Capo 3

On Monday I launched Capo 3—the most significant launch in my company's history. There are many reasons for its significance, but these three stand out:

• It broke my previous one-day sales record by 2x on launch day
• Capo got an Editor's Choice feature on the Mac App Store on Thursday
• I had some help on my side for the first time

The third point is—in my mind—the most significant of those items. The first two merely help me to continue paying for help.

Finding someone to help me out on the development side was a scary prospect. Giving up some (but not all!) control on your product is tough for someone that's been developing solo for over 9 years. Now that I've been doing it for a few months, I can't believe I've done it alone for as long as I have. When I am unable work on the code myself, progress is still being made!

I also contracted out to a "launch team" that has been helping me manage communications with the media, and also my relationships with artists. I have received various emails from people in the industry over the years, but curating and maintaining those relationships is a difficult task on top of everything else. I am so fortunate to have found a few folks that not only took these tasks off my plate, but they've been hustling these last few weeks to help me get my ducks in a row.

Given the above, I still had a lot of weight on my shoulders for this release, both financially and work-wise.

Financially, in order to pay the above people, I was forced to cut off my salary from SuperMegaUltraGroovy, Inc. for about two months. The last few cheques I mailed out had to be covered by a personal loan to the company. Some might call it crazy, ballsy, or whatever. I was confident that things would work out, and I am relieved to be able to get my family's finances back in order in the coming months.

From a work perspective, I was forced to wear a lot of hats, and worked way too many hours. This kind of work takes a toll on the family. My 7-year-old son came up to me one day recently asking what I did for a living, so he could make sure he doesn't follow the same path "so he could spend time with his kids." Gut-wrenching!

The nights leading up to the launch, I hardly slept at all.

The designer I worked with for Capo's UI was tasked to build our website design despite pleading with me that he was not "a web guy." I handled wireframing and content, and he rocked it on the design side. Unfortunately, that meant all the web coding was also up to me—HTML, CSS, Javascript, and all that business. The last bits of web development made up a bulk of the content of the 3 days leading up the launch. It was pretty rough going, but I am happy with what we came up with together.

On the Thursday before the launch, I shot video with a local production company. He was on a very tight schedule and could only squeeze in a shoot. The editing was on me, and the completed edit for the video was finished and uploaded to Vimeo somewhere around 3 in the morning of launch day.

So, I'd like to thank all my customers—existing and new—for supporting me during this launch. All your feedback has been very valuable, and I'm excited to continue building these amazing products with the team I've assembled.

I'd also like to thank the members of my team for believing in what I built, and having faith that everyone would execute in their respective roles. Your passion for the product is appreciated!

SuperMegaUltraGroovy, Inc. is at a turning point in its (hopefully very long!) history, and I am excited for what the future holds. There is far too much stuff to build, and not nearly enough bodies around to execute my various visions. I hope to change that soon.

Thank you all for your continued support.