I think what's missing here is that it can take a long time post-launch for your app (or any other product) to take off and this is where the independent develo

I think what's missing here is that it can take a long time post-launch for your app (or any other product) to take off and this is where the independent developer with a day-job has the advantage over the VC (or otherwise funded) start-up with full-time employees. If you have the means to support yourself, you can fine-tune your app and it's marketing over the course of years (as someone else mentioned, tuning internet marketing takes more "calendar time" than clock-time) and hone it until you get it right. I know we all think time moves faster on the internet, but look at how much time elapsed between Twitter's first public beta and it's breach into the public eye (only a month or so ago?). On the other hand, if you are working on your project full-time, you have a fuse burning that is your funding and generally it's limited. From some of the conversations I've had recently, this fuse is as short as six months (and that's counting dev time before launch) and in my experience that's not enough, even if you get really lucky with media coverage. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer here. You have to continually evaluate your current position and decide if you need to go full-time to make it to the next level, and there is no prescription for this as every project (and developer) is different. My only advice is that you put off making the jump as long as possible because when you do, you've given up one of the major advantages you have over companies that need to satisfy shareholders/employees and the cost is going to change the dynamics of your project dramatically.