Release Notes

We’re joined again today by Justin Jackson, founder of MegaMaker and professional online marketer. Today we continue our conversation about landing pages, doing a deep dive into what makes a great landing page. We talk about the structure of an effective landing page, why you probably want to talk about yourself, how to test them, why you should use multiple calls-to-action, and a whole lot more. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Justin Jackson on Twitter MegaMaker – Justin’s company MegaMaker – Justin’s landing page course Justin’s blog Words – One of Justin’s most popular blog posts on the importance of words Justin’s landing page for a desktop CMS Justin’s landing page template Justin’s series of landing page teardown videos – Note from Charles: If you’re interested in landing pages, I strongly suggest that you watch these videos. I learned a lot. Sponsor Replies.io is like code completion for email. It helps streamline your support email by suggesting text snippets, images, and even videos that you’ve used in similar emails in the past. And best of all, Replies.io gets smarter as you use it, suggesting better responses to reduce your workload. Get your 60-day free trial to Replies.io by visiting replies.io/releasenotes.

We’re joined today by Justin Jackson, founder of MegaMaker and professional online marketer. Today we tap Justin’s experience to learn more about landing pages. We talk about using landing pages for market research, using landing pages for product validation, and why getting traffic to your landing page is the least of your problems. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Justin Jackson on Twitter MegaMaker – Justin’s company MegaMaker – Justin’s landing page course Justin’s blog Words – One of Justin’s most popular blog posts on the importance of words Justin’s landing page for a desktop CMS Justin’s landing page template Justin’s series of landing page teardown videos – Note from Charles: If you’re interested in landing pages, I strongly suggest that you watch these videos. I learned a lot. Sponsor The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. It’s been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Right now, FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Today, in part 4 of our series on business web sites, we talk about landing pages. We discuss what landing pages are, customizing landing pages for your audience, and how the design of landing pages differs from the design of a home pages. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Landing Page Articles by Unbounce – Unbounce has a great series of articles on the design of webpages that is worth reading Sponsor The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. It’s been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Right now, FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Continuing our series on webpages, today we talk more about home page design. We discuss appropriate use of color, controlling file size (and with it download time), as well as calls-to-action. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Adobe Color CC TinyPNG Sponsor The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. It’s been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Right now, FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

We’re continuing our series on webpages, by today looking at the design of homepages. We start with a discussion of why you might not want to hire a pro to handle the design of your website. For all those DIYers out there, we also discuss the design process, trends that make a website look modern or dated, more on stock photography, and how to choose the right font. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links iStock by Getty Images Shutterstock Unsplash Google Fonts Sponsor Replies.io is like code completion for email. It helps streamline your support email by suggesting text snippets, images, and even videos that you’ve used in similar emails in the past. And best of all, Replies.io gets smarter as you use it, suggesting better responses to reduce your workload. Get your 60-day free trial to Replies.io by visiting replies.io/releasenotes.

Today we’re starting a series of episodes about business websites. In this episode, we tackle the do’s and don’ts of home pages. We talk about the goal of a home page, its audience, why you should consider writing your home page last, and the role of stock photography. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Sponsor The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. It’s been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Right now, FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Today we’re talking about the relatively new phenomenon of “cashless” brick-and-mortar storefronts, that have started appearing in New York where Joe lives. We use that as a jumping off point to talk about how flexible we should or shouldn’t be with our customers, especially when it comes to terms of payment. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Links and Notes Cash Might Be King, but They Don’t Care by Andy Newman in The New York Times Sponsor The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. It’s been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Right now, FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Today we’re talking about what we want to achieve in the new year. We discuss our goals, and how we want to achieve them. We also have an announcement about our conference in 2018. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Sponsor The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. It’s been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Right now, FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Today we share our take on some Apple news and rumors that have recently come to light. We discuss some changes to the App Store Review Guidelines that will affect white label apps in the iOS App Store, how those changes might affect other non-white label apps that have been affected by Apple’s crackdown, some false rumors that have been debunked, and what we know (and don’t know) about Apple’s “Project Marzipan.” Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Apple Plans Combined iPhone, iPad & Mac Apps to Create One User Experience Sponsor The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. It’s been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Right now, FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

