Curtis had a topic planned, but Alice and Jelly ruined everything. The three talk about their experiences through out the course of Independence, how things have changed, why it’s ending, and ultimately answer the question of whether they still aim to be independent.

Independence

66: Keep Not Wearing Pants

If you’re considering doing an app with subscriptions, there’s some things you may want to consider before you make that move, as it’s not necessarily the best answer for every situation. Curtis and Jelly have been using subscriptions for a while, so Alice quizzes them on how things have been going, in the hopes that it’ll give her an answer on whether she should move to using them herself.

65: Subscriptions

After launching a new thing—or an update to a thing—Jelly likes to stop, look back at the process, and evaluate how things went. For him, it involves considering the answers to some key questions, and he decides that it’s worth forcing Alice and Curtis through this process. Together, they discuss recent launches, how they went, and what they feel could have gone better… or worse.

64: Post-Launch Review

Running a successful business is hard, and with the myriad of decisions that you make, it’s also difficult to do so in an ethical way. Alice, Curtis, and Jelly look back at the decisions they’ve made in trying to run ethical businesses, how they’ve worked out long term, and whether they’ve been the right choices in the long term.

63: Ethical Businesses

If there’s one thing that’s important when building a business around software, it’s data, but there are also downsides to collecting the data, both for us as business-owners, and for our customers. Alice, Jelly and Curtis talk about their approaches to data collection, and why it’s best to keep privacy in mind when creating software.

62: Data Privacy

It’s sometimes far too easy to get caught up in the idea that when we create something as indies, it’s for other people, but that doesn’t need to be the case. Alice, Curtis and Jelly discuss their own approach to starting new things, and why it’s sometimes worthwhile.

61: Starting New Projects

Growing our products and acquiring new users is something that most indies aren’t particularly good at, but it’s a significant factor in achieving success in the App Store. Alice, Curtis and Jelly take a look at their own approaches to growth, why they’ve worked out—or not, as the case may be—and why you would want to be intentional about your growth.

60: Intentional Growth

Long time friend of the show, Aleen Simms, joins our trio to talk about her upcoming project, App Launch Map, and how it helps define basic strategies for successfully launching an app on the App Store.

59: App Launch Map

If there’s one thing we rely on as indies, it’s inspiration. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have it, and learning how to feed it and channel it is a core part of what we need to do to survive. Alice, Jelly and Curtis take a look at where they get inspiration from, what they do when it’s not flowing, how they think they could get better at fostering it.

58: Inspiration

Every year at WWDC, Apple drops a bunch of new things for app developers to work on, and 2019 is no different… in fact, it may be the biggest year we’ve had for a while. Alice, Curtis and Jelly talk about what they tend to take from the developer conference each year, and how to approach integrating the new features into their various apps.

57: Keeping up with the Cooks

Positive comments sure do feel nice, but should we be doing more with them than just acknowledging their existence? Alice, Curtis and Jelly go over some instances where they’ve received praise for their respective apps, and consider the ways it’s helped them produce a better product.

56: The Happiest Customer

When it comes to our businesses as indies, the weakest link in the chain is us. Alice, Curtis and Jelly look at each of their businesses to see what they’re already doing (and what they probably still need to do) to pass things on once they’re six feet under.

55: The Single Point of Failure

Often, it can be very tempting to come up with an idea, and just start building it right away. While this can feel like the right path, often it’s actually better in the long-term to spend time thinking about a feature, and figuring out what it is first. Alice, Curtis and Jelly discuss their approaches to planning features, what constraints they place on themselves, and the steps you should be taking before opening Xcode.

54: Feature Planning

Independence is two years old, and our intrepid hosts once again answer questions fielded by listeners. Finally, answers to the important questions, such as their thoughts on growth hacking, tips for getting the most out of WWDC, and what they wanted to be when they grew up.

53: Ask Us Anything (2019)

Accessibility is something that is often overlooked in the tech industry, and the very scope of it can be daunting. Alice certainly feels like she’s dropped the ball on considering the accessibility needs of her users, so she enlists Curtis and Jelly and together they discuss their inspirations, how they approach accessibility in their apps, and where you can find resources on accessibility.

52: Accessibility

Surviving in the muddy waters of the App Store as an indie isn’t easy. Alice Zhao, Curtis Herbert and Daniel “Jelly” Farrelly explore what it means to them, what they do to make it work, and how to claim your independence.