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Jumping back into indie product development

Ben Syverson
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Hi all, I'm an indie developer from way back (released my first plug-ins in the early 2000s), who joined the product design firm IDEO in 2014. Working at one of the top design firms in the world was a true education, but I felt the itch to get back to entrepreneurship. This year I left IDEO to do two things: 1) search for a company to acquire with my partner and fellow IDEOer Nate, through our company Infinite Cake, and 2) actually ship some of my apps and side projects. On that last point, I'm gearing up to re-launch Mattebox, an iOS photo app I originally pulled from the store in November 2014. A lot has changed! I rebuilt the app from a clean sheet during lockdown, and I'll be submitting it for App Store review shortly, and will launch on PH once it's up. If you're interested in checking out the TestFlight, get in touch! Ben

Replies

Gurkaran Singh
Wow, Ben, jumping from IDEO to indie development again - talk about going from the Mount Everest of design firms back to the wild west! Mattebox sounds intriguing; looking forward to seeing it on PH. If you're taking a break from app development, check out Her Ideal Match - it's all about using data science to improve dating profiles. Best of luck!
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Maru Rivera
Kudos Ben! It's good to have you back in the indie arena. I'm curious tho, it's been 10 years since your iOS app stopped being available and yes, a lot has changed. Did you have to changed just a few things about your initial app or are you basically working in something related but completely different? To be more specific, the changes since 2014 have become opportunities or threats for your app? Good luck with your launch!
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Ben Syverson
Mattebox
Mattebox
@maru_rivera1 Thanks Maru! And good question. Mattebox used to be a combination camera app and photo editing app. In this reboot, I focused 100% on editing. There's a lot more that goes into making a first-class camera app like Halide these days, and there's not too much I would do differently in terms of the UI. I think focusing on editing has made the app easier to understand and navigate. Perhaps the biggest thing that has changed since 2014 is that the photo editing space has become almost entirely dominated by AI features. I made a conscious decision to avoid AI, and focus on "real photography." So you could see AI as a threat to the app, or an opportunity for it to stand out a little from all the AI-powered apps. Another factor is the business model. When Mattebox launched in 2011, many (most?) apps were still free or paid-up-front. These days, everything in the photo space is subscription or ad-supported, so I switched the model to subscription. The free features are pretty generous—maybe overly generous? But I have other subscription-only features planned. I'll report back on PH what I learn from this launch! PS, congrats on Tailbox—looks rad!
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