In this episode we continue our conversation about Charles’ efforts to attract new RelaNet customers using cold email outreach. Today we talk statistics: response rates, positive response rates, rates of closing the sale, and more. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links RelaNet Sponsor The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. It’s been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Right now, FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Today we talk about Charles’ efforts to attract new RelaNet customers using cold email outreach. We talk about his source of email addresses, his vetting process, the email scripts he uses, how he tracks which emails are opened, and how he’s using data to optimize his email effort. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links RelaNet Sponsor The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. It’s been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Right now, FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Today we chat with Charles and get an update on his new business, RelaNet. We talk about how he almost (but not quite) reached his 2017 goal, his struggles with taking on a sales role, learning from real customers, and dealing with rejection. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links RelaNet Sponsor The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. It’s been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Right now, FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Through his freelance design business, Joe has had clients for many years. Charles, on the other hand, is new to managing client relationships. So today we talk about how to handle those client relationships as we head into the holidays. Do you send a card? Do you send a gift? Do you attend the holiday party? What exactly should you do (or not do) during the holidays to nurture relationships with your clients? Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Sponsor Buddybuild is a continuous integration, continuous deployment and user feedback platform built specifically for mobile development teams. Buddybuild takes minutes to setup and can easily be customized to perfectly match your app’s specific build requirements. Join the tens of thousands of developers already using buddybuild. Try it free today at buddybuild.com.

Today we’re again joined by Ian Landsman, creator of HelpSpot and co-host of the Bootstrapped podcast. Ian has been building and running his self-funded helpdesk product HelpSpot for 13 years, and along the way he’s learned a lot of lessons about running a successful business online. Today we talk to Ian about the advice he gives to people building their first business, his new side project Thermostat.io, and his experiments with freemium in SaaS. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links @ianlandsman – Ian Landsman on Twitter UserScape – Ian’s company that holds all his products HelpSpot Thermostat.io Bootstrapped – Ian’s podcast that he co-hosts with Andrey Butov Sponsor Redesigned from the ground up, and custom built for the way you work, the all new version of FreshBooks cloud accounting software is the simplest way to be productive, get organized, and get paid up to four days faster. Try FreshBooks free for 30 days by visiting freshbooks.com/releasenotes and entering RELEASE NOTES in the “How did you hear about us?” section.

Today we’re joined by Ian Landsman, creator of HelpSpot and co-host of the Bootstrapped podcast. Ian has been building and running his self-funded helpdesk product HelpSpot for 13 years, and along the way he’s learned a lot of lessons about running a successful business online. Today we talk to Ian about how he got his start in entrepreneurship, how the business landscape has changed over his 13 years at HelpSpot, and how he manages to compete (and succeed!) in a market segment dominated by much larger, VC funded competitors. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links @ianlandsman – Ian Landsman on Twitter UserScape – Ian’s company that holds all his products HelpSpot Thermostat.io Bootstrapped – Ian’s podcast that he co-hosts with Andrey Butov Sponsor RayWenderlich.com is the name you know and trust for iOS development training, and now from November 24-27 you can take advantage of their Black Friday sale and take 50% off of any of their books. Or, you can grab their entire collection of twelve best-selling books for just $199. Head over to store.raywenderlich.com to take advantage of their Black Friday sale, and level up your iOS development career.

Today we start wrapping up the year by talking to Joe about how he’s done this year. We talk about his his goals for the year, what progress he made on them, and his plans for the future. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist.

One of the nice things of being indie, is that it affords you the opportunity to travel without having to worry about vacation time or other concerns that employed folks have. So today we’re talking about the role that travel plays in our lives and some of the tips we’ve discovered over the years to make travel more enjoyable and productive. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Prepaid Data SIM Card Wiki Sponsor Buddybuild is a continuous integration, continuous deployment and user feedback platform built specifically for mobile development teams. Buddybuild takes minutes to setup and can easily be customized to perfectly match your app’s specific build requirements. Join the tens of thousands of developers already using buddybuild. Try it free today at buddybuild.com.

Today we’re sharing a recording of part of our Release Notes 2017 conference post-mortem. We talk about what went well, what could have gone better, and why we made some of the compromises that we made. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist.

A few weeks ago, Charles announced that he was shutting down MetaTax, his reference product for tax preparers. Today we talk about why he made that decision and the mechanics of shutting down a product. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist.

In today’s episode we discuss some of the recent security problems that have come to light with High Sierra and it’s interaction with the new APFS filesystem. We talk about the bug itself, but also why Charles hasn’t upgraded to High Sierra yet, and the unique needs of businesses with regards to stability and risk tolerance. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist.

