All hail the download Gods! I am not kidding when I say that we have had a complete schooling in all things Apple in the last 12 months. Obviously when we launched Snagajob in 2000, there was no App Store, or Testflight, or anything else that makes it so freaking hard to get your app some eyeballs. Now it’s all about App Store Optimization and getting press in the right places. TechCrunch, Wired, Huffington Post, App Store Editors. It’s a whole different universe.

I am not sure what we expected to happen, but I think if I had to put it into words, it looked something like this. Design goHappy. Build goHappy. Release goHappy into the App Store. Watch millions of people download goHappy instantly. Okay, maybe not millions. But more than 10. More than 10 would have been nice. So when we had over 500 new users in one day last week? Well, I would say we were SUPER EXCITED! Is 500 a lot? No, it’s not. But there are 2,000 apps being added to the App Store EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. So with our numbers finally climbing, we know things are moving in the right direction. But building a company comes with a big leap forward and then two steps back, on a regular basis. It’s a constant roller coaster of emotions.

For example, take last week. The day after our “big download day”, we decided to send an email out to all 10,000 users to communicate some new info. We built the beautiful email, carefully checked for spelling errors, and hit send. Almost instantly we realized, IT HAD THE WRONG BRANDING.  When we first started, we were called DieHappy. Yes morbid, I know. But we really loved the way it would force you to think about your life and how you spend your time. Guess what? Most people don’t want an app on their phone with the word Die on it. So in the end, we decided the friction wasn’t worth it, and we changed the name and the logo. But when you are in start-up mode and rushing to do everything yesterday, mistakes happen. And so, oops, 10,000 people got an email with the wrong company name.

But you have to put that stuff behind you and keep plugging forward. We are watching people download the app in South Africa and Great Britain and Australia and they are setting up birthday parties, cookouts, even weddings! It’s EXACTLY what we have been waiting to see, and it is almost surreal seeing it happen! It reminds me of a September day in 2001 in Golden, Colorado when I walked out of the doors of my first sale at Snagajob. (A big shout out to an early adopter and always a supporter, Jason Lessman at Boston Market!) A $25,000, 6-month contract. It was our first real sign that this is going to work. We are now watching the app come alive and the excitement that it stirs in our hearts and in our guts that this is going to work, well, it’s just an awesome feeling.

So here’s to more downloads, less stupid mistakes, and one big fun roller coaster.