The Rules Are The Rules

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I have such mixed feelings about Apple’s App Store and the way it is handled. On one hand it is great for users as they know every piece of software they download won’t be stealing their information or act as a virus. (Yes, there are missed things but for the most part this has been true and Apple quickly fixes the security issues.) On the other hand, it has destroyed the price of software, made marketing a product except by word of mouth nearly impossible, and makes testing with more than a few people painful.

Given that, though, I do respect Apple for its consistency. If this report is to be believed then Apple basically told Microsoft they can pay the same rate as everyone else.

So the company has been pushing Apple to adjust the 70/30 revenue split in its developer license agreement. Predictably, Apple has refused to comply. It’s not yet clear what sort of concession Microsoft is seeking, but whatever it is, Apple’s evidently not willing to consider it. Indeed, I’m told it has taken a “the rules are the rules” stance, which would suggest it’s not at all willing to negotiate a different split.

There are no favorites in Apple’s world. The rules are the rules. I heard similar stories from a friend regarding Apple’s developer conference. He works in a massively huge organization and Apple set a five passes per company rule for the conference. No exceptions were made, even for this big company that has hundreds who could attend.

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[via Daring Fireball]

Discontinuing Services The Right Way

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I received an email from Google last week. The company is discontinuing the free version of Google Apps for Business. When it started Google Apps for Business offered 50 free accounts before you had to pay. Last year that changed to 10. Now there is no free tier beyond a trial. Here’s the email:

Hello from Google,

Here’s some important news about Google Apps—but don’t worry, there’s no need for you to take any action. We just want you to know that we’re making a change to the packages we offer.

Starting today, we’re no longer accepting new sign-ups for the free version of Google Apps (the version you’re currently using). Because you’re already a customer, this change has no impact on your service, and you can continue to use Google Apps for free.

Should you ever want to upgrade to Google Apps for Business, you’ll enjoy benefits such as 24/7 customer support, a 25 GB inbox, business controls, our 99.9% uptime guarantee, unlimited users and more for just $5 per user, per month.

You can learn more about this change in our Help Center or on the Enterprise Blog.

Thank you for using Google Apps.

Clay Bavor
Director, Google Apps

I want to commend Google for making this change the right way. First, they aren’t forcing anyone to upgrade. Second, our current plan is grandfathered in, meaning as long as we keep it we get the same service for the same low (free) price. When introducing new products or needing to make substantial changes, this is the way to do it.

I’ve made this mistake before. Before we introduced powerOne for iOS we had originally developed a product called FastFigures. When we decided to discontinue it and move to powerOne, we removed it from the app store, making it impossible for those that already bought to re-download. The right way to do this, in those days, would have been to leave FastFigures in the store and introduce powerOne as a product. We reversed ourselves but by then the damage had been done. In the future I hope we will be more considerate.

The Mom Test

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Steph Hay wrote a great post over at A List Apart on The Mom Test and keeping it real:

For me, no one on earth is better at calling me on my crap than my mom. She worked hard to birth me, raise me even when I was incredibly annoying, and guide me as I struggled through all my melodramatic “Who am I?” crises. All while deftly managing millions of dollars for an entire school system in Ohio.

So whenever I write content, I apply the Mom Test to ferret out hidden marketing or business jargon. Here’s how it works: I write content, then read it out loud while imagining my mom is listening. (Sometimes she actually is. Call your mom; she misses you.)

If at any point I envision my mom saying, “That sounds nice, Steph,” then I know it’s not real enough. The goal of this technique is always to elicit an actual reaction from her, like “Oooh, can I use it?” or “When is this event happening, again?” These substantive “What next?” responses indicate that she really understood.

I’ve been working on a product description for the new app forever, trying to refine it and make it more down-to-earth. It is so hard to do. I love The Mom Test. I had a chance to apply it this past week with an uncle of mine. He is a very smart man but generally doesn’t understand technology. I’ve spent years explaining to him what I do and he never seems to get it, always saying the best he can do is a text message and email. It’s always hard to tell but I get the impression he understood the new product, at least at a high level. We’ll see the next time I speak with him.

Managing the Financials

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Brad Feld talked about a company that blew away his expectations for financial results and in the process he asked how we as entrepreneurs manage budgets and forecasts. Here is what I told him:

I do annual budgets based on the most likely known data and then show where the upside might occur and when. I’m very conservative by nature and, partly due to being raised without much money, always worried about cash. I adjust these numbers based on new data on a monthly basis, which means by the time I reach any given quarter, my estimates are stronger. Since I budget the current year and the next fiscal year, those changes give me a long-term window as well, so I have a pretty decent idea of where things lay over a longer window. As a part of my annual budgeting process, I look back over the previous year to see how close I was at the beginning versus where we ended up. This hones my prediction skills.

I traditionally have been very good at budgeting and watch the cash very closely. I’d like to be surprised on the upside, though, for a change!

Goal Creep

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I started exercising consistently about a year ago. I’ve tried off and on and failed repeatedly. I’d get on the bike all summer, lose a bunch of weight, and then gain it all back in the winter. I realized a year ago I was trying to do too much in the winter and the pressure of trying to do too much kept me from doing anything. David Heinemeier Hansson talked about goal creep in a recent blog post:

It didn’t take long before my ambition swelled, and I upped the goal from finishing mid-pack to top 10. Of course, not before taking a brief moment to bask in the glory of reaching that first goal, enjoying success per my own definition. A definition that would surely have qualified as utter failure for many others (what schmuck is happy to be mid-pack among gentlemen?! At the time, me!).

And thus, the goal creep was on. It crept from top 10, to podium, to moving up to a bigger series, a faster car, more downforce, tougher competition, longer races, a better team, and on it went.

My old problem is that I didn’t let goal creep happen. I wanted to be on the podium before I even learned to ride. Last winter I took a different approach. I decided I didn’t have to be my high school weight again in one year. (That’s a joke. I was 6’1, 145 pounds when I graduated high school. I wouldn’t even want to be that light again, even if I could.) I wanted to lose the weight over multiple years. My first winter’s goal was to exercise for 20 minutes four days per week then ride all summer. This winter it’s 30 minutes and five days per week. I’ll keep letting the goal creep until I’m at a happy weight and fitness level.