Today we tackle a variety of topics including the removal of some Games sub-categories in the App Store, some follow-up on the recent change to the App Store Review Guidelines that prohibit white label apps, and an apparent crackdown on apps that use web-based apps without an in-app purchase equivalent. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist.

A few episodes back, we mentioned in passing a change to the App Store Review Guidelines that seemed to outlaw white label apps. Turns out we aren’t the only ones that noticed this. The events industry relies on white label apps, and this change has caused quite a panic among event organizers. So today we talk about this change to the guidelines, the events industry’s response, and how we can identify and avoid similar risks that might affect our businesses. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Appageddon: Will Apple’s App Store New Guidelines Trouble Event Apps? – from Event Manager Blog Your Event App May Become Harder to Find Apple goes after clones and spam on the App Store – TechCrunch Attendify’s take on the new App Store guidelines: Delivering customer value is all that matters – TechCrunch

Today we talk about the recent Apple Keynote. We talk about the new Apple Watch, new 4k AppleTV, and of course the new iPhones, including the new iPhone X. We talk about the hardware announcements, of course, but we also reflect on how we think those announcements will affect our businesses. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Apple Special Event – September 12, 2017 Sponsor Today’s episode is sponsored by Kitemetrics, the simple way to to measure and improve the effectiveness of your App Store ads. Focus on revenue, not just installs. Get started at kitemetrics.com.

Today we have part two of our conversation with Dave Rodenbaugh, a self-funded entrepreneur who has been selling WordPress plugins since 2009. He’s also one half of the Rogue Startups podcast. Today we talk about his experience with the WordPress plugin repository – the WordPress equivalent of the App Store, content marketing, Automattic as the gatekeeper for WordPress plugins, and Sherlocking in the WordPress ecosystem. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links @daverodenbaugh – Dave Rodenbaugh on Twitter Rogue Startups podcast Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by FreshBooks. FreshBooks is the ridiculously easy-to-use online accounting software designed to help creative entrepreneurs get organized, save time, and get paid faster. FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to http://freshbooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

We’re joined today by Dave Rodenbaugh, a self-funded entrepreneur who has been selling WordPress plugins since 2009. He’s also one half of the Rogue Startups podcast. Dave talks to us today about how he got his start in entrepreneurship, a few hard won lessons in pricing, and some of the challenges of building a business on software that’s licensed under the GPL and can therefore be freely redistributed. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links @daverodenbaugh – Dave Rodenbaugh on Twitter Rogue Startups podcast Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by FreshBooks. FreshBooks is the ridiculously easy-to-use online accounting software designed to help creative entrepreneurs get organized, save time, and get paid faster. FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to http://freshbooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Today we (finally) discuss CrashPlan’s exit from the consumer market. We talk about what CrashPlan did right with this transition, why Charles doesn’t consider BackBlaze a suitable alternative to CrashPlan, and CrashPlan’s baffling decision that kept Charles from instantly upgrading to CrashPlan’s Small Business service. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links CrashPlan Consumer Next Steps BackBlaze Security Question Round-up Synology DiskStation DS416 – Charles’ new NAS Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by FreshBooks. FreshBooks is the ridiculously easy-to-use online accounting software designed to help creative entrepreneurs get organized, save time, and get paid faster. FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to http://freshbooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Today we’re talking about conferences (again). Joe recently spoke at 360|iDev, and Charles had his first experience sponsoring a conference at a recent Indiana CPA Society conference. We discuss future trends in conference-going, what it was like being at a non-technical conference, and why sponsors have to have great swag. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links To Sell Is Human – by Daniel Pink Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Freshbooks. FreshBooks is the ridiculously easy-to-use online accounting software designed to help creative entrepreneurs get organized, save time, and get paid faster. FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to http://freshbooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

We’re joined today by Jean MacDonald who talks to us about founding App Camp for Girls, growing the program, and then stepping away and handing off the reins of the program to another leader. We chat about AC4G’s new Chicago program, finding good help, and also announce AC4G’s involvement once again with Release Notes 2017. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links To Sell Is Human – by Daniel Pink Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Freshbooks. FreshBooks is the ridiculously easy-to-use online accounting software designed to help creative entrepreneurs get organized, save time, and get paid faster. FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to http://freshbooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

