The Journey of the Soulmen

Talk about the 12 year long company history of The Soulmen. Lessons learnt and struggles we waded through. Given during the 2014 Bilkent Mobile Days at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.

Transcript

1. T H E J O U R N E Y O F T H E S O U L M E N M A X S E E L E M A N N
2. U LY S S E S I I I
3. D A E D A L U S T O U C H
4. T H E S O U L M E N • Me • Marcus • 2 Developers • 1 PR / Press / Marketing • 1 Support
5. T H E S TA G E S
6. F I R S T C O N TA C T
8. E A R LY D AY S • Me, Marcus & Michael • Development: Sep 2002 - Jul 2003 • All done in spare time
9. E A R LY D AY S 640 x 480
10. D E C L I N E • High price: € 100 • Competitors popped up • Not easy to understand • Too many promises
11. C O P Y W R I T E
12. S C R I V E N E R
13. AT T E M P T E D R E B O O T • Winter 2005 - Spring 2007 • Complete rewrite
14. U LY S S E S 1 . 5
15. R E P E AT I N G M I S TA K E S • Same structural problems • Same advanced use only • Under-sold big changes as free update • Stuck with old promises
16. T H E PA U S E • Reduced team availability • Little revenue
 • Summer 2007: Marcus left the team
17. T H E R E B O O T • Spring 2009: Marcus returns • Start Ulysses 1.7 2.0
 • New look • New price: € 25 • Low-power mode
18. U LY S S E S 2 . 0
19. E X P E R I M E N T S • Music App • iPhone Games
 • No results…
21. N E W G R O U N D S
23. D A E D A L U S T O U C H • Started in Summer 2010 • Part Time
 
 • Published in May 2011 • Full Time • Mac App Store
24. M A C A P P S T O R E • January 2011: Ulysses 2.1 • April 2011: Going full time Jan ‘11 Feb ‘11 Mar ‘11 Apr ‘11
25. U LY S S E S I I I • 2011: Things changed since 2002 • Backups, Fullscreen, State Restoration • Ulysses 2 was too complicated
29. TA M I N G T H E B E A S T • Complete Redesign Rethinking • Rewrite • Starting in Oct 2011 • +1 Engineer in Jan 2012 • +1 Engineer in Sep 2012
30. TA M I N G T H E B E A S T • Development took 18 months • 8 man-years of work
 • It almost killed us
31. S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y Oct ‘11 Mar ‘12 Aug ‘12 Dez ‘12 Mar ‘13
32. R U L E O F P I Start Goal Result
33. R E L I E F Mar ‘13 Apr ‘13 Oct ‘13 Dec ‘13
34. N O W • Just don’t break it
 • Continue development • Finally grow into sustainability
 • Change how we write…
35. TA K E A WAY P O I N T S 1. Start while you don’t depend on it 2. Focus – And stay true to your ideals 3. Rule of Pi
36. T H E J O U R N E Y O F T H E S O U L M E N M A X S E E L E M A N N U LY S S E S A P P. C O M D A E D A L U S A P P. C O M