Why This Designer Takes 3 Years to Build Apps

By Designer Tom

Categories: Design, Product

Summary

This designer takes 3 years to build apps, but the result is differentiated products that feel more like art than technology. He bootstraps his company, stays small, and focuses on quality over speed - a counterintuitive approach in today's fast-paced tech world.

Key Takeaways

  1. Design as differentiation: The designer focuses on creating unique, differentiated products rather than chasing speed or scale, taking up to 3 years to develop each app.
  2. Staying small and bootstrapped: The company remains tiny and fully bootstrapped, finding that scaling the team doesn't necessarily improve the quality of the work.
  3. Prioritizing quality over speed: In an industry often obsessed with speed, this designer believes that quality and craftsmanship are more important for the type of work he's doing.
  4. Creating tools for creatives: The designer is focused on building tools for creative people, such as a camera app that takes 3 years to develop, because he finds joy in seeing what others create with his work.
  5. Avoiding VC and scaling: The designer has consciously chosen to avoid VC funding and scaling, preferring to maintain control and focus on creating unique, high-quality products.
  6. Designing for delight: The designer aims to create apps that provide a delightful, playful user experience, like a calculator that feels like a game or a weather app with a Lego skin.

Topics

Transcript Excerpt

Andy Allen is a designer that I really admire because of his ability to stay calm in the face of noise and produce something novel. But at one point, he disappeared into the startup world. He co-founded a company, raised $45 million, did hardware, software, had a decent exit, and then he walked away from all of it. Now he runs his own product company, not boring software, fully bootstrapped, no investors. It's a tiny team making apps that feel like nothing else on your phone. a calculator that f...