In this episode, Joe gives a preview of the talk he’s giving today at 360|iDev about the idea that it’s not just salespeople that are in sales—everyone is. No matter your position or role in an organization, you have to sell a customer, a boss, a co-worker, or a partner. Joe breaks it down and shares what he’s learned. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links To Sell Is Human – by Daniel Pink Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Freshbooks. FreshBooks is the ridiculously easy-to-use online accounting software designed to help creative entrepreneurs get organized, save time, and get paid faster. FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to http://freshbooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Today we talk about Charles’ efforts to acquire new customers for RelaNet, his business for tax preparers. In particular, we talk about Charles’ efforts with cold emails. Topics include targeting potentials customers, the line between cold email and spam, what makes for an effective cold email, and what to ask for in your email. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links RelaNet – Charles’ business selling websites and online services to accountants Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Freshbooks. FreshBooks is the ridiculously easy-to-use online accounting software designed to help creative entrepreneurs get organized, save time, and get paid faster. FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to http://freshbooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Today we talk about Panic and their new update to Transmit, their FTP client for the Mac. We discuss the seven year (!) gap between paid updates for the product, speculate about why Panic might have removed Transmit from the Mac App Store, and then segue to Omni’s push to allow free trials for all their iOS apps. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Transmit 5 – Panic’s new update to their FTP client The Omni Group Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Freshbooks. FreshBooks is the ridiculously easy-to-use online accounting software designed to help creative entrepreneurs get organized, save time, and get paid faster. FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to http://freshbooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Today we talk about 1Password, the password manager create by AgileBits. We discuss AgileBit’s recent push to encourage customers to use the cloud version of their product, the backlash from the security community, and our take on the change. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links 1Password On Password Managers AgileBits Isn’t Forcing 1Password Data to Live in the Cloud Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Freshbooks. FreshBooks is the ridiculously easy-to-use online accounting software designed to help creative entrepreneurs get organized, save time, and get paid faster. FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to http://freshbooks.com/releasenotes and enter RELEASE NOTES in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

Joe’s on the road spending a few weeks in San Francisco, so we’re using that as an excuse to talk about travel and how that affects our work. We talk about how our choice in hardware and software changes with our work environments, and how we get work done when we’re away from home. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Prompt 2 – Charles’ preferred SSH client for iOS devices, developed by Panic Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Zendesk. It’s a snap to put customer support right in your app, with Zendesk’s mobile SDK. Learn more about the Zendesk mobile SDK and start your free trial at http://zendesk.com/releasenotes. Get $177 off Zendesk Support, which is equal to month for a team of 3 on the Professional plan. Start a free trial and then enter promo code RELEASE0417 at the end of your trial.

Today we talk about pricing tiers, and specifically about some of the decisions that Charles made when creating pricing tiers for RelaNet. And Charles tells the story of how he shamelessly threw Apple under the bus. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links RelaNet – Charles business for creating accounting websites Stacking the Bricks – Amy Hoy and Alex Hillman’s website where they offer the 30×500 program Ryan Waggoner – This is the blog about freelancing that Joe mentioned Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Zendesk. It’s a snap to put customer support right in your app, with Zendesk’s mobile SDK. Learn more about the Zendesk mobile SDK and start your free trial at http://zendesk.com/releasenotes. Get $177 off Zendesk Support, which is equal to month for a team of 3 on the Professional plan. Start a free trial and then enter promo code RELEASE0417 at the end of your trial.

Charles has a new client and realized that he has a lot to learn, so today he asks Joe about how he manages communication with his clients. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Zendesk. It’s a snap to put customer support right in your app, with Zendesk’s mobile SDK. Learn more about the Zendesk mobile SDK and start your free trial at http://zendesk.com/releasenotes. Get $177 off Zendesk Support, which is equal to month for a team of 3 on the Professional plan. Start a free trial and then enter promo code RELEASE0417 at the end of your trial.

