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I built a five-year career of self-employment on the back of a Mac app called Pukka which was itself built upon Delicious. http://codesorcery.net/2006/02/26/he

I built a five-year career of self-employment on the back of a Mac app called Pukka which was itself built upon Delicious. http://codesorcery.net/2006/02/26/hello-world http://codesorcery.net/2006/02/26/hello-world I turned the interest in the app into my first piece of commercial software which, coming from an open source and free software background, was actually pretty daunting. I timidly started charging five bucks in the pre-App Store days, before eventually raising the price over time to make it more sustainable. http://codesorcery.net/2006/05/03/so-really-whats-the-deal http://codesorcery.net/2006/05/03/so-really-whats-the-deal I had ups and downs, launched a second app (Meerkat, for SSH tunneling), but eventually realized I wasn't really an indie product person as much as I was a people and services one, so I ended up doing about 80% consulting and 20% Mac software, including Pukka. I eventually ended up folding up shop after I went to work for Mapbox full-time in 2011. http://codesorcery.net/2012/09/06/sunset http://codesorcery.net/2012/09/06/sunset This is something Maciej even wrote about. https://twitter.com/Pinboard/status/243511937722376192 https://twitter.com/Pinboard/status/243511937722376192 So I'll always have a spot in my heart for Delicious, and this seems a fitting and appropriate end. I'm so glad its content will remain available in perpetuity.

groby_b 9y ago
Thank you for Pukka. It was an awesome client.
idlewords 9y ago
Pukka was great, and it's so nice to hear from you in this thread!
markdown 9y ago
Thanks for Meerkat. Nifty little app.
stadeschuldt 9y ago
Pukka was one of the first apps I bought on the mac. Thank you.
jonaf 9y ago
Tangential, but what made you decide to go back to full time employment? Also, did you just not enjoy working on a product as much as consulting work, or was it simply not as lucrative/sustainable/reliable?
- incanus77 9y ago
  I wrote about the change: http://codesorcery.net/2011/03/04/working-with-development-seed http://codesorcery.net/2011/03/04/working-with-development-s... Basically, I thought I'd never work again for someone else. That was over six years ago. Mapbox has grown from about 15 to over 220 people now. Somehow I knew it was different and it was just compelling enough — plus I had a "try before you buy" experience through contracting that was just too good to pass up. On the balance, I definitely enjoyed the software (and still do), but especially working at home on my own, I enjoyed the interaction with people (usually by email or phone, sometimes in person) and the constant variety and problem-solving nature of it. And not just technical problems, but organizational and strategic problems, too. I think it could have been as lucrative, but at least in the Mac software space (and probably the iOS one more so), it had a certain element of "grind" to it, with product marketing and website presentation, working PR contacts and releases, and constantly getting things in front of influential people. As much as I enjoyed that some of the time, I didn't want to do as much as it would have required to make apps the lion's share of my income.
  - jonaf 9y ago
    Thanks! I never thought of it this way before, but I suppose there's no "set it and forget it" to selling on the app store if selling on the app store is your primary source of income, since you have to keep working to ensure the product remains relevant, gains new customers, etc. (Selling on the app store is decidedly not SaaS, after all.)
    - incanus77 9y ago
      Yep, exactly. Even the "greats" just relentlessly promote and keep their apps relevant. Even a one-day or one-week windfall from a viral launch will not sustain you over time.
clebio 9y ago
> Pinboard works with a variety of outside services, including Reeder, Delibar, and Pukka. If there is an API feature that you need to make your app work, just ask! https://pinboard.in/tour/#api https://pinboard.in/tour/#api
- incanus77 9y ago
  I think the subtext here is that Maciej should update the text to remove Pukka! :-)

groby_b 9y ago

Thank you for Pukka. It was an awesome client.

idlewords 9y ago

Pukka was great, and it's so nice to hear from you in this thread!

markdown 9y ago

Thanks for Meerkat. Nifty little app.

stadeschuldt 9y ago

Pukka was one of the first apps I bought on the mac. Thank you.

jonaf 9y ago

Tangential, but what made you decide to go back to full time employment? Also, did you just not enjoy working on a product as much as consulting work, or was it simply not as lucrative/sustainable/reliable?

incanus77 9y ago
I wrote about the change: http://codesorcery.net/2011/03/04/working-with-development-seed http://codesorcery.net/2011/03/04/working-with-development-s... Basically, I thought I'd never work again for someone else. That was over six years ago. Mapbox has grown from about 15 to over 220 people now. Somehow I knew it was different and it was just compelling enough — plus I had a "try before you buy" experience through contracting that was just too good to pass up. On the balance, I definitely enjoyed the software (and still do), but especially working at home on my own, I enjoyed the interaction with people (usually by email or phone, sometimes in person) and the constant variety and problem-solving nature of it. And not just technical problems, but organizational and strategic problems, too. I think it could have been as lucrative, but at least in the Mac software space (and probably the iOS one more so), it had a certain element of "grind" to it, with product marketing and website presentation, working PR contacts and releases, and constantly getting things in front of influential people. As much as I enjoyed that some of the time, I didn't want to do as much as it would have required to make apps the lion's share of my income.
- jonaf 9y ago
  Thanks! I never thought of it this way before, but I suppose there's no "set it and forget it" to selling on the app store if selling on the app store is your primary source of income, since you have to keep working to ensure the product remains relevant, gains new customers, etc. (Selling on the app store is decidedly not SaaS, after all.)
  - incanus77 9y ago
    Yep, exactly. Even the "greats" just relentlessly promote and keep their apps relevant. Even a one-day or one-week windfall from a viral launch will not sustain you over time.

clebio 9y ago

> Pinboard works with a variety of outside services, including Reeder, Delibar, and Pukka. If there is an API feature that you need to make your app work, just ask! https://pinboard.in/tour/#api https://pinboard.in/tour/#api

incanus77 9y ago
I think the subtext here is that Maciej should update the text to remove Pukka! :-)