-month revenues to see how it is trending versus the year before.

On top of this I am always watching the cash in the bank account. That’s a given, though, and is the most important number. As my college management professor taught me, Cash Is King.

The End of the “Provide For Me” Era

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In the 1880s and earlier, before the industrial revolution, there really was no middle class. In fact, I would argue that the middle class really didn’t emerge until after World War II. Before that there was just one class, albeit split between those with money and those without, those who could feed themselves and those who relied on others. These two groups aren’t connected by the way. Those with money often relied on others to feed them while those without, often farmers, managed to feed their families just fine. But what was clear during these earlier time periods is that those who “made it” took care of their own [1].

The industrial revolution changed that. Many people went to work for someone else and a middle class emerged, particularly in the mid to late 20th century. Thanks to organized labor unskilled workers could make a living in factories all over the country.

But we all know where we are now. Many factory jobs have left these shores for foreign countries and middle class wages have officially been stagnant for almost 30 years. The golf between the better-off and the struggling has expanded and it isn’t clear that this will close any time soon.

Many people have theories of how to close this gap. Short of wealth-redistribution, I’m not certain it is possible. But I didn’t write to talk politics. What I am wondering is if this middle class era was really an anomaly in world history? I am wondering if this era of relying on others for your work and wage was a short-lived by-product of the industrial era? And now that the industrial era is fading, I’m wondering if we are returning to a provide-for-yourself economy?

Bryce Roberts alluded to these questions a week or so ago in his post Rise of the Independents. In it he facets that we are entering a “golden era” of indie companies, an era when it is financially feasible to chart your own course and work on big or small projects of your making. Later, in a subsequent post, he clarifies his thinking: “The point I wanted to make was that we’re at a critical inflection point for entrepreneurship. The company man and his accompanying gold watch and pension are a relic that I, nor my kids, will see again in our lifetimes.”

Times change and we all need to adopt. Maybe, just maybe, the sooner we each realize we have to make our own way in this world the sooner we can get the country back on track.

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[1] Obviously there was some period serious problems during this era of American history. Blacks had no place in the country and while they had earned their rights after the Civil War they were still in essence slaves and indentured servants. Women, too, had no place outside the home.

Growing Up

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At 26 I thought I was ready to run a company.

In the preceding few years I had done pretty much everything while putting the first building blocks of Infinity Softworks in place. I’d written much of the code, did support, managed the finances, sold and marketed the products, built relationships.

And then in 2000 I met a few good guys and we agreed that we wanted to build something bigger. The stock market was still going strong, the mobile market was growing 100% per year and we were afraid someone would pass us. So we decided to raise a round of funding. And that became my job while I left everyone else to run the company.

But me walking away like this left the company rudderless. I never shared my vision for the company and never pushed my ideas. I didn’t do a good job of defining roles in the company. I can’t even say I even believed in my own abilities.

Infinity Softworks, over the next seven years, failed. By 2007 the revenues were gone and the employees were gone and I was left by myself, again, for the first time since 1999.

But then something funny happened. A spark, an idea, a belief. And I started to build around that idea and I was able to convince one of my previous employees to come back, too. And the idea became more formed over the next year and a half and a few other people offered to help, some with money and others with time.

And now the ideas are solid enough to pursue as a bigger company again. The mobile market is growing better than 100% per year and we are attracting even more people to help out, with money or time or both.

But this time it is different. Not just because the ideas are different and more fully formed but also because I am different.

At 38 I am ready to run a company.

I understand my vision and I understand my strengths and limitations. I have a hiring strategy and a business strategy and a product strategy and the beginnings of a marketing strategy. I am comfortable with who I am. I am no longer ashamed of my attention to detail, my desire to get everything just right, my unbending rule that you don’t ship half-ass crap. I have the personal fortitude to take in other people’s opinions and let them influence the direction without losing my own perspectives. Heck, I have perspectives.

It took me 12 years but I’m ready to lead.

Follow me.

Happy Valentine’s Day

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When I was younger I really hated this day. It’s a corporate shill game, I’d say, a way for Hallmark to sell more cards.

While I’m not certain that isn’t true, I’ve decided to start celebrating this day a different way. It’s a day for me to remember what an important role my family plays in the company I run, how I couldn’t do it without them. Their support and understanding, their ability to drag me away from the computer when I need it most, their desire to see this succeed, is just as important as every line of code I write and every sales call I make.