Today Charles shares the good news about attracting his first RelaNet customer, how he’s using email marketing with RelaNet, why he likes the email automation service Drip so much, and why he recently removed a blog post which spelled out his email marketing efforts. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links RelaNet Building RelaNet: Email Marketing – The part of Charles’ blog post on email marketing that survived the cut

Today we continue our series of mid-year business check-ups and talk to Charles about how his different products are doing this year. We get a quick update on Benjamin and it’s revenue, we discuss MetaTax and get Charles’ post-mortem on why he thinks it hasn’t succeeded as he thought it would, and finally we talk about Charles’ new product RelaNet and the progress he’s made in (finally) launching that service. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Metakite Software RelaNet Charles’ blog post on the technology he’s using for his email marketing effort for RelaNet Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Zendesk. It’s a snap to put customer support right in your app, with Zendesk’s mobile SDK. Learn more about the Zendesk mobile SDK and start your free trial at http://zendesk.com/releasenotes. Get $177 off Zendesk Support, which is equal to month for a team of 3 on the Professional plan. Start a free trial and then enter promo code RELEASE0417 at the end of your trial.

Today we talk about WWDC and announcements that were made in the Keynote and State of the Union. Joe gives his impression of San Jose as a venue, and we talk about some of the key announcements that we think might affect our business. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Sponsor Buddybuild is a continuous integration, continuous deployment and user feedback platform built specifically for mobile development teams. Buddybuild takes minutes to setup and can easily be customized to perfectly match your app’s specific build requirements. Join the tens of thousands of developers already using buddybuild. Try it free today at buddybuild.com.

Today we talk about the current state of affairs of Joe’s different business ventures. Joe tells us about Bombing Brain’s plans to convert his bread-and-butter app to a subscription model, future plans for their up and coming app Setlists, and some planned features that are designed to encourage word of mouth sharing. Joe also shares some of the details of how he’s balancing his product work with his personal contract work, as well as some of the strategies that he’s using to grow his contract business and keep his client pipeline full. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Bombing Brain Interactive Breakpoint Studio Joe’s personal contracting site Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Zendesk. It’s a snap to put customer support right in your app, with Zendesk’s mobile SDK. Learn more about the Zendesk mobile SDK and start your free trial at http://zendesk.com/releasenotes. Get $177 off Zendesk Support, which is equal to month for a team of 3 on the Professional plan. Start a free trial and then enter promo code RELEASE0417 at the end of your trial.

We’re joined again today by Curtis Herbert, the developer behind Slopes and one of our speakers at Release Notes 2017. We talk about freemium, the relative benefits of subscriptions over paid up front business models, and the importance of not surprising or confusing your customers with pricing. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Curtis on Twitter Slopes – Curtis’ app for skiers and snowboarders Independence – Curtis’ new podcast Sponsor Buddybuild is a continuous integration, continuous deployment and user feedback platform built specifically for mobile development teams. Buddybuild takes minutes to setup and can easily be customized to perfectly match your app’s specific build requirements. Join the tens of thousands of developers already using buddybuild. Try it free today at buddybuild.com.

We’re joined today by Curtis Herbert, the developer behind Slopes and one of our speakers at Release Notes 2017. We talk about his pricing experiments with Slopes and his experience taking Slopes from a paid up-front model to an annual subscription model. We talk about selling benefits instead of features, the effect that churn has on the decision to use subscriptions, the somewhat unique payment mode (at least on iOS) used by Sketch, and the inevitability of the “race to the bottom” on iOS. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Curtis on Twitter Slopes – Curtis’ app for skiers and snowboarders Independence – Curtis’ new podcast Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Zendesk. It’s a snap to put customer support right in your app, with Zendesk’s mobile SDK. Learn more about the Zendesk mobile SDK and start your free trial at http://zendesk.com/releasenotes. Get $177 off Zendesk Support, which is equal to month for a team of 3 on the Professional plan. Start a free trial and then enter promo code RELEASE0417 at the end of your trial.

We’re joined again today by Jared Sinclair who joins in a free-wheeling conversation about development in the iOS ecosystem. We talk about getting started as a developer today in iOS, side projects, our experience with analytics and ads, as well as a strategy for getting the customer attention our projects need. Release Notes 2017 Release Notes 2017 is SOLD OUT! Release Notes 2017 will be happening October 16-18, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Since we’re sold out, we can’t sell you a ticket. But if you would like to get on our waiting list in case any tickets free up, you can join at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Jared Sinclair’s blog Jared on Twitter Jared introduces Stormcrow Stormcrow in the App Store Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Harry’s. Stop messing around and get started shaving with Harry’s today by claiming your FREE TRIAL offer — $13 value for FREE, just cover shipping! To get your Free Trial shaving set – including a razor handle, 5-blade cartridge, and shave gel – go to harrys.com/releasenotes.

