Ryan McLeod became an indie app developer after graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2014 and briefly working as a web developer.
After working on a social music startup for a time that ended up disbanding, Ryan switched gears and started learning iOS. Originally a side project, this knowledge led to the creation of the popular iOS app Blackbox, a game that helps players practice creative thinking by solving puzzles without actually touching their screen.
Some Questions I Ask Ryan:
- What got you into indie app development? [2:58]
- What happened after you finished up school? [4:24]
- What about taking risks with app development scares you? [6:36]
- How did the idea for Blackbox come about and were there any parameters? [10:08]
- What do you think provides the biggest value when having people test out an app before releasing it? [16:22]
- Have you ever done a soft launch on an update? [20:39]
- How do you market the Blackbox app? [22:32]
- What is the story behind Snapchat and your successful marketing? [34:18]
- What tools do you use to measure the effects of Blackbox? [39:34]
- Is the indie developer game realm big? [49:38]
- What would you give as words of advice to anyone looking to bring their product to the app store? [54:39]
- What's next for Blackbox? [1:00:00]
- How do you develop the levels for Blackbox? [1:02:23]
- What was the award you received? [1:04:28]
- Was there a large bump in users when you received this award? [1:06:20]
- What's the story behind your Gravity app? [1:07:20]
- What advice would you give to entrepreneurs? [1:15:35]
- Would you recommend that entrepreneurs release products right away? [1:16:05]
- Are there any books, audiobooks, or content you'd recommend? [1:20:06]
Some Things You'll Learn In This Episode:
- Why Ryan wouldn't recommend getting into the music startup industry
- The work Ryan was doing before training in iOS
- Ryan's thoughts on taking risks when there are possibilities for big rewards
- What aspects of app development Ryan has a particular interest in
- What Blackbox's beta testing process was like
- What program Ryan used for beta testing to tease out flaws
- What Ryan wished he would have done with the soft launch during testing
- Why Ryan doesn't utilize push notifications for Blackbox
- What the hardest part about developing levels for Blackbox is
- How the idea for Ryan's Gravity app came to fruition
- What kinds of products Ryan personally doesn't like
Looking to get in touch with Ryan? You can find him here:
Twitter: @Warpling
Instagram: @Warpling
