Tim Ferriss on how to build an app empire: Can You Create The Next Instagram?

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2012/04/22/how-to-build-an-app-empire-can-you-create-the-next-instagram/

by arman • 14 years ago

33 22 14 years ago

If Tim Ferriss wasn't obnoxious before, he sure is now.

His prescription is:

* Look for "market trends" (As opposed to building things you know about and understand, and focusing on great products)

* Treat "your programmer" like a house builder you'd contract with

* Pay rock-bottom prices

* Make everyone sign an NDA so they don't "steal" your brilliant idea

Ugh. I hope this gold rush ends soon.

adambratt2• 14 years ago

Its not Tim writing the majority of this

drats• 14 years ago

My favs from the "your programmer" comments:

"oDesk— Its work diary feature tracks the hours your programmer is working for you and takes screenshots of the programmer’s desktop at certain time intervals."

and

"Below is a screencast on how to upload an app to the App Store. As you’ll see, it’s a fairly confusing and tedious process. Best to leave this task to your programmers"

Gaussian• 14 years ago

I don't know how Ferriss successfully appointed himself some kind of tech guru, but he seems to have convinced people he deserves this pulpit where he doles out tech advice. People take him seriously, which is fascinating.

rograndom• 14 years ago

He actually outlines how to become an "expert" on any topic in "The 4-hour Workweek". :)

dethstarr• 14 years ago

Tim Ferriss' blog post is absolutely ludicrous. He is clearly playing on the dreams of dupes who want fast money with little effort or skill involved in the process.

The only reason Tim Ferriss posted it is to play on the proverbial "market trend" of hawking self-help books to wannabe techies after the announcement of the Instagram deal.

What a joke.

draggnar• 14 years ago

I found it interesting that this guy makes zillons of dollars a month in app sales and is busy peddling a guide.

djt• 14 years ago

Tim Ferris is really good at making money. It kind of reminds me of Multi-level Marketing where you need to convince your downlines that they will make millions by buying your product.

The main flaw with this piece, is that the person who wrote it was doing this 2 years ago. What worked then to produce a lot of money may not do so for new entrants now. The big thing should be to figure out what will create those returns 2 years from now and do that.

I can also guarantee that no-one is going to expose their "muse" if it is actually making a lot of money. Why kill the goose that laid the golden egg?

carsongross• 14 years ago

You know, if Tim Ferriss knew how to build an app empire, I think he'd probably have gone ahead and built that app empire by now.

Now, if I were interested in how to make a lot of money by conning gullible people into thinking they can work four hours a week and be millionaires, he'd be my go-to guy.

pwim• 14 years ago

This article is written by Chad Mureta, not Tim Ferriss.

stevenwei• 14 years ago

Emoji icons, Fingerprint Security Pro, and a Flashlight.

While I think there is plenty of room left in the App Store for innovative, well-polished apps (e.g. Paper's recent success), you're not going to be making any money selling this crap in a sea of 5,000 other clones.

adambratt2• 14 years ago

Apparently it works for Chad.

pan69• 14 years ago

I was already starting to become skeptical while reading. Then came to the following section:

"Here’s my three-step process during the coding phase:

1. Icon—Ask the programmer to create and deliver the icon of your app."

Right...

strelok• 14 years ago

I bet you can still make a lot of money using this method if you focus on some emerging trends though. Look how many One Direction apps are out there now. I counted 38 results after searching "One Direction". If you get in early, you can make off with a few 10s of thousands.

sireat• 14 years ago

How many of those trend chasing applications really make money though to make it worth developer time?

It is easy to interview a successful app developer out of the sea of unsuccessful ones, just like Tim Ferriss did.

Disclaimer: I had to google what One Direction is (NKOTB was hot when I was growing up).

1SaltwaterC2• 14 years ago

Isn't this "create the next Instagram" like "create the next Facebook"?

54mf2• 14 years ago

It's never really, "create the next...". It's "create a fast-following, poorly-copied version of...".

fleeno• 14 years ago

He describes poor quality, client-side apps that can be developed in a matter of hours. If he has made money, that's great, but he's not creating anything with long term value, like Instagram.

Apps like Instagram are businesses with passionate developers and back-end systems that you just can't do with random developers that will work on junk projects for no pay.

1SaltwaterC2• 14 years ago

Maybe I was too subtle. This "create the next foo" is the tagline of way too many "news" that float around this place. I think that there's no "next foo", only bar that contains the ingredients indicated by you.

54mf2• 14 years ago

As a freelance mobile designer/developer, fuck that shit.

I'd never answer a giant list of "interview questions" and certainly wouldn't complete a "Hello World" task for a short-term, low four-figure job. I can show you live apps I've already built; if that's not good enough, we don't have anything else to discuss. (Side note: "creating/delivering your app’s icon" = spec work! NOOOOPE.)

Jobs like these are the ones that drag down the mobile marketplace. Shit apps made for shit pay by developers willing to work for table scraps. Good icon development is an art. Check out the work by The Iconfactory, for example. The fact that the employer treats it like an also-ran is another gigantic red flag.

"Disqualify anyone who is not willing to jump on a Skype call." For a short-term, low-paying job? You want me to break the flow of my day and blow an hour of my time on maybe satisfying your absurd needs? I'll disqualify you, brah.

(Sorry to rant, but, I just feel like we should all have more self-respect than to take jobs like that.)

destraynor• 14 years ago

He's actually becoming a parody of himself it seems.

"How get 24 points on Hacker News"

1. Hire someone who can write. (I usually use an outsourcing agency for $7.23 per article) 2. Give them a topic to write about. (usually something that's in some way timely) 3. Tell them to create an article that implies that there is a numerated set of steps that one can follow to become rich. Use images from popular apps to imply that the article is well referenced. 4. Submit to Hacker News and other sites.

Appdanowicz• 14 years ago

Do these "Plagiarize Other Apps to Try To Make a Quick Buck" articles make anyone else throw up a little?

Tim Ferriss on how to build an app empire: Can You Create The Next Instagram?

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