We’re joined today by Jared Sinclair who talks to us about Stormcrow, his new Twitter client for tweet storms. Stormcrow isn’t his main job, though, so we talk to Jared about his experience balancing his day job with his side project, and how that balancing act affected the development of Stormcrow. Release Notes 2017 We’re happy to announce that Release Notes 2017, the third edition of our conference, will be happening October 16-18, 2017 – and this time we’re taking the show on the road to Chicago! You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. We are almost SOLD OUT, so get your ticket today! Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Jared Sinclair’s blog Jared on Twitter Jared introduces Stormcrow Stormcrow in the App Store Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Zendesk. It’s a snap to put customer support right in your app, with Zendesk’s mobile SDK. Learn more about the Zendesk mobile SDK and start your free trial at http://zendesk.com/releasenotes. Get $177 off Zendesk Support, which is equal to month for a team of 3 on the Professional plan. Start a free trial and then enter promo code RELEASE0417 at the end of your trial.

Today we get to share everything that we’ve been working on for Release Notes 2017! We have details about the speakers, venue, hotel, and more. Tickets are on sale right now, so go to 2017.releasenotes.tv and get your ticket today! Release Notes 2017 We’re happy to announce that Release Notes 2017, the third edition of our conference, will be happening October 16-18, 2017 – and this time we’re taking the show on the road to Chicago! You can get all the details on our incredible line up of speakers, the venue, prices, and more on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv. Get your ticket today! Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Release Notes 2017 – The 2017 conference page Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by AppGarten. AppGarten takes care of your App with AppInsight, AppCare and AppServices … made in Germany. Use the promo code RELEASENOTES to get 10% off. Go to appgarten.io and sign up today!

Today we chat about some product launches we’ve recently prepared. Joe talks about why he didn’t spend much time on launching the update to his app Fin, Charles talks about some of the email sequences he’s planning for RelaNet, and we both chat about the preparations we’re making for the May 1st launch of Release Notes 2017. Release Notes 2017 We’re happy to announce that Release Notes 2017, the third edition of our conference, will be happening October 16-18, 2017 – and this time we’re taking the show on the road to Chicago! Our big announcement is coming May 1st, with speakers, pricing, travel, and venue information. And tickets go on sale the same day! Get on our mailing list to be one of the first to know when tickets are available. 2017.releasenotes.tv Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Fin – Joe’s timer app for performers Release Notes #202 – In which Joe discusses his prospects for Fin RelaNet – Charles’ new business providing online services to accountants Release Notes 2017 – Big announcement coming May 1st! Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Zendesk. It’s a snap to put customer support right in your app, with Zendesk’s mobile SDK. Learn more about the Zendesk mobile SDK and start your free trial at http://zendesk.com/releasenotes. Get $177 off Zendesk Support, which is equal to month for a team of 3 on the Professional plan. Start a free trial and then enter promo code RELEASE0417 at the end of your trial.

Today we’re joined again by Ben Scheirman, who leads the team that builds the 5 Calls iOS app that encourages its users to engage with their elected representatives. Today we talk about measuring what’s really important, why 5 Calls is careful with its use of analytics, and using technical skills as a form of activism. Release Notes 2017 We’re happy to announce that Release Notes 2017, the third edition of our conference, will be happening October 16-18, 2017 – and this time we’re taking the show on the road to Chicago! We’re really excited about the move to Chicago and the extra opportunities that the change in venue will provide. More details will be announced on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv and on our mailing list in a month or two. In the mean time, mark your calendars. We hope to see you there! Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Ben Scheirman on Twitter Ben’s Blog NSScreencasts 5 Calls – on the Web 5 Calls – on the App Store Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Harry’s. Stop messing around and get started shaving with Harry’s today by claiming your FREE TRIAL offer — $13 value for FREE, just cover shipping! To get your Free Trial shaving set – including a razor handle, 5-blade cartridge, and shave gel – go to harrys.com/releasenotes.

Today we’re joined by Ben Scheirman, who leads the team that builds the 5 Calls iOS app that encourages its users to engage with their elected representatives. We talk to Ben about what it’s like to work on an app with a team of volunteers, how they manage the development and support process for an app with tens of thousands of users, and lessons learned from quickly scaling thanks to mentions from well-known personalities like Michael Moore and Chelsea Clinton. Release Notes 2017 We’re happy to announce that Release Notes 2017, the third edition of our conference, will be happening October 16-18, 2017 – and this time we’re taking the show on the road to Chicago! We’re really excited about the move to Chicago and the extra opportunities that the change in venue will provide. More details will be announced on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv and on our mailing list in a month or two. In the mean time, mark your calendars. We hope to see you there! Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Ben Scheirman on Twitter Ben’s Blog NSScreencasts 5 Calls – on the Web 5 Calls – on the App Store Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Zendesk. It’s a snap to put customer support right in your app, with Zendesk’s mobile SDK. Learn more about the Zendesk mobile SDK and start your free trial at http://zendesk.com/releasenotes. Get $177 off Zendesk Support, which is equal to month for a team of 3 on the Professional plan. Start a free trial and then enter promo code RELEASE0417 at the end of your trial.

Last week Apple made a major change to the App Store to allow developers to respond to reviews. Today we talk about this change, consider how helpful it will prove to be, and discuss how we plan to use this new tool to help our individual businesses. Release Notes 2017 We’re happy to announce that Release Notes 2017, the third edition of our conference, will be happening October 16-18, 2017 – and this time we’re taking the show on the road to Chicago! We’re really excited about the move to Chicago and the extra opportunities that the change in venue will provide. More details will be announced on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv and on our mailing list in a month or two. In the mean time, mark your calendars. We hope to see you there! Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links Lemon Lyman: Josh Discovers the Internet – A great supercut of the West Wing episode Joe referred to. Slopes Diaries #19: App Store Review Replies by Curtis Herbert Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Zendesk. It’s a snap to put customer support right in your app, with Zendesk’s mobile SDK. Learn more about the Zendesk mobile SDK and start your free trial at http://zendesk.com/releasenotes. Get $177 off Zendesk Support, which is equal to month for a team of 3 on the Professional plan. Start a free trial and then enter promo code RELEASE0417 at the end of your trial.

Today we talk about updates: When should you release a minor update and when should you save up those small changes for a bigger release? This conversation morphs into a strategy session for Joe’s app Fin. We talk about Fin’s target market and how that target market could be reached. In the end, Charles offers some pointed advice and dons the mantle of “Crusher of Dreams.” Release Notes 2017 We’re happy to announce that Release Notes 2017, the third edition of our conference, will be happening October 16-18, 2017 – and this time we’re taking the show on the road to Chicago! We’re really excited about the move to Chicago and the extra opportunities that the change in venue will provide. More details will be announced on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv and on our mailing list in a month or two. In the mean time, mark your calendars. We hope to see you there! Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Sponsor We’re sponsored this week by Zendesk. It’s a snap to put customer support right in your app, with Zendesk’s mobile SDK. Learn more about the Zendesk mobile SDK and start your free trial at http://zendesk.com/releasenotes. You can also get $177 off Zendesk Support, which is equal to month for a team of 3 on the Professional plan. Just start your free trial and enter coupon code NOTES at the end of your trial.

Today we continue our discussion of security, concentrating this week on our own security. We talk about our use of two-factor authentication, password managers, full-disk encryption, backups, and Charles’ recent experiments with a VPN. Release Notes 2017 We’re happy to announce that Release Notes 2017, the third edition of our conference, will be happening October 16-18, 2017 – and this time we’re taking the show on the road to Chicago! We’re really excited about the move to Chicago and the extra opportunities that the change in venue will provide. More details will be announced on the conference website at 2017.releasenotes.tv and on our mailing list in a month or two. In the mean time, mark your calendars. We hope to see you there! Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on the show. If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter with the best of these links, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at http://releasenotes.tv/mailinglist. Show Notes and Links 1Password – Joe’s password manager of choice LastPass – Charles’ password manager of choice Use FileVault to encrypt the startup disk on your Mac Username/Password Needs to be Taken out to Back and Shot in the Head – Joe has strong feelings about passwords Working with FileVault Encryption – Instructions for encrypting external backup drives with FileVault Don’t Dismantle Online Privacy – The ACLU on a proposal to allow ISPs to sell customer browsing data Whole Home VPN with an Asus Router – Charles’ experience in connecting his home router to a VPN Segregating IoT Devices on an Isolated Network – Charles’ experience in placing all his IoT devices on a separate VLAN Sponsor Make your next move with a beautiful website from Squarespace. Get 10% off your first purchase with offer code RELEASENOTES. Sign up for your website at http://squarespace.com/releasenotes.